Board 8 > Features you wish more games would use

(+) Yeah! (+)

New Game+

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"Stay with me until the end. Please."
"Not until the end. Always."

fill in maps

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i'm dumb as hell holy crap -ExThaNemesis

drop-in/drop-out online co-op

and create-a-character

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Black Turtle spilled my diet soda!

Battle whenever you want a la TWEWY.

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Social Links.

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Subtitles.

I don't mean subbed Japanese games. I mean subs for cutscenes in general.

No-Random Encounter ability

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O........O
...^^^^^...

dual audio tracks for japanese games.

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all RPG's should have both new game+ and no encounter...*early* in the game, not something like FFX where you can finally get a monster to drop a no encounter weapon after basically the whole game is over

New Game Plus
Cutscene Skip
In-Battle Character Switch
FMV Viewer - seriously why doesn't every game have something like FFX's Sphere Theater?

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1. Boss Arena (Refight bosses)
2. Alternate Outfits
3. New Game +

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Chrono1219

Came in to say NG+

And for that matter, Tales is the only series that does NG+ perfectlly

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The only correct answer is grapple

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icons that say when an npc has nothing new to say

From: colliding | #014
icons that say when an npc has nothing new to say

Are there games that do this?

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http://i.imgur.com/CbfFb.jpg

I prefer a chapter select over a new game+

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Growlithe-Tackling Mantine - Go To Meowth - Gardevoir + Mamoswine
Woo Woo Woo! You Know It!

Yea New Game + should be in every game ever

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Are there games that do this?

okami had icons above NPCs that indicated whether you should bother talking to them or not, don't recall any other game doing it but this is a good feature!

refighting bosses is also a good one. TP with a boss arena might raise the score for that game like a full point. could take it a step further and have original content in it like the FFX monster arena, the end game of FFX is better in terms of being a video game than the actual main story is

The ability to change the spoken lines (sometimes the japanese actors are just better)

Information about the characters handedness.

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Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do and die.

the end game of FFX is better in terms of being a video game than the actual main story is
Huh. Shame the game bored me to death before I ever got there!

NG+ is a good one, as is the Okami NPC thing. I completely forgot about that.
Skippable cutscenes and the ability to rewatch cutscenes is nice.

With NG+, I like the way the Tales series does it for sure, but the Demons Souls way of doing it (making the entire game harder each time you play through) is pretty cool too.

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~AHylian is Still Alive~

A New Game Plus with options.

Examples:
Start the game with your current levels? Yes or No
Current equipment? Yes or No
Current money? Yes or No
Current item list? Yes or No
and etc.

I think that key items that are integral to the main story would be the exception though. Optional key items would be an okay option to the player however.

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The ability to search for multiplayer games while playing single player.

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Kill cams and replays

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Huh. Shame the game bored me to death before I ever got there!

yeah, I struggled with it a lot, it actually took me almost 3 years to beat FFX, but doing all the sidequests and messing with monster arena at the end was addictive. in terms of what it has for gameplay, the game is just terribly paced because it's linear and they throw ALL the good **** in at the very end

skippable dialogue
replays
sound test

pausable cutscenes

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Black Turtle spilled my diet soda!

From: Liquid Wind | #019
okami had icons above NPCs that indicated whether you should bother talking to them or not, don't recall any other game doing it but this is a good feature!

Torchlight does this. If someone has a new quest for you they have a yellow question mark over their heads. If you've already accepted their quest, the question mark is grey. And if you can get a reward for a completed quest, they have a yellow exclamation point.

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Black Turtle spilled my diet soda!

developer commentary

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LeonhartFour posted...
From: colliding | #014
icons that say when an npc has nothing new to say
Are there games that do this?

Someone mentioned Okami. It's also in Catherine, where after you talk to an NPC the color of their name will change when they have nothing new to say.

- New Game Plus
- Subtitles
- BIG Subtitles
- Bigger text
- Possibility to grind, but not mandatory
- Autosave/Quicksave
- Ability to pause cutscenes, a warning before skipping a cutscene if you hit the skip button accidentally.
- No inventory limit, unless the game is built around it (ie. games in which survival is a main focus)
- Less stereotypical characters (Female Healers, Male Warriors, etc)
- Main character ala Mass Effect (has a backstory, dialogue, personality but still go through chargen)
- Useful Status Effects
- Useful Ultimate Weapons (Ie. Ultimate Weapons that you DON'T get for killing the strongest boss)
- Instant win against low-level monsters (Ala Paper Mario with that badge equipped)
- Female main character
- Ways to kill time without continuing the main quest (Crafting system, sidequests, mini-games, etc)
- Worthwhile exploration
- Upgradeable equipment (Diablo 2 rune system for instance)
- Skill Trees
- Multiple ways to gain XP (Not just monster bashing / quests)
- Clear Maps (Fallout 3 and NV maps are the worst offender for bad maps)
- Gallery mode
- Jukebox
- FMV viewer
- No missable items/titles/cutscene/etc.
- Non character/class restricted weapons

And.. that's it for now.

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Proper difficulty settings where plenty of things change in between them (like the cost of items, what pick ups you can find, more/better enemies, new/more difficult puzzles/areas as well as more damage).

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- Instant win against low-level monsters (Ala Paper Mario with that badge equipped)

Earthbound!

Guess I'm the only one that wants Chapter Select. damn my TWEWY obsession

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Growlithe-Tackling Mantine - Go To Meowth - Gardevoir + Mamoswine
Woo Woo Woo! You Know It!

A lot of these are pretty restricted in what type of game can actually use them

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Chrono1219

More thoughts

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Support Otacon (Metal Gear Solid) for Character Battle IX!
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Skipable cutscenes
Pausable cutscenes
Subtitled cutscenes

New Game + is a good choice for games with "beat the game multiple times" achievements.

Call me a pessimist, but I can think of a lot of things I'd rather be cut out of games than added to games.

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Item synthesissssss.

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I know I'm going to get a lot of hate for this, but "Games play themselves" mode ala some of the new Nintendo games. I'm not talking about legit games though, I'm talking about games that force certain things upon you. For example, imagine how good Sonic Unleased would seem if you could just make the game play the Werehog crap for you or if you didn't have to do those stupid minigames in No More Heroes. Pretty damn good right? I don't see why it's so popular to turn a good 5 hour game into a crappy 15 hour game. I guess the better solution would be to just not program crap into a good game, but the trend seems here to stay so I'd prefer it affect me as little as possible.

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MarvelousGerbil posted...
Skipable cutscenes
Pausable cutscenes
Subtitled cutscenes

This, though subtitles seem pretty common.

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What games don't have subtitles at least as an option?

Although I don't like how sometimes subtitles off is the default option.

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From: LeonhartFour | #040
What games don't have subtitles at least as an option?

Although I don't like how sometimes subtitles off is the default option.

Assassin's Creed, for one. They even lampshaded the addition in the sequel.

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JonthePenguin
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The original AC didn't have subtitles? Huh, I don't remember that at all.

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"I couldn't stand a day without a past or future. I need to live each moment to keep fighting here and now."

If a game has collectibles like the CDs and tags in Saints Row, then at the very least a way to see which ones you've already gotten. Or just get rid of collectibles entirely unless they actually give you decent rewards.

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Pokemon Black-1978-9490-1161

Boss Arena
New Game+
Cutscene Theatre (ala MGS2)

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New game+
Bonus hidden (unmissable!) collectibles
Freedom of exploration

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~~~~Yay~~~~

character customization. detailed. every 'epic' game should have Guitar Hero level of customization as a minimum. don't make a game with detailed models designed for glorious HD rendering...and then they come in one outfit with one set of weapons. if 'admiring how your game looks' is a goal of yours, i need to be able to use my personal preferences in that.

boss arena/rush mode. this just speaks for itself. it's shocking to me that every game with bosses does not have this, it should be a universal feature by this point.

dramatic increase in character ability as you go through the game. i love feeling like a god by the final 20% and will gladly sacrifice endgame difficulty for this (though in a well-made game, there shouldn't be any tradeoff there.) this should not require any ridiculous level of work on my part, either (pokemon EV training is fine (though the removal berries should have been in the main game in B/W,) unchangeable IVs are not. the vitamins should improve IVs instead in that example, that way it's still not 'easy' for me to get a flawless Virizion if it's 1 vitamin per IV point but i don't need to be willing to manipulate the RNG to do it, either.)

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--Dialogue choices and actions that actually affect the game and/or your relationships with other characters

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A system that adapts to how well you are playing and increases the difficulty.

Non-linearity.

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Oh, and Auto Balancing for online team play.

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From: LeonhartFour | #047
--Dialogue choices and actions that actually affect the game and/or your relationships with other characters

Oh yeah, this as well. I want a huge web of possible outcomes depending on my choices (be they gameplay or dialogue). I hate when it gives you two or three things to choose from, and they all get the same response from the NPC you're talking too.

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