Games these days are pretty different from games 10 years ago. What are some features (and I mean that very broadly) of old games that you wish new games would have again?

Here's one from me: auto-maps. Remember back in the days of DOOM and Duke3D and Descent...you had a map, but it was only revealed as you explored the level. Most 3D games these days either don't have maps period, or if they do, everything (geographically) is revealed (BioShock, Res Evil 4). I don't mind if the map is pre-rendered..just don't reveal everything - it really kills the immersion and sense of exploration.

I liked the time-based combat system from FF7. It gave a sense of urgency once you were able to attack. I find RPG's to be too slow paced, but the time system was a new innovation that intrigued me...

Geo-Mod tech from Red Faction. I loved that thing, would be brilliant to see a new game take that and implement it properly. It would be quite amazing with todays gaming capabilities.

The Inverse Parser conversation engine, and the real feeling of backstabbing and befriending people in Trust and Betrayal: The Legacy of Siboot.

What a first post to make...

Chris Evans:
Geo-Mod tech from Red Faction. I loved that thing, would be brilliant to see a new game take that and implement it properly. It would be quite amazing with todays gaming capabilities.

Check out Fracture, new game in production at Sierra. Trying to be what Red Faction wanted to really do with geo modding. So far it looks pretty good.

And I wanted old school point scoring modes in more games, but that's actually come to fruition lately, with arcade modes added to more and more games like CoD4.

More linearity and bottomless pits and platforms in platforming/adventure games. The new adventure-based Mario games are fine and all, but I prefer feeling like I'm continually making forward progress in a grand adventure rather than exploring. And the new Sonic games would be leaps and bounds (hurr hurr) closer to what made the originals great if they cut out all of the roller coaster crap and just made you jump on more platforms, smack around more enemies and run up more walls.

And the old health bar/health kits in FPS games. Some games really work with the recharging health, some become really silly. Someone here really nailed the problem I have with it when they pointed out you often have no way of telling how much health you have or how much damage a given weapon will do to you.

DarkKaz, I agree with the platforming. Also, I want more games to take risks at failure to give you something new. The only games in recent memory I can think of are Half-Life 2, Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit, and Psychonauts. We need more creativity from Vollywood.

DarkKaz:
Someone here really nailed the problem I have with it when they pointed out you often have no way of telling how much health you have or how much damage a given weapon will do to you.

I personally feel that's down to the individual game's feel and what it's trying to accomplish. I'm not sure in, say, a World War II First Person Shooter I *WANT* my health and bloodloss to be represented by a double digit number that flashes red when it hits the low twenties and would much prefer them be represented by my vision blurring, a trail of blood behind me, and my eventual collapsing on the ground in a mess. But in a twitch must-kill-death fest like General Space Shooter Deathmatch Armageddon Tournament 200X I expect to quantafiably justify every shot I use against my enemy as I scream at him for once again shock-comboing me into pate.

You're right though. Some games misuse the concept of recharging health or using medikits where they're not needed (I personally believe Halo made a bad mistake with having health this way, but is fully justified in having shields displayed like this). And good call on what's made Sonic bad since he moved into the realms of 3d - rollercoasting isn't fun. I miss the times where I had to instinctively tap the buttons to land on that platform right because I'd accidentally skipped most of Green Hill Zone by hitting the speed of sound and wasn't exactly sure WHERE I was. Now that was the fun bit...

The destructible things in the original Red Faction were loads of fun. I used to play two-player versus on the PS2 with a friend and we would wind up just trying to make tunnels that interconnected by boring with the rocket launchers. Just a lot of fun. Red Faction 3 is in the works, although Red Faction 2 was a disappointment, so no telling how that will go.

The lack of destructible environments in gaming really is a shame. After Red Faction I thought more games would try to advance that kind of mechanic, but the game was released half a decade ago and almost no one has touched it presumably because of just how hard it is to implement and how it taxes system resources. Crysis, probably the most technologically advanced FPS to date only allows you to knock down trees and sheds made of sheet metal. Hopefully now as PC's and consoles get more processing power that kind of thing will be more common.

This is the first I've heard of Fracture, thanks for mentioning it Jennacide. I'm not a huge fan of the third-person perspective in action games, but it might be worth a look when it comes out next year...

i miss having time to play games...

other than that, miss soundtracks that are so repetitive that you instantly remember the game and the hours of fun you had with it (tetris). and a game that nobody yells at and gives it bad grades when its graphic engine is outdated - and instead the programmers concentrated on the game mechanics and storyline which are actually important (blake stone, starcraft)...

i miss giant robot spiders that destroy your city (simcity).

and all in all, i guess i miss the wonders of the 2d world... - and 3d-minigames (jazz, the jackrabbit)... oh, and speaker sound.

thats why i am happy to play a 2D game again, that has gameplay, a 256-color graphic engine, and soundeffects that i can instantly track to their source.

Action Sim games like Mechwarrior 2. As soon as you have a first person view in a game now the designers think you must want to be able to run around lika jackrabbit on speed and on fire.

Interesting Crysis was brought up, I really wished more of the environment was destructible. The nuke was EXTREMELY disappointing. Nothing is really that interactive in the game. Wood doesn't bend and shatter as they alluded to in screenshots.

I'm aware that the nuke was a tech demo for Cryengine2 but that is still kind of lame to taunt us like that.

If they just added a terrain destruction engine, maybe using the voxel tool, it would really create an interesting dynamic.

I have serveral requests but since you people will probably beg me to shut my trap after a while, I've narrowed my choices down to two requests :P

* Long-lastivity

Games today are shorter than usual compared to their mid-late 90's equivalents.
I feel that the games single player campaigns are becoming shorter and shorter and with the technology getting better and better I really do not think there is a solid excuse why games should be so bloody short. I'm looking in peculiar at the console games that deliver no more than 6-10 hours of singleplayer experience. The list of games that fall into this category is immense so I won't even try to list the ones I think specially should be ashamed of themselves. Now a lot of people claim that Multiplayer is a good cover-up for adding Longlastivity for games but I - like Yahtzee don't think that is an excuse. Some people just like to play the games on the single player campaign and then be done with it. And I truly don't think that a game that delivers max 6-10 hours of single player gameplay is worth the $55-60 bucks. I want my Third Person shooter to last longer like it did in the old days. Thank you.

This leads to my second requests:

* Next Gen-Retail Pricing

There's been a claim that the next generation of games will cost much more to develop. OK, fine, then why are we getting charged an extra $10 for games that somehow manage to have fewer features than their current-generation counterparts?

I'll give you an example. How come FIFA World Cup for the Xbox 360 has only 8-10 teams in its roster while the Xbox1 version of the very same game has over 52 teams? How come that sportsgames in particular have LESS features and options than their past-generation equivalents and the games for the Xbox 360/PS3 cost 10-20 bucks more?

In the old days I never ever had to pay 60 bucks for a game, not even a launch title. Can anyone remember ANY game that was 60 bucks in the past? The only exception I could remember was PokÉmon Stadium for the N64 during it launch (Not that I ever tried or even liked PokÉmon) but as far as the old times go, I never remember paying 60 bucks for a SNES game.

With games being shorter than before I really don't think there is any excuse.

Well CyberAkuma to me it seems that what bothers you is that we pay more for less and that they make the games look better while cutting back on everything else.

Some great replies...

Red Faction GeoMod: Yeah, that was one tech that I thought would really catch on, cuz it was pretty fun (unfortunately, I don't think Red Faction took advantage of it game-play-wise in the same way that, for example, Portal took advantage of its tech..but that's another issue). But no one since has applied it. "Fracture," from what I've seen, doesn't really come close. From what I know about GeoMod, I think the main bottleneck with it is memory - the more the player destroys the world, the more stuff the game needs to remember (where holes are, etc.). And these days, so much memory gets dedicated to texture maps (including normal, shadow, gloss, etc. maps) and other stuff (sound..) that there's just no room for dynamic geometry. Red Faction 1 limited how much you could destroy and RF2 let you keep going..but it would remove the oldest holes. (source: http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=124869)

Perhaps someone will do it again like Red Faction, but do some compression tricks to make it virtually unlimited. Carmack has been talking about doing MegaTexture, but for geometry. If id can pull that off for static geometry, I imagine the main bottleneck of destroying in real-time would be the de/compression of the dynamic geometry. But hey, that's a perfect candidate for the CELL processor..maybe THAT will be the PS3's killer app! Let the player destroy to his/her heart's delight by creating geometry in real-time, and when memory starts to get low, compress it (on a few SPUs) and stream it to the HDD (like MegaTexture). You'd also want multiple levels of detail (again, like MegaTexture).

KaynSlamdyke:
The Inverse Parser conversation engine, and the real feeling of backstabbing and befriending people in Trust and Betrayal: The Legacy of Siboot.

Haha I read Crawford's book on this. I'd love to play it...is there a PC port? :P

MrCIA:
Action Sim games like Mechwarrior 2. As soon as you have a first person view in a game now the designers think you must want to be able to run around lika jackrabbit on speed and on fire.

W0rd. That game actually felt like you were in the cockpit of a 50-ton war machine. Quite an awesome gameplay experience that has yet to be recreated.

I kind of miss the turn-based combat of the older RPGs like Chrono Trigger and FF7. I like having time to plan and execute a strategy as opposed to pounding the attack button and watching my guy do combos.

Stella Q:
I kind of miss the turn-based combat of the older RPGs like Chrono Trigger and FF7. I like having time to plan and execute a strategy as opposed to pounding the attack button and watching my guy do combos.

but it always tends to make the spell haste so much less valuable. small nitpick, but what can i say.. i love haste.

In _Master of Orion_ (the original) you didn't just research one technology at a time like in other 4X games. Instead, you set your general science slider, then you set sliders in each of six sub-categories (like Computers, Planet Ecology, Ship Drives, etc.)

The great thing was that there was also some weird compound interest formula where if you researched all six sub-categories, you'd get all six techs faster than if you researched one sub-category at a time. It made for some really interesting strategic decisions, like whether you should pour research points into a new combat tech at the expense of falling behind in techs that grow your economy, or choose the slower but more powerful path of researching all areas with equal weight.

I miss the Zero-G effects from Heavy Gear 2... infact, I miss that game completely. I also miss Starsiege: Tribes and it's recharging jetpacks. The 3rd dimension added to FPS games was amazing and hasn't really been done since.

I'd also like to see more co-op play in games. I remember playing Doom and Quake/Quake 2 with friends on the craziest difficulties/maps. That was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed that far more than any DM or TDM games.

Here's a few...

1. Merchant AI in games that is reasonably knowledgeable: I hate this instant labeling of stolen goods that RPGs have been doing. Can we bring back the merchants that didn't have a sixth sense at detecting stolen goods?

2. Weighty choices in picking party members: Not just strategically, but politically. Starflight and a few other games touched it in that you really had to be careful who you had traveling with you, since it might irritate the locals. Leading to fun moments like: "You have a WHAT aboard your ship?!" "Uh oh..."

3. Item creation and modification that actually means something: There's been a few systems in games to make stuff. Usually, it's a bunch of crap. Or you just make something to a pre-determined blueprint which equates no more than you facilitating some simple database queries involving decrements and increments.

4. Genuine smartassery: Something that's gone by the wayside, along with story. Planescape Torment is great in this aspect. Nothing beats being a bastard in this game. You can get those mock moments, but the feeling is fleeting. I think Black Isle was one of the few that mastered immersing dynamic dialog trees.

5. Enemies that know when to give up: This has been done in the past to many different degrees, but now most enemies will take the death before failure ideology more often than not... even when it just doesn't fit. What happened to being able to make an example of someone and everyone else chickening out as they failed their morale checks MISERABLY.

My main grip in most gaming is level design its small under utilized and just weak, while not directly a game play issue its a major part of how game play can be fun.

Cheeze_Pavilion:
In _Master of Orion_ (the original) you didn't just research one technology at a time like in other 4X games. Instead, you set your general science slider, then you set sliders in each of six sub-categories (like Computers, Planet Ecology, Ship Drives, etc.)

The great thing was that there was also some weird compound interest formula where if you researched all six sub-categories, you'd get all six techs faster than if you researched one sub-category at a time. It made for some really interesting strategic decisions, like whether you should pour research points into a new combat tech at the expense of falling behind in techs that grow your economy, or choose the slower but more powerful path of researching all areas with equal weight.

Hmm that is interesting - a short term vs. long term gain thing. How was that communicated to the player? If at all...

That reminds me of X-Com's research system. You researched faster the more specimens you got. So if you wanted that alien plasma tech...you best go shoot down more UFOs and get plasma pistol specimens.

BubbaBrown:

3. Item creation and modification that actually means something: There's been a few systems in games to make stuff. Usually, it's a bunch of crap. Or you just make something to a pre-determined blueprint which equates no more than you facilitating some simple database queries involving decrements and increments.

What games actually had meaningful item creation, and how did it work? I hear Ultima 7 did, but I've never played it.

Yes, the ATB system and things like it need to make a comeback. Lots of games have turn-based, action and grid-based systems, but I've seen very few lately with actual time-based systems.

runtheplacered:

Stella Q:
I kind of miss the turn-based combat of the older RPGs like Chrono Trigger and FF7. I like having time to plan and execute a strategy as opposed to pounding the attack button and watching my guy do combos.

but it always tends to make the spell haste so much less valuable. small nitpick, but what can i say.. i love haste.

In turn based mode haste gives a character the right to make more moves or make first move,nothing is wasted in TB but real life time,this can be assisted with a general RT mode or AI mode like in Lunar, really FF12 would have the best RPG battle system if it had a better queuing active pause command system.

Mix FF4/6 with FF12 or FO1-2 with FF12 a solid TB and RT mix would be awesome.

I heard Battlefield: Bad Company would have destructible environments much like Red Faction. Maybe not quite ground tunnels, but it's a start.

stevesan:

BubbaBrown:

3. Item creation and modification that actually means something: There's been a few systems in games to make stuff. Usually, it's a bunch of crap. Or you just make something to a pre-determined blueprint which equates no more than you facilitating some simple database queries involving decrements and increments.

What games actually had meaningful item creation, and how did it work? I hear Ultima 7 did, but I've never played it.

Elder Scrolls: Morrowind is one. Not the greatest, but you could have ALOT of fun with it when it came to alchemy and enchanting. The basic setup for enchanting was this: You had you frame or container, the effects you knew, how they could work, the cost to the "space" the container had, and your skills. Pretty simple and open. Potions were similar: Reagents with different properties, match the effect out of two to get it in the end product, take account of your skills and your equipment, and you get the final product. Again simple and open.
So you could make things that caused all kind of effects.
So I guess I'd really like to see modular and open crafting systems make a good comeback. There's one or two more good examples out there, but my memory fails me.

I want to see Sonic go back to the side-scrolling days where he didn't have annoying voice actors and catch phrases. I'm not talking about the Game Boy "Sonic Team" pieces of filth, I mean the Sonic 3 & Knuckles days, where the soundtrack was awesome, interesting environs, and before the trend of "every 5th zone needs to be carnival/amusement park themed" started to set in. Someone with some brains needs to go over to Nintendo, rip the Sonic contracts out of their hands, and hand it over to people not intent on raping the franchise face-down into the mud (or at least hire some people who can write intersting stories and clever characters).

DaxStrife:
I want to see Sonic go back to the side-scrolling days where he didn't have annoying voice actors and catch phrases. I'm not talking about the Game Boy "Sonic Team" pieces of filth, I mean the Sonic 3 & Knuckles days, where the soundtrack was awesome, interesting environs, and before the trend of "every 5th zone needs to be carnival/amusement park themed" started to set in. Someone with some brains needs to go over to Nintendo, rip the Sonic contracts out of their hands, and hand it over to people not intent on raping the franchise face-down into the mud (or at least hire some people who can write intersting stories and clever characters).

W0rd. Bring Sonic back to 2D!!

Or maybe, someone should just make a spiritual successor to Sonic.. Rapid the Rabbit!? hehe...something.

BubbaBrown:

stevesan:

BubbaBrown:

3. Item creation and modification that actually means something: There's been a few systems in games to make stuff. Usually, it's a bunch of crap. Or you just make something to a pre-determined blueprint which equates no more than you facilitating some simple database queries involving decrements and increments.

What games actually had meaningful item creation, and how did it work? I hear Ultima 7 did, but I've never played it.

Elder Scrolls: Morrowind is one. Not the greatest, but you could have ALOT of fun with it when it came to alchemy and enchanting. The basic setup for enchanting was this: You had you frame or container, the effects you knew, how they could work, the cost to the "space" the container had, and your skills. Pretty simple and open. Potions were similar: Reagents with different properties, match the effect out of two to get it in the end product, take account of your skills and your equipment, and you get the final product. Again simple and open.
So you could make things that caused all kind of effects.
So I guess I'd really like to see modular and open crafting systems make a good comeback. There's one or two more good examples out there, but my memory fails me.

Hmm cool. I've been meaning to play Morrowind..but it's such a slow, time-consuming game, I just don't have time for it anymore. Ah how I wish someone would design a "casual" RPG with all the depth of the classics..

One great type of mechanic used would be the ones used in "Shenmue." To this day, I still loved that game. Sadly, I sold my XBOX to get an Xbox 360 and of course the XBOX 360 doesn't have backwards compatibility(I believe they said it did have it) so I can never play that game again. And for the people that played Shenmue on the dreamcast, I meant Shenmue 2. I have also played the 1st one which I was able to finish.

stevesan:

BubbaBrown:

stevesan:

BubbaBrown:

3. Item creation and modification that actually means something: There's been a few systems in games to make stuff. Usually, it's a bunch of crap. Or you just make something to a pre-determined blueprint which equates no more than you facilitating some simple database queries involving decrements and increments.

What games actually had meaningful item creation, and how did it work? I hear Ultima 7 did, but I've never played it.

Elder Scrolls: Morrowind is one. Not the greatest, but you could have ALOT of fun with it when it came to alchemy and enchanting. The basic setup for enchanting was this: You had you frame or container, the effects you knew, how they could work, the cost to the "space" the container had, and your skills. Pretty simple and open. Potions were similar: Reagents with different properties, match the effect out of two to get it in the end product, take account of your skills and your equipment, and you get the final product. Again simple and open.
So you could make things that caused all kind of effects.
So I guess I'd really like to see modular and open crafting systems make a good comeback. There's one or two more good examples out there, but my memory fails me.

Hmm cool. I've been meaning to play Morrowind..but it's such a slow, time-consuming game, I just don't have time for it anymore. Ah how I wish someone would design a "casual" RPG with all the depth of the classics..

If you double starting stats it becoems a bit faster to play through.

TheKittenStrangler
look at Jericho and know the horror of out of place button time events, there is a time and place for them...just not in my FPS's :P

I'm going to wish for old game genres altogether...

1) Classic Space Quest/Monkey Island-style adventure gaming, complete with black humour, bizzare inventory usage and all. No more simon-says/platform-jumping puzzle gaming please, for the love of god.

2) Open-ended travel/space/trading games! I'm thinking of Wing Commander, but also of Uncharted Waters. Travelling the world/galaxy with your own hard-earned ship, trading spic