What features/options should all games have?

[octafish]

There are obvious ones like invert Y axis that seems so ingrained it is only when some bone-head forgets to include it (Bully) that it really stands out.

There are others I'd like to see included in ALL games. Like an option to turn off achievement announcements. I'm grinding through ME2 for a second time and the achievement notices are driving me up the wall. I don't care how many times I've used overload for Christ's sake.

So what options should all games have as standard? Let's not get into PC Port specifics, let's keep it to general gaming.

 

[The Virgo]

The ability to move.

I mean, seriously, every game cannot have one single feature. Player's without/with regenerating health wouldn't work in an RTS. Character creation is pointless in a puzzle game. A vast assortment of weapons wouldn't work in a game like Portal. Open world sandboxes cannot possibly work in story and narrative driven and focused FPS. Linear gameplay is pointless in an MMO. RTS games played in first person are doomed to failure.

Every game should have whatever features it will need to be fun.

 

[LookingGlass]

Two I can think of off the top of my head:

1. When there's a walk/run key/button, they should always include the ability to toggle whether the default movement speed is walk or run. I hate running by default, even if the alternative means I hold down the shift key for half my game time.

2. Autosaving, in some capacity. And in games that rely on immersion like survival horror games, this should be the only option.

 

[funguy2121]

Waggle. Definitely waggle. Also, drunk mode.

Spellcheck approves "waggle." Orwell is crying in heaven right now.

 

[Racecarlock]

Keys to the city style cheat modes. Being able to use god mode and infinite ammo and spawning anything in the game kicks ass. It would even have separate saves. I wish crackdown let me have a separate save for keys to the city so I don't have to deal with the narrations and gangs every time. Also I won't have to turn on all weapons and supply points every time either.

 

[Stall]

Master volume. God... how do people forget about such a basic and simple option? I shouldn't even have to mention it in this thread. It just stuns me that there are otherwise competent and good dev teams that somehow forget a fucking master volume slider.

 

[Brown Cap]

Skip the Damned Tutorial

 

[Black Arrow Officer]

Skipping cutscenes. Yeah, the cutscene was nice the first time, but I just want to REPLAY THE DAMN LEVEL.

 

[DefinitelyPsychotic]

Skipping cut-scenes, anti spawn-camping procedures, muting other players, the list goes on and on. I'll edit this post when I think of more. Kind of tired at the moment...

 

[Brown Cap]

Master volume. God... how do people forget about such a basic and simple option? I shouldn't even have to mention it in this thread. It just stuns me that there are otherwise competent and good dev teams that somehow forget a fucking master volume slider.

True, but you play on a computer? It Has speakers right? It has an internal master volume right? Oh wait, it's a TV? Yeah, that has volume adjustment.

 

[MarlonBlazed]

I have a problem with PC games once in a blue moon taking over my whole desktop. Not really a feature or an option but it just shouldn't be this way, not in this day and age.

Also everything you guys post and will post. (Cause I ranted to much today already)

 

[Justanothergamer300]

New game Plus, Skipping Cut scenes/ tutorials after first playthrough(Hated mass effect 1 because of the TALKING AGAIN AND AGAIN even after I got throught it)

Let the game play its-self so I can see the story and not get frustrated after the gameplay button

 

[rutcommapat]

I was about to say skipping cutscenes, until I imagined a generation of stupid bratty kids who simply skip cutscenes so that they can blow more shit up, who don't care about the story or characters. On the other hand, I don't really want to watch the same cutscenes over again if I'm just replaying the level.

Overall, I liked Infamous 2's method best: The first time you play through the game, you can't skip the cutscenes. Every time you play it again after that first time, you can.

 

[CthulhuMessiah]

New game plus, Customizable controls, being able to skip cutscenes one you beat the game, and being able to play my own music (PS3).

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

1. The ability to completely customize ALL aspects of the controls.

2. The ability to save anywhere outside of combat.

3. The ability to both pause and skip cutscenes.

4. The ability to skip intro screens that tell you who the developer, publisher, etc. is.

 

[Stall]

True, but you play on a computer? It Has speakers right? It has an internal master volume right? Oh wait, it's a TV? Yeah, that has volume adjustment.

Actually, I use headphones, so I don't have any way to adjust the volume besides minimizing out and playing with my system's volume or AN IN GAME MASTER VOLUME SLIDER. So when a game doesn't have a master volume slider, I have to mess with my system volume, so I ends up fucking with all my applications and the volume I have on my browser, which are at the perfect level. So having to minimize out and throw down my system volume ends up fucking up the perfect volume balance on everything.

Dude, why are you so defensive anyways? What? Did a game that had a master volume slider kill your parents or something? Did I offend you so gravely somewhere that you felt compelled to insult me about not liking it when games don't include a master volume? If so, that's kind of pathetic man... getting so mad about a stranger's opinion that you have to follow him around and harass him for DARING to have an opinion different from your own.

Either way, enjoy my ignore list. What a fucking pointless and pathetic post. If you did get so mad about something I said, then that's actually pretty funny.

 

[Fingers O'Toole]

Immersion choices.
I absolutely love tense games like the pre-reboot Splinter Cells, or film-esque games like Alan Wake, but why in the name of hell can't I get rid of or alter the massive, glaring, bright white HUD that shrouds my screen? Granted, games almost always need to give you information, but would it hurt to have a small popup saying you're dying, need to reload, etc. rather than a huge counter reminding the player they're playing a game?

Also, a ton of cheats for sandbox games.
Granted, GTA IV lets the player spawn weapons, cars, etc., but why is there no god cheat? A great deal of the game's comedy stems from ragdolls and throwing yourself/others off high things or in front of moving things, so why can't I fall several thousand feet onto an old lady without being treated to greyscale slow-motion for 30 seconds before being thrown across the map sans $50,000?

 

[Giantpanda602]

There are obvious ones like invert Y axis that seems so ingrained it is only when some bone-head forgets to include it (Bully) that it really stands out.

I would hate that. Only in flight simulators and in some turret sections.