What is that one thing in a game that really makes you love it?
For me it's dying, specifically fearing dying. I love games that make you pay for your death because it makes you that much more alert when you're playing so you stay alive.
I enjoyed Company of Heroes far more than Warcraft III because that game really made you fight for your life and some of those levels took a damn long time to complete. As a game would progress and I'd be fighting further and further into the map I would become even more determined to win and my tactics would sharpen that much more. The only way I could get that same rush in Warcraft III was online. I loved getting into a good 4v4 or 3v3 where you had to contend and work with many different styles of play and sometimes even hold off three armies while your allies steamed toward your base.
When I think back to games before such heavy instancing I enjoyed having to slug my way through large levels without a waypoint every fifty feet. I even enjoyed Half-Life 2 more than it's sequels because, at least Episode 1, it's like there is a save around every corner. Practically pissing myself through Ravenholm will forever be a better experience than walking through the underground to get to the streets in Episode 1.
I even need that same feeling in MMO's. In EQ1 I felt like I could die at any time (and frequently did) and I was quite afraid of dying because you would lose quite a bit of experience. Back then, when there were hell levels, losing even a quarter of one bubble of experience could wipe out all your progress for an afternoon and that certainly changed how I played. WoW and EQ2 just bore me because not only does it feel far easier but you're barely punished.
I just started playing EVE and the fear of losing your ship really makes you pay attention. Even if it's fully insured the task of gathering all that equipment over again and slapping it back on a shiny new ship is such an immense hassle that I'd do practically anything to prevent losing a ship (the last pirate I ran into blew my Stabber out of the sky without even trying to ransom me! I would have paid it because that ship was perfect and far more fun than my Rupture).
For me it's dying, specifically fearing dying. I love games that make you pay for your death because it makes you that much more alert when you're playing so you stay alive.
I enjoyed Company of Heroes far more than Warcraft III because that game really made you fight for your life and some of those levels took a damn long time to complete. As a game would progress and I'd be fighting further and further into the map I would become even more determined to win and my tactics would sharpen that much more. The only way I could get that same rush in Warcraft III was online. I loved getting into a good 4v4 or 3v3 where you had to contend and work with many different styles of play and sometimes even hold off three armies while your allies steamed toward your base.
When I think back to games before such heavy instancing I enjoyed having to slug my way through large levels without a waypoint every fifty feet. I even enjoyed Half-Life 2 more than it's sequels because, at least Episode 1, it's like there is a save around every corner. Practically pissing myself through Ravenholm will forever be a better experience than walking through the underground to get to the streets in Episode 1.
I even need that same feeling in MMO's. In EQ1 I felt like I could die at any time (and frequently did) and I was quite afraid of dying because you would lose quite a bit of experience. Back then, when there were hell levels, losing even a quarter of one bubble of experience could wipe out all your progress for an afternoon and that certainly changed how I played. WoW and EQ2 just bore me because not only does it feel far easier but you're barely punished.
I just started playing EVE and the fear of losing your ship really makes you pay attention. Even if it's fully insured the task of gathering all that equipment over again and slapping it back on a shiny new ship is such an immense hassle that I'd do practically anything to prevent losing a ship (the last pirate I ran into blew my Stabber out of the sky without even trying to ransom me! I would have paid it because that ship was perfect and far more fun than my Rupture).
