The Daily Grind: What's your favorite part of your favorite game?

The music in LOTRO, especially in early Bree-Lands and the Shire. So fantastic.

Currently playing Rift, I like their current lvling curve. Not too fast, not too slow. Not to cap yet, but darn close. And I have to say I actually look forward to having a few capped alts as well. Play time for me has been all over the place, and to be able to hop on for 2-3 hours and bang out a lvl is pretty nice.

I always enjoyed the various cutscenes in Guild Wars.

They are perhaps a bit dated by today's cutscene standards but, at the time, they were pretty rare in an MMO. They always made me feel like I was part of something a bit bigger and more dramatic than "Go kill 10 rats" or "Go kill the giant Rat King Megaboss."

I'm hoping that GW2 and SWTOR will bring with them that sense of being part of something story-driven and dramatic.

I know FF7 isn't an MMO but it is one of my top 5 games of all time. Chocobo breeding/racing was my favorite part of that game.

I am really surprised they never made an MMO based off of the specific game mechanics of FF7. Would have made my day.

Ultima VII had the best "virtual world".
Only if one knows what was possible already with that very much restricted computers in the past millenium one can understand how far the backsteps reach game developing has made since.

Questing in WoW. I love the story.
Second is WPVP in WoW before it was destroyed by phasing, old world flying, and having quest hubs removed from the old world making the game linear.

My other number one is missions in Final Fantasy XI, no MMO tells a story better than FFXI.

And i forgot X-Com with its already fully destroyable environment.
The mix of strategy, deep tactic, business simulation.

Artifact hunting in Rift. I wonder why other mmo-s do not have it. It makes you want to explore the world and go to places where people rarely go.

My favorite game doesn't actually exist yet, but I have it on very good authority that it is currently under development in the pacific-northwest...

An MMO that is actually DESIGNED for players to be able to work together toward common goals without strife or grief
- which also includes areas specifically set aside for large scale, tactical PVP
- that doesn't require me to stop whatever I'm doing to read a wall of text in order to follow a storyline or learn some more of the backstory of the game
- and which allows me to choose from a number of different races and classes, all of which have the capacity to level up solo if desired, and which also work well in groups

With regards to past games, I honestly can't say I have a favorite... I have favorite moments or friendships from several different games, but not a favorite game itself... yet...

The combat in dcuo. It's fast furious and tactical and doesn't feel like the front-end to a dice roll somewhere.

LOTR in LOTRO. The little details are amazing, from the stars in the sky being fixed to where they should be according to the books, the areas following seasonal change in the progression of the story, the accurate use of runes and language throughout the ui and concept art... Sure there are things that stick out like a sore thumb like rune-keepers and Turbine Store buttons, but on the whole they did a great job integrating the source material to create a relatively faithful representation of Middle Earth.

Frills like the outfitting and music systems certainly help, too.

Flashback instances in LOTRO. In Moria while moving through the Epic Quest line, there are several absolutely stunning flashback instances where you play as one of the participants: 1.) When the Dwarves "delved too deep" and unleashed the Balrog; 2.) When the Dwarves are overrun in the Chamber of Records and you fight a last stand battle as the lights begin to dim. For a LOTR fan flashback instances like these are like reliving history and completely unique to LOTRO. Best of all, they're only going to get better as we get nearer to Mordor.

Favorite game is one I quit playing long ago but... Player housing in UO. Getting to loot someone else's house because they thought it was a good idea to keep a key AND a rune to the house in their bag.

Shing Jea island, Guild Wars. One of the most beautiful regions in a video game. If i could live in a virtual world, i would live there.

Can't believe no one has said DAOC - for the RvR. No other game has ever done pvp as well. And it is starting to look like they never will :(

FFXI for the story, and the adventuring fellow NPC.

WoW for paladin tanking, and seamless world.

Champions Online for co-op questing mechanics (level-sync, your friend can share quests with you even if you've done them already, quest trackers, etc..)

Tossup between two things. The first is more a favorite activity. Climbing up to the tallest peaks, swimming out to the edges of the map, pushing the map boundaries, looking at the awesome views and reveling in the peace and quiet and the fact that few bother to do it.

Even sweeter if there are awesome ways to get there ala shapeshifting or flying mounts in WoW, flying or superjumping in CoH, gliding with superlative skill in Aion from point to point, mighty leaping in Rift. Age of Conan had fantastically tall ladders and views down, and mapping the sewers was an adventure (if only it wasn't group reliant and I had to herd folks around and waiting on me.) During the preview weekends of Guild Wars, trying to push to the Villainy of Galrath quest through the Black Swamp using henchmen and no elite skills was pretty epic.

That, and beetles. Breeding beetles in ATITD.
http://www.atitd.org/wiki/tale4/Beetle_Breeding_Guide
(scroll down for some sample beetle patterns)

Crazily fascinating blend of random luck, inventory management, pretty colors and patterns, breeding strategy and unique self-expression. Your choices in picking beetles to breed together, over time and selective pressure, evolves patterns and colors unique to you.

The overwhelming amount of Non-Combat activities in runescape and their direct impact on the game. People in the game dog those of us who crank out thousands of fish, potions, bows...ect everyday, and ask why we don't go kill bosses and stuff like they do. But they fail to realize that without us, the game would shut down like a few days due to lack of items.