Features that everything should have.

[Eggsnham]

All games should have a certain amount of character customization. If I'm playing a linear game, I want to at least be able to have my character look how I want him to.

 

[Mastercylinder]

Cupholders

 

[Blueruler182]

Cup holder. Everything should have a cup holder.

All games should have a certain amount of character customization. If I'm playing a linear game, I want to at least be able to have my character look how I want him to.

I like this. I mean, some things should be solid if a game is linear, but individual clothing or armor, or whatever would be fine.

EDIT:

Cupholders

Damn! You beat me by a second!

 

[HeySeansOnline]

6. All games should allow you to save anywhere.

If you want to rough it, go ahead, but let us worrywarts save all the time if we want to. I'm looking at you, Alpha Protocol.

Yes. All single player games need to have a save anywhere button. Just look at something like, say, Tales of Symphonia. I understand it's a JRPG, Namco, but I need to take a break and get off my ass every now and then.

Speaking of the Tales series, the games did do something every game should. At any time, you can select the difficulty. One thing I loved about Tales of the Abyss is that whenever I got bored, I could switch the battle difficulty to Hard. Then I had to switch it back to normal because my A.I. partners were retarded. "HMM," they think, "I am completely defenseless when casting spells. I should walk right up to this dragon, hit it, and then start casting a spell without running away!"
*Death*
*Life bottle*
"Hey you! Player! You're using too many items!"

Ah, yes. The game should not talk to you in gameplay unless it's important.

And if a game is going to stick me with A.I. most of the game, it should NOT BE RETARDED.

Every game also needs an OPTIONAL tutorial. I'm sick of picking up a game I kick total ass at, selecting hard difficulty, and having it give me a tutorial anyway. Hell, Monster Hunter 3 is guilty of this. I start a new game, in a series I'm no stranger to, and it tells me PRESS X TO ATTACK.

Speaking of which, games should not remove major factors in sequels. I was cool with the lack of a sandbox in No More Heroes 2, since running around the same city would have been a pain in the ass. However, I'm going to bring it up again, Monster Hunter 3. It removed so many god damn weapons. As a matter of fact, I actually counted the amount of content in Monster Hunter Freedom Unite and Monster Hunter 3. Let's have a look see.

Spoiler: Here's where you went wrong, Capcom

MH3:
17 minor enemies
18 bosses
9 weapons
5 areas
5 special areas

MHFU:
23 minor enemies
58 bosses (counting alternate colors, 39 not counting them)
11 weapons
13 areas
9 special areas

MH3 = 54
MHFU = 114/95

You see my point, right? I don't care that it's on the Wii, MHFU was on the fucking PSP, and it had almost twice the amount of content. If I had to blame something, I'd blame the fact that they just had to make the graphics as pretty as possible. I'm okay with 64 bits if it means the game is less repetitive, Capcom.

You know what really sucks, us PSP hunters are getting a new game, with new monsters, and elements from tri, and returning elements from U and F2 and F1.

Anyway what games really need in my opinion Is a "fuck up" feature, If I accidently sell my prescious sword I farmed five hours for, or I accidently shoot a rocket at my feet, I should have this around to take me back a good five to ten seconds, I can't tell how many games I've ruined by making one little click of a button mistake.

 

[hamster mk 4]

All places of residence should come with an out door grill. I don't care if it is 20 below half the year. A designated area for applying naked flame to food is essential to civilized living.

 

[skitzo van]

A smoothie machine.
I don't care if you can't get your backpack off of the ground, I need a damn smoothie!

 

[Queen Michael]

A digital watch.

 

[The Geek Lord]

You know what really sucks, us PSP hunters are getting a new game, with new monsters, and elements from tri, and returning elements from U and F2 and F1.

Most of the new monsters look like Pokemon. Hold on... You get to kill Pokemon... Hm...

I am getting Monster Hunter Freedom 3 now.

... Well, provided they make capturing monsters OPTIONAL again. Seriously, what the hell was with that?

 

[Mechsoap]

7. all games will allow you to take a picture of yourself to set a avatar, and then click ''make this awesome'' option

 

[Judgement101]

5. All food should be available in bar form.

Agreed.

 

[alittlepepper]

COOPERATIVE!!

Jesus Christ developers, do you not realise the addition of co-op can make an all right game great? Take Left 4 Dead. Play that solo. How exciting.

Can't think of anything non-game related at the moment...

Pretty much this. Especially these days. With all of the online networks and services you would really think that comprehensive co-operative play (in the main story *especially*) would be practically as much of a part of the checklist as a title screen. I know not every game is really built for co-op but for things like racing games and FPS's you really should include co-op, I think.

 

[Muffinthraka]

A cheese grater.

 

[Thedayrecker]

I think a game should have quick save. This way I can save, storm into a crowded room, and if things go tits up, I can reload and start over.

 

[Ren3004]

You know what really sucks, us PSP hunters are getting a new game, with new monsters, and elements from tri, and returning elements from U and F2 and F1.

So, I just got a Wii for next to nothing?

 

[tlozoot]

Interestingly a few of these points seem to stem from <url=http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20050826/adams_01.shtml>this article.

Those that are game related anyway.

 

[Ren3004]

Interestingly a few of these points seem to stem from <url=http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20050826/adams_01.shtml>this article.

Those that are game related anyway.

Well, that's an interesting read, though I never encountered some of these problems. I can't remember any game where I made a bad decision and had to wait for long before finding out I lost.

And that just reminded me of...

42. Save slots
I absolutely hate limited slots for saving the game. I want to be able to save in as many files as I can. And if a limited number of slots (say, 3) is bad, having just one is unforgivable (I'm looking at you, Pokémon). Yes, that's the reason my brother hasn't played Pokémon, because I've yet to finish my game.

 

[Okuu_Fusion]

Games should be worth what you pay for, so...

Single player story should be ridiculously long, yet never tiring

 

[Becoming Insane]

(I'm too lazy to go back and quote people so I'll just make the points again)
-Save anywhere
I hate, HATE having to tell my parents to "wait just a sec, I gotta get to a save point."
Just hit pause-> Save ->Yes.

-Multiple save slots
Ideally, don't use them at all, just tell me how many saves my memory will support.

-Pause/skip cutscenes
The pause thing was especially egregious in Deadly Premonition, where I wanted to look at whatever shiny sticker I just unlocked, and the game kept playing (admittedly, it was just saving, but the point remains). Also, skippable cutscenes should have you double press the button so you don't accidentally skip something important

-All food should come in bar form
A million times yes

Now for my ideas:
-Where possible, games should have multiple endings.
I realize that this might not be feasible for some games, but for something like Yume Nikki, I think we'd all appreciate a different ending than

Spoiler

Madotsuki's suicide for no apparent reason

-All games NEED autosave.
This ties in with the above "save anywhwere" thing. I've heard arguments that saving anywhere would make the game "too easy," and I really don't understand that argument, as even if I have a recent save, I really don't want to have to do what I did all over again.

-More offline multiplayer/co-op
This is a more personal one, as I currently can't even go to the Marketplace to get DLC (long story), so I would really appreciate it if I could play the game with my real life friends without having to pay extra.

 

[HeySeansOnline]

You know what really sucks, us PSP hunters are getting a new game, with new monsters, and elements from tri, and returning elements from U and F2 and F1.

Most of the new monsters look like Pokemon. Hold on... You get to kill Pokemon... Hm...

I am getting Monster Hunter Freedom 3 now.

... Well, provided they make capturing monsters OPTIONAL again. Seriously, what the hell was with that?

Thought I was the only one who thought the bear is looking like Ursarang.

You know what really sucks, us PSP hunters are getting a new game, with new monsters, and elements from tri, and returning elements from U and F2 and F1.

So, I just got a Wii for next to nothing?

Well theres looking to be no water, also the graphics won't be as nice, and finding people to play with will be more of a *****, Tri still looks like a good investment, and who knows what Nintendo might start pulling out when the Kinect and move competition pops up.

 

[Danpascooch]

Okay, I'm pretty sure that all of us have already thought something along the lines of "Hey, why didn't the people who made this do it differently? It would be much easier." This thread is dedicated to the features that we think every product should have, because they're convenient, and not very hard to implement.

So, to get the ball rolling:

1. Loading screens
If you ever played Oblivion, you may have noticed that it tends to freeze during the loading screens. But the loading progress bar sometimes moves so slowly that it's hard to know if it's frozen, or just going slow. So, if loading screens had something moving around that stopped when the game froze, it would make that much easier on us.

2. The Xbox Guide button
I don't know whether this happens in the Playstation or not, but some Xbox games keep playing cutscenes even when the centre button is pressed. Just because I want to see what the achievement I just got was, doesn't mean I want to miss what's happening in the game.

3. Battery compartments
Okay, so this one is a little petty, but sometimes while switching batteries, I've got a lot of stuff lying around and have to spend a lot of time searching for the compartment cover. It's entirely plausible that it can get lost while doing this. Well, the battery compartment cover in my TV remote is connected to the remote itself, so it can't be misplaced. Smart, huh?

So, Escapists, what features do you wish that everything had?

Number one seems like a good idea in theory, but sometimes the game can freeze and still have the damn thing spinning, and that just adds a new layer to the confusion.

As for number two, I think a lot of that is technical, I don't know if all cutscenes can be paused easily, because they may not be video files, they may be utilizing the engine to generate the elements of the cutscene

As for number three, I wholeheartedly agree, it wouldn't work with all devices, but it should be used a hell of a lot more than it currently is.

Here is mine:

Micro USB

Micro USB has become more or less standard on smart phones (except Apple, who insist on owning everything that is ever used in tandem with their products, I'm surprised they don't require Apple brand fucking electricity for $30 a watt) But I don't think it should stop there, it would be incredibly convenient if all phones, and mp3 players, Gameboys, ect. Used Micro USB, it's convenient.