Basically what’s a game that you’ve played that seemed so mind blowingly unique at the time but for one reason or another the game never took off and other developers didn’t pick up and run with it either.
Rise and Fall: Civilizations at War
RTS that allowed you to go third person and play as your hero for a limited time when you filled the hero meter. You had special abilities while doing this that would kill tons of units, but the more abilities you used, the less time you stayed in third person mode.
The game I’d kick this off with is an EA game called Majestic from 2001. I remember playing this when I first started college and the internet was young and it blew my mind.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majestic_(video_game)
This game was like being wrapped up in a real life conspiracy. You would browse obscure web pages, get faxes (which believe it or not was still a thing back then, haha), get phone calls, early blackberry texts, emails, and even a very rudimentary ai chat system over AIM. All while trying to uncover an online conspiracy.
I remember being super excited for each new episode and was really bummed when it got discontinued a year later. I seem to remember the writing wasn’t all that great and the acting was old school FMV bad, but IMO that added to the charm.
I feel like this game concept was way ahead of its time. Can you imagine a similar thing using AI tech from 2023? That feels like it would have so much potential.
Wind-based quest markers - Ghost of Tsushima
Agreed, that was so dope. It’s so stylized though that it would be hard to a, have a good project to do it in, and b, not feel like a rip off. Maybe an indie title could pull it off.
The combat system in valkyria chronicles… I would kill for more games like that
VATS in Fallout. Not every first/third person game with weapons need to test your reflexes. I wish more games had that option - and it could be that, just an option.
That’s a really good point. I played a lot of Fallout 76 and enjoyed it but VATS there basically just feels like an auto targeting system since they can’t slow down a multiplayer world. I think the slowdown is what makes it feel so innovative and really thematically appropriate for the universe via the pip boy.
Orcs must die.
Letting you rob houses in free roam, build muscle and fat by eating food and working out, leveling up gun skill to the point where you can duel wield had guns onc you reach max level, the gang respect system and gang territory in GTA San Andreas
It boogles my mind how non of that was in any GTA after there’s a reason many including me considering San Andreas the best in the whole franchise
Weapon degradation - far cry 2
One Hour One Life…But I don’t think that’s relevant now that it recently got a copy or clones, from how the game code was open source, if I remember.
A player being born from another player as soon as they log in where that second player can potentially be Eve (from Adam and Eve) in some wilderness where a civilization is not yet established is an experience I’ve never seen before in gaming.
The Nemesis system in the Mordor games was amazing; annoyingly it can’t be copied as it trademarked!
Back in 1998, activision dropped a game called Battle Zone that I thought was one of the coolest games i’d ever played.
It was a first person shooter, but you had these hover tank vehicles that you piloted and you could jump out of them and into other ones, etc. This was already really cool in and of itself, but what made Battlezone really stand out to me is that it was also a first person RTS game. You had a whole base, built an army of wingmen that would go into battle beside you, etc. You build harvesters, gathered resources, all that jazz.
I thought it was amazing. And while they did make a Battle Zone 2 at some point, I haven’t seen ANY other games that combined FPS and RTS like that ever since. The closest game i’ve seen that does something like that hasn’t even released yet I don’t think and it is still in development, but even it doesn’t do it exactly the same because in this new game one player acts as the commander and plays the game like an RTS and the other players act like soldiers and do the fighting on the ground in first person. So even that isn’t exactly the same, but it’s the closest i’ve ever seen.
I think it was a really cool genre that i’d love to see explored and refined.
Dead Rush
so very pissed off that it hasn’t been picked up by any companies.
Well, at least we have dead rising three. No loading on the PS2 or Xbox. it loads once, then never again. Back then that was mind blowing. Zombies? Upgradable cars and firearms? It was GTA before GTA was cool.
Then…nothing.
>:(
Impossible Creatures; the jig of it was that each unit was a comb-/abomination of 2 animals and you could design your own army with what features you wanted this way. Then some wacky steam&dieselpunkish tech and vibrant colors it was pretty fun.
The Getaway games didn’t have a mini-map, so instead you had to find your way using your car’s turn signals (they started blinking to show which turns you had to take on the road). It could be a pain sometimes, but it was pretty innovative at the time.
Lotr The Third Age. Evil mode.
As you progress through the game and beat bosses you can play Evil mode which let’s you play certain fights and as the bosses against the heroes of the game.
Doing so will also award you with additional supplies or gear.