So I got a bug in my butt to install Mortal Kombat 11 last night and was doing the story mode which is basically like a movie with intermittent fights and it occurred to me that I love Mortal Kombat but just the characters, the worldbuilding, and the lore. I’ve never been big on fighting games and as I age, I am finding it harder and harder to pull off special combos quick enough to even do much other than slapping buttons and hoping for the best.
My favorite MK game was one of the ones on PS2 where the story mode was basically God of War gameplay turning it from a fighter into an action adventure game.
If Midway were to make a Mortal Kombat title that was like Dark Souls but set on Outworld or something, that would definitely be my jam.
Another would be Warhammer 40k. I am not at all interested in the PnP gameplay nor a lot of the video games. But I love the lore and the game Rogue Trader is fucking dope, playing more like a traditional CRPG in that setting and not an RTS or straight up shooter.
Do y’a have any games like that? Where you like everything about them except the actual gameplay?
Does wishing that Final Fantasy would return to its roots and be a turn-based JRPG again count?
Similarly, what about wishing for another linear and stoey-focused 3D Zelda?
I want a top down Mana game again. I liked the Trials remake and Visions, but I miss the original style.
“I like FF7 but I wish instead of a JRPG, it was a generic ARPG” said an SE exec at some point, apparently.
I’m one of these weird people that actually prefer it as an ARPG.
I just wish it was a good one.
Crisis core worked surprisingly well!.
When I played Trails in the Sky, I felt a lot of my FF7 nostalgia coming back. It got a remake which has been very faithful to the original; while you start combat with some dodges/swings in the overworld, most fights inevitably come back to turn-based.
did you give bravely default a shot?
This might be too pointed a memory, but I remember trying a demo for that game, and somehow having the basic attacks involve cat-like repetitive swatting from the chibi characters put me way off.
I also want to feel really intrigued and connected with a story to play a JRPG. “Generic lore” doesn’t do it for me.
Yup, and I’d even say that the best FF is the one that SE was too afraid to put the FF name on. I just wish it wasn’t relegated to being a lower budget B-list project, imagine if SE put the same kinds of full AAA resources behind this that they put on the FF7 ‘remake’.
If you want something echoing back to the og, I found the 4 heros of light very fun. I replay it once every few years or so. Also, it is the scaffolding that bravely default was built with
yeah i remember bd’s nemesis battle theme coming from 4hol
Probably all gacha games, like Genshin Impact or FGO. There’s a lot about those games I like, but the fact that they’re gacha actively gets in the way. If they were just regular games, most of the problems, which boil down to maximising play time like tedious grinding or filler in the main quests, would disappear.
Yeah, same here honestly
I just wish No Mans Sky had some point.
The point is to learn 3+ alien languages word by word
The point is to get super high and hang out on toxic planets for the trippy colors.
Based and “I hope this place has ancient bones…”-pilled
Sometimes I feel similarly about Elite: Dangerous. Disclaimer: I haven’t played NMS because E:D gets all my spacetime tokens and I’m fine with that. “Community goals” (high payout limited time events) get me to play because it gives me purpose for a week. For the most part though, I like coming to it for an hour or two when I want to take a break from story-laden games. Hunt pirates for an hour, fly out of inhabited space and explore for an hour (well, an hour out, an hour there per session, an hour back next time), or just chill with music and asteroid mining.
So I do wish there was a plot at times, but I do appreciate it for mixing up the routine with simple cruising
The point is to spend hours travelling across the universe looking for an Earth-like planet, with green grass, blue skies and relatively safe temperatures, instead of just going outside in real life.
I just wish they’d dedicate one or two of their major updates to integrating all the random features they added into a cohesive whole. Right now there are dozens of systems that are almost all pointless shallow grinds as well as completely isolated from every other system. It’d give the game some real depth if these mechanics interacted with each other in any way.
That, and fix their damn inventory system. It’s been a decade and multiple overhauls and basic crafting and inventory management is still unpleasant and tedious.
Starcraft. RTS is not for me; I played the campaigns with cheats on so I could see the story unfold.
Then again, that was back when I was still willing to give money to ActiBlizzard. Not so since Blitzchung.
We almost had an OTS shooter set in StarCraft’s universe… I wonder what life would have been like if Ghost actually came out in 2005. 🤔
I’ve seen this image so often, but just now it occurred to me: Living the best life in the year 3000 and cars still park on the sidewalk.
Nun uh, they park OVER the sidewalk.
Starcraft 2 is super fun as a randomizer in the RTS format, but I do want to see more done with that IP. The problem is, like you, I will never give Blizzard a single penny ever again.
Yup. I love the lore and atmosphere, fun in archipelago for randomizing, i like the campaign and co-op modes a lot. But since I won’t give blizzard any money it’s nice that they just gave up on the IP for whatever reason
Someone remade Portal as a browser-based side scroller, and I fucking loved that game.
I played through Horizon: Zero Dawn and Forbidden West, and with how hard every NPC was flirting with Aloy, I wondered “Why isn’t this a post-apocalyptic dating sim?”
In Divinity: Original Sin II, there’s a game-breaking mechanic where you can plant tea plants in pots, grow new tea plants, harvest them, and then use the buffs from drinking tea to get infinite moves during fights. I actually got into the whole management of the tea farm, and I don’t want to totally throw out the RPG combat, but I might like it if farming and then using your crops to win fights was an entire game unto itself, rather than just a broken exploit.
I played through Horizon: Zero Dawn and Forbidden West, and with how hard every NPC was flirting with Aloy, I wondered “Why isn’t this a post-apocalyptic dating sim?”
I mean, Aloy is super cool, badass and hot as fuck, if you’re single, the only reason not to flirt with her would be fear.
I thought that with how things ended in HFW, the next game ought to be an RTS.
EVE online
I loved the lore, the feel of danger in low/nullsec. But I just don’t have time for a second job.
Everytime I read about some insane awesome event in Eve I think, “I should totally play that.” Then I get bummed for a moment that I won’t be able to. Then I remember what you said, it’s a second job, and I smile and get on with my life.
Maybe I’d just like to be an Eve battlefield reporter.
X4 doesn’t have quite as good lore imo, but for me it really scratches my eve itch without having to go back to that mmo. I think it’s the interconnected economy of the sandbox.
I wasn’t familiar so I looked it up. I absolutely love the visuals of X4, I might give it a go some day
If you pick it up, know that it has a huge modding scene that makes an already great game even better. I can recommend a few basic QoL mods if you want, though the 9.0 update is coming soon and will probably break most of them for a while.
Also, the base game has some arbitrary mechanics meant purely to punish the player so veterans can’t steamroll the NPC factions too quickly, at the expense of making the new player experience harder. There’s a list of these mechanics (and links to mods that reduce/remove them) here.
Turns out: Pokemon.
I tend to only play a Pokemon game every decade or so because the formula has been basically the same since the original: you catch pokemans and then cock fight them. And I just only have so much bandwidth for that.
But over here in Pokopia I’m building habitats for them and we are all hanging out, and it’s awesome. Yes, I will build you a little house, Bulbasaur.
I would enjoy the hell out of XCOM if it played more like Mass Effect.
I would enjoy the hell out of a Mass Effect themed turn based strategy.
They kind of tried that, but unfortunately it wasn’t very good.
Unironically played this entire game start to finish and enjoyed it despite it being a massive mess
That seems to be the general consensus of the user reviews, too - that it’s one of those 6/10 games that’s somehow greater than the sum of its parts. Some of my fondest gaming memories are of that sort of game, so I might have to give it a second chance.
I’d love to see Doom as an Assassin’s Creed style game, where instead of it being wall to wall high-intensity violence there is a slower-pace open world story and every once in a while you’re dropped into a kind of death match arena to face a boss, but you can also run into them in the wild and have to scramble to take them out before they get ya.
You might like Strife
I feel like a lot of third person action adventure games would be better off as turn based RPGs since the action gameplay usually sucks and smashing the action button 100,000 times is not fun after an hour or so.
Witcher 3 needs a turn based mode more than anything.
I feel exactly the opposite.
There are plenty of turn-based RPGs and JRPGs that I fell asleep playing that I probably wouldn’t have if I didn’t have to mostly stare at a static screen and menus most of the game. And dont even get me started on random battles.
Turn-based RPGs have repetitive combat loops to me. Same intro, same enemy lineup, same strategy, same music, same victory jingle. Over and over and over. It least in an action oriented game, I can choose where my character is, how I engage with combat, what terrain features I use, etc.
This is why I like Strategic Turn Based games like Fire Emblem and XCOM way more than standard turn based games.
JRPGs often don’t have good enough stories for me to continue playing and many have grind as part of their design.
My issue with the better JRPGs like Persona is that there are simply too many battles. If they cut 50-70% of the battles the games would have much better pacing and become less monotonous.
FF7 is a good 30-40 hour game. Games going for 80 hours and up are way too long.
I’d take it a step further, ditch the combat gameplay entirely. Make Witcher 3 in the style of Disco Elysium. Put the emphasis on storytelling and actual RPG stats. Combat will be less common but can be solved through play by play decision trees making each encounter more memorable.
Turn base probably won’t save the shallowness of Witcher 3 combat, it need an overhaul for more in depth system. Witcher is introduced in the first one as a methodological monster hunter where he learn, prepare, and hunt the monster, while also deal with politics(which is probably the strongest part of the series). In Witcher 3 Geralt is a ballerina dancing with his blade.
The best witcher combat is in Monster Hunter World.
CDPR gambled for the masses and won with Witcher 3. I agree with you and would prefer the combat to be more methodical, require more preparation and be more visceral. I wish you’d have to actually manually brew the correct potions and oils in preparation, and then see those have a huge impact on whether you win or lose the fight.
At the same time, the super lightweight combat they went with allowed the game to be so approachable by the causal market that it sold millions and millions of copies and singlehandedly catapulted CDPR into a AAA studio. So it’s hard to argue they made a mistake not catering to players like us.
I feels like it’s about time we stop making excuse for how company able to make bank by watering down their product, it actually sound pretty sad, and it kills some of my favorite studio because they thought about doing the same.
At the same time From Soft make bank by making Elden Ring better without having to watering down their product, same stuff happened to Capcom with their Monster Hunter World. It’s about streamlining the clunky gameplay while retaining the identity of what making the predecessor great.
Also we’re in a thread talking about how the game we want could be better if they’re different, so maybe don’t.
I’m the exact opposite, in a different, but similar way that the other commenter is.
I will fall asleep trying to play almost any turn-based/tactical RPG you give me. It’s just too slow for me, and I can’t focus on stats or stacking effects that much. That’s why I like real-time action games. I’ve been playing the hell out of Fallout 4 lately and that is probably the fastest-paced game out of the entire series. There’s snappy gunplay in first- and third-person with a dedicated bash/grenade button, and you can pop out from behind cover when you aim. Also the whole customizing and modification system with the workshop and settlements.
Dead by Daylight.
The idea evolved out of turning horror games into multiplayer. As balance adjustments were made over time, the horror element was depleted and most of it is based around pathing between obstacles as a slower character, against one very powerful melee-based character.
It’s certainly fun and bearable in its current form, but: The objectives based around “escaping the killer” tend to result in lopsided results (eg, one player that hid and escaped feeling proud, while a very good chaser gets few points since they died). The game is not accessible to players intimidated by horror, and some effects even trigger certain phobias or bodily resistances (eg, The Plague causes some empathetic vomiting issues to some people) Plus, some players taking the killer role sometimes associate a bit too much ego to their result (they do badly in matches, and blame the game, stating “I’m Michael Myers, dropping bits of wood and puny flashlights shouldn’t phase me”)
I really love the idea of asymmetrical games like DBD but the community always ruins it. Evolve was absutely incredible in the first few weeks before players optimized all the tension out (and before the backlash over what is now laughably tame monetization).
World of Warcraft, but predominantly as a persistent single-player world where you can invite players in (ala. Diablo 2).
I love the world building of Azeroth (even the bow out-dated, throw-away, pop-culture additions); just wish I could play and experience it all at my pace - family life currently precludes me from being able to invest sufficient time to play an MMO.
just wish I could play and experience it all at my pace - family life currently precludes me from being able to invest sufficient time to play an MMO.
Wayfinder does this pretty well. There’s some rough edges from where they pivoted in the design, but I got it on sale for less than a single month of WoW, and have been playing through it at my own pace ever since.
I love the setting of Control but would prefer if it were more of a tactical FPS with less spongy enemies. The way I play it now is basically on super easy because I just hate the mobs and bosses.
I love Control and the Remedyverse, but I’m with you. Turning up the setting to replenish your energy faster helps it flow better imo, especially on additional playthroughs.
I mostly play with god mode enabled. Like i used to play OG doom in fourth grade.
Without me looking it up, I’m going to guess “IDDQD”? I only remember that one and “IDKFA” which I thiiiink was guns and ammo.
Nailed it
Heyo yeeee! I used to get them mixed up a lot. I swear there was a noclip one I knew, but it’s lost to the void of my mind hahaha
IDCLIP in Doom II, IDSPISPOPD in Doom I (glad they changed that one!)
Hades and Hades 2. I am someone who is a huge fan of visual novels and the games already have a fantastic dynamic between characters and amazing writing.
i just hate that I have to play a game genre im not good at to get more of a story I’m extremely invested in. and characters I’m attached to.
Though the genre kinda makes the story!
At least it has god mode. I’ve basically accepted I play most games on the lowest difficulty possible.
Quite a few games as a service games look like they could have been turned into interesting single player story based games if, you know, someone bothered to write a story for it.
Brink for example had fantastic art assets and back story, but no actual story.
Yeah, there have been a bunch of extraction shooter style games that I would play the shit out of if they just weren’t extraction shooters.
Jesus fucking Christ, why did Marathon have to suffer that fate?
