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[itisnotlogical]

The opposite of the Pet Peeves thread, where we appreciate the little touches that make games just that extra bit cooler.



In Resident Evil 4, I just noticed that Ashley does a little fist-pump whenever you take down a Ganados. That's freaking adorable.

[~Neri]

When bodies and debris don't vanish.

[rabidgam3r]

Guard dialogue in stealth games that give subtle nods to games before, game mechanics, basically anything funny shoved in by giving a smarmy intern a mic.

[Tawa]

Having even just a little wit and character infinitely improves a game. Flash games that crack little jokes or make silly one-liners in the instructions feel infinitely better than cut-and-dry ones that speak entirely in declarative sentences, even if both have the same gameplay and ending.

[Elfeater]

Adding in infrastructure to open world games, for instance FO:NV over FO:3, as NV had farms and electrical plants and the like, while the support for FO:3 was limmited at best.
I think skyrim did this well too, with farms and inns outside cities, and self sufficient village subsistence gardens.

[flame99]

PtW

[acetech09]

Where to start with HL2...

Episodes 1 and 2 used different atmospheric color palettes. ep1 heavily used reds and oranges to to fit the chaotic, rushed, destructive gameplay. ep2 switched to pale blues and whites to fit the theme of isolation and the calmer gameplay.

[Itnetlolor]

Context-sensitive battle music. Like when I'm doing a basic inspection run and it's peaceful, the music is calm; I get an alert that a threat is incoming a good distance away (10-15k away, plus a theme that implies which team it's from (hostile or friendly)), but I have time to get ready on the way. Music is still the same and calm. 10k away from target, and going a decent speed, meeting up halfway, music slowly, but noticeably intensifies. 5k away, battle theme initiates, 2.5k, and we're targeting each other, battle music stirs up even more, <1k (combat range), ongoing intense battle music plays as you shoot down ship after ship. No hostiles left, but mission is still active, back to peaceful music. Finish up the mission, and victory music plays as you triumphantly hyper-out or return to ship.

Here's a good example

I love the classic X-Wing series space sims. I liked the '94 DOS version of the music better though. May be less quality (or different MIDI quality/source), but felt better composed. Compared to the '98 Windows CD-Rom version, '98 lost the charm of the music (plus it's context-sensitivity), and went full-Imperial March theme, and not what felt like you were a member of it as a fighter, but rather as "The Empire".

EDIT:
DOS tunes
And X-Wing's

[Mech#4]

I like when game developers put messages on billboards and the like which you need to zoom in on to read.

I remember on the banners around camps in "Warhammer Online" there was a piece of paper that said something like "If you have time to read this than you are already dead".

Though, it's not so much the small messages that are neat as it is the addition of small details that await if you look more closely at the world.

[Darkmere]

Alpha Protocol succeeded in so many of the ways Mass Effect failed. The morality system... didn't exist, because the world isn't black and white. Instead you had to pick sides the best you could guess, and it went so far as to affect individual mission objectives and add/remove big chunks of the last mission based on who you sided with. It genuinely felt like all your choices mattered without popping up a "GOOD POINTS +3" tally so I knew unequivocally that I was a goody two-shoes.

Because no one in the game was good. No one.

[Teneb]

While replaying Hotline Miami 2, I keep spotting so many details that were missed in my first run. In the first Hawaii level, for instance, the intro takes place in a bar where you can see Jacket, the Writer and the Fans. (All various playable characters)

[Rolan7]

Alpha Protocol succeeded in so many of the ways Mass Effect failed. The morality system... didn't exist, because the world isn't black and white. Instead you had to pick sides the best you could guess, and it went so far as to affect individual mission objectives and add/remove big chunks of the last mission based on who you sided with. It genuinely felt like all your choices mattered without popping up a "GOOD POINTS +3" tally so I knew unequivocally that I was a goody two-shoes.

Because no one in the game was good. No one.

This.  Though I found Mass Effect's binary morality a bit better than most games, but Alpha Protocol really went above and beyond.  Even replaying the game recently I found myself choosing snarky or angry choices occasionally even though I was trying to be professional and cool.  Like a real person.

And I love how it gives you a running total of "orphans" and "hospital bills".  I still went mostly non-lethal, but it's the only game I can think of that dared to say "Okay, but you're still shooting them in the face with dangerous chemicals/ knocking them unconscious through blunt trauma."

Plus, characters whose opinion of you was based on things other than "nice/mean".  And pissing people off on purpose was actually helpful sometimes, and to do it (or tell them what they wanted to hear) you often had to find or purchase information on them.  And that weird sort of RPG where you can't just grind and buy everything, I passed up a *lot* of equipment I wanted in order to buy juicy gossip.

[Darkmere]

I did like ME letting you gain points in both meters, because not being a saint in every situation does not somehow permanently taint your personality...

But the meta-problem with it was taking most of the big Renegade choices genuinely ended up sabotaging your war efforts in the long run. There wasn't an interesting trade-off to killing Wrex, you just got a more pissed off and uncontrolled Wrex-analog who would backstab you regardless.

As mentioned, being kind of a dick in AP was the only way to make a few people co-operate with you, and DID gain you tangible benefits at times, but only if you knew enough about which people to poke the right buttons to make it happen.

ME was still way ahead of the childish duality in most Star Wars games (bluh), but in the end it still lapsed far into didactic parables that soured Renegade paths in a big way for me.

The only other plots I can think of offhand that offer the same level of choice come from Fallout. As much as I despise FO3's teen power fantasy, The Pitt DLC was fantastic about its moral dilemma. Most people immediately side with the slaves, but doing so may very well cost civilization in the future a priceless working foundry AND potential medical breakthroughs. Let's face it, there's no way at all Werhner and crew could have done jack shit by tormenting that baby, if they even intended to try (I don't think he had any intention of doing anything besides becoming the next slave driver). Morality should be about tough choices, at least sometimes, with no black and white answers. Life is complicated like that.

[Lossmar]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything

If anyone is interested

When bodies and debris don't vanish.

I love it. I remember setting up custom bridge battles in Shogun Total War ( first one ) just to look at those beautiful carpets forming while my naginata defended the bridge supported by archers.

I would love to see more non-vanishing tank/apc/car/aircraft wrecks in RTS/FPS games that can be used as cover or can obstruct the field of fire ( of course i mean games where you can deploy multiple random vehicles not the predefined ones ).

[Aoi]

The quotes and monuments in Alpha Centauri... I still remember a good handful of favorites years later, and getting a flawless monument (first to do pretty much everything) was such a crowning moment. And the books you penned at the end, which were dependent on your score! "I'm OK; You're a Drone."