Favorite Little Things in Gaming

[Snow Queen]

What are your favorite small details in gaming? Mine are:

-Visible damage on characters

-Character AND stage intros

-Visible weapon upgrades

-Visible armour and weapons

 

[Krazy4Krash]

Idle animations. Seriously, having even just one for the character you're playing as adds so much to any game. A favourite of mine that immediately comes to mind is Mario sleeping in Super Mario 64.

"A-Spaghetti.... A-Ravioli..."

 

[octorok74]

I like everything listed so far. But I also like shifts in time of day. I like watching the shadows change position. And water. I love looking at water in games. Generally I consider the look of water to be a showcase of how great the look of the game is, since it is hard to get right. But when down right I can watch an in-game river for hours. Add fish in that water and I have my day set.

 

[Mercedes]

Visible changes to characters is something I love too. Stuff like on the newest Tomb Raider, how you start off fresh and clean and by the end of the game Lara's clothes are torn, muddy, her hair's messier. I do like them touches.

Also, it's the little things that make worlds more believable. Like on Witcher 2 there's an NPC in the first village who you might walk past talking to someone about shoes, how much she likes them and how many she has. Just 1 out of many random NPC conversations you might get. If you then find her house, in her bedroom she has a massive shoe collection, some of them falling off the shelves. It's not much but it's little touches like that which make it all seem more real. People will say that stuff doesn't matter, it doesn't effect the gameplay or story or impact anything, and they're correct, but I like them little touches. It shows that the developer really put effort into the game and world.

 

[mkwLM]

I like everything listed so far. But I also like shifts in time of day. I like watching the shadows change position.

I couldn't agree more. To be more specific, the direct shift from day to night, watching the sun slowly set and hearing the music fade out - this is my favorite thing about spending all that time in Wind Waker's expansive ocean. It never gets old. Too few games incorporate that chilling nighttime atmosphere.

 

[Deleted member 14134]

My favorite little thing in gaming is those midgets from borderlands. Those are pretty cool.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

Idle animations. Seriously, having even just one for the character you're playing as adds so much to any game. A favourite of mine that immediately comes to mind is Mario sleeping in Super Mario 64.

"A-Spaghetti.... A-Ravioli..."

my absolute favorite is in rayman 2,where he starts playing w/ his body

 

[AbrahamLinkoln]

Some of the things the soldiers would say on the battlefield in Battlefield 3

 

[Snow Queen]

I have grown to like fully interactive worlds that don't glitch. Is that a little thing?

 

[mkwLM]

I have grown to like fully interactive worlds that don't glitch. Is that a little thing?

I would almost say that's the thing.

 

[Shroom]

-Character customization, but not upgrades per se, so basically a change of clothes or some sort of small customization that has nothing to do with the game.

-"Living" NPCs. Not your stationary stale NPCs, but ones that actually have their own lives.

-Idle animations as listed above. I feel like that's one thing I loved about the N64 era; the idle animations in those games are very memorable to me.

 

[Krazy4Krash]

my absolute favorite is in rayman 2,where he starts playing w/ his body

I love that one too, he dribbles his body and spins it on his finger like a basketball. Still speaking about idle poses, there's an unhealthy amount of ones I like in Brawl, including some that come from the characters' games, such as Link twirling his sword and Sonic tapping his foot. Off the top of my head, some notable that come to me are:

• Luigi pulling his nose
• Bowser exhaling smoke
• Ganondorf crossing his arms and turning majestically
• Zero Suit Samus looking both ways
• Pikachu standing upright and twitching its ear
• Wario clenching his arms
• Yoshi dancing

and a ridiculous amount of others I don't want to continue going on about. Seriously, I love idle animations...

 

[Rocky]

Visible changes to characters is something I love too. Stuff like on the newest Tomb Raider, how you start off fresh and clean and by the end of the game Lara's clothes are torn, muddy, her hair's messier. I do like them touches.

Don't forget about the gradual wear and tear on Batman's suit in the Arkham games. By the end of the game, it seems as if Batman has gone through hell and back. More developers should start adding visible changes to characters.

I also love:

• Lively towns.
• Dynamic weather effects.
• Reflections off surfaces and water.
• Ripple effects when something falls into water.
• Beautiful lighting. Bonus points if sun rays are going through leaves or clouds.

 

[Justac00lguy]

A few things I like from a range of different games/genres:

• Attention to detail
• Subtle references to previous games
• References to pop culture
• Weather effects
• Character facial reactions
• How characters/npcs interact with each other within the world - external to what you're doing
• How much you effort/detail that goes into areas you can't even access

That's all I can think of at the moment. All of what I said don't necessarily make a game, but it's just those little add ons which can ultimately add up. Sometimes it is the bigger picture, but I really appreciate the subtle details; it shows that they game creators really care.

 

[Emma]

A few things I like from a range of different games/genres:

• Attention to detail
• Subtle references to previous games
• References to pop culture
• Weather effects
• Character facial reactions
• How characters/npcs interact with each other within the world - external to what you're doing
• How much you effort/detail that goes into areas you can't even access

That's all I can think of at the moment. All of what I said don't necessarily make a game, but it's just those little add ons which can ultimately add up. Sometimes it is the bigger picture, but I really appreciate the subtle details; it shows that they game creators really care.

Well... everything you said, definitely. I love those things. I also like NPCs and passive creatures, if they exist, to interact with the world itself. And creatures to interact with each other. Like a blacksmith working a forge, cows moving together in herds and doing things they do in the real world like stand in water to cool off. Cats exploring, jumping up things, and checking things out, chasing birds and squirrels. ah... and ambient sounds to all areas that sound fitting. I recently played Morrowind with the Morrowind Overhaul mod installed and I was amazing by what a huge difference that having ambient sounds fitting to the current environment you'd in makes. It makes it feel so much more real and immersive.