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Favourite game mechanics

What are your favourite game mechanics and why? By game mechanics I mean any concept or action which is unique to one series or game, examples include the Gravity Gun (Half Life 2), Limit Breaks (Final Fantasy series) and (obviously) Gamespeak.

My favourite game mechanic is the Sanity Effects in Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, they added a whole new dimension of fear and suspension never seen before in the survival horror genre and made the game genuinely shocking at times.

A description of a few of them from Wikipedia:

* Sounds, such as footsteps, women and children screaming, doors slamming, and the sound of a blade being sharpened.
* Walls and ceilings bleeding. Attacking them causes more effusion.
* When casting a spell, the player character's body above the waist violently explodes.
* Appearance of large numbers of monsters that are not really there, and disappear when attacked.
* The player character's head falling off. When picked up, the head begins to recite Shakespeare (specifically, Act III, Scene I of Hamlet).
* Character or monsters shrinking or growing.
* A version of the blue screen of death.
* Statues and busts turning to look at the character. They turn back to original position when the character faces them.
* Character whimpering and babbling to him or herself.
* A "to-be-continued" message and promising continuation in a sequel game: Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Redemption.
* Character walking into a room from a previous or future chapter that uses the same location.
* When trying to save, instead of the usual "Do you wish to overwrite saved data" screen, there is a "Do you wish to delete all save files" with the options "Yes" and "Continue without saving." No matter what you do, all files appear to be deleted.
* The word "VIDEO" appearing in the top-right corner in green text on an otherwise black screen, mimicking the "video" channel setting on most televisions when the game system is turned off.
* Game suddenly stops responding to player's commands just as the player-character enters a room full of zombies. The screen displays an error message claiming that the controller has been disconnected. Meanwhile, the zombies attack and kill the helpless character.

Hmm...

FF8s' Junction System. I loved it.

Shadow of the Colossus.

You could climb up anything on those brutes, I mean anything. Plus, the phsyics weren't half bad either. I doubt Wander's immense stamina and strength, though. I like to think he kept getting stronger with every part of Dormin's spirit he absorbed.

The way limbs could come off in GUN, Metal Arms had this thing where shooting an enemy in a different spot would to different things. You could essentially immobilize an enemy by shooting them with the gun that shoots saw blades. Also, games with guns that shoot sawblades.

God, I loved Metal Arms.

It felt so much like an old Transformers episode, only violent.

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* Sounds, such as footsteps, women and children screaming, doors slamming, and the sound of a blade being sharpened.
* Walls and ceilings bleeding. Attacking them causes more effusion.
* When casting a spell, the player character's body above the waist violently explodes.
* Appearance of large numbers of monsters that are not really there, and disappear when attacked.
* The player character's head falling off. When picked up, the head begins to recite Shakespeare (specifically, Act III, Scene I of Hamlet).
* Character or monsters shrinking or growing.
* A version of the blue screen of death.
* Statues and busts turning to look at the character. They turn back to original position when the character faces them.
* Character whimpering and babbling to him or herself.
* A "to-be-continued" message and promising continuation in a sequel game: Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Redemption.
* Character walking into a room from a previous or future chapter that uses the same location.
* When trying to save, instead of the usual "Do you wish to overwrite saved data" screen, there is a "Do you wish to delete all save files" with the options "Yes" and "Continue without saving." No matter what you do, all files appear to be deleted.
* The word "VIDEO" appearing in the top-right corner in green text on an otherwise black screen, mimicking the "video" channel setting on most televisions when the game system is turned off.
* Game suddenly stops responding to player's commands just as the player-character enters a room full of zombies. The screen displays an error message claiming that the controller has been disconnected. Meanwhile, the zombies attack and kill the helpless character.

I was JUST reading some creepypasta, came here for a quick checkup, and you attack me with THIS. I will never sleep again, you dick. :(

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My favourite game mechanic is the Sanity Effects in Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, they added a whole new dimension of fear and suspension never seen before in the survival horror genre and made the game genuinely shocking at times.

I have to agree with you here, it's very clever stuff. I'm looking forwards to actually getting my hands on the game.

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Hmm...

FF8s' Junction System. I loved it.

System was certainly innovative and interesting but it was a bit too OH SO EXPLOITABLE for my taste, It was entirely possible to make an uber powered Squall by the middle of Disc 2 by just ruthlessly exploiting the hidden draw points in FH and Shumi Village, on my first playthrough I managed to beat Cerberus in two hits and Edea in three. The materia slot system in 7 was far more to my liking and rewarded hard work instead of invisible 'Lulz 1000 free hp' points.

I have to say either the fear mechanics in F.E.A.R (dunno if those are mechanics) or of course the Source physics engine from Valve.

Portal gun in Portal. Freaking awesome. And the water affect in Bioshock, when you walk under leaks and the screen becomes all blurry. I loved that for some reason. <3
What i'm really looking forward to is Fable 2, where you can (according to Lionhead) jump fences and explore pretty much anywhere.

EDIT:
And those plaster-covered bodies in Bioshock. I shot one and blood came squirting out, and I was just like "HOLEE SHIT THOSE BODIES ARE REAL!" It scared the crap out of me! xD

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God, I loved Metal Arms.

It felt so much like an old Transformers episode, only violent.

Good soundtrack, too.

Well, decent, at least.

I just got sonic Gems collection for Gamecube, and with it Tails Adventure (one of the two good games you don't have to UNLOCK) and it's got a good flying Mechanic, similar to Star Wars Battlefront's Jet troopers.

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However, to a dumb bitch like me, it was unexploitable =3

Killer7's game mechanics...