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[Retro]

SOTN. So many little details that are completely useless but really amusing when you discover them, like sitting in the chairs/the sprite's song, alucard randomly turning into a huge gargoyle when stoned, and the confession booth.

The one thing I always reference when trying to explain how amazing Symphony of the Night is and how much love was put into it, I always point at the mouse in the Outer Wall.

Yes. He's really there, hanging out in an unreachable attic space. He runs back and forth, sits up, and wiggles his whiskers. I am halfway tempted to drop a piece of cheese nearby and see if there's a reaction. Would not surprise me.

The point is, that mouse appears nowhere else in the game that I have seen, which means some artist, level designer, or rogue said "Hey, I am gonna put a mouse in that spot, it needs something".

Somebody loved their job and this game enough to draw and animate a mouse. SotN is a perfect example of a game that does 99.9% of everything right (animation VA is not counted as it was rushed, and the difficulty level after obtaining certain weapons is questionable).

 

[TheExodu5]

All the little things in the two following games:

Half-Life 2
The Darkness

I've never seen shooters pay as much attention to detail as these two have.

 

[DeaconKnowledge]

Sonic Impatiently tapping his toes when you leave him idle. That said much more about his personality than all of the snarky one liners, fmvs, and comic books combined.

 

[Flunkie]

All the little things in the two following games:

Half-Life 2
The Darkness

I've never seen shooters pay as much attention to detail as these two have.

Specifics? I loved both these games and would love the little reminders as to why I loved them.

 

[Flavius]

"To Kill A Mockingbird" playing on Jenny's tv in The Darkness. It was a neat little moment, and I don't believe it would have worked absent a "real" show playing on the television (and I love "To Kill A Mockingbird" and appreciated why they chose that particular movie for that particular scene).

 

[TheExodu5]

Specifics? I loved both these games and would love the little reminders as to why I loved them.

Well I'll give one example each

Half-Life 2 -> all the newspaper clippings with a lot of details on what happened since you were gone

The Darkness -> To Kill a Mockingbird (that whole scene was great), all the TV channels

 

[louie]

The dead soldier lying outside of kraid's lair in super metroid and the dying soldier in OoT.

 

[RaidenZR]

Link's Awakening - Stealing from the shop.

 

[AwRy108]

Saints Row 2: if you let your character idle in one of the vehicles with the radio on, he/she will start to sing along with certain songs; and it's even cooler b/c they start out very timid, but by the end of the tune, they're flat-out bellowing at the top of their longs. So cool.

Oh, and like a previous poster said: I loved all the little visor effects in the original Metroid Prime.

Also, the ability to chop down foliage with your machete in FarCry2.

One for the books: Dan Forden's "Toasty!" portrait scream in Mortal Kombat II.

Ryu's random Red Fireball.

 

[Jaded Alyx]

Link's Awakening - Stealing from the shop.

...and going back inside.

 

[Windu]

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2009...ittle-things-that-help-mlb-09-the-show-shine/

 

[Azure J]

Sonic CD - Waiting 3 minutes in a level without doing anything as Sonic. (I'm not spoiling)

Super Mario Bros. 2 JP - Warp pipes that sent you back to World 1 and jumping over the flagpole on one particular level.

The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker - Ganondorf kicking you down and laughing at you if you try to jump slash him.

 

[dangrib]

GTA IV blew me away with how immersive it was. Being in a cab and having different drivers with different personalities as i look out the window at a bustling Liberty City was something else.

SOTC - Agro's animation. Something else

MGS series as others have said. Just an amazing amount of detail. MGS2 i remember staring for ages at melting ice. Killing a seagull was a bit of an eye opener too!

Any football fans out there will know that custom celebrations in FIFA 09 are full of win

I love this thread.

 

[Jack Scofield]

That Killzone 2 "twitch" is just probably just a ragdoll glitch or something. I remember something similar happening in Halo 2, though to a much greater (and inadvertently humorous) extent.

 

[speedpop]

The facial expressions in TF2.

 

[ianp622]

Emotes and slapping in LBP.

No, the awesome little thing is that if you slap someone while you're holding a frying pan, it makes a different sound.

 

[Ventrue]

Playing catch with dog in HL2.

At the end of Planescape Torment, having the option to

Spoiler

send Ignus to the plane of fire if he is still alive.

Being told by your boss to stay out of the women's toilets in Deus Ex.

In the Darkness, if you walk along a certain footpath at a certain point, a guy will pull a gun on you and try to mug you.

In Jedi Knight II, at the beginning (when you aren't a Jedi), the stormtroopers will yell "Freeze or I'll shoot!" If you stand stock still, they won't fire.

Also in JKII (or maybe III), if you force pull the weapons out of Stormtrooper's hands, they'll surrender.

In Mirror's Edge, if you stand still in the van Faith will do things like check her nails or crack her knuckles (not sure if this happens elsewhere).

In Dead Space, at the plot twist Isaac gives this pathetic little shake of his head and I think he puts his hand against the wall in front of him.

That the enemies in Crysis speak Korean in hard mode instead of English.

 

[Jaroof]

No, the awesome little thing is that if you slap someone while you're holding a frying pan, it makes a different sound.

YES!
haha when me and my friend found this out, we must've started slapping eachother with that frying pan for 5 minutes straight.
Sad...but good times in the world of LittleBigPlanet!!

 

[SkySonata]

That the enemies in Crysis speak Korean in hard mode instead of English.

That's just weird!

 

[Dead Man Typing]

Virtua Fighter 2 (1995): When you hit your opponents facing their backs they fall forward and land on their stomachs basically.

It always irked me in the earlier Tekken games when they had the characters defy physics and magically land on their backs in the same situation. The last Tekken game to do this was TTT (2000).

It's probably just my OCD kicking in, though.

Funnily enough, they couldn't land on their stomachs in Fighters Megamix.

Outrun 2: Flagman

http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/2004/09/what-happens-when-you-just-watch-flag.html

 

[chemicals]

Fallout 3 recently freaked me out when I *SPOILER BELOW*













TENPENNY MISSION SPOILERS AHEAD! Last Warning!







---------------------------------
did the Tenpenny mission.. I got up to his suite sneaking... but the guard of the Penthouse Suite saw me as soon as the elevator opened, so I had to kill him (used v.a.t.s. to give him a few head blasts from my plasma rifle, which took the poor guy's head off and left his body a pile of goo) - Then I find Tenpenny on the ledge outside, enjoying a drink and a smoke in his hugh hefner-looking robe - he's all like "hey how's it going with Mr Crowly and the ghouls that I asked you to take care of?" and then I whip out the sniper rifle and go into V.A.T.S. before Tenpenny can even get out of his chair, and I shoot him in the chest once.. he kinda stands up and doubles over, but falls back into his seat - so I grabbed him and tossed him off the balcony.. sweet. Are you kidding me? Mr. Crowly is the shit on toast, I'm never gonna kill him in my game, although I jacked the swank armor before he could get there and from what I hear, if I come across him, he'll try to kill me.
---------------------------------

okay I'm done. peace and love, peace and love

 

[vegee]

To add to the guy talking about Jedi Knight II, I loved the force pull. It was so awesome jumping off a scaffolding and force pulling 3-4 stormtroopers off the ground and into the air, then watching as they screamed as they fell back to the ground.

In Saints Row 2, when you go on the streaking missions, your character does this stupid, overly exaggerated running animation that makes it look like he's having the time of his life.

Also in the game, the ability to grab people and throw them is one of the most entertaining things I've ever experienced. Grabbing people and throwing them into the ocean, into the wall, and off of skyscrapers is fun incarnate. After I beat the game, I literally spent a full hour in one of my cribs grabbing strippers and throwing them into counter-tops.

The noises of the monsters in Dead Space. Even when they weren't attacking you, you could hear (and sometimes see them) stalking you through the interior of the ship.

In Fallout 3, pickpocketing someone then leaving a grenade as a parting gift.

OctoCamo in MGS4. How I love thee.

 

[Mr.Squirrel]

Street Fighter. You fiinish a player with an ultra on guile's stage and the wing on the fighter jet breaks off and falls to the ground. All the stages have something crazy going in the background in that game.

 

[ZeroGravity]

Ice skating in Super Mario Galaxy

 

[Siyou]

Ys II Eternal for PC. When you get the demons to break out from the guy's basement he says something about how now he definitely won't be able to sleep at night and how he'd like yo to get rid of them (which is impossible) then later you go back to him and he mentions how he must have had those demons below his house for longer than he can think and that it sure would be nice if you would get rid of them for him.

 

[Coen]

Luigi humming along the Luigi's Mansion theme.

 

[Oliver.S]

Miyamoto games are always full of "little things".

The same goes for Rare games. I love the pause animations in Conkers Bad Fur Day. Especially this line from Conker: "Hey! Stop doing that or you will go blind" :lol

 

[Jaroof]

Not really the biggest thing, but when Mario jumps in Smash Bros. Brawl, he makes the jump noise that he made way back in the Super Mario days.
When I first heard this, I almost had a happygasm.

 

[NameGenerated]

Faith's boobs.

 

[Everdred]

I always loved in SNES RPGs, or otheres, when they had interactions for almost all the objects in rooms. Like when you would use the action button on a bookcase and it would say something like "Books about whatever" with other little details. Also, when they would put humor things in these objects.

 

[Plissken]

Team Fortress 2's automatic sayings. Whether it's the little "Thanks Doc!" you get after healing someone, or the funny taunts of the Heavy when he mows down multiple people, it helps immerse you into the game just that little bit more.

FarCry2's "healing" animations. They could have just had you wrap a bandage around the wound every time, but instead you get to pry out bullets with your teeth, cauterize wounds with matches, snap bones back into place, etc.

 

[Nemesis_]

The sound (especially the breathing) when in space in Dead Space.

This was amazing. It set such an awesome environment and made the game so much more scarier too. Necromorphs would not make much noise as they usually would in these areas too, making it much more tense. I was very impressed.

 

[DDayton]

In Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, smack a ball into a flower patch and Pikmin are tossed into the air.

 

[destrosio]

I loved the way the weapons barrel overheats among time in Gears 2... and the relative, overheated surrounding air...
yes, and almost all of symphony of the night.

 

[megateto]

Ico and Yorda waking up in the bench after loading a saved game.

 

[SumGamer]

No DOA physics? GAF is no place for gamer anymore.

Mine are the character in Adhoc party sleeping when idle and also Pacman knocking the screen when idle in super pacman advanture for SNES.
Facial expression of your friend dying in KZ2 and the blood splash.
HUD in Dead Space.
The crawling as you dying in COD4 *fucking gold*.
Dancing easter egg in MGS4 and the way snake trying to not stepping on the lying enemy bodies.
Spam mail in GTA IV.
The Crono hearing with accusation of different things in CT.
Monster got wounded and cripple when getting enough hit to that area.

Hey Listen! - is not one of them. :lol

Oh and Ashley reaction when leon peeping under her skirt in RE4.

 

[CaVaYeRo]

don't know if it has been mentioned:

Spoiler

glasses on/off intentional glitch

in overkill's first boss intro is my favorite little thing of the last 2-3 years.

 

[AkuMifune]

GTAIV:

1. Running over fire hydrants. Not only does it squirt out water, but it pushes your car up if you park on it, too. I wonder if it would work if I hit it with a bat?

2. Beating up a woman prompts random men to defend her! Nice touch, R*. I also like how some guys will run off screaming like a total bitch.

3. i *love* hearing the news alert about particular missions I've passed.

4. when you shoot somebody in the head from the front while they're in a car, they'll slump forward and their head will hit the horn or their foot will thud on the gas. Great detail

I've been replaying this recently and although not loved on GAF, it has the best "little things" of any game, ever.

A few more I noticed:

5. Clocks in your safehouses will show the correct in-game time.

6. Thunder is delayed somewhat from lightning, and will make the controller rumble.

7. From the air the water shimmers as waves crest and fall.

8. If you're in melee range and try to shoot someone you will pistol whip them instead.

There's got to be a ton more.

 

[Nocebo]

In Duke Nukem3D:
- Being able to "play pool"
- Being able to use the toilet
- The strippers
- Card animation when you use a card key

 

[Bliddo]

All the in-context phrases of every class in TF2... so natural and funny...

 

[Hitlersaurus Christ]

The forums/desktop/news/mmo in the .hack games, especially G.U.
It really makes you feel like you're part of the game world. For example, the oekaki board and the ability to save images from it to use as backgrounds. Or the e-mail conversations you can have with party members. The World R:2's official website with story and character information was a nice touch too.

 

[[HP]]

MGS2 ice cubes.

That!

 

[codswallop]

GTA4 -- standing in front of a car so it stops, shooting the driver in the face through the windshield, watching them slump, lifeless, on the steering wheel and having the horn blare. Then dragging them out, hearing "you won't need this any more," and taking the car for my own.

 

[Aaron]

Tyson quotes in God Hand. How soon we forget "You're not Alexander!"

In the King of Fighters series, the way Venessa shakes her hands after one of her DMs. Plus pretty much all the special intros from the series.

 

[Kritz]

Noclipping through teammates in Left 4 Dead and TF2. Fuck every other game that doesn't do this.

The 80s SciFi themed music in Mass Effect

Having characters die in Valkyria Chronicles, where they actually die, but having the game continue anyway (With a few exceptions). It helps that they all have a different face and voice actor.

The skyboxes in Valve games being accessible while in freecam (subsequently, spawning things inside the skybox and have them appear as giant motherfuckers on the map). Also, the whole way the skybox is everything scaled to 1/16th size, making for impressive visuals that don't have a huge impact on the hardware displaying it.

The "Get out of here STALKER!" guy in STALKER. The entire atmosphere in the game is so utterly fantastic, too. And the way everything is mapped is just amazing.

The ring system in Lost Odyssey.

The sound of your gun being low on ammo in Killzone 2.

The pointless interactive menu in No More Heroes (and other games that have similar things, like LBP)

Waggling to attack with the knife in RE4 Wii Edition.

etc, etc.

 

[methane47]

Metal Gear everything...

/thread

Shadow of the Colossus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LKWqImc4To&fmt=18

Look at his eyes from the 1 minute 5 seconds mark onwards (screen on the bottom left, and then later in the one at the top right).

The player never gets to get so close to the character's face during gameplay unless the character's cornered like in the video.

man that game was way before its time

 

[Tenkai Star]

Don´t know if this has been mentioned but all Suikoden games (I think please correct me if I am wrong) can be played with just you left hand.

L1 = X = use, confirm etc
L2 = O = cancel, back ect
Select = ^ (triangle) = Menu

Wich is awesome so you can really chill out i your bed or couch while playing. My girlfriend still claims its so you can use your right hand for other activities......

 

[DodgerSan]

In most GTA games - the way that police sirens sound distorted as the car takes damage and the siren gets bent and mangled.

From GTA 4:

Headlights main beam/dip in cars.

If you tap Y to leave the car, it stays running. If you hold Y he turns it off and shuts the door.

Shoot radiators in your safe house. A jet of water spurts, then loses pressure and dies down.

Pretty much the whole internet.

The way that the population matches the areas of the city. (I read they took actual New York population census data and fed it into the 'pedestrian generator' system to get the cultural look and feel of the different boroughs accurate. Phenomenal detail.)

 

[Sandman42]

I love some of the NPC animations in GTA IV. Try shooting a cop in the gut as he is firing at you. The cop will reel in pain after the shot to his stomach and take his supporting hand off his weapon to clutch his wound. While still holding his stomach, he will attempt to fire at you still. But this usually results in poorer accuracy than usual.

Also, if someone dies just before they fire their weapon, the weapon will go off when it hits the ground.

 

[Totobeni]

Look closely. Look to the left side of the screen, he dies and his head is off, but his finger is still on the trigger so the bullets hits something on the table ... Awesome!

Holy crap

that shit is crazy