Game mechanics you'd like to see

What mechanics would you like to see in games? I've only recently gotten interested in RPG's again, so some of these may already be out there, but I think they could be cool.

Multi-casting magic - For fantasy RPG's, I'd like to see magic spells that require multiple users to cast. Either they could be upgraded versions of existing spells, or spells that can only ever be cast by multiple mages (possibly of different elemental persuasions). This would also tie in well outside of combat, for example, a spell that can mass affect geography to open up new areas.

Time Matters - I must plead guilty to not playing Oblivion yet, which may do something like this already, and perhaps there are others. There are many RPG's where somebody is just waiting for you to go talk to them. You can take a few minutes (and however long the game interprets that to be, if it has any sense of time or date at all). You can take several hours leveling up before you go see them. Don't worry, they'll still be there. The princess' life that hangs in the balance (or whatever situation that the person you are playing would in all likelihood be worried about) can wait while you go earn some gold.

That could be risky though. What if there was an RPG that ends after a set amount of play time (say10-20 hours of play), whether you 'win' or not? Sorry dude, you didn't rescue the princess in time, she's dead. People who might help you on your quest might move if you don't get to them in time. Heck, maybe they will die (with an alternative method of accomplishing the task that made you seek them in the first place of course). Certain items could only be available at certain places at certain times, never to show up again otherwise. This might mean you can never have all the best pieces of equipment. If you want to try them all, you need to play through a few times. It could also make 'boss battles' more intense; you may not have time to simply level grind until they are a cakewalk.

I'd flesh this out some more and add some others (not just RPG's) but I'm out of time. Is there some contrivance in a game you play that can be overcome with a new mechanic? (hooray for 30 second flashlights!)

Multi-casting magic - For fantasy RPG's, I'd like to see magic spells that require multiple users to cast. Either they could be upgraded versions of existing spells, or spells that can only ever be cast by multiple mages (possibly of different elemental persuasions). This would also tie in well outside of combat, for example, a spell that can mass affect geography to open up new areas.bacchus2

I'm fairly certain that Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicals had something like this. It didn't prevent the game from being a poor Gauntlet clone, but it was a vaguely interesting feature.

What if there was an RPG that ends after a set amount of play time (say10-20 hours of play), whether you 'win' or not? Sorry dude, you didn't rescue the princess in time, she's dead. People who might help you on your quest might move if you don't get to them in time. Heck, maybe they will die (with an alternative method of accomplishing the task that made you seek them in the first place of course). Certain items could only be available at certain places at certain times, never to show up again otherwise.

bacchus2

This isn't really a new gameplay mechanic, although time limits in games seem fairly unpopular nowadays.

For example, the RPG classic Fallout required you to complete the first part of your quest within about 150 days, or else your Vault runs out of water and everyone dies.

Baten Kaitos also had an interesting time mechanic where your items would decay over time - while wandering around a dungeon (or whatever), your food healing items will rot, becoming posion/damage items; ice would melt; bamboo shoots would grow into bamboo sticks, and so on.

As for the 'certain items only available at certain days' thing, many old adventure games featured that...which kinda sucked, because it usually meant that if you missed an item, you'd have to restart the game.

Anyway, I'd like to see more insanity in games. I mean, we've already seen sanity effects in Eternal Darkness and Call of Cthulhu, but each game approached it in different ways (ED's insanity was mostly vision-based, CoC's was more physically detrimental) - I'd like to see a combination of these.

...Imagine a horror FPS, but as your character gets more frightened, not only will your character not be able to shoot straight or run fast, but he'll also start seeing things - allies begin to look like enemies, or whatever. It would be awesome!

That sounds interesting. The Xbox controller could do random rumbles, and the Wii-mote could quietly whisper to you... I'll go pick up this cool weapon... hey, why is this weapon biting me?

This isn't so much a mechanic, but a feature I would like to see isco-op levels independant of the normal levels for some games. First person shooters may share ammo, but usually you've still got two dudes tackling the same enemies at the same time, making them a lot easier to take down. Gears was decent in that sometimes you took two paths, but I'd prefer levels that you simply couldn't do in single player. Splinter Cell Double Agent did this with the PS2 version, but I didn't have afriendwho wasinto it. Something like this in a Tenchu-style game would be excellent.

I was playing Call of Juarez recently and while walking through a saloon, I saw four guys playing cards around this table. I picked up a bottle of whiskey in hopes that i can break it over one of the guy's heads... but nope.

there's no reason to not include bar fights in western games... I can pick up chairs and bottles but i can't break them over a prostitute's head?

so what game mechanic would i like to see? Bar Fights!

Fighting games: Adaptive AI

Action: Actually interacting with the environment and using it in real time

RPG: More text descriptions, in the style of Planescape. More tactical combat, preferrably turn-based.

the Wii-mote could quietly whisper to you... bacchus2

That Idea is awesome for horror games. Alternating eerie whispers and voices between the L/R Audio channels of your tv/surround system and the Wii-mote speaker and then when you least expect it .....someone screams; Instant underwear soiling. :lol:

In First-Person shooters, I'd like to see enemy forces attempt to help their injured friends.For example, I usually play FPS pretty defensively, popping out from behind walls and taking the odd shot at enemies until they finally keel over. Having them actively get out of the line of fire to recuperate (as many recent FPS have the player do to regain health) or have a comrade heal them could force the defensive players like me to be a bit more aggressive.

It would also be bittersweet in a FPS to have people discreetly trailing you. For example, peeking around corners, using coms to advise enemies to set up ambushes. How cool would it be to scope out a street, think it's clear, start walking ahead, and on advice from the guy behind you, have 4 or more guys come out guns blazing from all directions (meaning almost certain death)? If that happened infrequently and was dynamic (not a scripted ambush) that would probably create the properlevel of paranoia that should be a in a FPS. A furtherexample of where this might be appropriate; if you pass an enemy who expects you haven't seen him can radio those just ahead to come out and rain bullets on you at the same time he does. Or even just fire his gun into the air while hiding so you turn around while his comrades riddle your back with bullets.