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[nOoblet16]

I think it's the sheer volume of people amazed by a disappearing white cube that is so surprising, entire human bodies have been disappearing into thin air for years before that!

In terms of MGS2, I think stuff like guards seeing your shadow around corners or shooting out their radio to stop them calling for back up is far more impressive.

Because it's a trivial thing that actually happens in real world, bodies don't disappear into thin air in real world. Guards looking at your shadow is a more obvious thing that a lot of people will immediately notice and has gameplay consequences. Ice melting does nothing and most players who played it probably didn't notice it but it was a little detail in a game made in 2001 that blew everyone away with how good it looked. That impression and the fact that they witnessed something like that back then is what makes it impressive.

You're needlessly trying to downplay it.

 

[NinjaBoiX]

I just really don't think it's that clever or impressive, especially compared to the many other details in the game.

Half the thread seems to be losing their shit over it, I don't get it.

It's not technically difficult at all but it is a small, gameplay irrelevant detail that delights the player when they encounter it. Most would expect the ice cubes to just stay there like boxes but instead they start shrinking aka melting.

Nah, surely the whole point of creating the ice cube in the first place was because he had the idea to make it disappear.

Don't get me wrong, it's pretty cool, I'm just surprised by how amazed people are by it.

 

[HTupolev]

guards seeing your shadow around corners

I haven't played MGS2, but that sounds neat. 2001 had various interesting things with enemy attentiveness triggers.

In Halo 1, for instance, enemies can see your flashlight... but amusingly, even though it doesn't actually cast light when you're using active camouflage, they can still see it.

 

[Dacvak]

The metroid one and a lot of examples in here are pretty neat, but the ice cube one doesn't really get me.

It's very common practice to have cleanup with destructible objects. The most common methods out there are fading away, scaling to 0, or just making it disappear hoping the player is looking way. Keep in mind someone spent probably a few hours to days on working all the breakables in MGS2, and when they got to the ice they made a clever choice to use the scaling method very slowly since it sort of makes it look like it's melting.

It's not like Kojima and all had a meeting on realism and subversive ideas and decided to put a bucket of ice in the game that specifically had cubes explode out and melt when shot.

At least that's my guess.

This is precisely what I thought when I saw the ice cubes. Now, if they actually left little puddles or deformed when melting (instead of simply shrinking) I'd think it was cool. But honestly it just seems like object cleanup to me.

 

[Inside]

People who dont praise MGS2 for the melting ice cubes must also remember that the game is 15 years old. Today with physics etc. it would be much easier to make real melting effects. But for 2001 standards this is a remarkable detail.

 

[wetflame]

This is precisely what I thought when I saw the ice cubes. Now, if they actually left little puddles or deformed when melting (instead of simply shrinking) I'd think it was cool. But honestly it just seems like object cleanup to me.

It's not just object cleanup though, it's the fact that they're even there in the first place. There was no reason to have an ice bucket there, and no reason to have ice cubes that can fall out of it, but having them in there and then programming the object cleanup behaviour to replicate the ice cubes melting is a touch that rewards player curiousity and helps make the world seem a little more immersive or real. The developers going that extra mile to add these details (and I think people are just using this example to represent all the little touches in the games that have been added) is what impresses people.

 

[MetalSlug]

I remember whenever you standing outside of a running car in GTA IV, you could still hear the radio playing.

I don't think they did that in GTA V.

 

[bluethree]

Persona 5 is full of cool little details (not necessarily detailed graphics, etc, but little story things and other touches which are really cool). It's definitely a game that had a lot of careful thought put into it.

A good, very minor spoiler example -

Spoiler

loading screens being different in certain parts of the story, different weather, or even in the dating s.link story scenes!

 

[Zeus7]

I was showing a friend Watch Dogs 2 in 4K the other night, we noticed that vapor trails from Aeroplanes in the sky were appearing as planes flew by overhead. You can also see some at higher altitudes than others. Great detail!

 

[pswii60]

I've got no pics, but I love the occasional animated smoke coming out of the chimneys in the distance in Sonic The Hedgehog's Scrap Brain Zone. Very subtle and I loved it when I was 11

EDIT: You can just about see it on the top right.

 

[icecold1983]

All this Zelda discussion and no one mentioned the actual craziest, holy shig moment shown so far:

For those who don't get it. Link shot fire arrows towards the grass, while on his horse, then jumps off of his horse. What completely surprised me was the idea that the fire itself created a draft through its smoke that link could then use to bring out his parachute for so as to ride the current.

WTF!!!

In any case, can we get to the actual star for this, Masahiro Sakurai, especially in smash bros? He's been brought up a mere 4 times now, which is a damn shame, because he probably single-handed beats out everyone else in this thread when it comes to this.

If you followed the brawl dojo or miicerse daily posts, you probably know a bunch of these tiny details, although he still has so many more. Look at how he made Megaman as a character:

A bunch of the trophies have really crazy things in them:
https://youtu.be/3ciImvi3KCk

In melee, the Metroid trophy has a reflection of the super Metroid opening screen of the space station on it

Both the spirit tracks and punch out arena stage change depending on if little Mac or toon Link are playing

Every single character in smash 4 was made to be so much more expressive and alive. Prominent examples? King dedede sets a goddamn standard, villager is great, Luigi, Pac-Man (who most people struggled to see how he could be implemented), etc.

The phrase 2L84ME on the bottom of the barrel trophy in melee refers to a dkc illustration of crankys cabin with those words in the background

If the camera in Pokemon stadium focuses on the player as Jigglypuff, in one of Melee's events, using sing will make all characters sleep for a long than usual time period. Obviously a reference to Jigglypuff singing in the anime in front of the crowds

Robin's model has a really hard to see mark of grima, on his hand.

A whole YouTube channel dissecting a bunch of the moves and music from the series up until brawl - https://youtu.be/WT_7FSneBDQ

Just generally, the sheer amount of attention, content and attention in its music, animations, trophies, stages. Absolutely unmatched




Play crusader Kings 2. Seriously think youd love it.

smoke doesnt actually do that but ok

 

[Nightfall]

I haven't seen this one of Final Fantasy XV mentoined yet, so here goes:

When you're not in combat and change your weapon near a party member, they get startled by the magically appearing weapon and tell you to watch it.

Unfortunately I couldn't find a gif or video of this. Maybe someone else can help out?

 

[zoukka]

smoke doesnt actually do that but ok

Hot air rises so yes it does. This is a video game and the effect is of course exaggerated.

 

[XANDER CAGE]

In the new Hitman, the second level starts with you in view of a guarded gate. If you pan the camera to the left, you can see a pretty obviously staged scene - a florist's delivery van that has run off the road. The driver is arguing with a cyclist, and the other delivery guy is calling his boss to report the incident. The van is angled juuuust so that you can take this guy out to get the delivery guy uniform without the cyclist or driver noticing you.

So, I did that, thinking I was smart as shit for immediately figuring this out. I then walked back over to the gate and spoke to the guard. "Flower delivery for Mr. Caruso," says 47.

"Okay, yeah, maybe next time try when you have actual flowers," says the guard.

Turns out that if you walk behind the obviously staged scene, some flowers have dropped onto the ground on the other side of the van. I felt pretty sheepish, but it's pretty incredible how layered the interactions in Hitman can be, and it did a pretty good job of teaching me to really think about the game and observe my surroundings.

 

[KORNdoggy]

I liked how in Tomb Raider (2013), Lara would put her hand up and touch the wall as a guide when she walked past it. Small addition, but neat.

The animations in Rise of the Tomb Raider are really remarkable to me, especially Lara's cutscene facial animations. Picked up a lot of subtleties.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIG84ALvN0M

The snow deformation is pretty slick, too.

i always found laras reaching arms in the reboot too robotic and jerky (a lot better in rise). uncharted 3 did it first, and better imo.

 

[Hermii]

There are lots of cool little details in MK8 tracks that people will never notice when they are actually racing. Gamexplain have made videos on it.

Like the toads in the weather balloons in Royal Raceway periodically activating the burner.

 

[KHlover]

There are lots of cool little details in MK8 tracks that people will never notice when they are actually racing. Gamexplain have made videos on it.

That DLC stage where you race in a child's room is especially impressive. So much stuff you're never going to see unless you stop in the middle of the race and look. Even then it's in the background and the game is 720p, so a lot of detail is lost. In 4K however...holy shit. For example on a shelf way in the background stands a small clock. You might expect that to be a simple 3D model with a texture pasted onto it, but nope...the clock hands are 3D and so is the glass covering them. I'd link it, but I'm on an Edge-Connection right now. I'm sure the Cemu |OT| has that screenshot, so you might want to pay that a short visit.

EDIT: That's the one.

 

[Victarion]

I liked how in Tomb Raider (2013), Lara would put her hand up and touch the wall as a guide when she walked past it. Small addition, but neat.

The animations in Rise of the Tomb Raider are really remarkable to me, especially Lara's cutscene facial animations. Picked up a lot of subtleties.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIG84ALvN0M

The snow deformation is pretty slick, too.

Nathan Drake has been doing this since U2 or U3.

 

[pottuvoi]

Frontier had a church with a clock that kept correct time for that location on earth.

 

[poipoipoi9]

I was recently fooling around with the Yakuza 6 demo and the whole world is just filled with details. For instance, each item in the convenience stores are lovingly textured and are parodies of real world brands. Every item. Including the ones in the fridge, the magazine racks, and the food racks. And the kicker is that each convenience store's layout is slightly different. One of them doesn't have an oden counter, and the other's magazine rack is arranged slightly differently, but I'm still amazed they didn't just copy-pasted the convenience stores 1:1, and made a few minor tweaks to them.

Here're 2 random pictures of a Don Quixote I was in. It resembled an actual store. Down to the tax-free notices.

 

[laxu]

I could easily mistake those Yakuza 6 pics for real photos if seen out of context. Looks very much like Japanese convenience stores.

 

[Tricky I Shadow]

Anything from Grand Theft Auto V. The entire game is ridiculous, absurd details that they didn't overlook.



This, and there are things that have still been discovered nearly 5 years after the game came out. One thing I recently learned was realistic gas leaks. If you shoot a car's gas tank, and the car starts driving while gas is leaking out, different cars can travel different distances based on how large their fuel tanks are.

This video came out recently doing a bunch of tests to the fuel system:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIDIWrV8_9A

Like, sure, most people probably know some of the gas tricks... but things like if you start a gas leak, and then take a fire engine or other source of water and spray water into the gas, you can't ignite the gas. If you dump gas on a car you can normally fire at it and ignite it, but not if you spray it with water first. There's things in GTAV that people still discover every day, and I just love that R* added it to the game knowing that most people would never discover it.

The secret of the Yeti is obviously the most ridiculous, but that's too much, and it's more of an easter egg than a detail.

This guy has added more that have been missed over the years:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kDVwRyCq0s

• Correct glass reflections
• Cutting leaf animation when putting rotor blades to bushes (the leaves cut realistically in directions that they should cut in)
• Variable/realistic mud depth
• Characters use the right animation when going through a door depending on what type of door or where the handles are
• Some parked cars have their wheels turned especially for those reverse-parked or parked on hills...
• Elevators have realistic elevator patterns on buildings that have visible glass elevators

Truly mind blowing!

 

[The Lone Courier]

Anything from Grand Theft Auto V. The entire game is ridiculous, absurd details that they didn't overlook.



This, and there are things that have still been discovered nearly 5 years after the game came out. One thing I recently learned was realistic gas leaks. If you shoot a car's gas tank, and the car starts driving while gas is leaking out, different cars can travel different distances based on how large their fuel tanks are.

This video came out recently doing a bunch of tests to the fuel system:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIDIWrV8_9A

Like, sure, most people probably know some of the gas tricks... but things like if you start a gas leak, and then take a fire engine or other source of water and spray water into the gas, you can't ignite the gas. If you dump gas on a car you can normally fire at it and ignite it, but not if you spray it with water first. There's things in GTAV that people still discover every day, and I just love that R* added it to the game knowing that most people would never discover it.

The secret of the Yeti is obviously the most ridiculous, but that's too much, and it's more of an easter egg than a detail.

This guy has added more that have been missed over the years:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kDVwRyCq0s

• Correct glass reflections
• Cutting leaf animation when putting rotor blades to bushes (the leaves cut realistically in directions that they should cut in)
• Variable/realistic mud depth
• Characters use the right animation when going through a door depending on what type of door or where the handles are
• Some parked cars have their wheels turned especially for those reverse-parked or parked on hills...
• Elevators have realistic elevator patterns on buildings that have visible glass elevators

Ehh I feel GTA 4 beats it out when it comes to details.

 

[OldMan]

 

[Remembrance]

In the new Hitman, the second level starts with you in view of a guarded gate. If you pan the camera to the left, you can see a pretty obviously staged scene - a florist's delivery van that has run off the road. The driver is arguing with a cyclist, and the other delivery guy is calling his boss to report the incident. The van is angled juuuust so that you can take this guy out to get the delivery guy uniform without the cyclist or driver noticing you.

So, I did that, thinking I was smart as shit for immediately figuring this out. I then walked back over to the gate and spoke to the guard. "Flower delivery for Mr. Caruso," says 47.

"Okay, yeah, maybe next time try when you have actual flowers," says the guard.

Turns out that if you walk behind the obviously staged scene, some flowers have dropped onto the ground on the other side of the van. I felt pretty sheepish, but it's pretty incredible how layered the interactions in Hitman can be, and it did a pretty good job of teaching me to really think about the game and observe my surroundings.

Even better - that's not even the only place you can get the disguise and the flowers from. Once you go into town, you can find the flower shop itself, break in, and steal an extra delivery uniform and bouquet of flowers lying around.

Or you can steal flower bouquets from random people's graves or coffins at the church. Or you can find a bouquet that somebody threw away in a random dumpster. No one will ever actually deliver those flowers to the mansion, but they were just considered and implemented as a logical place for this item to be in.

 

[Platy]

People complain about GameXplain over detailed analysis of trailers here but one of my favorite stuff from the channel is a series called "Cool Bits" and it is EXPLODING MY MIND how praticaly nothing from that series is posted here.

Some examples :

Mario 3 has special lines if you kill the koopalings with animal suits (frog, tanooki and hammer bros) ... each line is different for each suit... and only people who are crazy enoght to go to an airship as frog mario and don't take a single hit and kill the koopaling will see this image

Hyrule Warriors Legends actualy has a fully functional ocarina during the loading of missions without any indication whatsoever

New Super Mario Bros U has a ridiculously rare version of the intro where Luigi misses his mark

In Mario Kart Wii, Lakitus can be smashed by twomps and other smashing stuff

But my all time "WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYY they did this but i love you for doing" is the Blast Corps one. Long story short, the mission select menu is basicaly Earth turning around. And if you wait long enoght you will notice all the planets avaliable have realistic orbits, with 1 minute = 1 year time conversion. Which means it takes 2 HOURS and 45 minutes for neptune to go around the sun. So accurate is shows apparent retrograde motion, an actual planet watching phenomenon

People who dont praise MGS2 for the melting ice cubes must also remember that the game is 15 years old. Today with physics etc. it would be much easier to make real melting effects. But for 2001 standards this is a remarkable detail.

It can be just models who have 2 animations, 1 idle and one turning small since the cubes does not turn into water they just get smaller.

 

[888eddyx]

Not a super insane detail, but I love this funny one from MGR. If you get in a barrel and roll around for too long, he'll get out and vomit.

 

[Sebmugi]

In metropolis street racer, on Dreamcast the time at which one plays determines the time of the races in the different city of the game oO is then the feeling of the gameplay was awesome too .. and the radio of course

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZM9ATdJD3EA

 

[activatethesmile]

Nathan Drake has been doing this since U2 or U3.

Don't know about Rise since I haven't played it but I distinctly remember that I found how unnatural it was in Uncharted 3 since Drake did that motion wayyyy too often. It's like his hand itched if he didn't touch the wall every time he walked in a corridor.

 

[Kaleinc]

Also, notice how the plants/leaves react.

Good job overall but in a double leg kick sequence the gun floats down like a balloon. Ain't nobody got time to pay much attention to detail.

 

[royox]

Probably the best looking better animated game I have ever seen in 50 years.

My mother literally asked if I was watching a movie during one of the cutscenes. She got mindblowed when I told her it was a videogame and those were not real actors.

 

[Hoo-doo]

I liked how in Tomb Raider (2013), Lara would put her hand up and touch the wall as a guide when she walked past it. Small addition, but neat.

Yeah, Uncharted definitely did this way better. Lara looks like a robot with her arms jerking like that. Facial animations too.

 

[WaterAstro]

Something something Naughty Dog stuff.

Where's that Uncharted 2 mask on wall picture?

 

[Lijik]

Not as insane as some of the details in this thread but still a cool one thats easy to miss - In Dishonored 1, Sokolov is painting Campbell's portrait in the intro. If you take the drink thats being used a prop, it wont appear in the finished painting later on

 

[Ganrob]

Not as insane as some of the details in this thread but still a cool one thats easy to miss - In Dishonored 1, Sokolov is painting Campbell's portrait in the intro. If you take the drink thats being used a prop, it wont appear in the finished painting later on

 

[Newari]

I don't play it myself, but...
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1128800
the craziest attention to detail has been reported on this forum before.

 

[optimiss]

are those condoms?

Nuh-uh, sex packets

 

[Gravidee]

Not a super insane detail, but I love this funny one from MGR. If you get in a barrel and roll around for too long, he'll get out and vomit.

This is basically a homage to MGS4 when Snake would do the same thing if you rolled him around too much in a metal barrel.