I’m playing my copy of Gran Turismo 3 on my PS2, currently driving the DeLorean DMC-12, and it got me thinking of little inside jokes i’d love to see in this game…
things like going into the tune shop for the DMC and seeing under “Other”;
Flux Capacitor
Mr. Fusion Home Energy System
Nuclear Reactor with cooling vents
Time Circuitry
HoverConversion
for the Dodge Charger;
a special Hemi Orange paintjob with a big “01” on the side, a General Lee flag on the roof, custom “General” rims, and a horn that plays the first few notes of Dixie
Dodge Viper; add in weaponry and transformation circuitry
Pontiac;
add in a Trans Am in the “Classics”, add “Bowling Ball” hubcaps and in “Other” have a red scanner that moves back and forth, and “snooty, smartass AI voice”
Volkswagen;
a paintjob for the Beetle , white with a racing stripe and a “53”
Lotus;
Esprit Turbo; all the toys “Q” developed for it
Aston Martin;
Vanquish; same as above
what inside jokes would you like to see in video games?
I’d like to see a console RPG poke fun at their own cliches. Like have a character get killed in a cutscene, then someone uses a life potion to bring them back. Or have a character get shot in a cutscene but not killed, just a little damage number pops up. Basically anything from RPG world in an actual RPG.
I hear ya! One of my favorite running gags in RPGs was the old yarn, “You know there are sure a lot more monsters out in the countryside lately…” They should tie this into a side plot. Like you do a side quest and find out the townspeople were poaching and wrecking the food chain in their area.
Another thing that would be hilarious would be a house in town- not EVERY house, just one. If you go in, the inhabitants express legitimate shock, then a family member runs off to tell the guards, and you wind up spending a couple nights in the pokey for burglary
All of these things are present in the recent version of The Bard’s Tale for PS2 and X-box. It’s one of the things that really made me like the game - besides being permeated with a Monty Python-esque sense of humor, the game spends quite a bit of time making fun of RPG cliches.
I’d like to see a game where, after you take control of the character in the opening level, you realize that the controls are Resident Evil style. Then, as soon as you leave the room you started in, the character says “Waaaait a minute…”, and the game switches to a cutscene where the character goes to the airport, travels to Capcom headquarters, finds the guy responsible for making Resident Evil style controls, beats him about the head and shoulders with a hockey stick, lights him on fire, throws him out a 10th story window, flies back to the town he started in, and says “There we go.” The game then resumes with a control scheme a human player can actually potentially use.
Whaddaya mean it’s not an inside joke? Regardless, I’d still like to see it…
Speaking of which, I’ve been playing through the latest Splinter Cell game and at one point you have to open up a missile case.
<main character>“Should I get a crowbar?”
<mission controller> “Crowbars are for geeks. Go hack the computer.”
Bards Tale is an awesome game, I was laughing so hard playing that I nearly cried. The dialogue between the bard and the narrator was just great, as was the constant poking fun at RPG cliches.
This happened in Baldur’s Gate for the PC. Some inhabitants would attack you, others would run away and return with guards. You could prevent this by killing them before they ran away.
Baldur’s Gate (and other D&D games) are pretty good with this stuff. There’s somebody who, when you click on him, says “Hey, don’t click on me, pal. I don’t want to get involved.”
Another one will occasionally say “stop clicking on me!!!”
In Neverwinter Nights, occasionally Deeking will say “Why we always run everywhere? Everywhere we go, run, run, run…”
I’d like to see, in Morrowind, when you finally get to the volcano at the middle of the map, if you drop a ring of invisibility in, you get a big prize…
I know this isn’t quite what you mean, but I’m playing Call of Duty 2 right now, and I noticed that sometimes the other soldiers say funny things, such as:
In Final Fantasy VII there’s a part where Cloud can play his theme song (the overworld song) on a piano. Afterwards he thinks to himself, “I swear I’ve heard that song before…”
Let’s not forget in BG2 where you farm out a mission to a bunch of low-level morons. When they return, they try to attack you and get slaughtered…and then they reload and simply deliver the item to you.
In Dragon Quest 8 for the PS2, there’s a book in the first town that contains advice something like “There are treasure chests scattered throughout the countryside. Who put them there and why? Who cares. Just open them up to find treasure.”
There’s always the one in the old text-adventure Planetfall where, when you save your game, your sidekick says “Are we going to try something dangerous now?”
Given the current political climate for video games with questionable content, I’m sure their legal department is glad not to have that particular mod.
I swear I remember one where the wise old man gives the hero the standard speech about his great destiny and how he alone can save the world, pauses . . . then says “Had you going there, didn’t I ?”