Breja: This. Or at least well placed checkpoints. I lost count how many games have checkpoints placed 5 minutes before some actuall action starts, some dangerous part where you can actually die. Then you have to play again through a slow walking and talking part, or some very easy "shoot two basic enemies" part over and over again, just to get to what actually gets you killed. It can be a terrible waste of time. Die enough times in a place like this, and suddenly what could have been done in 20 minutes turns out to have taken an hour.

HereForTheBeer: The "aww, screw it!" option in linear campaigns that allows you to skip a mission.

aihre: Hmm, doesn't this completely defeat the purpose of a linear campaign and the game?

dtgreene: You might find Terraria to be worth playing.

HereForTheBeer: On the other hand, doesn't getting stuck at an early mission defeat the purpose of buying a game with all the follow-on missions that you'll never get to see?

Sabin_Stargem: I very much appreciate treasure radars and counters. Being able to know that an area has been cleared of stuff to find is a time saver.
[...]
Some RPGs provide the ability to infinitely avoid enemy encounters. Of course, you would miss out on the experience and drops they could have provided. Extremely useful when you don't feel like fighting through a horde of baddies.

Sabin_Stargem: Something that I liked from Illusion of Gaia was how there was no grinding for increasing your power. Instead, each room had a set of extra enemies that would give a stat boost when defeated. Once cleared, those extra enemies will not return.

I very much appreciate treasure radars and counters. Being able to know that an area has been cleared of stuff to find is a time saver.

When it comes to tile-based dungeon crawlers, I would like them to use a mapping system similar to Etrian Odyssey. You put down the walls and markers, eventually creating a useful map. It is extremely rewarding to play a Newgame+ and finding your maps preserved.

Tyrian has a slightly different money system: Trading in equipment or downgrading will return 100% of the money that you have invested. I think this is very cool, as it encourages the player to try out all kinds of gear.

Some RPGs provide the ability to infinitely avoid enemy encounters. Of course, you would miss out on the experience and drops they could have provided. Extremely useful when you don't feel like fighting through a horde of baddies.

Sabin_Stargem: Some RPGs provide the ability to infinitely avoid enemy encounters. Of course, you would miss out on the experience and drops they could have provided. Extremely useful when you don't feel like fighting through a horde of baddies.

astroclay: I'm quite partial to the approach the Mother series had towards jrpg battle arrangements. Not only could enemies be avoided on the over world map, all battles could be initiated to either advantage or disadvantage the player based on point of contact. Moreover, when the player had leveled up their characters a fair amount, battles with weaker enemies were won automatically and yielded both experience points and item drops without the boring grind of facing low level monsters.

andysheets1975: Heh, that would have been mine. I don't know what it is, but my wife has an amazing knack for interrupting my game time with urgent business precisely when an unpausable cut-scene has just begun to play. Often times I'll have to skip out of it and either reload later (hopefully I saved it not long before) or look the scene up on Youtube to see if I missed anything important.