The little things that make a game worth while.

This is a thread for discussing things in a game that make it great. Not the big moments, like Kefka high jacking the statues and obliterating most of the known world, not the revelation that the long haired pretty boy is the villain.

Here is an example, one one of my personal favorites.

In Lufia 2, there is a point in the game you arrive at a destroyed town. Amon had just left there, destroying the town and the lives of everyone in it.

The moment that gets me is your characters actions after this. They speak with iris about what happened, but rather then rush off they stay behind to help bury the dead of the town.

This is an amazing moment. For starters, it's the only game I recall your characters actually doing something like this. They didn't know these people, they had never so much as been to that town.

Yet still they show them respect and give them a proper burial.

the corpses still littering the ground in chaed really bothered me as a kid.

can we just talk about Lufia II? i smurfing love that game. all the cool people just named their first capsule monster Foomy instead of smurfing Jelze.

UNDERWATER CAVE %#)@B2

I can't say I disaprove of a Lufia 2 discussion. I adore that game. <3

And I named Foomy 'Jazz' all the time as a kid. :p

when i rented it and played someone else's save they had the earth capsule guy named DAVID in all caps when he was in giant stone moai head form. i just name him that every time now.

In Shadow of the Colossus you can hitch a ride on the fish and have eagles carry you across the world. I quite like that.

Any racing/driving game where you can see the driver, and he looks behind himself when backing up.

The little touches like that just tickle me.

I like how in Killzone 2, you can tell when you're running out of ammo because the end of the clip starts to sound different. It's also practical if you play with HUD disabled to witness the game in its visual glory.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Harle-y Davidson

In Shadow of the Colossus you can hitch a ride on the fish and have eagles carry you across the world. I quite like that.

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Word.

I also like being able to pet Agro and how Wander wakes up after sleeping against the pray-stone if you saved there and quit.

That whole game is just a masterpiece of atmosphere.

You can even grab hold of the doves.

I love how in Ico, the save stations are couches. In fact I love everything about that game, and also SoTC. Good to see it getting so much love as of late.

I never get tired of playing the LEGO Harry Potter games. There is so much to do, and so many little details to discover. It just makes me chuckle.

Also, I regularly make my way through the Syberia games. I just love Oscar and his mannerisms. They almost make the whole game. :D

The soundtrack from Vice City.

I think I spent most of my time in the game randomly mugging people for their motorcycles, then riding around listening to music. x)

Falling in Mirror's Edge. There is something about it that is far more visceral and terrifying than falling in any other game I've played. I still cringe when it happens, but I don't look away as much as I did when I was first playing through. But hell, the fact that it ever made me feel the need to look away is impressive, and it really makes you want to improve so it stops happening.

Off the top of my head:
The song transitions between rooms in Monkey Island 2 (especially the little music synced sound effects for the voodoo swamp elevator)
The graves in Mobliz from FFVI

The one that springs to mind immediately is in GTA San Andreas driving across the desert from the abandoned airfield towards Las Venturas on a dirt bike listening to "Running Down A Dream" by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers :bigsmile:

>>> The massage minigame on FFX-2..:luca:

Shulk and Reyn's silly gem crafting on Xenoblade is fun too..

There's a bit in Golden Sun: The Lost Age, where you reach Lemuria, and Piers leaves your team for a time. If you give him the Lash Pebble, you won't be able to use Lash to get in to see Lunpa.

Does this break your game, preventing progression? Nope. Lunpa drops a rope down for you, and then chews you out for getting stopped by something so simple. It's such a nice feeling, knowing the devs are watching out for you, but that they are still willing to fuss at you for doing it wrong. :)

Winks at other games. Always loved those. On a bigger scale though, I don't have anything specific in mind.

Speaking of nods to other games, another excellent example in Golden Sun: The Lost Age. Upon Mind Reading someone traumatized by an attack on their village:
"Eyes... Shining in the darkness... No, go away!"
For those unaware, Shining in the Darkness was the first entry in Camelot's Shining series, which then gave us Shining Force.

We got the reference, Camelot, now make another SF game!