I bring up this topic because of "Small, insignificant but game destroying things."

While it is not only great to point out some of the shortcoming of games, I think it should also be important to point out some of the small insignificant things that made games most enjoyable for players and perhaps even helped overlook some of the 'insignificant' torments.

Unreal: I thought it was amazing how they interspersed 'story' with some of the best graphics at the time and be a first-person shooter game.

Half-Life: After exiting the rail train at the Black Mesa institute and going through the training area, I killed everything in sight (including the scientist who was supposed to open the door), with no way to move on, gun turrets came out of the ceiling and made sure I had no need to do so. Little things in the AI of a game amaze me at times.

Planetfall: One of Infocom's pieces of prose, it had one of the few characters (Floyd) who tugged at my heartstrings when playing the game. The one other character who had done so (many, many years later) was Aeris, from the original PC version of FF VII.

FF VII: One of those games where you think you're "almost done", but you still have some new 'story' that pops up and different "mini-games". This was one of my favorite games, where I would deliberately 'grind' my character to ensure that I could wipe out anything that got in my path. God Bless Chocobos.

Cave Story: At one point, you have to temporarily give up your jetpack like device for a mask. Interestingly, you don't have to trade it back, and if you don't, the Final Cave changes to actually be beatable. Beating the game with a mask apparently gives you a different ending, though I haven't actually done that.

Nethack: If you die by an unusual method, you may get an interesting death message. For example, throw an object while levitating and you may take some damage from hitting the wall. Alternatively, level teleport to floor -9. Another interesting one is to polymorph, genocide your natural species, and then quit the game.

Pokemon (1st generation): All the glitches that let you do things like catch Mew and even execute arbitrary code. Many other games have fun glitches as well.

Edit: Wizardry 4 actually warns you before its point of no return. (Many easier games fail to do this.) Also, after escaping the dungeon, you can go to the training grounds and slaughter new adventurers-in-training.

Edit 2: SaGa Frontier. Failed the Rune quest because you teleported out of the monster too early? We'll let you continue the game anyway as if you had passed it (minus the gift, of course), and you can even get Space/Time magic faster than if you had played the quest to completion. Also, Asellus's middle ending actually made me cry. (How often do you see interracial lesbian relationships in games that old anyway?)

Absolutely, and glitches that others used to their advantage to "game" the game.

What's cool is that the 'game' should work based on feedback, it gets loose in the wild, then it has its "I love it" or "I hate it" crowd spring up, as well as the reviewers.

Jagged Alliance. Voice acting.

NPCs reacting to your clothing, behavior or past deeds outside of dialogues (e.g. making disapproving comments about skimpy outfits when you run past them, like in Arcanum, or complaining when you bump into them, or getting edgy, panicky or menacing when you draw, swing or shoot weapons in their vicinity).

Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb : Okay, there is Indy's hat, but, above all, the little "come and get it" gesture of nazi soldiers when you're circling around them during a fistfight.

No One Lives Forever : If I remember well, there is a Rina Ketty song played on some radio or record player. But also an Edith Piaf song lost in the game's files for some obcure reason. And, okay, so many other details (especially in overheard convos), like the corellation/causality discussion, or some movie talk...

Pillar of Eternity : It has it flaws but it impresses me by how niclely streamlined the interface is. It's really like a modernized Baldur with all sorts of tiny subtle details ironed out, from the way you access the map, to the way you pick up look, access inventory, open dialogues, etc. It all feels so natural, easy, and user-friendly. Real smooth. I'm endeared by this sort of "hey, it would be cooler if we could access this in just one click" mindset, that really gives an impression of experience in RPGs and progress in interface conception. Speaking of which :

Temple of Elemental Evil : The control wheel. I don't care one bit for the story (I don't like dungeon crawlers), but this was an awesome RPG interface and I still don't understand why it is not standard yet.

Eschalon : The cartography system, as mentionned in that other thread.

Arx Fatalis : The mouse-based magic system. Really feels like you are casting a spell, instead of selecting a spell for your character to cast.

Blade Runner : Okay, the game is awesome in and by itself. But also : You can walk out on your balcony, which serves no other purpose than chilling out, enjoying the view and a soothing bit of the Vangelis score. I loved doing that. I love gratuitous, useless things, in games.

Balance of Power : The failure message.

F-19 : I loved the idiotic smug Rick-Dangerous-like grin of the pilot who thumbs up after a succesfull mission. Made me giggle every time.

North and South : The ability to poke the photographer's behind on the menu screen. Yeah, I know.

Mega-Man

He blinks!

I know that may sound stupid now but when that game came out all those years ago on that puny NES and they actually took the time to make sure he blinks, totally unnecessary and very easy to miss, i was totally blown away.

Overall i didn't like the first Witcher game much (haven't yet played the others), but one little thing i haven't forgotten about it was when it rained for the first time and all the NPC's ran under cover just like normal people! I'd never seen that before, usually NPC's (and players for that matter) just stand around in the rain like idiots.

Not related to any specific game, but i also like it when games in a series put in little Easter Egg moments that only long time fans will recognize - nothing story important or anything. It just feels like the designer rewarding the true fans a little- something Gearbox are pretty good at with the Borderlands games especially.

There are a few good easter egg threads around here but we could always use another one. I love them, even in games I don't really like, and it can make everything so much more fun.

Morrowind, etc : The fact that failure counts as experience. In many attributes (parry, acrobatics, etc), you learn by getting hurt. That is cool. RPGs too often only register success as source of exp.

Stalker : Night camps, chatter (in russian), guitar... I love the nostalgic and humane atmosphere.

FPS in general : I love those who let you act casual : walk, or, more importantly, holster your weapon. In practice you don't often have to, but, egardless, being able to is great.

Games in general : I love when you're not the only aggro magnet. When wildlife and evil mercenaries and robbers and volcanos don't all team up against you and spare each other.

Also in general : I like idle animations. The game reacting to you being a bit afk. A symetrical opposite, in some RTS, is the units reacting to too much clicking. Fun too.

In Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, there are quiet moments peppered throughout the game for the protagonists to chill out for a while and share a few heart-to-heart conversations. After grinding for experience in the wilderness and chasing bad guys across a city, our heroes visit a tourist resort and enjoy fishing, reading a book and watching the sunset. I liked those break in action, and appreciated the return to the simple things in life.

The first Half-life. Peoples' mouths move when they talk???

haha, does that interest you in playing an old game?

lol no not really, but back when half-life released it was a big deal

Absolutely, software and hardware played a role in that happening. I think the collaboration still goes on this day.

I swear sometimes though, this computer would probably kick me in the junk.