Vapourware Features from old games you wish are done more often.

[markec]

There were a lot of games in the past that tried to do something original and different. Maybe it was just some attention to detail that you appreciated in a old game, or a mechanic that you cant see anymore. So what aspect of a old game would you like to see done today. Here is few things I wish we could see more often.

Dialogs with enemies. In Battlespire you could talk with every enemy in the game. In most cases it was just cosmetic but sometimes you could get vital information, get gift if you kill a someone they hate, scare enemy away or make them join you. It also made the game more atmospheric and interesting as you find all types of enemies have different personalities and pushes you to see what they have to say.

Silent Storm and its level of environmental destruction. I think most people here either played or heard about SS, so dont need to explain much. When this game was released I thought this is the future of tactical games only for it to still be waiting for someone to add this level of detail in a tactical game.






Civilization III and evolving leader portraits. I know its just a minor thing but I love how every leader changes its clothing per age and I think its a shame this is dropped.

Raising the spirit on the undead for a chat as seen in Arcanum. Like talking with the enemies in Battlespire this does not very often provide some reward but I find the concept interesting and something I hope to see again in the future as it would open up different ways for solving quests and procuring information.

Spellcasting by drawing runes like in Arx Fatalis or Anvil of Dawn. I just find this cool and would like to see more of this.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I miss Kiosk modes for games. I realize they're fairly pointless these days, but I have fond memories of getting excited seeing gameplay or little biographies of soldiers or monsters in stuff like strategy games and rpgs, even when I had the game myself; it was a nice way to tease the game right before I got started.

I also miss games having cheat codes and easter eggs included from individuals. These days if there's anything like that, it's some sort of reference to another game or crafted specifically to get attention and give free publicity. It was better when there was just weird shit like characters freaking out when you do something weird and out of character, or some guy adding his boss in as a monster you can beat up in game.

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

This might sound simple but keyboard typing. Like in Deus Ex or Bloodlines you had to use the keyboard to input some words, felt immersive to me. Now with console ports they don't do that.

 

[ghostdog]

In Icewind Dale HoW (and only in that infinity engine game afaik) you could use your ranger's Tracking skill to learn info about the region and also gain some insight about certain quests. It felt great to be able to do so, it's a shame it hasn't been used anywhere else.

 

[Zlaja]

I miss amusing over-the-top ragdoll physics. Max Payne and FEAR come to mind.

 

[Dr Skeleton]

In Icewind Dale HoW (and only in that infinity engine game afaik) you could use your ranger's Tracking skill to learn info about the region and also gain some insight about certain quests. It felt great to be able to do so, it's a shame it hasn't been used anywhere else.

Icewind Dale 2 has this too. Helps a lot in the Fell Wood area. In other places it gives hints for what creatures might be in the area, if they're mostly going north or south, if there's some sound or smell from specific directions etc. It's pretty cool, if completely optional.

 

[NecroLord]

I miss amusing over-the-top ragdoll physics. Max Payne and FEAR come to mind.

Thief: Deadly Shadows and Deus Ex: Invisible War also had some pretty funny ragdoll physics.
Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs Death too.

 

[NecroLord]

The ability to add ingame notes:
Thief 1 and 2, Deus Ex.

The absence of quest markers in favor of journal entries, rumors and hints.

 

[Iucounu]

Basic human movement, like being able to jump, crouch, go prone, strafe and lean. I used to take this for granted in FPS:s, then at some point games (console ports?) started basing the player character on a golf cart instead.

 

[Alienman]

Keeping you inside the game. That's not to say all modern games do this, but when something needs to be explained - it's often done so in a very factual way, addressing you the player. I like it when games from the past even treated the tutorials as something in-world, even if it could get a bit bizarre. Now, you just get non-immersive popups for the most part.

 

[Cohesion]

This might sound simple but keyboard typing. Like in Deus Ex or Bloodlines you had to use the keyboard to input some words, felt immersive to me. Now with console ports they don't do that.

You would love early Sierra games which used parser. Police Quest, Quest For Glory, Space Quest, etc.

Spellcasting in Nox and Magicka was pretty cool.

EDIT: Indirect control RTS like Majesty also something we don't see nowadays.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

EDIT: Indirect control RTS like Majesty also something we don't see nowadays.

You mean like in every single colony sim ever made? Rimworld, Dwarf Fortress, Songs of Syx, Space Haven, and so on.

 

[Hag]

Keeping you inside the game. That's not to say all modern games do this, but when something needs to be explained - it's often done so in a very factual way, addressing you the player. I like it when games from the past even treated the tutorials as something in-world, even if it could get a bit bizarre. Now, you just get non-immersive popups for the most part.

I've always liked the Tomb Raider 4 tutorial with the guy shouting at Lara things along "Now jump and press action to grab the ledge".

 

[Strange Fellow]

Keeping you inside the game. That's not to say all modern games do this, but when something needs to be explained - it's often done so in a very factual way, addressing you the player. I like it when games from the past even treated the tutorials as something in-world, even if it could get a bit bizarre. Now, you just get non-immersive popups for the most part.

I'd expand this point to tutorials in general. It's a bit ironic, since traditionally tutorials have been a marker of decline around here (why would you need a tutorial when you could RTFM, newfag?). But they both essentially serve the same purpose, which is to provide an optional way to learn the basic mechanics of the game.

These days, as you say, you're barraged by bone dry wall of text popup windows in a shitty facsimile of an actual manual, and then presented with an introductory sequence that's not technically a tutorial (and is therefore neither separate from the main story, nor skippable), but is still so braindead easy that its only real purpose is to let people who have never touched the game (or indeed any game) before practice the basic game mechanics, ie. a fucking tutorial. You can't opt out if, halfway through, you discover that you actually do know how to hold a controller the right way up, or that you've actually played the game before and know how it works, like you would be able to in a discrete tutorial sequence. So you have to slog through it. That shit sucks.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

This might sound simple but keyboard typing. Like in Deus Ex or Bloodlines you had to use the keyboard to input some words, felt immersive to me. Now with console ports they don't do that.

You would love early Sierra games which used parser. Police Quest, Quest For Glory, Space Quest, etc.

Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards.

Al Lowe wrote the game so quickly, that he had to wait two months for the graphics to be made. He used those two months to revisit the parser and come up with unique replies to the most bizarre commands.

For example if you stand still long enough, a dog will appear on-screen, seek out Larry and piss on his leg. (An in-game incentive to Get A Move On.) If you type >KICK DOG (even though 'kick' is not a valid in-game command) the game replies with: "After all that he's done for you?"

But this underlines the reason we don't see many clever features of yesteryear anymore: They take time to implement, and time is money. Just like you can talk to every critter in Battlespire, you can use certain Psi-abilities in the first Psychonauts-game on almost every character in the game, and get very interesting reactions. Same with a few in-game items.

The sequel then dropped almost all of those.

 

[Zoo]

Keeping you inside the game. That's not to say all modern games do this, but when something needs to be explained - it's often done so in a very factual way, addressing you the player. I like it when games from the past even treated the tutorials as something in-world, even if it could get a bit bizarre. Now, you just get non-immersive popups for the most part.

I'd expand this point to tutorials in general. It's a bit ironic, since traditionally tutorials have been a marker of decline around here (why would you need a tutorial when you could RTFM, newfag?). But they both essentially serve the same purpose, which is to provide an optional way to learn the basic mechanics of the game.

These days, as you say, you're barraged by bone dry wall of text popup windows in a shitty facsimile of an actual manual, and then presented with an introductory sequence that's not technically a tutorial (and is therefore neither separate from the main story, nor skippable), but is still so braindead easy that its only real purpose is to let people who have never touched the game (or indeed any game) before practice the basic game mechanics, ie. a fucking tutorial. You can't opt out if, halfway through, you discover that you actually do know how to hold a controller the right way up, or that you've actually played the game before and know how it works, like you would be able to in a discrete tutorial sequence. So you have to slog through it. That shit sucks.

I tried Hellblade 2 on hard, the mapping popped up at start, and that's all. I didn't encounter any button prompt since then.

 

[Kabas]

Cool looking main menus.

We need more of this stuff.

 

[Zanzoken]

The "chapter" system from Gothic and Gothic 2 which would advance & alter the world state as you finished certain main quests. It's a really clever and underrated way to show the passage of time and make it so NPCs aren't standing around doing the exact same thing for the entire game.

People talk a lot about day / night cycles and other NPC routines, and I agree those are important, but advancing the world state really takes it a step further in terms of making the world feel alive.

 

[Dr1f7]

Spellcasting by drawing runes like in Arx Fatalis or Anvil of Dawn. I just find this cool and would like to see more of this.

View attachment 50142

there's rune drawing in lust academy and magic pussy 2

 

[orcinator]

Getting bonus costumes through challenges instead of paying for them.

 

[Avonaeon]

Bots in multiplayer games to allow single player play. I don't want to deal with randos.

Maps like doom and duke3d in fps.

 

[Iucounu]

Being able to rebind any key you want was never a problem in older game I played; but then decline started to show itself, with some games not letting you bind say the Delete key, or more recently not rebind any keys at all.

 

[Iucounu]

The "chapter" system from Gothic and Gothic 2 which would advance & alter the world state as you finished certain main quests. It's a really clever and underrated way to show the passage of time and make it so NPCs aren't standing around doing the exact same thing for the entire game.

The Stalker games do the same thing, especially Clear Sky. It does require you to stick around long enough in an area to notice the before/after difference though.

 

[what am i doing]

Server browsers instead of matchmaking cancer.

 

[Baron Tahn]

Writing that was a result of your actual stats in RPGs- like in Fallout or Arcanum where low intelligence meant barely functioning speech and comprehension or different reactions depending on your race. Can't do that with crap V/O, too expensive.

In general, any risk. The idea of praying to saints actually working and serving as a magic system in Darklands, for example. Nowadays the industry is so risk averse - a primary reason AAA is scuppered and boring repetitive shite.

Alongside what was said about 'earning outfits and items from gameplay instead of paying for them' I used to like the idea of cheats being earned for further playthroughs. Didn't use it much but fun idea.