I was recently discussing Farcry 2 with some friends and how cool the fire spread system was - And how it essentially was never used again after that title.
Is there a cool feature or mechanic you’ve seen in a game and hope to see more of?
Nemesis system. But
WankerWarner Bros tossed a patent on it and no one else could use it.The nemesis system patents and Namco’s loading screen mini game patent are two examples of why game mechanics and features should never be granted an exclusive patent.
Of course Namco’s patents expired in 2015 at a time when seamless load screens had become the industry standard.
Who knows what the gaming landscape will look like when people are finally able to get their hands on the nemesis system again?
What’s that?
There’s plenty of better deep dives on YouTube, but basically it’s a system in Shadows of Mordor (and moreso in Shadows of War) that would take a random NPC you were fighting and were joined by (or almost killed,) and elevate them thematically. If one knocked you down there’s a chance they would pick up your sword and break it, smack talk you, and walk away. That guy, of his name was Doug, became Doug the Sword Breaker. Never time you saw him, he’d get a short introduction and a quip or two to remove you of who he was.
If you died, since you were a spirit they’d just mock that they already best you before. But if you were killing them, they might get a scene where they manage to get away to amplify the story. Or maybe you’ll just kill them. It was random and happened with random NPCs, elevating them in the enemy army.
I believe in the second one you could even mind control someone, and take out the people above them, and have a spy in the upper ranks.
Imagine an action game with some Crusader Kings plot drama happening.
Honestly I think there’s probably enough prior art to get away with using whatever you wanted from it. But a) I’m no lawyer and b) I’m not risking millions of dollars making a game.
Basically a pseudo random system that’d generate orcs for you to meet-fight-recruit they’d have very fleshed out intros
I’m currently enjoying a Skyrim playthrough that uses the Nemesis mod. It doesn’t have ALL of the features that the shadow series does of course, but I’m really enjoying it!
Link to the mod?
Ooh, I started a new VR playthrough recently, without a concrete plan (well, beyond joining the Brotherhood, because Music of Life by Young Scrolls is amazing).
This looks like it could spice things up!
It didn’t really take off to begin with but dual screen support like Supreme Commander had with the real-time map overview on the 2nd monitor. It could be a skirmish map or live track map for a racing game, live scoreboard, player status or inventory system.
I think you’re describing the Nintendo DS.
Yeah I guess I am. Just give it to us in a bigger form.
Oh, you mean the WiiU?
Yeah I guess I am. Just give it to us in a bigger form…
Oh you mean a Jumbotron?
I would love if Civilization or Crusader Kings implemented this.
Racing sims typically support telemetry that can be used to display info for the driver or overall race info. E.g. a dashboard on a phone mounted to the wheel stand, or a realtime online display and timing. People even make devices like wind simulator or ass-shaker for immersion.
Check out SimHub for customizable widget software that supports many games.
Yeah I do all that myself with ETS2 but wanted to give another example.
Actually, when I played ‘OpenTTD’, i.e. the remake of ‘Transport Tycoon’, I wanted the game to broadcast telemetry of my enterprise’s economy, so I could dump it into a spreadsheet and gawk at the numbers. This indeed could’ve also been a second-monitor activity (or rather, second computer since I played on a tablet).
Wasn’t there a game 5 years or so ago that you used your phone to play it as well I’m xbox or playstat?
Fun unlockables by doing some cheat.
Imagine telling a FIFA player that you used to be able to have a dog as referee by doing the Konami code. And it was not behind a fucking paywall.
International Super Star Soccer for SNES had this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYaHPm-yDl8&t=63
Dude I miss unlocking fighting game characters. Now they’re all purchaseable… Like you literally can’t just earn them from beating the arcade mode - that is if the game has an arcade mode to begin with these days
I think the last game I played that did it was Smash Bros Ultimate, and that’s barely a fighting game imo
It’s a platform fighter.
I miss cheats too, I remember my friend at school had cheat codes for gta vice city and I copied them down and took it home.
The number of “cheat codes” that were actually just bonus content. Like I remember there were codes in Diddy Kong Racing where you could change all the power-up balloons to any color, like all red or all blue. I also remember there were codes in Mechwarrior II that unlocked a few mechs. Like, there were NPCs in a few missions that were a Tarantula, a Battlemaster, and there were elementals in one level. You could cheat to play as them, but the Battlemaster crashed the game.
Good times.
Split screen coop/multiplayer
Way too many games only let you do multiplayer with one player and have online only coop campaigns
Used to be pretty standard that a guest could play with you online
The thing new games don’t have that I miss from old games is friends to play the game with 😭
I want to see puzzles that are implemented using the physics engine. And I don’t mean “toss the axe in the proper arc to trigger the gate” physics. I mean “stack the bricks on one end of the seesaw to balance it long enough to make the jump to the next platform”. Or “use the blue barrels’ buoyancy to raise the platform out of the water”.
Yesss and more destruction physics. I miss watching cars crumple and get torn apart like in the burnout games. There was a really old ww2 dogfighting game where the plane wings could get sawn off and you’d see this smoking plane spiralling into the ground while the wing flew off in the opposite direction before the plane exploded on the ground.
Red Faction was great for that. You could go around, sure. Or just bust through the damn wall.
Check out Wreckfest. It’s mostly basically rallycross with plenty of damage. The physics is better than in Burnout, afaik. The sequel game was just recently either released or announced.
Ohh I totally forgot about that one, thanks!
I think those were mind blowing when I first played hl2, just because real time physics and destruction was novel, but now I think they grind the pacing to a halt. I think they just don’t work in an action shooter IMO.
My opinion is the exact opposite. Narrative games, even action shooters, need to have high action and low action parts in balance. If high action segments are excessive, it can lead to combat fatigue. If low action parts are excessive, the player gets bored and the pacing dies.
Half-Life 2 E1, the “Low Lives” chapter, has probably the most stressful combat in the game because the player has to balance so many things. Shooting the zombies attacking Gordon versus helping Alyx fight. Helping Alyx versus keeping the flashlight charged. Firearms versus explosive props. All of that in oppressive darkness. Combat fatigue sets in. The short puzzle segments, even as simple as crawling through a vent to flip a switch, are opportunities to take a breath, absorb the environment, and prepare for the next segment – especially at the end of that particular chapter, when the player escapes the zombies and has a chance to wind down.
At the same time, puzzles, by their slower nature, are excellent for delivering narrative and player training, and to let the player absorb the atmosphere. Alyx’s first encounter with the stalkers in “Undue Alarm” wouldn’t have had the same emotional impact if the player could just pop them in the head and move on.
In contrast, most of “Highway 17” is just a prolonged vehicle-based puzzle. By the time the player reaches the large railway bridge, they might be sick of driving. I know I was. It’s a relief to finally engage in some platforming and long-range combat while traversing the bridge.
So what are the narrative values of my two examples? The cinderblock seesaw in “Route Kanal” is just player training. A show, don’t tell method to let the player know that physics puzzles will be a factor. It’s also a short break after the on-foot chase, before the encounter with the hunter chopper. In “Water Hazard”, the contraptions serve a larger narrative purpose: they’re the tools of the rebels’ refugee evacuation effort. The player utilizes them like one of the refugees would have.
The best bits of the Half-Life games are the more slow parts. Just taking in the environmental storytelling, solving simple puzzles, etc. Helps to make the more action sequences feel more impactful and intense.
When I was replaying ‘HL2’ around ten years ago, I ran around the whole map looking for where I can get outside of the plot course, especially in the slower parts of the levels. This culminated in me driving the hoverboat up a three-meter-high wooden platform, falling from that platform myself, and not being able to climb up again to get the boat. After which I had to run from the attack helicopter on foot, and swim by myself later on that level.
I use about the same approach in the original ‘Deus Ex’, which I’ve been replaying recently: investigating every nook and cranny, being 100% stealthy, trying to go where the game shouldn’t allow me to be. I actually found an exit from a scripted part of a level where only one path is normally possible — though there was nothing to do outside of that part. The game also gives experience points for getting into some remote or secret places.
A grapple hook
Just cause 2 with infinite distance grapple hook and chuck Norris character model. Too fun
there’s a grappling hook in ARC Raiders (called the snap hook) and I have one but have never bothered using it. I should change that some day.
The grappling hook was a common mod in the original QuakeWorld scene and was included in the official Quake II CTF game mod. I’m surprised it didn’t become a mainstay in games afterwards, it was so fun to use. Shogo: Mobile Armor Division had it built in and was one of the most fun FPS games I had ever played until cheaters took over.
Sekiro
dying light (1, 2, the beast)
I played on a Half Life (the first one) deathmatch server that had a grappling hook mod. It was awesome.
Just cause 2 with infinite distance grapple hook and chuck Norris character model. Too fun
Mods and self hosted servers
This seems fairly common among the survival games genre.
mind sharing a few titles?
I stopped looking into much new stuff beyond word of mouth, last I played was Neither, I think, and it was very disappointing that that didn’t go anywhere. neat that you can still run a server, though
V-Rising, Valheim, No Man’s Sky, Palworld, Enshrouded, Conan Exiles.
Minecraft is probably the quintessential survival game and has a significant modding community.
Minecraft is one of the only constants in my life lol
Arcade racers that aren’t just… Bad.
Burnout Revenge was a beloved game of my childhood. You had bonuses from wrecking your foes, got bonuses for creating wrecks, and for near death experiences. And there was an awesome mode where you would launch your car into a scene to cause as much damage as possible.
Midnight Club 2 where you could customize your cars and race them on fun tracks, but could also just beep around the open world.
Maybe it’s nostalgia, but I would love a fun racing game that doesn’t have a GTA attached to it.
This is literally why people spend $500 on a switch 2; it has the only arcade racer on the market worth playing. If you don’t want a single-game console or Mark Kart isn’t whst you’re looking for, tough luck.
SuperTuxKart is alright, from what I understand. They’re also making a new version apparently. Though I’m not into karting arcades, so dunno for sure how it compares.
Try ‘Wreckfest’: it’s similar to ‘Burnout’, but with better physics. Also ‘Circuit Superstars’ for a top-down racer with decent physics, pit stops, and multiplayer.
There are also ‘The Crew 2’ and ‘The Crew Motorfest’, ‘Tokyo Xtreme Racer’, ‘Asphalt Legends’, ‘Formula Legends’, ‘iRacing Arcade’, and of course ‘Forza Horizon’ 4/5 — but I haven’t played any of these, so ymmv.
Check out Trail Out.
Destructible buildings like in Red Faction: Guerilla.
That’s the thing I miss the most. We have such insanely powerful hardware now and yet we never exceeded 2009 in destruction tech.
Teardown scratched that itch a little bit but it lacks proper building physics.
I was recently discussing Farcry 2 with some friends and how cool the fire spread system was - And how it essentially was never used again after that title.
In case you didn’t know, Zelda Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom have a very similar fire spread system.
Oh that’s true, I did forget about that one.
Future far cry titles did also have the same fire spreading system, just toned down since they’re not set in very dry places.
It was toned down in FC2 too, because otherwise the whole map burnt down completely all the time.
What is said fire spread system?
When a fire breaks out on grass, it spreads like it would in real life. In FC2 you could watch a small flame spread and become an inferno. It was awesome. Games don’t have anything like that these days.
It’s 2D, but the fire mechanic is pretty fun - Wildfire
Mechanics from the Mercenaries series. Destructible buildings, getting weapons and vehicles dropped to you anywhere at any time. Being able to ally with different factions. Oh, and the ability to call in airstrikes. Bunker busters, cluster bombs, artillery barrages, etc. Just Cause and Metal Gear Solid V are the closest things to that. But they just aren’t the same.
And the ability to just fly like Superman. I’d like that in more games.
whyd you write my comment for me
I want to see more modular building for vehicles and bases and fun traversal options. So many open world walking sims, it gets old. Or fun mounts that are more than just faster walking. (Rdr horses but fantasy beasts that ride differently)
No one brings planes into sht, why don’t mmos have magic planes, idk if seeing it in random anime as a kid changed my expectations but we should have ww2 magic based planes. Bothers me so much that fantasy societies are supposedly so smart, have such advanced magic, but couldn’t come up with magic cars. Like suspension, engines, etc. are just too complicated for them.
they’re just a really nice person
Tanking with shields (force/kinetic shields in sci-fi games, not physical shields)
I liked when games let you face-tank damage with your shield (like in Mass Effect, before Andromeda where they made shields weak af and even removed shield gating) and not having to care for healing (unless you lose all your shields)
I don’t know if it’s due to the souls-like trend, but it feels like game developers need to make punitive games nowadays
Battlezone II had force shields. They used your vehicle’s weapon energy. The shields used energy, and also taking hits would drain your energy. You needed a ship with fast energy regen to make the most use out of them. One ship from the X-Mod mod, the Jade Falcon, could actually regenerate faster than the shields drained. So you could keep them on all the time, and still shoot some. It wasn’t invincible by any means, but that regen speed plus the fact that the radar ping twice as frequently made it my absolute favorite ship.
I wanna see games going wide again. Get me something like Sonic Adventure 2 Battle again where we got racing, going fast, a creature battler/care system, multiplayer. I miss when games were full of a wide variety of shit.
Most MMOs are that btw., if you haven’t played any. Lots and lots of minigames.
Oh I have, have probably like 4 years playtime in game for WoW. But it used to be common. Idk it feel like it used to be about fun and now everything takes itself too seriously.
it used to be common
It did?
Kirby Air Riders definitely feels like it keeps that spirit alive. The game could’ve just been City Trial and I would’ve paid $70 just to play City Trial, but they packed everything else in there too because they could.
Star Garden appears to be “Kirby Air Ride with a chao garden” and a deeply Dreamcast art style. Might be worth having on your radar
Thank you for that. Wish listed asap
A mechanic to permanently gain new attacks and/or abilities by mastering equipment. I haven’t seen that many games have this mechanic and it’s mostly been adult games for some reason. I think Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep is the only non-adult game I’ve seen to have this mechanic.
I just remembered another one. The Gambits system from Final Fantasy 12. I’ve always liked this mechanic because it almost completely automates battles, allowing you to focus more on exploration and treasure hunting. I have only seen two games do this and, once again, FF12 is the only non-adult game I’ve seen with this type of mechanic.
Clair Obscur Expedition 33 kind of has the gaining abilities from mastering equipment thing you mentioned, it’s not really equipment in that you can’t see the items being put on, but you equip items that give abilities and after a few battles with it you master the ability and can change to another item but equip the ability through a separate resource pool.
That is actually part of what I meant by having permanent access to the ability. One of the games I didn’t mention in my comment does it like that, where you get the abilities by mastering equipment but then you have to use AP to actually activate it like how abilities were in Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2. I’ve actually been interested in playing Clair Obscure because I’ve heard that it’s one of the best RPGs to exist. The only problem is that, because it’s a modern game, I don’t know it it’ll run on my computer and I don’t have another way to play it.
You can always try it out and refund it on Steam if it doesn’t run well (or pirate it, test it, then buy it if it does). The prologue is actually one of the most hardware-taxing parts of the game, so you’ll know in about 20 minutes if your system can play it well.
I could do that but I might have to wait until we switch ISPs. My current internet speed is terrible and the ISPs that we’re looking into have significantly better speeds. For context, I’m currently trying to download a game from Itchio that’s only 700 MB and, on top of the fact that it keeps failing, it needs over half an hour to download for me.
Ah, in that case you’d definitely want to get the game via Steam or torrents. Both of those options have resumable downloads so if you’re on slow Internet it’ll just be… Slow. It won’t “fail and need to restart”. It’ll just take a day or whatever to download.
Yeah, I’ve downloaded games through Steam before. I actually had to switch over to the Itchio desktop app because downloads through their desktop app are more stable than their website. And yes, I know that I should probably just use their app to download games but I just hate using app stores on PC, it’s the same reason Steam isn’t my preferred source for games.
I hope you get to play it some day, it’s very good
Final Fantasy 9 had you learn skills from equipment.
Have you played Tokyo Mirage Sessions?
Weird game in general, but some of my favorite turn based combat ever. I think you permanently learn abilities from weapons if I recall.
No, assuming I found the game you’re referring to, I’ve never owned a Wii U and while my mom owns a switch, I don’t use it. I also don’t think I’d be able to emulate it either. It seems interesting but I wont be able to play it right now.
Yeah it was rereleased on Switch. Could probably emulate it if you really wanted but yeah dunno if it’s worth the effort
I really wished there are more games that implement something like the gambit system from FF12. My dream game is some monster / pet collecting and battling game plus the gambit system from FF12. now if only n*ntendo wouldn’t be such an @ss…
Check out Unicorn Overlord (I know, awful name).
Definitely a different kind of game than FF12, but the way the combat works reminds me quite a bit of gambits. Really fun game too, with beautiful art style.
Oh, it’s one of Vanillaware games with their distinct art style! Doesn’t seems to be released on steam though. Too bad because it seems like a perfect game to play on the steam deck.
Bummer… And yeah, it is, I put a ton of hours into it in PS4 remote streaming to my Deck
