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Little details in RPGs that please you

Darboven

Novice
Joined
Feb 9, 2022
Messages
12
NPCs stealing from each other in Oblivion
 

ShaggyMoose

Savant
Joined
Aug 26, 2017
Messages
590
Location
Australia
My absolute favourite little detail in a CRPG though was how in the Eye of the Beholder series you could throw a rock or spear down a corridor and chase after it and have it hit you the back of the head.
That's not a nice little detail, that is a technical limitation of the engine (or potentially a bug), amusing as it might be.
 

Serus

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jul 16, 2005
Messages
6,680
Location
Small but great planet of Potatohole
I enjoy when a game makes at the very least symbolic effort to pretend that what I see in-game is not the whole world. Makes it easier to immerse myself.
This is why I prefer when cities in RPGs are just small sections of a larger city rather than scaling an entire "city" down to a couple roads and a dozen buildings.
So much this, I hate when supposedly major cities cities (even in quasi-medieval setting they are supposed to be 10s of thousands) are reduced to a couple of buildings not even suggesting that there are more in a convincing manner. The only exception I think are ok, are in settings where cities are supposed to be just glorified villages - like in some postapo like Fallout 1. In the latter case making it ridiculously small can sometimes enhance the "correct" feeling that the word has been reduced to almost nothing. Otherwise, give me an illusion of size. This can be only really achieved through abstraction.



I might be in minority or simply I'm above average autistic but i like when a crpg has interesting and/or realistic currency system. Not the party carrying a trillion "gold coins" which is dull and retarded on more than one level. I especially liked Darklands when you had an almost-historical system AND low amounts overall AND ability to use credit letters from bankers.
 

luj1

You're all shills
Vatnik
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
12,869
Location
Eastern block
- Meeting a projection of a god on a random overhang in a cave
Where was that?
Ama Nin, found underneath Berandas, is an avatar of Mara; rescuing her can be accomplished during the Imperial Cult quest to obtain the Boots of the Apostle.
Jon Hawker, found in Nammu, is an avatar of Zenithar; rescuing him can be accomplished during the Imperial Cult quest to obtain the Ring of the Wind.

Also, a possible avatar of Tiber Septim named Wulf can be met at Ghostgate during a stretch of the main quest.
Wulf gives you a mysterious coin, I still don't know what it does
 

thesheeep

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Mar 16, 2007
Messages
9,939
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Tampere, Finland
Codex 2012 Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming! Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Torment: Tides of Numenera Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Bubbles In Memoria A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
So much this, I hate when supposedly major cities cities (even in quasi-medieval setting they are supposed to be 10s of thousands) are reduced to a couple of buildings not even suggesting that there are more in a convincing manner.
Remember how Fable ... 3 (?) tried to show you the horrors of war or whatever, and did so by showing you nothing but a popup telling you about the number of people who died.
And that number was ludicrously high compared to the number of people you actually see in that world (which is supposedly all of it).
Like, you meet maybe a thousand people (probably much less) in the entire game without any indication that that's just a fraction, and the popup tries to tell you that somehow millions of those died :lol:

One other thing I personally very much enjoy in RPGs (and other games) is if NPCs actually acknowledge you bothering them instead of everyone just being best buddies from second one.
 

JarlFrank

I like Thief THIS much
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Jan 4, 2007
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33,048
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KA.DINGIR.RA.KI
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
6377605284800482744479395.jpg


Ornaments and good art like this. Fuck minimalism.

Skeumorphic UIs are an absolute treasure, and pretty much every game tried to have them as soon as the visual fidelity of computer graphics was good enough for it, i.e. the late 80s to early 90s.

Only nowadays do we get ugly interfaces that look like they belong to Windows 10 rather than a fucking game.
 

Üstad

Arcane
Joined
Aug 27, 2019
Messages
8,485
Location
Türkiye
Only nowadays do we get ugly interfaces that look like they belong to Windows 10 rather than a fucking game.
You summed it up perfectly. I really wish indie companies start to ditch minimalism as an attempt to get more attention and revivalism. But new playerbase are zoomers and they have shit taste especially in art design.

Even the site design has downgraded :negative:
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jan 14, 2018
Messages
50,754
Codex Year of the Donut
6377605284800482744479395.jpg


Ornaments and good art like this. Fuck minimalism.

Skeumorphic UIs are an absolute treasure, and pretty much every game tried to have them as soon as the visual fidelity of computer graphics was good enough for it, i.e. the late 80s to early 90s.

Only nowadays do we get ugly interfaces that look like they belong to Windows 10 rather than a fucking game.
But... In sci-fi games those UIs are skeumorphic.
 

Lazing Dirk

Arcane
Joined
Dec 12, 2016
Messages
1,865,452
Location
Shooting up your ride
I like when doors aren't just a wall that you can lockpick. In The Magic Candle, you're expected to knock on someone's door, and then they won't let you in if you don't know who lives there. In The Dark Heart of Uukrul, you can listen at a door before deciding whether to go through.

In Underrail you can craft an endoscope that lets you peek under doors in case you're worried about blundering straight into an enemy patrolling around on the other side. Also in Underrail, I like that the player portrait background doesn't just reflect where you are, but how brightly lit the area is.

I also appreciate it when games not only let you do things in advance, but have the quest giver react accordingly, as opposed to just interacting with them twice in a row. Makes it more fun the second time around to see what their reaction will be.
 

Sabotin

Scholar
Joined
Jun 16, 2016
Messages
189
My favourite would be connections between the game world and mechanics. For example how companion influence was explained in KOTOR2 or how you learn many of the spells in PS:T.

Creative ways of skirting around technical limitations (or unnecessary work) also make me smile and I appreciate when the world is partitioned with more effort than invisible walls/locked doors/high mountains.
 

jackofshadows

Magister
Joined
Oct 21, 2019
Messages
4,486
Only nowadays do we get ugly interfaces that look like they belong to Windows 10 rather than a fucking game.
You summed it up perfectly. I really wish indie companies start to ditch minimalism as an attempt to get more attention and revivalism.
Easy to say but not easy at all to make UI that works with like 10 different resolutions if not more if we're talking cross-platform.

I like if there's special dialogue branch in case you've done already the quest which you're about to get.
 

Üstad

Arcane
Joined
Aug 27, 2019
Messages
8,485
Location
Türkiye
Only nowadays do we get ugly interfaces that look like they belong to Windows 10 rather than a fucking game.
You summed it up perfectly. I really wish indie companies start to ditch minimalism as an attempt to get more attention and revivalism.
Easy to say but not easy at all to make UI that works with like 10 different resolutions if not more if we're talking cross-platform.

I like if there's special dialogue branch in case you've done already the quest which you're about to get.
Good things are never easy. I don't think the main reason is resolution it's the change of the taste and mentality.
 
Joined
Jan 14, 2018
Messages
50,754
Codex Year of the Donut
never really thought about it before, but resolution reasons seems entirely plausible
the "OS-like" UIs are much easier to make resolution independent than more complicated UIs
 

Kabas

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Feb 10, 2018
Messages
1,258
Pieces of cloth/armor that serve no other purpose other than making your character look cooler. Drakensang games and the Temple of the Elemental Evil are the ones that come to mind at the top of my head.

Like, in both drakensang games one of the possible character options is a dwarf who starts with an awesome hat and a smokepipe.
In ToEE there is quite a few cosmetic equipment. You can put a very skimpy-looking dress on your female wizard, put certain robes on top of your armor for further cutomization and dress your ranger as a Robin Hood.
 

Zed Duke of Banville

Dungeon Master
Patron
Joined
Oct 3, 2015
Messages
11,756
- Meeting a projection of a god on a random overhang in a cave
Where was that?
Ama Nin, found underneath Berandas, is an avatar of Mara; rescuing her can be accomplished during the Imperial Cult quest to obtain the Boots of the Apostle.
Jon Hawker, found in Nammu, is an avatar of Zenithar; rescuing him can be accomplished during the Imperial Cult quest to obtain the Ring of the Wind.

Also, a possible avatar of Tiber Septim named Wulf can be met at Ghostgate during a stretch of the main quest.
Wulf gives you a mysterious coin, I still don't know what it does
Wulf giving the Old Man's Lucky Coin to the Nerevarine bestows the greater power "Luck of the Emperor", which fortifies luck 20 points for 2 minutes on self, although according to UESP this power is not connected to the coin itself in any way, so you would not lose anything by discarding or storing the coin. :M
 

Zlaja

Arcane
Joined
Aug 17, 2006
Messages
5,682
Location
Swedex
I appreciated all the instances of racism in Arcanum. And no, I'm not trying to be an edge lord here. That stuff made the setting more beliveable. And it wasn't too preachy about it, either.

In Bloodlines I loved listening to the ads and that radio show. And I would totally vote for this guy:



:salute:
 

Catacombs

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 10, 2017
Messages
5,927
Tooltips that compare inventory items with equipped items.
 

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