Specific Things You Love

[jamesbondsmith]

What's something weirdly specific that you like?
For me, it seems that I'll just throw my money at game developers who let me run around a somewhat abandoned city with guns and superpowers and discover what happened to it through letters or recordings. I've loved the Bioshock and Dishonored series, as well as the 2017 Prey and Control (if you count a space station or eldritch building as a city). It occurred to me that this is how a Mistborn game would probably end up, and I'm here for it.

I also realised that I like scifi/fantasy because I can experience things I'll never see in real life (magic, aliens/prehistoric animals, superhuman abilities) but I'm also really interested in seeing how these fantastic elements affect how people do boring things like get to work in the morning or go through the daily grind of studying at school. I don't know why, but the idea of something like working a desk job when the filing cabinet might walk off when you need to get something out of it is really cool.

[Use the Falchion]

In terms of entertainment or just in general?

In general...I love snuggling into a cold bed that I know will warm up and make me comfortable. I love putting on clothes right out of the dryer. I love that feeling of being really full but not bloated, and knowing that you can just take a nap because you don't have anything else to do that day. I love seeing my friends happy, and I loved singing in my choir when I was able to do so. 

 

In terms of entertainment...I love stories where the cast consists of genuinely good people who are made better by them knowing each other, or those who become awesome because of their experiences together. That's why shows like Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Parks & Rec are some of my favorite. It's part of why the Mass Effect Trilogy (read: ME 2 & 3) are some of my favorite games of all time. I love shipping in games, but I love it even more when it feels like the characters have a true connection and go on a small but meaningful arc together. I just love the idea of characters having a "crew" or "squad." 

[Eluvianii]

I hadn't thought about that but there might actually be a few. 

I love it when characters have a gathering spot kind of thing. They might be risking their lives every day but they always make time to come back there and chill. Kind of like the Cafe in Tokyo Ghoul or I guess even Shiro's house in Fate. 

I also love when a game lets you do mundane things. It's stupid but if a game lets me sit on a bench or play with a dog it already has a few points with me. It does wonders for the immersion, as silly as it sounds. Heck, I just climbed a mountain and want to admire the scenery, let me make my character sit down and do the same instead of just having them stand around, waiting for me to do something and looping an idle animation with completely out of place dialogue. 

This one might sound strange, but in games I like actual conversations between characters. Sounds obvious but so many of them seem to keep the characters from talking unless related to the plot. These characters are spending weeks or months of their life on their quest, they're not going to be thinking about the dark lord 24/7. Let me hear about how they messed their coffee this morning or how how a shop doesn't have the armor color they wanted. 

[Spren of Kindness]

Stories and characters that are hopeful, even when things get really bad.  That's my thing.

[jamesbondsmith]

@Eluvianii The mundanity thing was something I liked in Last of Us 2 (despite the fact I think it was fundamentally designed wrong). I literally have a save file purely so I can go back and play with the guitar. I find myself watching youtube clips of characters in various movies/tv shows just dancing around and having a good time, so the part about a local hangout resonates with me as well.

@Spren of Kindness I do find a lot of fantasy authors and fans are like 'but I have to have gratuitous sexual abuse and violence, it's realistic!'. Meanwhile I'm thinking that they've put dragons and magic in there, why is abuse the cutoff point for realism? It's especially frustrating when it's a constructed world and people use the 'but the time period' excuse. I mean, if it's not set on our world, why should our history have any bearing on what happens in a world you've literally built from scratch?

[Marukka]

I like characters I can like and relate to. As @jamesbondsmith says, there are a lot of stories with abuse and violence just for violence sake. And a lot of protagonists who treat others badly without ever questioning their ways. Not only in fantasy and not only in books. Why should I watch or read a story if I really don't like the protagonist? Why should I care if this person overcomes all obstactles, when these obstacles would not be in the way if he/she would not be such a tosser?

Anyway, a very specific thing I love is exploration. In videogames in general but specificly in VR games. I love "walking" through someone elses house and looking into every nook and cranny. "The Invisible Hours" was absolutely perfect, but even in "Paranormal Activity VR" it was great fun for all the other flaws that game had. And yes, horror games in VR are just the best.