Pretty self explanatory title.
1 - Custom difficulty settings.
You know when you can never quite get the difficulty right? Perhaps you like the increased number of enemies and scarcity of supplies that comes with the super hard mode, but hate that it turns the enemies into boring bullet sponges. For example, I personally love how the super hard mode in The Last of Us will kill you in 1-3 hits from even the most basic of enemies, forcing you to really plan out your actions and make the most of your equipment, but hate that it hides the HUD because apparently knowing how much health you have is for chumps.
Dishonored 2 had custom difficulty settings and it was fucking amazing. You could change so many things, even small things that I wouldn't even have thought of. Whether enemies attack you one at a time or gang up. Whether or not you stay concealed when leaning/peeking around corners. How effective potions are. How much being at a higher elevation than an enemy conceals you from them. Whether or not you get multiple save slots, or any save at all. Whether or not the weapon selection wheel pauses the game while it's open. The list just went on and on, and it was great.
2 - Map icon filters.
When you're playing your generic Ubisoft-em-up open world game and you've decided that a certain kind of collectible or side mission just isn't worth your time, wouldn't it be nice to hide it from the map? Partly just to reduce the clutter. Plus, for someone like me who isn't a completionist but does feel that nasty little urge it's a blessing to be able to delete those nagging icons. Out of sight, out of mind.
Funnily enough Ubisoft have started doing this since FC4. Possibly the only worthwhile thing they've done in recent years, but hey, credit where it's due. Now if only some proper developers would steal the idea.
3 - Interruption-proof dialogue.
Granted, this one isn't so simple and may well be a pain in the arse to implement.
You know when you're eavesdropping on some enemy sentries or listening to party banter, but then you end up missing whatever was being said because you walked through the wrong door or triggered an encounter or your boring mission control character rang you up to remind you that no, really, the objective is right over there even though you knew that and were just taking a moment to admire the scenery or check for supplies? Does that annoy anyone else? It annoys me.
Uncharted 4 handled this the best. Interrupted conversations would pick up where they left off, complete with natural sounding "So, what were you saying...?" transitions woven into the dialogue. Other games have done it too, but I can't remember them off the top of my head.
Often it's just a matter of placement. Developers, if you're going to play an audio clip that lasts, say, 15 seconds, maybe make sure it triggers in a place that puts me at least 15 seconds away from any other triggers that would interrupt it.
4 - Non-stupid audio logs
Audio logs in general have become hopelessly overused. Bioshock brought them back in a big way and did them relatively well, but they've since become the go-to for hack storytellers who want to save on the animation budget, with the absolute nadir being MGS5 Phantom Pain which relegated the majority of its bloated dialogue to three grumbley mumbley men gruffly growling into cassette recorders.
If a game really must use audio logs, then for the love of God please at least be practical about it. Let me play them with one button push instead of making me dig through menus. Let me walk around while listening instead of making me stand next to whatever is playing them. Give me a pause button in case something goes down. And maybe try to place them so they'll be found and listened to during quiet moments instead of mid-firefight.
...
Christ. That turned out longer than expected. I originally only had the first two.
So, what're yours?
1 - Custom difficulty settings.
You know when you can never quite get the difficulty right? Perhaps you like the increased number of enemies and scarcity of supplies that comes with the super hard mode, but hate that it turns the enemies into boring bullet sponges. For example, I personally love how the super hard mode in The Last of Us will kill you in 1-3 hits from even the most basic of enemies, forcing you to really plan out your actions and make the most of your equipment, but hate that it hides the HUD because apparently knowing how much health you have is for chumps.
Dishonored 2 had custom difficulty settings and it was fucking amazing. You could change so many things, even small things that I wouldn't even have thought of. Whether enemies attack you one at a time or gang up. Whether or not you stay concealed when leaning/peeking around corners. How effective potions are. How much being at a higher elevation than an enemy conceals you from them. Whether or not you get multiple save slots, or any save at all. Whether or not the weapon selection wheel pauses the game while it's open. The list just went on and on, and it was great.
2 - Map icon filters.
When you're playing your generic Ubisoft-em-up open world game and you've decided that a certain kind of collectible or side mission just isn't worth your time, wouldn't it be nice to hide it from the map? Partly just to reduce the clutter. Plus, for someone like me who isn't a completionist but does feel that nasty little urge it's a blessing to be able to delete those nagging icons. Out of sight, out of mind.
Funnily enough Ubisoft have started doing this since FC4. Possibly the only worthwhile thing they've done in recent years, but hey, credit where it's due. Now if only some proper developers would steal the idea.
3 - Interruption-proof dialogue.
Granted, this one isn't so simple and may well be a pain in the arse to implement.
You know when you're eavesdropping on some enemy sentries or listening to party banter, but then you end up missing whatever was being said because you walked through the wrong door or triggered an encounter or your boring mission control character rang you up to remind you that no, really, the objective is right over there even though you knew that and were just taking a moment to admire the scenery or check for supplies? Does that annoy anyone else? It annoys me.
Uncharted 4 handled this the best. Interrupted conversations would pick up where they left off, complete with natural sounding "So, what were you saying...?" transitions woven into the dialogue. Other games have done it too, but I can't remember them off the top of my head.
Often it's just a matter of placement. Developers, if you're going to play an audio clip that lasts, say, 15 seconds, maybe make sure it triggers in a place that puts me at least 15 seconds away from any other triggers that would interrupt it.
4 - Non-stupid audio logs
Audio logs in general have become hopelessly overused. Bioshock brought them back in a big way and did them relatively well, but they've since become the go-to for hack storytellers who want to save on the animation budget, with the absolute nadir being MGS5 Phantom Pain which relegated the majority of its bloated dialogue to three grumbley mumbley men gruffly growling into cassette recorders.
If a game really must use audio logs, then for the love of God please at least be practical about it. Let me play them with one button push instead of making me dig through menus. Let me walk around while listening instead of making me stand next to whatever is playing them. Give me a pause button in case something goes down. And maybe try to place them so they'll be found and listened to during quiet moments instead of mid-firefight.
...
Christ. That turned out longer than expected. I originally only had the first two.
So, what're yours?
