Stuff that you want to be in games...that isn't much.

[DrunkenMonkey]

I would cheerfully eat a live puppy to see some decent character development every now and again.

NOT THE PUPPY!!!!

don't put the sins of the writer unto a poor innocent puppy who just wants to frolic and bark all the day long. Or at least don't cheerfully eat it...

edit: i think you mean character depth, we actually have a lot of development

 

[Gregg Lonsdale]

More games like Just Cause 2 and Driver: San Francisco that aren't afraid to defy reality completely unironically if it means having a good time.

Also, how about a medieval fast paced swarming combat game (sort of like Arkham Asylum but with swords/magic) set to an epic metal soundtrack.

 

[razor343]

I'll kind of be quoting good ol' JonTron on this one...or at least making a point that he often makes. This being the sense of child-like wonder when playing a game, either because it introduced a new mechanic or a completely new environment. For me, the perfect example of a game that, when played for the first time, creates this sense of wonder is Yoshi's Island for the SNES.

Honestly, that game was one of the greatest things to come out of the Mario franchise. It had an incredible art style and varying environments. It had so many secrets that you were forced to hug every wall in a level just to make sure you can't go through it. It had some of the most creative bosses ever seen in any game (Not to mention that Bowser's huge form was fucking terrifying.) And it had immersive music to accompany all of this...

Now, creating a sense of child-like wonder is no easy feat. That's obvious. Nowadays it would probably require some serious psychological mind-fucking (Kind of like the Skinner Box but, you know, not evil?). That being said, it wouldn't hurt developers to make their games...different. That's a very broad statement and we could talk about how most Publishers are evil (Because they are) but at least make them subtly different. This goes back to what I said about Yoshi's Island, it was packed with secrets but if you weren't looking for them, you'd be none the wiser about their existence. So packing your game full of subtle detail makes it miles better (Assuming you pull it off right.)

tl;dr Yoshi's Island was fucking awesome, make more games like it.

 

[lechat]

decent time travel with realistic paradoxes
its been touched on in some games but never really nailed

 

[blackrave]

In RPGs, inventory system that is weight and space limited+ items have different sizes
Basically inventory like in NWN (with ability to flip items in 90°, like in Deus Ex:HR)
That's about it

 

[JagermanXcell]

Jetpacks.
Good dialogue.
Engaging narrative and characters.
Balance in challenge.
Strategy that requires clever thinking and multiple outcomes and choices.
An inventory system. (no seriously, I'm tired of only holding two guns, which brings me to my last point...)
Disregard for realism. (make more games like Just Cause 2, why? *Insert "just cause!" pun here*)

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Jetpacks. There aren't enough games with jetpacks. Can you think of anything that wouldn't be improved with a jet pack? I thought not.

This works. More games should have jet-packs which are NOT to be confused with Booster-packs (I want to fly freely like in Dark Void, not get a jump-boost).

Local Multiplayer and, Bot matches. I have a lot of trouble getting online and maintaining the connection with my consoles and it would be nice to get the multiplayer experience on those games I've bought that boast how awesome the multiplayer is.

 

[legendp]

How about more serious games that let you play as a dragon (as the main charachter), with good story, character development and gameplay. Unfortunately it doesn't exist. I have t all mapped out if by some miracle I ever design a game or meet someone willing to use my idea

 

[Jfswift]

I'd like to see more variety in anthropomorphic choices in fantasy settings than just your obligatory 'feline' race. Why can't we have wolves for example? >.>

 

[MidnightSt]

probably the first serious thought I had that was something like this was: why there is no game where magic actually feels like magic? as something arcane, not well known, full of mysteries, hard to do, with uncertain and many possible results... Magicka is a little in this way, or the rune system in Legend of Grimrock, but it's still not enough... I have no idea how this system would actually (have to) look, but I'd know if I saw it. Also, it's nto probably so much a small thing...

 

[infinity_turtles]

An RPG(or better yet SRPG) where instead of being a pawn actually get to rule something for a change. The closest I've ever seen to that is King Arthur 2, but I'm wanting for something with much more focus on the RPG then the Strategy.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

A game where you can avoid any kind of combat through dialogue or stealth. Oh and another spy game like Alpha Protocol.

One thing I saw in Lord of the Rings: War in the North is that characters would get wet/dirty/covered in snow. It was an easy detail to do but added a lot to the immersion of the game.

More games like Just Cause 2 and Driver: San Francisco that aren't afraid to defy reality completely unironically if it means having a good time.

Also, how about a medieval fast paced swarming combat game (sort of like Arkham Asylum but with swords/magic) set to an epic metal soundtrack.

So... the OP asked for little things, and you're asking for entire games?

OT: Weather affecting gameplay more. Snow would slow you down, rain makes it harder to see, standing still for too long in a cold environment would make your aim shake in an FPS for example, a hot environment would reduce your sprint time or even make you pass out, wind would affect the trajectories of projectiles etc. They don't sound like much to me, and if done right they could improve the gameplay or at least make it more tactical.

Also, an actual reason to use roads in open-world games like The Elder Scrolls series. Maybe your mount would move a lot faster on a road than on bare terrain or something.

 

[Ranorak]

Big thing:
An Evolution based sim game.
No not Spore, that was (besides just boring) not about evolution.
I want a sim game where you can adjust water temperature, atmosphere levels, and just see what kind of creatures your world creates. place some forests and let the little slimeworms evolve around that.
It won't be action packed, thus impossible to sell, but I can dream.


minor thing:
Metroid Prime did this wonderfully, when the character has a helmet, feature it!
not just as a quick excuse to display UI on, but steam on the visor when it gets too warm.
Your reflection when you look at a certain angle at light.

 

[Redingold]

I'd like to see health systems other than "non-regenerating with medpacks" or "quickly regenerating". Even simple hybrid systems, like in ME3 or Resistance: Fall of Man would be preferable to the same old health systems that we've been using for years. Ideally, I'd like to see more games with a health system like in Metal Gear Solid 3, where your health regenerates very slowly, wounds reduce your max health, and different wounds require different kinds of treatment.

I'd also like to see more post-apocalyptic games with an emphasis on survival, rather than just using the setting to add cool mutated monsters, like Fallout does.

An RPG where combat is very dangerous, but can be avoided by dialogue, or stealth, or being sufficiently clever would be nice. I'd just like to play a game where I can be in dangerous situations without having to murder everything to proceed.

Combining all three of these would definitely get my attention. I don't know whether it would be very fun, but it would certainly be pretty unique, and I'd like to try it.

 

[MrDelicious]

The Yakuza series is pretty good at letting you use pretty much anything in the environment as a weapon, I loved being able to smash people with crates and kick couches at them. Sleeping Dogs did this a little but I'd like to be able to use anything, even a piece of paper and I can paper cut my way to victory.

Also if every first person game could steal Dishonored's blink power that would be fantastic, certainly would have helped in Far Cry 3's frigging radio towers...

 

[Something Amyss]

Any things that you always really want from games that rarely gets put in games?

Personally, why is it that there are so few fantasy games that let me play as my favourite fantasy race, the dwarves? Part of me thinks it's something to do with having to design the game around more than one standard character height. But still...it's kinda annoying that I so rarely get to play as that race.

Considering we can't even get women in a lot of games, I'm inclined to broaden this to simple variety. Though seriously, I don't like dwarves. Or elves, really.

What else....

-intelligent puzzles. None of this fetching four items because ponies crap.

-Action games where you're not the walking incarnation of Death herself. And not by intentionally crippling the controls. There's a million games out there where I can wade through an army, stopping only occasionally to appreciate the mountain of the dead. There's only a few games where you're not a certified badass, and even fewer where they don't make you as clumsy as a marionette with no strings.

-Smart AI. Or, "not stupid" AI.

-Following that, a difficulty setting that does more than just turn bad guys into bullet sponges or give them the best die rolls or whatever. I want a "hard" mode where I have to face better strategies, not one where I need to headshot a guy three times while he just standards there. Definitely not a game where the AI is idiotic, but gets the best rolls/cards/items.

-Ferrets. All games need more ferrets.

 

[Sack of Cheese]

Hug button!! Video games need more love.

Or the option to skin people.

 

[Cavan]

Falling, and combat while falling. Just cause 2 came close and I enjoyed it a lot .

Also terrain destruction. Somebody buy the red faction engine and make an epic open world game city in it D:.

or the two combined, imagining fighting on a skyscraper that's collapsing in slow motion..and it's pretty awesome, inside I'm still 6 years old.

 

[TheDoctor455]

I'd like to see generally much better stories than what we're getting so far.

I'm not saying I'd like all games to be at say... The Walking Dead's or Spec Ops' level...

but something better than CoD's and Borderland's thin pretense at story would be nice.

 

[mohit9206]

the first thing that comes to my mind that should be in games much more but is not there most of the times is A GOOD WELL TOLD WELL WRITTEN STORY AND CHARACTERS. i want my games to engage me into its world , to draw me in with great well written characters etc. i want a good story to be a norm in every game but it isnt.
walking dead had a great story well defined characters, far cry 3 story wasnt very good but atleast it was engaging and mass effect 2 also had a story story and brialliant characters. so thats what i want to see more often in games