I've started a bit in, umm, X2 I think it is (got the super-pack so I forgot which one I'm running : ) ), and I see that eventually I can acquire software for that stuff. Gonna take forever to get to that point, so in the meantime it's a matter of making manual notes with low-tech pen and paper, or by doing a station-by-station searches within any given system until I can scratch up the credits to buy the software and the satellites. But yeah, at least the series does something in that regard.

I'm really looking for games to start to treat memory similar to how we use it every day, in part where the engine simulates those "Oh, yeah!" moments, and also to keep us within that immersion. For certain, dropping away from the screen to look at my hand-written notes while playing a game based on future-tech, that's a distraction from immersion.

Being a strategy lover fan it's obviously this feeling of conquering the world. But also when a plan finally works. Immersion is important but on a different level. Graphics or sound can be quite abstract, the setting hower is very important: historic places or names. Personality in characters. But also the sense of ruling an evergrowing empire... Both somehow.

Progression, Loot and Leveling Up work for me, so long as it makes sense and offers a good amount of freedom. I like to have lots of choices of how I want to progress in a game. If leveling up allows me to get perks or stat increases then give me lots of perks and plenty of stats. I don't like the games that give one primary stat for each archetype, you know, like "Oh you chose a fighting class so you should put all your points in Might" types. What is the point of letting you chose but giving you only 1 real choice that doesn't nerf your character. The same with perks in games. If they add more and more perks to choose from, especially the multi-level perks, then it gives me plenty to choose from and a reason to go back and play again to try different perks out. But don't force replayability on me. Offering 50the perks but giving me a level cap of 15, or offering 2 perks at level up but you can never go back and get that second perk. These are just lazy ways of trying to extend the life of the game. If I really want to grind my way to level 9999 then I should at least get something, I didn't waste anyone elses time but my own. On the other hand the whole game should be playabe without grrinding, preferably there should be a way to complete the game without touching a single sidequest. Loot drops are fun when they are randomized and leveled to the area or enemy. It is not fun to go back to the starting area at level 50 and killing a rat drops a Super Awsome Sword of Awsomness. I also dislike the games that make loot drops according to what you have in your inventory, like when I running low on healing supplies then every enemy drops med kits. I saw one game that dropped ammo based on what weapon you had equipped, why bother even having an ammo count at that point.

As for Diablo 3, meh, I only ever played the first one. I got bored about half way through and then rushed to the end just to see what happened. I uninstalled it and gave the disc to a friend.