What is your favorite game mechanic or idea?

[iclim4]

With so many games made, a lot labeled as "generic", some labeled as "original" or "risky", and some pay off as "groundbreaking" and a select few "wonderfully inspiring". There are many ideas and mechanics making up those games, but have one mechanic ever stuck out to you?
Be it Suikoden's large cast of 108 stars of destiny and the involved castle system.
"Tales of"'s wonderful and quirky skits.
Or even GoW's sex minigames.

So my question is, what is your favorite/s?

Personally, my favorite is from the first "Valkyrie Profile" game, which some of you guys might find weird considering how big of a Suiko fan I am.
The mechanic I instantly fell in love with is the recruitment system.
You see, for a valkyrie to recruit an einherjar (a great warrior), be it a hero or a villlain, has to die and the Valkyrie is there to watch over the last moments of that person. What transpires are stories of betrayal, murder, loyalty, courage, love and much much more. The final hours of greatness. Part of what I find great is that in some cases the Valkyrie can meddle with fate and help the hero in his final moments to overcome that last obstacle or villain before the hero dies.

Admittedly, A lot can be improved in the execution of this mechanic in VP, but the idea to me is outstanding.

[iclim4]

[Mako]

The Super Mario Galaxy mechanism where you can run around planets, if that counts. I just thought it was cool.

[pichu]

Paper Mario?

I actually like having to run around the world that consists of every single environment, along with villages, palaces, fortresses along the way. Shops with items different priced wherever you go. Like a frozen item in a frozen town being cheap, but in a warm place, expensive.

I like that. When it's time to chill from the boss fights, you can sight see in the villages or places you encounter.

[Don Ramón]

The 2-4 players coop online thats the best invention since fire

[El Duderino]

RTS: Left click for move and drag a box around multiple units to select them... yeah those are old... but everyone who played Dune 2 will know how huge the difference was...

Shooters: hmmm... I´ll have to go with bullet time... shooters are all about crazy-violent-fun-action... and nothing is more fun then taking out multiple enemys mid air in slow motion...

RPG: Turnbased and real-time hybrid (such as in baldurs gate, mass effect)... turn based rpgs give you the maximum time for strategic thinking... but after a while it can get very one dimensional and it gets really annoying when later in the game weak enemies still take a lot of time to beat due to the game mechanics... real-time rpgs are often to action orientated... a good combination of the two gives you what you want when you need it and thats perfect...

Fighters: Keeping it simpleas in the golden age (Street Fighter 2, Samurai Showdow, King of Fighters...) 3D and super ultra mega moves that take 99% of your enemies hit points just ruined it for me... and many others...

Jump and Run: Different suits for Mario as in Super Mario Bros. 3...

Racers: turtle shells

[Luinil]

I would love to see a mechanic where you design your own attack, or attack pattern for a character in an RPG. This would allow for varied and interesting shots to different areas on an enemy. Aim for the head for a quick kill or for the arm to slow down and weaken attack or quick attacks for combo bonuses.

You could then macro those attack patterns and use them whenever you got the chance. Of course there would be a basic attack that you would fall back on if you ran out of AP (attack points).

Another interesting idea would be a MMORTS with kingdoms and alliances and politics to be played. You could be a merchant or soldier group, and grow up to be the leader of the merchant guild or general. You could then issue commands to other players and they could choose to follow it or do something else and either die from stupidity or become a hero.

Things like that really interest me.

[El Duderino]

^^ There already have been games where you can choose to attack different body parts... but to design your own attack is to much of a pain for devs. I would think...

Problem with alliances and politics in games is that most people would probably find them to timeconsuming or booring since they only want them items and sweet sweet XP... but it would be good for am RPG that already does a lot of social interaction... throw some Fable 2 elements in there and you would have a pretty free world...

[loro]

My favorite mechanic or gameplay style is a character that can go wherever they want in a world right from the start...assuming they have the right ability. It's all about the Metroid-vania level design. Let's just hope Other M keeps that.

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