Little things you find far more satisfying than you should?

[Sonmi]

Achievements, I am ashamed to say.

I've got an instant Pavlovian response to seeing the achievement pop-up on Steam, and the triggered sound of an achievement unlocking on the 360 used to give me quick and short-lived satisfaction.

The only achievements I ever bother to get are ones I can get in a single play-through of a game. Like I got all the collectibles, audio logs, weapon upgrades, runes and whatnot in Doom. But I ain't about to go for the 'complete everything all over again with just a toothpick, a rubber ducky named Sylvester on Nightmare fuck you mode'

These extra playthroughs are the ones I appreciate the most, to be fair. 7 Day Survivor in Dead Rising was an absolute blast.

Not a fan of collectibles.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Intuitively figuring out the architecture of a dungeon such that I first clear all the one-way paths that lead to treasure before going for the main path that leads to the next part in the story, minimizing backtracking in the process.

 

[Saelune]

Footprints. A minor detail for most games, but one I wish would appear more. It literally is a big part of why I played The Division.

Duke Nukem 3D also had footprints if you walked in water/blood/acid.

The rain in Red Dead Redemption. It makes the ground muddy, which persists awhile after it ends, and when you look up your vision gets all wet, look down and it goes completely dry.

Basically I love super minor details like that.

 

[hermes]

Running around in Okami. If you know the game, you know what I mean...

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Running around in Okami. If you know the game, you know what I mean...

Haha yeah, that's beautiful how everything flourishes. They even payed enough attention to have lilipads form when you run on water too.

 

[Yoshi178]

Cutting Grass in Zelda.

also shooting the walls in the FPS games and drawing things with bullets and lazer beams on the walls in those games.

 

[Baffle]

Yorkshire puddings, really like them.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Head shots in Gears of War. Not a huge fan of the games, but hands down the most satisfying squishy blood fountain head shots in gaming, especially when I land one with an active-reloaded Longshot.

I will admit this was an extremely satisfying combo of sounds, headshot coupled with a perfect reload, there were a couple checkpoint/missions I remember that I used to replay over and over for their super sniper friendly sections.


heh, plus when you messup:

 

[Argonian alchemist]

I've always liked the feeling of having NPC's talk me up. "Wow, mister. You sure are badass!" - "Why thank you little clump of code and pre-scripted meaningless artificial dialogue, that means a lot to me."

I'm lookin' at you, Mass Effect. You too, Witcher.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Cloth physics when the clothing doesn't clip through itself and the character models.

Sadly this is a rare thing.

 

[JohnnyDelRay]

Well done ragdoll physics.

I like shooting a sprinting enemy and seeing them crash into things, fall down stairs, or even better yet, throwing their gun in the air as they stumble over themselves. This is pretty rare, but some games do have it.

Also, in games like Dead Island, when you smash a zombie with a heavy, blunt object so hard they go flying into a van and their head explodes on impact, leaving a bloody mark.

These are even more satisfying than taking limbs off, in my opinion.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Ah, I also remember loving the sound of my footfalls on certain wood structures in Rayman 2: The Great Escape. The sound effects in general in that game were very good.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

Reload animations (if done well). In Resident Evil 4 I always keep the standard rifle throughout the entire game partly because the reload animation is so fucking sick.

Dude I came to say the same thing. A good reload animation like in Killing Floor or Resi 4 makes me feel so comfy

 

[Arnoxthe1]

The takedowns in Far Cry 3. All of them.

Spoiler

The counter-kills in Assassin's Creed. (first one) Not only do they look fucking badass, they looked super practical and actually really viable in real melee combat.

Spoiler

Counterattacks in Ninja Gaiden Black/II.

When you finally get your lightsaber in Jedi Outcast.

All the small little touches in Halo 3/Reach.

The UWindow system of Unreal Tournament.

When you have finally and successfully finished modding Elder Scrolls and it's all ready to play.

Reload animations (if done well). In Resident Evil 4 I always keep the standard rifle throughout the entire game partly because the reload animation is so fucking sick.

Any tactile and rhythmic feeling reloads. (Fave from memory must be the devastator grenade launcher from the first Perfect Dark. About the only weapon that can legitimately make the noise "schlock-kock" and live up to it too!)

That, and I specifically loved the Falcon 2 reload. Soooo fast and satisfying.

Also the reloads in Doom 3. Like, almost all of them. Notable mentions though are the Plasma Gun and the Rocket Launcher. (Hearing those heavy rockets clink against each other is just destructive music to me.) Also, injecting EVE into your wrist in Bioshock. Ohhhhh...

I don't think I ever quite realized just how much of a pyromaniac I really am until I played Far Cry 3.

Fire spread in Far Cry 3 was actually neutered and is also much more deadly against you. Play Far Cry 2 for ultimate pyromaniacal cathartic release.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

The takedowns in Far Cry 3. All of them.

Spoiler

The counter-kills in Assassin's Creed. (first one) Not only do they look fucking badass, they looked super practical and actually really viable in real melee combat.

Spoiler

Counterattacks in Ninja Gaiden Black/II.

When you finally get your lightsaber in Jedi Outcast.

All the small little touches in Halo 3/Reach.

The UWindow system of Unreal Tournament.

When you have finally and successfully finished modding Elder Scrolls and it's all ready to play.

Reload animations (if done well). In Resident Evil 4 I always keep the standard rifle throughout the entire game partly because the reload animation is so fucking sick.

Any tactile and rhythmic feeling reloads. (Fave from memory must be the devastator grenade launcher from the first Perfect Dark. About the only weapon that can legitimately make the noise "schlock-kock" and live up to it too!)

That, and I specifically loved the Falcon 2 reload. Soooo fast and satisfying.

Also the reloads in Doom 3. Like, almost all of them. Notable mentions though are the Plasma Gun and the Rocket Launcher. (Hearing those heavy rockets clink against each other is just destructive music to me.) Also, injecting EVE into your wrist in Bioshock. Ohhhhh...

I don't think I ever quite realized just how much of a pyromaniac I really am until I played Far Cry 3.

Fire spread in Far Cry 3 was actually neutered and is also much more deadly against you. Play Far Cry 2 for ultimate pyromaniacal cathartic release.

Was planning on just saying "ALL perfect dark reload animations!" As they really are some sweet ass shit. For a game with so many guns, they totally mastered the art behind pleasant looking reloads. Hell, recently saw a best friends LP that brought up the Cyclone reload, a generally meh gun, with a very cool clip change that makes it ok again. I still wish for a new game to surpass that. But alas, it has not yet happened.

And coincidentally was thinking the Far Cry 3 takedowns too, chained takedowns, knife throw takedowns, the one where you bloody well take their pistol out the holster and aim, AND the unclip grenade and lob elsewhere takedown. Christ, those are some damn fine moments!

 

[Arnoxthe1]

I still wish for a new game to surpass that. But alas, it has not yet happened.

Timesplitters 3. Made (mostly) by the same devs. That game is pure awesomeness on disc form. In some ways, it even made Halo and Halo 2 look like a beta test.

If there is one developer that had the most utterly undeserved bad luck, it's Free Radical Design. Their relationship with a bunch of publishers towards the end of its life turned into nothing short of abusive.

 

[JohnnyDelRay]

The counter-kills in Assassin's Creed. (first one) Not only do they look fucking badass, they looked super practical and actually really viable in real melee combat.

Spoiler

*rest snipped!*

Have to agree with all of those you mentioned, but above all the first Assassin's Creed. Somehow they just seemed so violent, yet so gracefully executed. I don't know why, but none of the other AC games since then has done it for me like all the counters in the first one.

My favorite was the one where you countered with a smaller knife/dagger, duck under a swing/slash and plant it in their foot, when they bend down recoiling in pain out of reflex and Altair would come up with a upwards slash thru the face starting at the chin. God it was brutal, and so dang satisfying.

 

[American Tanker]

Another one I should mention is just that feeling of pulling off a clean kill headshot with a sniper rifle. Managing to line it up just perfectly, and bag the kill with one clean shot.

Republic Commando's Delta-07 was right: putting a shot into an enemy's cranium really does make me feel alive.

 

[Yoshi178]

For me it's when you collect a quest objective without aggro-ing the nearby enemies who are supposed to be guarding it.

Hell, weaving through an enemy "camp" without entering the aggro radius of any of the occupants and the like is practically an art form unto itself.

you wouldn't happen to be playing Xenoblade Chronicles would you?

if not it sounds very similar at least

 

[Arnoxthe1]

I don't know why, but none of the other AC games since then has done it for me like all the counters in the first one.

It's because a whole lot of the rest of them are really over the top and moves that wouldn't be out of place in a popcorn flick. And normally, that's fine. But Assassin's Creed has, or should I say, had an air of realism to it.