The "little things" that you are a sucker for.

[NightmareExpress]

Branching story, multiple approaches to objectives.
However small they may be, it's always nice to have something different.
Secrets, great animations and good AI work always get noticed by me.

That's about it for gameplay.
Writing is an entirely different story, one that I could probably write a small novel (if not more) about what I like done be it subtle or major.

 

[Drops a Sweet Katana]

For me it would be exploration, even things like skulls and terminals in Halo; good lore and other general worldbuilding aspects, i.e. Elder Scrolls and the first Mass Effect; and customisation of EVERYTHING, ships in GalCiv 2, armour and camouflage in Rainbow Six Vegas, pretty everything in Minecraft.

 

[thejarofdirt882]

I love details. Like in Modern Warfare 3 in the London Underground level Mind the Gap, I stood looking at the Tube map on the wall, at all the parody names of the stations and had a good laugh at em. And I loved how it felt like I was actually going through Westminster station (because it felt pretty damn close to the way I remember it being).

I think those are probably really bad examples of what I mean but I'm tired and thought they were awesome.

 

[Easton Dark]

Achievements, I spend a depressing amount of time trying to get all achievements. I use steam so there is no reason to get the achievements, there isn't a scoring system but I still get them.

There's 0 reason to get achievements on any system. So just get them. You know you have to. I wouldn't be wanting to play god damn Napoleon Total War online if I didn't feel obligated to get its achievements.

The most holiest of ice cream flavors.

No that's vanilla. In both flavor and color scheme.

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

There are many things that I'm a sucker for, but I would have to say "exploration."

Even if it's a standard shooter with only one predetermined place to go, if you can explore the environment and find things (ammo, audio logs, etc.) it makes the game feel really welcoming and engaging. It's like the game is saying, "You know the door with the green light above it is the way to go, but not rush. Take your time."

Oh yes. I think you hit my nail with that hammer too. A nice world with some fun little oddball things to discover makes my day, even if the game is fairly linear, as you said. The Infamous series did a good job of giving me lots of random side things to do as I ice-jumped all over the map. Also, funny NPC events are a good highlight for me. There can be hordes of random people doing nothing and that's fine, but add one guy randomly moon-walking down the street instead and I'll laugh every time.

 

[Bolwing]

Good soundtracks (Portal 2 , Skyrim). Also, if a game lets you hoard a ridiculous amount of money, it is nice to actually be able to spend the coin on something. Extensive lore and in-game books are also nice (TES Series). Customization of the player character is important.

 

[Feraswondervahnn]

Customization, Character depth, cutscenes and a bloody good soundtrack! I find music to be one of the most important factors for me in games. I hate playing games with bad soundtracks, but I hate listening to music over gaming!

Character Depth as in having the option to actually just talk to the people you are with and learning about them. I hate it when a character is just there, with no real reason to be.

Cutscenes are awesome! You can make cutscenes look bloody incredible, and I really have no problem not being able to do anything in game for awhile, I like to take a break from gaming to just watch something awesome unfold. I really dislike it when games don't have cutscenes but have moments where you are incredibly limited and are just looking through the same view as always whilst some random person just stares at you blankly telling you what to do.

Customization because I like a character to feel like your own. I always end up building extensive stories and personalities for them! I mean I have no problem playing a game where it tells you who you are, I just prefer to be able to customize mentally and physically.

 

[draken693]

Moving train based levels. And controllable train based levels. Like in Half Life when you had to take the trolly past hordes of military guys and such.

 

[Dead Seerius]

I'm a sucker for unique achievements. The kind that point you in the direction of some well-hidden extra made specifically for that one game.
Achievements in general are fun enough, but it's the kind I mentioned above that I really appreciate.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Mine is when a stealth game has a very good hand to hand combat system such as CQC in MGS 3.

That's a good one, and the reverse is one of my biggest gaming pet peeves. Your character is univerally praised as some major superhuman badass.. but then when they get in close combat with an enemy, they're totally unable to do anything but maybe a weak pistol whip and are nigh useless. I get that stealth games need some way to promote stealth over in your face melee combat, but that sort of thing is just a total immersaion breaker to me.

 

[Raven_Operative]

Lets see... Railguns. I love railguns, especially the ones that either explode your enemy on impact, shoot through walls, or sends them flying across the map. Too bad that very few sci-fi games do them well. Usually its just a sniper rifle that deals marginally more damage than a normal .50cal rifle. EXCUSE ME! YOU'RE SHOOTING SOMEONE WITH LARGE HUNK OF METAL AT ABOUT MACH 7. EVEN IF THEY'RE IN A TANK IT'S STILL GOING TO SCREW THEM UP SOMETHING FIERCE.

/rant

But yeah. I love me some railguns.

4th dimension
anything from stopping time, rewinding, traveling or manipulating and i'm pretty much sold

Also this. Especially with projectile weapons like spears, arrows, or knives. Something very fun about stopping time and creating a wall of knives to be unleashed at your target.

...hmm this reminds me of someone... I wonder who...

Spoiler: Oh right...

 

[The]

In just about all media, I love those characters that are rivals with each other, being both on completely different sides of the spectrum, yet almost exactly the same. Sorta like Wolverine and Deadpool (Regenerating health, Canadian, sharp weapons), or Ratchet & Clank and Jak & Daxter (both on ps2, duos, love of weapons).

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

as much of a small/stupid thing it is, i loved in fable when customizing your character, it would change how people around you treated you (if you were walking death everyone cowered in fear of you and your badass tattoos/clothes, but if you were a paragon of light everyone had a "fuck yeah dude!" attitude toward you)

if they took that to the next step in some rpg's while keeping customization deep, i would die very happy. (like i said, small effect, but dammit i loved it in fable.)

 

[hazabaza1]

Gravestones with funny stuff written on it.
Shit's hilarious, yo.

I also do like a good in depth customisation system, be it cosmetic or statistical. If it's done well I'll probably enjoy it.

Also stylized graphics.

 

[ShinyCharizard]

An enemy compendium or bestiary

I Just like knowing what the things that i'm fighting actually are. I especially love it when they give you funny discriptions of them

Those are great. I love the ones that have 3D models of the enemies you can rotate and zoom in on and such.

 

[Gun Animal]

being able to finish the game without ever killing anyone

reversible covers

the second analog stick being used for something besides camera control (dodging in godhand, for example)

excessive alternate costumes and weapons

multiplayer that practically encourages fucking around and griefing (see MGO2: hiding around a corner and using the pelvic thrust taunt so when someone walks by they'll be stuck oogling your crotch, knocking someone out and waiting until right before they wake up to kill them, dressing to look like a moron rather than stealth or badassery. or in TF2 with shit like dodging out of an Uber at the last second or putting teleporters in useless places.)

edit: huge amounts of alternate world-building like codec calls in MGS.

 

[Loonyyy]

Twinkies.

Not really, but I had to make the zombieland reference.

Detailed character interactions in open world RPGs.

And Throwing Knives. Mixing things up in close combat with throwing weapons is one of my favourite things to do in a game. I despise Dead Island, but I love just throwing knives and cleavers at the zombies. If only that was a part of a better game.

 

[TheVampwizimp_v1legacy]

I love cyberpunk. It's probably my favorite setting for any game.

It's part of the reason I like the Deus Ex or Syndicate series so much. It's why Cyberpunk 2077, Remember Me and Watch Dogs are the games I'm looking forward to the most right now. My dream game would be a Ghost In The Shell game that fully utilizes the potential of that IP.

Dude, considering all the shit games based on shit franchises that we get every year, it is shocking to me that Ghost in the Shell does not yet have a decent video game adaptation. It is just begging for one, it has so many concepts that slide right into fun game mechanics, it has an already fully-realized world and background, and a diverse cast to draw from. How has this not happened?!?

And I too am watching Cyberpunk 2077 with a keenly interested eye.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Dude, considering all the shit games based on shit franchises that we get every year, it is shocking to me that Ghost in the Shell does not yet have a decent video game adaptation. It is just begging for one, it has so many concepts that slide right into fun game mechanics, it has an already fully-realized world and background, and a diverse cast to draw from. How has this not happened?!?

And I too am watching Cyberpunk 2077 with a keenly interested eye.

I know, it mystifies me as well.

There are a couple GitS games out there, but they all focus on the action parts of whatever version they're based on, even though action is not the main focus of any of the manga/anime. In many ways that is somewhat understandable, because creating engaging detective and ghost hacking mechanics are most probably a lot more challenging than creating another shooty action game, especially if they also want to work in the franchises' more complicated philosophical themes. Mais, ça est la vie.

 

[doomspore98]

Realistic body damage, in shooters especially. Max Payne 3, Hitman absolution, and red dead redemption did this the best. When I shoot someone I want to see where the bullet went, not just a spray of blood.