Things you never noticed before, but are noticing now?

[houtex]

*  crossposted from the CoH Forums: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?p=4401662#post4401662  *

Me again. :)

So, I was in Croatoa with Insane Chopper, my Paul Teutel Sr. type character ("GET IT DONE!") on Champion.

It was *completely* quiet.  No music, no anything.  I was, for some reason at the University there, as a Level 7... odd. 

I was going to move him to a retirement position in Kings Row as befitting his current leve, and to do that, was going to run back along the field on the south side of the city, as there aren't many critters to deal with on this lowby character.

So I start movin... and got under a tree.  Whereupon I hear.. rustling.

Rustling?

Yes, rustling.  And only that.  Apparently, I've been playing this game for 7 years and *never heard the leaves in the trees rustling in the wind.*  There's even a little creaking as the tree sways... I stood there... listening to it... enthralled it was there at all.

That. Is. Awesome!

A little sad I never noticed it, but there it is, I've noticed it.  Thanks, devs, for that little bit of an 'OOH!' moment I just had.  Just another reason this game is a work of art, IMO.

---

So... anyone else with such a moment?

Mike

[Blondeshell]

I believe those sound effects were added a few issues back when they added other things like cars honking, contacts coughing, and the new versions of flying, doors opening, and jumping in water. It's not something that's been around since the beginning, but definitely a cool bit of immersion that's not found in many other games.

And it'll be missed.  :(

[Lady Luck]

That reminds me of one the first times I was on the game (back in Dec 2004). I was standing near the rest rooms in the tram station and I heard the toilet flush!  ;D
COH rules

[B_L_Angel]

I you run along the war walls in DA the will generate a bubble pattern

[hurple]

I believe those sound effects were added a few issues back when they added other things like cars honking, contacts coughing, and the new versions of flying, doors opening, and jumping in water. It's not something that's been around since the beginning, but definitely a cool bit of immersion that's not found in many other games.

And it'll be missed.  :(

So how do you use the new versions of flying?  All my toons still do just the one pose...

[eabrace]

http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Guide_to_Flight_Poses

[Felderburg]

The PI borders take you back to Talos (http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?p=4404442).

[Atlantea]

Reposting here what I posted in the original thread the author made:



Yeah. It's the little things this game does that others don't do that get me sometimes.

Doors. The doors on any mission entrance. It's not something I've never noticed of course. I see them all the time.

What I've been noticing recently, as I play a little bit of CO, and DCUO. And remembering how things worked in WoW (about a year back last I played)and a handful of other MMOs I've played over the years since CoH got me interested, is this ---

I can't think of any other game that actually has DOORS that visibly open and close with your character walking through them. With sound effects and everything. True - your character does not reach out with their hand to actually physically interact with them. But I can't really think of ANY MMO out there that routinely has working doorways for EVERY SINGLE MISSION INSTANCE.

Sometimes they're regular glass or metal-frame doors on office buildings. Sometimes they're solid wood doors. Sometimes they're out in the wilds of Perez Park and the door is a rough-hewn wooden slat thing that obviously is a mine entrance. In First Ward, a few months ago, I saw something completely new - a REVOLVING DOOR that worked with your character animation perfectly!

It's one of the things that COH does so seamlessly and the more I DON'T see it in other games, the more I realize how much bloody work those door animations must have been to design.

And yes - the rustling of the wind in the branches of trees. Stand there long enough and you'll notice leaves randomly falling off the tree.

(For yuks, if you're a grav controller, activate a singularity under the tree. Leaf cyclone! Or better yet - place your singularity right under a mailbox. LETTERS START SPEWING OUT. It looks like the scene from Harry Potter with the endless letters coming from the fireplace! )

Paragon Dance Party. The instance still exists in the game code (In fact a dev took a bunch of people from the D straight to it in the week after Black Friday. Then spawned 16 Statesmen for us to fight.) but once the game went to City of Villains and had Pocket D there was no need for it. And the entrances no longer worked.

But there is - to this day! - a bum sitting beside each old entrance and if you click on him he tells you something like "GO away! Trying to sleep here, Paragon Dance Party is closed!" I love the fact that this bit of continuity is still in the game.

The badge - Kill Skuls - "Go. Hunt. Kill Skuls." That's a direct reference to a forum meme and gag!

On the City of Villains side - if you go to Monster Island and then go waaaaaaay off over to the far Northwest Corner, there is a tiny little Island with a shipwrecked dude sitting next to a palm tree. Out in the water just off the island is a soccer ball floating in the water. And yeah - you stand there long enough. A stray coconut will fall from the tree. (For those of you not getting the joke - look here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0162222/ )

There's not even a badge for this, It's just there. Some Dev somewhere in his or her spare time must've thought "Hm. That corner is awfully empty. But I know players. SOMEONE is going to want to go there, if only to "open up" the map from the "fog of war" (this was long before the Veteran Award "Reveal"). I'll just drop this little thing here. Reward anyone who goes all that way for the effort."

Ever noticed the sounds Clockwork make? Not the obvious ones. The clank clank of the Princes and all. Get close to a couple (that you've safely outleveled, or invisible) and just listen. It's amazing the variety of sounds they make.

A few buildings and other places have neon signs. ("PWN Shop" being the most famous)

Get up close. Listen. You can hear the faint crackle of the neon tubes.

Of course all the waterfall and water sounds in general - just amazing variety.

Walk by the bathrooms in the tram stations. Stay there a moment. You'll hear flushing noises.

In Faultline, near the trainer, there are a few restaurants on the strip. Italian, Mexican, a bistro, a couple of others. Go stand right next to them. Restaurant and crowd noises with music. Same thing with the donut shop.

Stand next to The Canadian Mountie in Faultline. Hear the dog barking?

On redside, in Port Oakes, Nerva and a couple of other places, there's seagulls wheeling overhead. Listen and you'll hear them.

Fly up to the airship in Atlas Park. It's got engine noises you'll never hear from the ground.

I love the fact that exploration badges and history plaques - even if you "cheat" and use the Vidiot Maps guides and add-ons - will take you to corners of the maps that you don't normally see just traveling casually through them. One of the badges in the Talos Island zone is on top of a ship waaaaaay out in the ocean where you would normally never even THINK of going to. There's even history plaques and badges in the deepest levels of the sewers of Paragon City! And so many of them have such interesting bits and hints of the lore of the game.

The Shadow Shard - an almost criminally under-used set of zones. And they're HUGE. It's easiest to travel them using flight or jetpacks. But if you can, try and get a feel for traveling with superleap and the gravity geysers. It's a LOT of fun when you get the hang of it! And the exploration badges there... Seriously - STOP to read them! They're worth it! In a "wow, what drugs were they on, and can I get some?"  kind of way. Some serious Twilight Zone stuff there.

And on, and on, and on, and on.

The sheer love that was put into this world shines through. Certainly the big, impressive things people expect are there. But down to the tiniest detail, this world IS ALIVE. It is A PLACE.

I will miss every last bit of it so very much.

[Lady Luck]

I've always enjoyed the humor the Devs put into COH.
2 of my favorites are:
The random Freakshow in IP that says, "This one goes to 11!"
The warhulks in Crey's Folly that say, "None shall pass!"

I'm sure there are other random sayings in the game.
Which have you noticed?