Game mechanics/features you like?

[Thandran]

The thread about useless game mechanics inspired me to post this thread:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.847368-The-most-worthless-game-mechanics-features

I really like when games successfully add something like journals or indexes into their games (like in , Mass Effect, Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy 12) in which you are able to read upon locations, characters, enemies... and learn more about them. I believe it expands the world and makes it that much more alive.

Quite funny actually, I would not have guessed that 10 lines about stereotypical wolf enemy A or bird enemy B would make me care more about them. Yet I do.

You?

 

[josemlopes]

Since I made that thread I will be the first to post (unless im ninja'd)

I love binoculars, especially in FPSs, Battlefield 2 had them but for some reason BF3 and 4 didnt. I love how they let any player be able to take a sit back and scout the area for danger. As it is only snipers or weapons equipped with scopes can scout, if you bring a short range weapon you are stuck with faith.
In Battlefield 2 Project Reality mod I would spend a shitload of time just scouting the area in prone for my squad while they advanced and if I spotted someone I would give them the coordinates.

Another thing that I like are physical maps, although they can bite you in the ass (Far Cry 2), I dont mind them being digital instead of a piece of paper but I like to see it as an item that my character is holding instead of an UI element

 

[Zhukov]

- Being able to smoothly vault over obstacles.

Often seen in third-person, cover-based shooters for example.

I know, I know, it sounds trivial. But for some reason I just fucking love vaulting over stuff. Maybe it's due to latent frustration left over from the early days of gaming when a waist high obstacle was liable to be an insurmountable barrier.

Maybe this is why I love Mirror's Edge so much. It outright rewards you (with a speed boost) for doing a well timed vault.

- Properly animated melee.

Way too many games just have you wave your limbs/weapon in the direction of the enemy until their health bar depletes. Maybe have a staggering animation if they're feeling fancy. Skyrim would be a prime example of this.

So it's always a treat for me when a game does it properly. The Last of Us comes to mind. When you punch a guy in that game, or beat him down with a club, his reaction animations are specific to your attack animations. It gives blows a great sense of weight. You can damn near feel it when Joel breaks a four-by-two over an enemy's back, then finishes him with a headbutt, or grabs the guy's head and rams it into a nearby windowsill, leaving jaunty little blood splatters on the woodwork. That right there was like 15% of the reason I loved that game.

The Batman Arkham games did this properly as well. Honourable mention to Zeno Clash.

- Being able to use enemies as human shields.

I first saw this in a stylish but not very good game called XIII. Instantly loved it. Gives a fun tactical option, makes for some interesting interactions and can be used to show that your protagonist is a viciously pragmatic anything-goes type of fighter.

The Last of Us got this right too. Grabbing a stunned enemy causes a pause in proceedings because other enemies will briefly cease fire to avoid hitting their buddy. So you can use it to reposition yourself out of a bad spot or to start things off with a clean headshot or two. However, while employing a human shield you can only use one handed weapons, you can't reload and you move slowly because you're manhandling an unwilling dude along with you. Plus he'll struggle, throwing off your aim, and he'll eventually break free, putting a time limit on the whole exercise.

 

[Smooth Operator]

I'll go a bit more mechanical:
- custom difficulty, as seen in Thief where you get standard presets and then one difficulty where you fully customize what the game should and should not allow you to do
- custom HUD, again well done in Thief because you can take the range from full on "neon derp" mode to absolutely blank, but we could still do with element resize and repositioning
- instant exit and continue, this you get in Solar, you can quit and come back to the game at any point in time and the game will put you immediately into the game exactly where you last were
- main menu training grounds, that was in Battleforge, when the game loaded your main menu was a battle ground where you could start playing with game mechanics right away and keep doing so as you waited for matchmaking
-full control customization, that you get in Warframe, 3 slots for every command that can be tied to any peripheral and on top of that most actions get both toggle and hold controls
- graphics options side by side with game view, that way you can tailor the game in real time to look at it's finest while still running smooth
- fps and latency count in multiplayer, yes it is that bloody important

Now these might seem like minor things but to me all that is far more next gen then any extra tablet or waggle flail.

 

[Ubiquitous Duck]

The thread about useless game mechanics inspired me to post this thread:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.847368-The-most-worthless-game-mechanics-features

I really like when games successfully add something like journals or indexes into their games (like in , Mass Effect, Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy 12) in which you are able to read upon locations, characters, enemies... and learn more about them. I believe it expands the world and makes it that much more alive.

Quite funny actually, I would not have guessed that 10 lines about stereotypical wolf enemy A or bird enemy B would make me care more about them. Yet I do.

You?

In relation to your example, I like the use of text logs that aren't read to you as well.

It just depends on the game.

For a game that is 'fear' based, like F.E.A.R. or Deadspace (to a lesser extent), a text log or something to read feels like a reprieval from the high tension you have been feeling from the game, so it gives a nice little 'safe zone' to enjoy briefly.

Whereas in Diablo 3, it wouldn't work to have text logs, because I wouldn't need that respite from the gameplay and in fact it would be detrimental to be forced to stop, in order to read it.

 

[Nooners]

The little reloading timing thing in Gears of War. I can't figure out for the life of me why that isn't a standard thing on FPSs at all.

 

[ShinyCharizard]

Titanfall's wall-running and double jump mechanic. It's so beautifully smooth and simple, yet you can pull off the most absurd movements across the map by chaining the two. I don't think I'll ever be able to fully enjoy another FPS again after experiencing the sheer joy of movement in Titanfall.

The little reloading timing thing in Gears of War. I can't figure out for the life of me why that isn't a standard thing on FPSs at all.

Also this. Nailing a perfect active reload is immensely satisfying.

 

[Alcamonic]

Being able to fall off a cliff and die. I hate having an invisible wall stopping me from any proper/stupid movement.

Dark Souls being a good example of this.

Skyrim is as well a good example (if I remember correctly) with the horse giving zero fucks about gravity and moving up mountains.

 

[Headsprouter]

Character customization...

Seems silly, but I was legitimately disappointed when I found Diablo 3 only let's you customise armour, and nothing of your character's physical appearance. I wouldn't call the developers bad for not including it, though. It's just something I find fun.

My favourite game series didn't have character creation, but it made up for it with a diverse character select.

 

[sXeth]

Being able to fall off a cliff and die. I hate having an invisible wall stopping me from any proper/stupid movement.

Dark Souls being a good example of this.

Skyrim is as well a good example (if I remember correctly) with the horse giving zero fucks about gravity and moving up mountains.

I'd counter that with the near constant use of ankle-height walls in Dark Souls that can't even be jumped despite their being a jump.


Back on the OP, I'd go with the fairly common, but rarely done well application of environmental hazards. Stuff like freezing water around someones feet to lock them down, or trapping them in burning wood.

 

[IceForce]

The ability to pause in the middle of cutscenes WITHOUT skipping them. (Also, having a single 'skip cutscene' button, so I don't skip them by accident.)

The original Max Payne games had both of these (and they're more than a decade old now), so I have no idea why these mid-cutscene abilities are still a relative rarity in games today.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Using system clock data as a variable.

Metal Gear Solid 3 has a rather hard boss die of old age if you take more than a week of real time. Smash Bros. has some stages in morning, afternoon or night depending on the time of day. Wild Arms 3 has an NPC who says something different every single day of the year. And I remember hearing about at least one RPG that changes its seasons cosmetically depending on the actual current season.

Sure it's abusable, but just the fact that people will do that to see all that your game has to offer means you've already succeeded in peaking their interest, and with the exception of The End it's not really any kind of tactical advantage (and he does mock you for taking the easy way out). I would like to see an RPG or adventure game where the dungeon layouts will change with the season, month, or time of day. Or maybe a map in an online shooter where civilian traffic and lighting changes. In fact with the advent of DLC you could potentially take it to the next level and have every dungeon change in layout every year in order to encourage replays.

 

[Zantos]

The little reloading timing thing in Gears of War. I can't figure out for the life of me why that isn't a standard thing on FPSs at all.

Also this. Nailing a perfect active reload is immensely satisfying.

Definitely, getting the active reload, particularly with the the longshot or torque bow, did make you feel like you could solve all of the problems facing humanity single handedly. RAAM coming at you with a gatling gun and a swarm of kryll? Surprise, ************!

One of the things I love is improving skills by actually practising them, like in Oblivion or Skyrim. None of this "here are some improvement points to do what you want with" stuff, if I beat a hundred bears to death with a greatsword I get better at beating things to death with a greatsword. The way it was implemented with other features could have asked for more, but the idea is totally sound and cool.

 

[The Wykydtron]

I like it when areas end up looping around to each other via shortcuts you open up. I really like Dark Souls 2's level and world design with it.

I'm not sure how to describe it but the way the story progresses onto Drangleic Castle after the rest of the game was spent meandering around the world is really cool, maybe it's because we're relatively not too far from when it launched and the camaraderie from other players who have got this far already feels really strong.

Also any synergy moves where two characters work together to do some super move, JRPGs tend to do it a lot. Hell the Fire Emblem series bases its entire combat system around a group of several 2 man teams. Well, I tell a lie. Awakening bases its first three hours or so around one thing. Frederick

Everyone else is teaming up and being tactical while Frederick is literally walking into entire waves of enemies, onehitting them without taking a scratch on his own.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Any fantasy or, sci-fi RPG that lets me play as a non-human character. I know I have to be humanoid but if I can be a scaly creature or, a walking tree person instead of being forced to play Human I'm a happy role-player.

I liked how in Dragon Age Origins, you could be an asshole without being called Evil. In any other RPG, I could have (theoretically) murdered a child before it had a chance to transform into a Hell-Spawn which would admittedly be somewhat grey on the great morality scale but I would have been given a negative/evil point on my score card. Dragon Age Origins just gives me an asshole and tells me certain party members either like or dislike me a bit more or less.

Using system clock data as a variable.

I like this a lot too and would like to see this taken to the next level...Wouldn't it be awesome to use real-time weather info in games like Forza Whatever to influence the time-of-day and, weather in specific race locations? I don't think real-weather exists yet...and I don't see it working for anything outside of racing games...

 

[FPLOON]

This may seem petty... but I fucking love health bars... either it be on the player themselves, your party members, and/or the enemies you face in battle...

Also, in-game unlockables... Collecting those Precursor Eggs in Jak 2 just to either reverse the world itself (mirror world) or to make Jak become Giant Dark Jak was worth it... Jak 3 make collecting them more awesome, since they can go towards upgrading your guns and, I think, powers...

 

[Souplex]

The Poise stat in Dark Souls.
Quantifiable stagger resistance.
I would love it if they put something like that in a fighting game, so Taeger doesn't get stunned by the dinkiest of hits.