In Earthbound, which I would have to say is a great RPG and an excellent game, once it gets to a point where you can kill an enemy in one hit, no matter what move, you automatically win the random encounters. It needs to be put in every RPG, because I’m tired of getting random encounters every 5 steps only to gain 1 exp. point and a 5 hp potion. No wonder some of these games go for 100+ hours.
I think that we should get rid of the standard pistol/grenade/shotgun/ type combos in FPSes and replace them with… Something different from those, because it gets boring when you have the same weapons over and over again in every game with nearly the same effects produced by a certain gun.
I just wish there were quicker load times for places where you are very likely to die or fail. I finally gave up Kong games because I got tire of the minute-plus preview required to get back to a point where you would die or fail. It’s just not worth the time to do the bonus games.
Seriously, I don’t mind a cut scene. But I do freakin’ mind places in games where you cannot progress without sitting through a minute or more of whatever every time you miss the jump or don’t kill the beast or whatever. Yes, I know I am drying in the lava, yes, I know I have entered the realm of lava lamps - I don’t need to see the death scene and the intro again.
If there is not a button that lets me skip the frickin’ cutscenes, I’ll uninstall the frickin’ game. Only so many times I can sit through the same scene, again and again and again…
On most genres (especially FPS) there should ALWAYS be an option to invert the Y axis. I cannot play a game where pushing down on the stick makes me look down in the game. It just messes with my head too much!
Off topic slightly: I don’t mind cutscenes if they are good. Example: I recently finished Onimusha 2 and the cut scenes near the end were a joy to watch - the best I have seen in any game so far.
I wouldn’t mind random encounters replaced with the ability to initiate non-boss battles at the touch of a button (“Ahhh! Another day of looting the houses of innocent NPCs is done! Time to FIGHT! [presses L2]”). Or at least some kind of scheme that lets you completely avoid battles with beasties at a level lower than yours, like Wild Arms 2 and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment have.
I’d like to see an option to turn the voices OFF/subtitles ON in all games that have extensive voiced dialogue, just in case the acting turns out to be irredeemably bad.
Screen-relative movement should be standard for survival horror games.
Variable difficulty for puzzles in RPGs/adventure games, a la SH2.
One-touch special moves/programmable combos in console conversions of fighting games for sub-amateurs like me.
Stuff that shouldn’t…
Those ANNOYING mini-events in RPGs where you have to chase down some brat who’s stolen all your G or materia or whatever. Unless the programmers give you the option of smiting the hell out of the thief when you catch him. That’d be cool.
I’ll get on the skippable cut-scenes bandwagon, no matter how good they are, if the game has decent replayability.
As a corollary, I’d also like to see more games that give you the option of replayable cutscenes, for those twitchy moments when you skip them unintentionally, on your first play through of the game.
If the game has particularly flashy and long battle animations, the programmers should be required to include a “abbreviated animation” option that completely omits the sequence and just shows you the damage you’ve done. (Oddly enough, I don’t mind this problem in FF8, the game that started the unbearably long attack animation trend, because of the Boost ability.)
Even though I know that this is a staple of the RPG, I can’t get over how annoying it is when you start the game in the town of Backwater, Fantasia; and a loaf of bread costs 57 gold and a rusty knife costs 196 gold and a night in the hotel costs 4,500 gold and a pint of blood. Meanwhile, you start with 15 silver pieces and some pocket lint.
I swear, they add 50 hours of gameplay to the front end of every RPG just getting you enough money to buy a decent weapon and a rain hat. Then you spend it all on one Feeble Healing Draught and you’re flat busted again, when you’d have gotten more healing chewing on willow bark.
Also, let me cry out: no more rats! Must we begin every RPG with a study in rodentia? Must we acquire our skills in combat fighting household vermin?
I dunno if Diablo II counts as a role-playing game, but there is this about it: The rats in the game are strictly for decoration, and you can squish them just by walking over them.
And what game doesn’t have replayable cutscenes? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a game where the cutscenes weren’t replayable. But I agree, that would suck.