If you could bring back one thing about retro games what would it be?

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

1.) Intro level design that teaches the player the basics as a course of gameplay, rather than through tutorial popups (see EgoRaptor's Sequelitis video about the MegaMan X series)

2.) Real disadvantages to failure, including widely-spaced savepoints, potential loss of character stat progression (bring back level downs! XP debt is for losers! )

3.) Greater focus on story and characters in RPGs, and lesser focus on graphics (Seriously, we've got photorealism already. Stop pushing graphics and start hiring writers who aren't shit.)

These. I will show that EgoRaptor video to my kids when they get into gaming and maybe they'll understand.

I'd consider this a good example of retro game immediacy:

Spoiler: SPACE WEED

Their show isn't always the best but I loved that particular episode. These three guys typically go into a game without a single clue how to play and go for about half an hour on intuition. How long would half an hour of play get you in a modern game? Past the loading and downloading screens? Past the multiple intro cinematics? Past the tutorials?

While it's all done half jokingly, they state at the end they found this a lot more fun than most modern games, and they didn't even try any of the other mechs beyond the Nitro, or the multiplayer which was also fun. The only problem I had with it was limited continues and no save points at all. Including those wouldn't do much to change just how intense the last few levels are.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

Good storytelling in RPG games a la Baldur's Gate, Planescape Torment, where the story is focused on more and matters more than the gameplay. Also more choices than Good&Evil to choose from during dialogues.

Dragon Age Origins did it pretty well, but not to the extent that I wanted it to.

 

[Vault101]

weirdness and just allround uniqueness

also I cant tell if we've gone backwards or not in regards to female protagonists....I mean Dixie Kong was just as much of a player as Diddie Kong..more so because she did that hair whip thing

 

[IndomitableSam]

I miss the length. 60+ hours used to be the norm, and even then you hadn't done all the side quests. Now the main story is like 10-20 hours at most, and only a few hours of sidequests.

Hell, outside of traditional RPGs, 10 hours for a game is now considered long! This is bull. That's $6-$7 an hour of play, plus taxes. Movies are cheaper. Movies. At the theatre. Where they make you pay a premium for 3D when you don't even want to see it in 3D but they aren't showing the 2D version so they can fuck you over and get more money.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Complete game sales. That is: Everything that's going into the game stays in the game, and isn't cordoned off behind some fucking paywall or online pass or whatever. You give them money, you get the game and that's it. No arm twisting bullshit.

Everything else is pretty elementary in comparison.

 

[Vault101]

I miss the length. 60+ hours used to be the norm, and even then you hadn't done all the side quests. Now the main story is like 10-20 hours at most, and only a few hours of sidequests.

Hell, outside of traditional RPGs, 10 hours for a game is now considered long! This is bull. That's $6-$7 an hour of play, plus taxes. Movies are cheaper. Movies. At the theatre. Where they make you pay a premium for 3D when you don't even want to see it in 3D but they aren't showing the 2D version so they can fuck you over and get more money.

60?....I don't know....maybe for a specific type of game but not something like doom or super mario bros...

this used to bother me a lot more when I had more time on my hands...now that I have a job and other interests I'm not as bothered

however I do agree in that 10 is not and should not be considered long

 

[Vault101]

Complete game sales. That is: Everything that's going into the game stays in the game, and isn't cordoned off behind some fucking paywall or online pass or whatever. You give them money, you get the game and that's it. No arm twisting bullshit.

Everything else is pretty elementary in comparison.

Well, if I were to pick one... Oh, got it! You know how you could unlock different costumes for character(s) by doing tasks, rather then buying them with cash. This I want.

its funny how DLC always seems to be enough to annoy you yet not enough to justify paying for that shit....

I would reintroduce a 5 minute loading time with a loading screen slowly built over an initial minute and then coloured in.
.

5 minutes? I have a life you know.....

FMV games or at least FMV cutscenes. Sure they had some really cheesy acting, but that is part of the charm. Besides, with modern games we could potentially get some really cool ones.

Loco Cycle had an FMV intro, and maybe some cutscenes as well (I'm not sure, I haven't played it), but as far as I know, that's the only one. More of that, please, and not just in silly comedy games.

I don't know...I think they died a natural and justified death...they were always a gimmick and with how graphics are now they are rather redundant

I can see it in a niche kind of appeal but not a big mainstream game since it would create a really uncomfortable disconnect between the game and the cutscenes

 

[Nazulu]

I preferred the industry before all these great development teams were suddenly owned by big publishers, the shit heads we keep hearing about. I think an artist puts more heart into their work when it's truly theirs and it isn't cut up with DLC and released unfinished.

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

If I had to pick one thing though it would be how when a game was released it had to be a complete game due to the lack of an online service to provide patches. When you bought a game you knew it had been tested to make sure there were fewer if any bugs and you didn't have to spend time afterwards updating it (in some cases several times per week). Imagine that nowadays, if a game like Rome 2 Total War was released when it was done, not in advance only to need many patches later. If Dead Rising 3 didn't need a massive patch not long after launch. Sure it pushes back the release but it saves the consumer time.

Daggerfall (1996) was literally impossible to complete at release. This isn't really that new. I guess it's new for big budget console games, but PC games and smaller console games have always had these problems.

Either way it needs to stop.

I miss the length. 60+ hours used to be the norm, and even then you hadn't done all the side quests. Now the main story is like 10-20 hours at most, and only a few hours of sidequests.

When on earth was 60 considered the norm?! I play older games all the time - it's most of what I buy because I don't have much money - and I can barely think of *any* that have taken me 60 hours to beat the main story. In fact, I can't think of a single none-RPG, ever, that took 60 hours to beat, even with side content. Plenty of games can exceed that playtime, but that's because they're fun enough that you keep playing them, not because it took 60 hours to get to the ending.

OT: I'd like to see games focus LESS on story again. Contrary to what many seem to believe, older games typically had much less story than their modern counterparts. The reason you remember older stories fondly is because older games only had a story when they actually had one to tell. Nowadays it seems like you aren't allowed to release a game without a bunch of cut-scenes and scripted sequences feeding you a mediocre plot. I'd much rather most action games forget story and just focus all of their efforts on the gameplay. Heck, I'd like to see more RPGs do this, too. Too many RPGs with shit or mediocre mechanics get by on being story-driven and "cinematic." I wish more of them would take the Spiderweb model where they're hardly devoid of plot (in fact, the plots can be very good) but you never really stop playing, either.

Oh, and RPGs with real-time action based combat can either fuck off and die or learn to do it well.

 

[Atmos Duality]

its funny how DLC always seems to be enough to annoy you yet not enough to justify paying for that shit....

Mostly because what they charge for is ancillary crap. Skins, guns, etc.
There's scenarios too, of course, and some of those I've been pleased with: Borderlands 2's scenario DLC turned out great, but that's definitely the exception; overall, I'd much rather just have a guarantee that the game is sold complete and not have to deal with it past that.

Though I'm pretty sure most companies only charge for ancillary stuff because I don't think even the worst of the lot are ready to try and sell a game where something essential like the ending or end game mechanic is stuck behind a paywall.

Hypothetically, could you imagine what would have happened if say, EA made a game with a mediocre or "bad" ending, and charged real money so you could play a scenario that alters it to be the good ending?

ASIDE: Oh, and because I missed doing so before...
Welcome back, Vault 101.

 

[Bombiz]

I would reintroduce a 5 minute loading time with a loading screen slowly built over an initial minute and then coloured in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0EfycbDhiw

It certainly made you appreciate the game when you finally got there.

thats quite the troll you have there son.

OT: I'd wager that i would bring anything back since i didn?t really get into gaming until the ps2 era. Although my first game was C&C 1. Though most people forget about that game and indeed genre. So i guess if i had to bring something back it would be the RTS genre.

 

[Vault101]

snip.

a lot of the good DLC is just basically expansion packs, but it gets thrown in with the annoying crap

 

[Madman123456]

There is very little that we can not do better nowadays. Sadly, we rarely do.
Except for graphics and we are slowly getting to have a variety of different art styles, yay!

It's a rather broad topic, most of things that where nice back then aren't gone, they are just being done too rarely.
There are hard games, arguably too few but personally i'd recommend to learn to challenge yourself. I often find myself sneaking in the modern fallout games and even dreading to be caught for very little reason, i can punch deathclaw so hard that their name would be more appropriate if you replaced the "th" with a "d".
There are different art styles but again, too few.
There are even some people around who wont attempt to rip you off and again, too few.

 

[BakedSardine]

The idea of limited lives should be brought back - there is an inherent satisfaction that you get in finishing a game with a limited number of lives and it alters they way you play. Of course, this should be coupled with "secret codes" that allow unlimited lives or exploits like the Super Mario Bros. infinite 1-UP trick.

 

[Byte2222]

As previously observed, there's a lot to take your pick from. For me, though:

Runner up: art direction. I'm not talking about graphics but rather bright colours and designs that don't spell it out for the player

My choice: simple challenge. When you only have a d-pad and two buttons there are no excuses and I rarely feel challenged by modern games.

 

[Llil]

FMV games or at least FMV cutscenes. Sure they had some really cheesy acting, but that is part of the charm. Besides, with modern games we could potentially get some really cool ones.

Loco Cycle had an FMV intro, and maybe some cutscenes as well (I'm not sure, I haven't played it), but as far as I know, that's the only one. More of that, please, and not just in silly comedy games.

I don't know...I think they died a natural and justified death...they were always a gimmick and with how graphics are now they are rather redundant

I can see it in a niche kind of appeal but not a big mainstream game since it would create a really uncomfortable disconnect between the game and the cutscenes

Games that go for the photorealistic graphics wouldn't benefit much from FMV anymore, but they could fit in games that have a more stylised look. Adventure games in the style of Tex Murphy or Phantasmagoria could also work really well.

And maybe something like the Wing Commander games, where you don't really see the other people outside of cutscenes and the little dialogue boxes when they talk to you during missions. That way there wouldn't be a disconnect, because the in game graphics are just the space ships and stuff like that.

I genuinely think games could still do cool and interesting things with FMV. It would probably have to be some indie developer that does it, but that's fine.

 

[Hero of Lime]

Well for one, being able to just put a game into a console and play immediately. I know things need to be downloaded and all, but that is one aspect of gaming I really miss, on the console side anyway.

Definitely knowing that any extra stuff in a game like secret levels, costumes, and general extra content is already hiding in the game waiting for you to unlock it as opposed to being in DLC. Luckily some games still have this, but they are a rarity these days.

Less tutorials for sure. Tutorial heavy games have been around for a while now, but considering there was a point where the player could just learn the controls naturally with little to no help, that needs to make a comeback.

 

[lord.jeff]

I miss the length. 60+ hours used to be the norm, and even then you hadn't done all the side quests. Now the main story is like 10-20 hours at most, and only a few hours of sidequests.

Hell, outside of traditional RPGs, 10 hours for a game is now considered long! This is bull. That's $6-$7 an hour of play, plus taxes. Movies are cheaper. Movies. At the theatre. Where they make you pay a premium for 3D when you don't even want to see it in 3D but they aren't showing the 2D version so they can fuck you over and get more money.

Can't really pick just one. The Super Nintendo era was objectively better than modern gaming in all ways that matter.


7.) The measurement of a game's playtime in days rather than hours. Remember back when you could buy a brand new Super Nintendo game for $35, and it would still be fun next year? Sorry, but a $60 RPG with only 40 hours of story is not okay. And post-story bonus dungeons don't cut it, either. The story is over, you won. So why do you care about an extra dungeon? Basically, dungeons and loot should serve as stepping stones to progress the story, not the other way around.

The majority of NES and SNES area games only took something like an hour to beat if you knew what you were doing, it only took days because you had to replay the first few level 50 times because you got stuck later on. On average games are probably a lot longer then they use to be. As for what I'd want back further spaced check points, seriously games have mid boss check points now it feels like you cheated to beat the boss. Also taking focus away from leveling up your character doesn't get better only you do.

 

[DAAANtheMAAAN]

It'd be nice if Nintendo had the 3rd party support it did back in the NES/SNES days...

 

[martypants]

A combination of bringing difficulty back into gaming, and actual consequences for failure, whether that's through limited lives or checkpoints and saves spaced further apart. And none of this "reset to your last checkpoint but keep all of your experience/gold/gear/what have you because otherwise you might be upset that you lost it" hand holding, because then any difficulty setting can be conquered just by throwing your battered body, ragdoll-like, at whatever challenge is standing in your way. Repeat as necessary, forever.

I remember when you died in a game, you might see a message about how you lost and/or the world got destroyed, and then you were promptly booted to the start menu. You might be able to load your last save, but if you forgot to save for a while, or there wasn't a checkpoint made available to you by design, it stung. And it made winning that much sweeter.