What are some aspects of games that are satisfying to you without any clear reason? I’m talking about small details that you don’t really think about when you’re playing a game, but when you turn it off and sit to yourself for a while it starts to sink in.
One thing that’s oddly satisfying to me: when a character’s running animation suggests a running speed slightly faster than that at which the character moves. For instance, many characters in 2D games usually run or walk much faster than their animation actually conveys, such as Simon taking a brisk power-walk which sends him careening at 60MPH
Conversely, Kingdom Hearts is pretty notorious for Sora looking like he’s constantly running through molasses, and this just feels good to look at for some vague reason
Wow! That’s fascinating because those grate on me like nails on chalkboard (seriously, the hair on the back of my neck stood up watching Sora there) (I’m not being sarcastic, interesting taste is interesting)
I love games with long tails on the character, like the scarf in Journey. It instantly makes everything look like ice skating and I’ve stolen it a few times.
um, i guess this is from speedrunning, but i really like when there’s a non-standard movement option that is significantly faster than walking (e.g. rolling, jumping, etc)
I actually really like this too. Skill-based movement like strafe-jumping in Quake or the various movement techniques I’ve seen runners perform in OOT are really satisfying to do and watch.
And while it’s a “standard” method of movement, Mischief Makers is one of my favorite 2D platformers because of Marina’s high maximum ground speed and the ability to airdash infinitely in four directions.
I just realized that people might get the impression that I took Marina as an online moniker because of Mischief Makers but it’s actually a coincidence that I love the game and am also named Marina lol
That I like too. Jumping around with the Ranger in EDF is cool because it seems to require a certain rhythm. Zangeki no Reginleiv had an even better lateral jump that covered more ground, I guess it’s more of a dash. And you could cancel it with certain attack animations to avoid the cooldown and move even faster. A similar thing makes the Fencer in EDF really nimble and fun to move around with, despite an initial appearance of sluggishness. Wing Divers are cool too of course, because hey jetpacks and managing fuel.
All of these traversal methods are better than simply walking, but at the end that is just because walking in games is usually boring as hell, as it only requires you to hold a direction. It’s not as interesting as IRL. Games like Mario try to make it a little more engaging by giving the player momentum, so starting and stopping and changing directions becomes a little more fun to do. The same reason driving cars or other vehicles is more fun than walking in video games. Tim talked about in an article how a game could make simply walking or running around interesting. Can’t quite remember the specifics though.
Also I think the game with the most elaborate (and frustrating) running mechanics deserves a mention: QWOP.
i like when the feet don’t slip around, where the care has been taken so that taking a step feels like a real thing, or a shuffle step a la street fighter.
hyper hops in kof are awesome as hell, and makes everyone’s eyes light up when they first discover them
I p much can’t play games that don’t let me modify every action by pressing nine billion buttons per second. I’ve played like a speedrunner my whole life