I'll just go by genre.
Action
- Stop with the death/kill animations. Having to stop mid-move and watch my character do some 8 second kill animation on an enemy is pandering to 12 year olds. It breaks the reflex skill, and is very annoying... especially after you've seen the same 5 animations 2000000000000 times in a row. Also, reloading 20 rounds into a shotgun should take longer than 1.5 seconds. Give gun play real world physics. It's honest, it's authentic, and it could bring back some actual difficulty to modern twitch shooters. At least make it an option for players who want a real world shooting challenge in a game that is supposing real world dynamics.
RPG
- Random encounters, side missions, and loot collection should be implemented in combination with the world they inhabit so that they make sense. Just plopping down a repetitive series of enemy fights or loot drops doesn't just not make a good RPG, it's not good game design. Crafting items, quests, or encounters in the world should be done with a WHY motivation rather than a HOW motivation.
And any 3D game
- If you can't enter a building, don't put it in the game. Too many RPGs and FPSs put in towns and buildings for artistic merit that are really just resource hogging window dressing. If I'm playing a game running through a city with 100 buildings, but I can only enter 3 of them, that sucks. It breaks immersion and crashes right through the 4th wall of game design. If the player can't enter it, use it, or in some way interact with it, why put it in the game? That window dressing trick may have worked on gamers 20 years ago... not so much now. If buildings have to have interior cell loads then fine, but at least give the player that option. It's a constant gripe of modern gamers, and it's one I agree with.
Post edited November 14, 2015 by Emob78