Topic: Things that should be standard in gaming, but for some reason aren't.

I don't see how Wonderful 101 fits into this. I'm gonna give MAB the benefit of the doubt for once and assume that he's at least semi-serious, as well as assume that he means games that try to be more like interactive movies. That brings to mind games like Heavy Rain or Metal Gear Solid 4, where the cutscenes and story are focused on at the expense of gameplay, in which case, I would agree. To keep it simple, I think gameplay and story should at least keep out of the way of eachother, if not actually complimenting eachother. Most good games get this right, but it's really annoying when they get it wrong, at least in my opinion. Since some of these games are monumentally praised, though, there's obviously demand for games that focus so heavily on story, so I guess that'll never quite go away.

A robot called Brian that saves you money on your car insurance(?)

The option for original audio. I can't stand listening to English dubs...

I cant stand dutch dubs XD sadly i think having different audio tracks significantly increases how big the game is so more often than not they might not bother with it since itll cost them more coins

Very good suggestions here so far. I like.
Imo the ability to make notes on in-game maps should've become a standard years ago. While in the GBA Metroid games there are decent indications where to backtrack these are missing from quite a lot of games where they'd also help a lot. _{And even Metroid's maps aren't the be-all and end-all for me since i'd use more detailed descriptions / symbols if given the chance.}
Also: An option to change the language in-game. Just because i prefer playing games in English that doesn't mean the whole family should have to do that.
And while i don't think i've seen many, i also dislike when you can't switch subtitles off in a game.

I wouldn't say i need them for every game, but they definitely should be a lot more widespread.

This! So.much.this!

Clearly no-one is interested in BRIAN replacing Navi. And giving you quick quotes, instead of useless information.

First I brought it up to make a point.. a ten hour game is a ten hour game if it only has ten hours of gameplay.. additional story scenes does not make for additional gameplay.. and yes I agree that that is what he would be talking about.. but so am I in agreement with Mad Aussie.. I just don't think extra hours of Movies adds anything to the game other then they are fun to watch.. but you should never say just because of movies a game is actually a Insert time here instead of ten hours.. if all you get is ten hours of play time.. it would be different if you were playing the movies.. (Not that you should) but your not.. so in the end it's still just a ten hour game with a two hour movie thrown in.. so if you want to throw in a movie fine.. but that is not really play time with the game.. it just means you get a nice movie to watch on top of the actual play time... that is all..

I agree on the story/cutscene/tutorial skips, but sometimes they have to do with one another. Parts of the story are sometimes during the tutorial.
Like everyone else said: More custom controls, HUD.

I was going to say more in-game home menu uses, but Xbox One and PS4 look like they'll let you do that, and it's not really part of the games themselves.

I can agree with the "movie" type games being atrocious. Sometimes it just seems like there's not enough gameplay options that could be there, and that's what I think ends up turning a possibly good game into a "movie" game.
EDIT: Like @Relias said, cutscenes don't count as gametime.

Also, lots of popular games have weak controls, so it's questionable why they're so popular.

A couple more are: Annoying dialogue, "captain obvious" moments(which kind of has to do with tutorials).

@Relias Okay, I was hoping to avoid that argument. I really despise the thought that the worth of a game should be measured in the amount of hours a person spends with it. A game should be measured by the enjoyment you get out of it, and people can get enjoyment out of far more than just the gameplay in a video game. Story, graphics, music, cutscenes, it's all an integral part of the experience, and you're fooling yourself if you think otherwise. That's all I really have to say on the matter without going on a huge rant...

All that is true, but it all comes back to actually playing the game. The cutscenes and such are nice, but you ultimately want to be be playing a game with impressive stuff going on, and alot of games leave the flashy stuff to a cutscene or action sequence.

EDIT: I also want to add that, video games are called video games for a reason: game.
I honestly hated that on-rails button sequence called The Walking Dead by TellTale. That's the movie type "game" I avoid at all costs.

You might as well write a mad lib with a game like that.

Okay, first: *standard.

Now that I've got that out of my system, I'd have to say: Female characters that aren't made for eye-candy, an excuse for the gameplay (ie: "She's kidnapped, go save her!" and then proceeding with the gameplay), and/or furthering the male protagonist's story. Come on, guys. This should have been standard years ago.

Note: The "Come on, guys." was not directed towards any users on NL. It was directed towards Developers that still cling to these negative tropes.

I'm not annoyed at games trying to be movies because the only games actually doing this to an extreme like MGS and Heavy Rain are at least interesting and fairly unique. The more generic attempts to be cinematic in games but end up effortless and typical like (insert every 1/3 AAA game here) are far worse. And yes, making fun of Call of Duty is overdone, but it is part of that problem. I guess, anything that fails to be Half Life.

Which can be enjoyable in its own right. Look at games like Uncharted or God of War, or even Ninja Blade. More often than not, cutscenes are your reward for playing the game, so it can be rewarding seeing some big flashy cutscene after accomplishing something in the game.

The C.O.D storyline is so predictable now.
It's like - everytime you try to make an awkward jump or do something slightly difficult; you'll get a cutscene with you almost falling then climbing back up....

Some manuals are very lackluster. I understand saving money, by making it black and white, but when the only thing to show off in your manual is the controls, that kind of sucks.

What about Walking Dead by TellTale? That game was a LONG string of action sequences. I would define that game as an abnormally long mini-game.
They task you with not very demanding goals and hope you like the next cutscene.

I like cutscenes as much as the next guy(the good ones), but sometimes it's just too much.
It mainly depends on a games focus.
There are games about story, and games about games. There isn't a story in a game like FIFA, Madden, The Sims, etc.
Arcade games don't have story.

Like I said before I am a bit biest on this due to me wanting ta do storyboard for games but, do you really think like games lik skyrim, mass effect, fallout, and dare I say it, halo and other popular games would be as popular as they are now if they didn't have as much story and talking in them?

@DawnOverALilly
I don't care much for story. I just want the game to be fun. That's why I think online multiplayer has become so popular.

The only Halo game I thought had a decent campaign was Reach.

This is obviously all opinionated, but the story in games is hardly ever what draws me to a game. Dead Space had a story, but it mainly tasked you with doing what you had to do with little to no interruptions.

I will agree with ya on dead space, halo would still be popular but not as popular without all the memorable chareters.

we all have our own views, but as long as there are games there will be always be cutscenes and talking sence games like skyrim get so popular. As for walking dead, it was a low budget game, it would if just been another zombie game list in the wind if they didn't have the gameplay.

I am goin to let it drop, everyone has there opinion and the only game I enjoy debating about is Touhou lol.

Why can't story and cutscenes be fun?