All games should have...

Most if not all of us have been playing games for a long time and there are basic things that all games should have regardless of genre. Hopefully we can make up a list. I'll start 
 
All games should have: 
 
1. Subtitles during cut-scenes and key dialogue sequences 
2. Skippable cut-scenes 
3. New game plus 
4. Customisable controls or alternate control schemes

There is always a good reason to not include any given feature.

1. Pausable cutscenes
2. Fully customisable controls

Oh, thank god. I was afraid you were going to say "split-screen multiplayer."

I would disagree with the "subtitles during cutscenes" one though. I don't like subtitles. I agree that there should be an option for it, but I would never want it to be always-on.

Euphoria physic engine... Think about it.

@FluxWaveZ said:

@nintendoeats said:

There is always a good reason to not include any given feature.

What would give reason to not include a feature that lets you pause a cutscene?

Yeah, I would have to disagree with that as well. Some things, such as pausing cutscenes, are always a good idea.

Dinosaurs.

Tits, or they need to leave the area

@FluxWaveZ: That's definitely a tricky one, but I think I have an answer. Pausing a cutscene breaks flow. The designer may decide that the flow of their cutscene is vital enough to the game experience that they are better off forcing the player to shout "after this cutscene!" than letting them pause it. I mean, that would have to be one INTENSE frigging cutscene, but little decisions like that can be really important to the overall experience. So no, not all games should have cutscene pausing. And for the record, there are probably less contrived reasons that I haven't thought of.

Dinosaurs.

 - Anime cutscenes.

Subtitles.
Good Soundtrack.

Boob physics.

...an adult only rating!

 - Anime cutscenes.

Tits

Euphoria physic engine... Think about it.

Not allowing me to skip a cutscene would be like a DVD not allowing me to choose a scene or fast forward.  
In a similar vien, games should catch up to DVDs from 10 years ago and allow people to choose to play a game from any given preset scene. Because they own the product. For people who think I should suffer through some shitty fetchquest to "earn" the part of the game I want to get to, attach achievements or some other meaningless thing to not skipping chapters. But a product should be about giving people the ability to experience what they want. I don't feel like "backtrack to 7 different areas and collect some mandatory shit so we can pad the playtime" is essential to my experience and I'm okay missing a fraction of the story by skipping it. The game should allow for that. Cus the alternative is giving up on the game completely.

@FluxWaveZ: The issue at hand here is whether a feature should be in ALL games. MGS IV absolutely needed cutscene pausing, because it's absurd to expect any player to be able to put their lives on hold for those periods of time, especially without any kind of indication of how long a cutscene would be. All I'm saying is that it is not outside the realm of possibility that an individual game could be better off without that feature.

EDIT: Oh yeah, choice. The funny thing is, people think that they know what they want, but they are often quite wrong. Part of a game designer's job is to figure out what will genuinely deliver the best experience. Sometimes that means taking away a toy that player thinks that they need.

@supermike6 said:

- Anime cutscenes.

Like the Giantbomb Crew mentioned before, giving you multiple options to change in the sound mix.

Quality voice acting and soundtrack. Sound design has a pretty large effect on my enjoyment of a game.

I'm going to disagree with New Game+. I think it's only a good feature for RPGs, to give a second playthrough that god like feeling. Even then, it's hardly necessary.

@ryanwho:

You would essentially be removing the "game" part of video games. To quote Yahtzee, "I thought that the "game" part of the term video game implied that gameplay obligations WERE WHAT I WANTED."

@ryanwho: I'm not against what you're suggesting, but it's understandable that developers will never include a feature akin to what you're suggesting because the amount of used game sales would increase significantly.

@ryanwho:

You would essentially be removing the "game" part of video games. To quote Yahtzee, "I thought that the "game" part of the term video game implied that gameplay obligations WERE WHAT I WANTED."

Not allowing me to skip a cutscene would be like a DVD not allowing me to choose a scene or fast forward.  In a similar vien, games should catch up to DVDs from 10 years ago and allow people to choose to play a game from any given preset scene. Because they own the product. For people who think I should suffer through some shitty fetchquest to "earn" the part of the game I want to get to, attach achievements or some other meaningless thing to not skipping chapters. But a product should be about giving people the ability to experience what they want. I don't feel like "backtrack to 7 different areas and collect some mandatory shit so we can pad the playtime" is essential to my experience and I'm okay missing a fraction of the story by skipping it. The game should allow for that. Cus the alternative is giving up on the game completely.

@ryanwho: The way to solve that problem is to make the game better, not to remove the whole concept of playing the game to unlock stuff. Brilliant strawman argument.

@ryanwho: The way to solve that problem is to make the game better, not to remove the whole concept of playing the game to unlock stuff. Brilliant strawman argument.

E. Honda.

The BFG

naked cartoon pussy is all I need in a game!

@ryanwho: The way to solve that problem is to make the game better, not to remove the whole concept of playing the game to unlock stuff. Brilliant strawman argument.

@ryanwho: I'm not really in the mood to write a treatise on this subject, which is pretty much what I would have to do to explain it in a way that makes real and proper sense. I'll try to go pithy: If you don't make the players work for stuff, they usually won't appreciate it. Putting on all the cheats is fun for a while, but it isn't as satisfying as beating a game and saying "I did that all on my fucking lonesome." The problem is, once again, that people often don't actually know what they want until you give it to them.

And yes actually, skipping half-way through a movie the first time you watch it IS pretty stupid.

Tits, or they need to leave the area

@ryanwho: Actually, I'm not even sure what I meant by used game sales would increase... I guess I just immediately thought that since a lot of players are out to finish games instead of playing them, this could make it easier for them to reach their goals.  But aren't the mechanics like "Boss Rushes" or "End game fetch quests (ala Zelda: WW triforce gathering)" included in games to artificially increase the game's length? You seem like you'd rather sell games when you get frustrated with them in segments such as these and that's okay, but I think the majority of people would just rather progress than have to sell a game they started. 

Boob physics.

Yeah, I can only think of one thing: Skip-able cut-scenes.

They're nice enough during the first playthrough, but after year 2000, not many of my favorite games has been specially story-heavy, it gets in the way for the gameplay.

Heck, I think Mario takes too long getting out of that pipe in Mario 64 sometimes.

@FluxWaveZ: The issue at hand here is whether a feature should be in ALL games. MGS IV absolutely needed cutscene pausing, because it's absurd to expect any player to be able to put their lives on hold for those periods of time, especially without any kind of indication of how long a cutscene would be. All I'm saying is that it is not outside the realm of possibility that an individual game could be better off without that feature.

EDIT: Oh yeah, choice. The funny thing is, people think that they know what they want, but they are often quite wrong. Part of a game designer's job is to figure out what will genuinely deliver the best experience. Sometimes that means taking away a toy that player thinks that they need.

Not allowing me to skip a cutscene would be like a DVD not allowing me to choose a scene or fast forward.  In a similar vien, games should catch up to DVDs from 10 years ago and allow people to choose to play a game from any given preset scene. Because they own the product. For people who think I should suffer through some shitty fetchquest to "earn" the part of the game I want to get to, attach achievements or some other meaningless thing to not skipping chapters. But a product should be about giving people the ability to experience what they want. I don't feel like "backtrack to 7 different areas and collect some mandatory shit so we can pad the playtime" is essential to my experience and I'm okay missing a fraction of the story by skipping it. The game should allow for that. Cus the alternative is giving up on the game completely.

Dinosaurs.

HARDCORE NUDITY. I want to see Mario's junk.

Surprised no one has said Speedtree or Nolan North yet. 

Pausable and Skippable Cutscenes should always be included...ALWAYS.

Unsuck option

* ability to select subtitles and audio language separately (most games still fail at it)
* ability to select language in-game, overriding the system default (many games already do that, but its extra annoying when they don't)
* have all languages the game was released in available (huge number of games fails at this, if disk space is an issue, offer downloadable speech pack)
* X and Y axis invert (Y axis invert is standard thanks to Microsoft TCR, X axis invert is still missing sometimes)
* ability to independently select audio, music and sfx volume (luckily already standard almost everywhere)
* subtitles
* save everywhere (used to be standard on PC, is becoming rare these days, also everywhere should really be everywhere, even in cutscenes or dialogs, almost all games fail at this, except emulator stuff)
* fast forward/rewind in cutscenes  (never seen that)
* fast forward/rewind in gameplay, Super Guide style when the game allows
* build in invulnerability, unlimited weapons and level skip options (used to be standard part of many flight games on PC, is getting rather rare)
* ability to replay/rewatch any part of the game easily (level select is luckily provided often, but sometimes lacks granularity)
* ability to select resolution and aspect ration separately (lots of games fail at this)
* gamepad support (almost standard, but still some fail at it, like Mass Effect)
* GPU and CPU scalability (graphic options are almost everywhere, options to lower CPU use exist almost never)

1. Sound Test
2. Level Select