If You Could Change Things In Games...

[Omega]

Make UFO Kirby able to go down ladders in every Kirby game.

[Koh]

I didn't want the handicaps removed completely anyway, just debuffed.

Hearts can always restore just one, but the fairies would restore three. Potions would restore just three instead of being a free full restore kit every time. Fairies when used for revival only revive Link with one heart. All these changes would retain their usefulness and encourage getting them, but discourage tanking and blindly going gungho.

Instead of holding the player's hand the whole time and essentially (or literally in some cases) beating the game for them, what should be happening is "second chances" for the group that needs that helping hand. I'm against bullshit game design, but I'm also against game design that doesn't grow with the player. The difficulty is supposed to start off at whatever level, and steadily increase. Not be easy, or the same, all the way through, nor be completely sporadic. At the beginning of the game, you're learning whatever mechanics, and as you progress through the game, you should be expected to apply all of your knowledge and accumulated skill with those mechanics up to that point. This is where games that throw new mechanics at you, but never work to expand on them fall short and get dumped into the shallow game category, like Evoland or Undertale.

[Zero Kirby]

I think Zelda being easy is just a victim of more modern designs.

The older games are hard but I never really felt like that was a good thing (nor did I feel like they were fair). The newer games are easier because every single one is somebody's first so they can't be TOO difficult. As said earlier, too, most modern Zelda games come with a Second Quest just like in the old days that generally gets rid of heart pickups, doubles damage, or both.

It's Zelda, not Bayonetta. If people want challenging games they can buy challenging games.

I generally find the difficulty of most Zelda games ramps up fairly. Skyward Sword and Link Between Worlds were pretty good examples of this and beating them on Hero Mode felt like an accomplishment.

[andreelikesplantsvszombies]

Just change pvz2's world map back the way it was before 1.7 update.

[Kriven]

It would have been nice if Cartoon Network Punch-Time Explosion had a bigger budget/more time for development. Right now it's just this kind of blah half-finished product, but it had the potential to be a pretty good Smash Bros. competitor. I'd trade the glitchy Subspace Emissary knock-off mode for better gameplay and other general improvements any day.

[TomGuycott]

I wish that most games that have bosses would also have a boss rush mode, or a mode allowing you to select the major fights on an individual basis.

No More Heroes 2 had this done very well, because after the game you can select each of the bosses at whatever time in the form of a time attack mode, which was amazingly fun for me. Even in my favorite game, Alien Soldier, there's no way to refight a boss without playing through the whole game again... At least I don't THINK there is, I'd better look back into it.

[pittpenguin123]

Sonic boom

make it not glitch pretty obvious

make sonic not a hipster

[puggsoy]

In Hearthstone there should definitely be more deck slots. To my knowledge it's planned, but you'd think it wouldn't be too difficult or take this much time.

Also it'd be great if alternative heroes were able to be bought with gold. I don't care how much, I'd be glad to save up 2,000 gold for Medivh or Alleria. Also, regardless of whether or not they are purchasable with gold (although I don't see it happening), I do hope they release more heroes soon. It's been a while and they have yet to announce alternative heroes for any of the other classes.

[Arcrom]

Also it'd be great if alternative heroes were able to be bought with gold. I don't care how much, I'd be glad to save up 2,000 gold for Medivh or Alleria. Also, regardless of whether or not they are purchasable with gold (although I don't see it happening), I do hope they release more heroes soon. It's been a while and they have yet to announce alternative heroes for any of the other classes.

Since these new heroes were revealed, I hardly see any of them. I wonder if the delay of the development of new heroes is because they got low profit from it.

[puggsoy]

That's possible. Still, according to Kripparrian Blizzard said that it doesn't take much creative time to make the new heroes, and so there isn't much of a downside to making more. I think they probably encourage more people to spend real money as well, since that's the only way to get them. If I had money to spend I'd probably save up for them, while I don't think I'll ever pay for packs or arena runs.

[psychospacecow]

They flopped kinda hard if what Reddit keeps telling me is true. A couple problems arise from it too. Recognition is one. Another problem is the potential pool of heroes could be seen as a drain from the pool of cards. Rhonin could make a cool hero. Rhonin controlling a Rhonin is just strange though. There was a lot of disappointment with the heroes in general though, like Medivh's mirror entity being Jaina and animal companion still being Rexxar's pets.

[Rapidkirby3k]

Whether if it's retro or modern, in some of my favorite games that involve a storyline, I usually come across either the following issues: Plot-Holes, Exposition, Retcons, Clichés and many other problems that make your brain itch or clench. I understand that games can feel like there's something missing or out-of-place, but major issues like the following usually want me to find new methods to make their stories more accepting and less confusing or frustrating.

[Kriven]

Video games are still developing as a narrative medium... and I think, and studios are finally figuring this out, that the stories of the medium are usually better told in a less direct manner than we're accustomed to by novels and movies. Instead of following the linear storyline and the pacing being controlled by the author, games have the ability to throw you into a conflict or a world and allow you to travel at your own pace and explore, even if the game is structure in a way that drives you towards a single conclusion. Mario gets to be a badass action hero or a whimsical, meandering oaf depending on who's controlling him.

Anyway, it's a whole new way of actually crafting stories, and the authors are still trying to find their sea legs.

I think the unique method of storytelling and world-building in games is also part of why adapting them to film hasn't really worked out very well. It's difficult to create a situation out of Mario's first encounter with the Hammer Bros. when that isn't something which has been previously scripted, but something which the player orchestrated as they went along.

Edit: Actually, that's a bad example.

It's more like one version of the Mario story is a lengthy, grueling on-foot trek through a cursed kingdom crawling with koopa cronies, but if you tried to convey every stage as a straight narrative, it would become extremely stale. So much of games narrative is dependent upon the time actually spent playing the game in ways that just don't translate particularly well.

I'm not disagreeing with anything you said, Rapidkibry, just kind of exploring the idea of narratives in gaming since you more-or-less brought it up.