The "This game feature captivated me" thread

[Sigony]

Whenever you are playing a game and really feel captivated,

take the time to ask yourself why,

and then post here a detailed explanation.


Hopefully, we can have a long list of captivating features, which doesn't just include game mechanics, it could also be story, graphics, art, the marketing, the community, or anything in the game.

 

[Soulrender]

Warcraft 3 - TFT and Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath
gathering resources, building army and crushing opponent - it's addiction.
I often prolong battles just for the sake of gathering resources to have them more and more. And more and more and more and more and even more

 

[CHKNRAVE]

Dofus, a strategic MMORPG.

The cell-based battle system is what makes it so strategic, it's what made me start playing when I was 10 and (after a few quits and reinstalls) keep playing as a 23 year-old.
You've got Action Points to use skills (which inspired my RPG Maker go-to battle system), Movement Points to reach the enemy or prevent them from hitting you with their best skills (because line of sight is a thing in this game), and an ever-growing amount of options for equipment to make any build work.

There's 18 classes with distinct specialties through 22 unique spells, each one replaceable by their own variant. Each class can be viable in any of the 4 elements (which make a character's main specialities) or even odd gameplay mechanics like pushback damage. My main is a terror in PvP who uses 2 elements in combat.

I don't know if or when I'll completely stop playing this game. What's captivating me is that the viable strategy isn't spamming a few skills (except when the meta is wrecked on some classes). You use your entire panel and characteristics at your advantage to outplay monsters or other players.

 

[Kuro DCupu]

^ Hahha~
I'm playing the other one, Wakfu. I don't remember how I stumbled upon it years ago.
It's a tactical turn-based game, but you can do multiple actions based on your AP in a single turn. Gotta love that part~

My addiction is more leaning toward save-scumming. Trying to achieve the best outcome by abusing save / load mechanics doesn't matter what game.

Let's say when playing any RPG where the player can actually roleplay. If I want to play as a mage, I restrict myself to stick to mage roleplay. It's like a challenge itself, that's how I justified save-scumming.

 

[bgillisp]

I've moved this thread to Video Games. Please be sure to post your threads in the correct forum next time. Thank you.

 

[Pan Dimensional Being]

Gotta say the original Flashback: Quest for Identity had me playing over and over again because of the flawless controls and movements. Especially for a 16-bit era game.
They so messed that up in the remake.

 

[Sigony]

Warcraft 3 - TFT and Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath
gathering resources, building army and crushing opponent - it's addiction.
I often prolong battles just for the sake of gathering resources to have them more and more. And more and more and more and more and even more

I've not played those, but I looked at a video of gameplay of Warcraft 3: TFT and tried to sum up the key points.

These are the areas where you can progress. Troops can also be leveled up I think.
The main goal: gain ground with your troops on the battlefield toward the enemy base, and capture advantageous territory.

Constraints: The circumstance of your opponent - how far ahead or behind are you in the various areas of progress?
Faction types also have different constraints

Choices:
There is a lot of tension here, because the constraint changes and you need to respond by changing your current tactics.

The game becomes:
what combination of tactics of progress in the above areas will allow you to win in the long term, and what will allow you to overcome the short-term situation?

Because, depending on the circumstance of your opponent compared to yours, the tactics that you can viably choose will change.

Pros
There are opportunities to "out-play" which is exciting.

Progress: you are progressing your base and capabilities, which is satisfying,
but always struggling for the key form of progress, which is how far ahead of the opponent you are.
By progressing the lesser forms of progress, you may eventually fully win the tense struggle.
There is a skill aspect, so even outside of a singular game, you might be able to measure how much better you are as a player.


I can see how RTS (and MOBA) games are so popular, because of their different forms of progress throughout the play, and the satisfaction of a very large possible number of constraints and circumstances to navigate. It all builds in tension.


Since I've never actually played Warcraft 3 or an RTS game, do let me know if I'm actually just wrong.

 

[Former_Sky]

When I think of game features that capivate me, the challenge cup in pokemon stadium 2 keeps me coming back to play. The biggest issue with PS is that you have to grind to level your pokemon to certain cups, and that can take a long time.

Challenge cup hands you a bunch of randomly generated pokemon and you have to figure out how to use them as best as you can. I love it because you're guaranteed to get at least one that's awesome, one that sucks and four of varying quality. It also takes out the grind and prepwork you usually have to go through to get a team ready, just bam, here's your pokemon and go as far as you can.

I also love the minigames in both pokemon stadium 64 games. No pokemon? Here's some fun games you can still play. It's such an important feature that other pokemon stadium games without them are noticeably inferior.

 

[Soulrender]

@Sigony, I reference only to the terms you set with bold font so:

Constraints: it doesn't matter, because I usually play Undead or Night Elves (depends on topography of map, because with Undead I can create Shadows to spy my opponent, or with elves put an owls on trees to see what my opponent is doing. So I can prepare conunter attack or defense, depending of current events during match. Also I go with combo of heroes for undead starting with Sylvanas and then Mal'Ganis. Sylvanas can possess enemy units and basicly for free spawn quite stron skeletons and Mal'Ganis with his vampiric aura causes to heal themselves while attacking.

As for the Night Elves, I also start with Sylvanas and then goes for Tyrande, for elves skeletons serves as diversion while air strike force is preparing for attack from places on map where ground units cannot pass.
Main key for victory is managing resources, then goes placement of buildings and third, combination of units. (If you are interest I can show you few mine replays.)

Choices: There are not that much, because most of Warcraft 3 players are ripping off tactics and strategies of popular PRO players like Manuel Schenkhuizen (grubby) or FunnyWarcraft3, so countering them is easy.

Pros: I agree with that

Progress: Id like to add that skills and knowledge about opponent isn't always helping to win, we should here put random unpredictable events, like hardware malfunction (mouse/keyboard... Internet (oh God...))
or... Opponent is using MapHack (discovers entire map, while you still under fog of war...

But you are mistaken with "RTS are popular" phrase... They where popular... in past... Maybe they will rise again like phoenix from ashes... hopefuly

 

[Canini]

I posted this in the "favorite videogames" thread too, but a game I recently started playing and really enjoy is Deep Rock Galactic. I am posting a video since the game is not that well known yet.

I am really into action-rpgs and first person shooters and the gameplay loop of doing missions and upgrading your gear is really fun, there are also a lot of secrets and easter eggs to find in any given mission. I also adore the science-fantasy setting with a group of dwarven miners mining on a dangerous planet with their base being a gigantic space rig (where you spend your time between missions).
It also helps that the community is extremely nice for a fps-community.

Pros:
You have a lot of opportunity to customize your character according to your playstyle and find a way to make the game fun to you. Great sense of immersion in the game world. Lot of mission types and areas you can pick and choice from.

Cons:
The game kinda fizzles out when you have unlocked everything.

 

[Galahad]

Uncharted Waters 2: New Horizons for the SNES

I think this game captures the magic and fervor of the age of exploration incredibly well. Assembling your fleet and crew, spending all of your money on provisions, navigating waters outside of the safe and commonly traversed sailing routes were exhilarating. That ability to freely explore the unknowns beyond the boundaries of your map of Europe kept me glued to my game systm. Yoko Kanno's soundtrack also did wonders to make the 1600s feel alive (all using 16 bit graphics).

Long story short, the immersion is what truly captivated me. After all, creating a successful trade route from Athens to Istanbul doesn't sound too exciting on paper... unless you're the one actively doing it.

 

[NemoTheSurvivor]

Dragon's Dogma captivated me, and I think I know why. It wasn't the simple but deep combat, or the amazing world, but the Pawn system.

For the uninitiated, Pawns were an NPC that the player had total control over. You could customize them to the same level as your player character, change their class, skills, and perks at will, they leveled up independent of the player, and they served as the multiplayer component of the game. You see, you created one Pawn, but you could have a party of 4 (yourself, your Pawn, and two other Pawns), so you could summon other player's Pawns to help you on your quest. Seeing other people's Pawns, and how they were customized, was always awesome. Seeing min-maxed Pawns, or Pawns built to be a character from a popular game or movie, just showed how much control players had over the Pawn system.

Now, the system had it's flaws, and while imperfect, leveling up always excited me because I wanted to see what new Pawns I could recruit. And it always made me happy when I started playing and saw my Pawn just got back from helping someone else and did a good job.

I love Dragon's Dogma, and without the Pawn system, I don't know if I would've even beat the game once. I've beaten the game multiple times, with my trusty Pawn at my side, and I can say I've loved every second of it. Easily one of my favorite companions and party members, period.