Anyone else sick of games telling you what to do?

[Attic]

I like games that give me enough direction but not too much. I think a lot of gamers feel this way. This could be challenging goal for developers to meet. So options are a good thing for stuff like tutorials or on screen map markers.

What I really don't like is when game mechanics are introduced mid or late game without any primer. Nintendo first party games are good at showing and incubating game mechanics from the start. What I don't like is finding integral game mechanics are required for pression when those game mechanics have not been properly or thoroughly introduced. For example if a game has relied on opening doors with levers or puzzles for the first half of the game, I think it is poor design to introduced a blocked door required for progression and have an unkown key mechanic (perhaps key hidden in drawer where in every other level thus far drawers have been inanimate)required to progress.

I think the answer to proper game progression, for how I like it, rests squarely on the shoulders of improved game mechanics and design. Relying on blnking arrows and unyielding audiable commands is a cheap way to get around doing a better job of designing games.

 

[kamikazekyle]

Bulletstorm kinda took this to a whole new level. Not only did it tell you every spot where you were to press a button to crouch or double tap to slide, it even rated you and gave you points for properly alternating the left and right mouse buttons to crawl across a branch/wire/etc. between buildings. You even got bonus points for holding the right mouse button in time to view a scripted cinematic event. Yep, the better you followed the on-screen prompts, the more points you got Hell, even the quicktime events only got as complex as "press button to shoot". Didn't even have to aim.

Though, in all fairness, you could turn off the "press button to crouch" displays and interactive object highlighting. It almost seems like the developers wanted to give you plenty of options for mayhem and killing the enemies how you wanted, but at the same time hand-holded you from enemy spawn to enemy spawn.

As to my personal preferences on the topic, I enjoy more open-endedness in my games. Rather than hand-hold me from cutscene to cutscene, I'd prefer that a game simply gave me some objectives and presented a variety of options to tackle said objectives, ala Deus Ex. I find when I can accomplish one goal in more than one way, it really ups the replay value and my enjoyment since I don't feel so shoehorned into one path.

 

[evilspoons]

Portal 2 really pissed me off. Three-quarters of the way through the game in this big, desolate environment, and a goddamn 'PRESS MOUSE3 TO ZOOM' pops up on my screen. Like 5 friggin' times! Goodbye, immersion!

 

[darkewaffle]

Do you have a point or are you just trying to be an asshat? Either way, GTFO if you don't have any sort of constructive posting to make. Shit posts like this are turning AT into a wasteland of neffing and other off topic posting.

Meanwhile in Angrytown...

 

[A5]

Portal 2 really pissed me off. Three-quarters of the way through the game in this big, desolate environment, and a goddamn 'PRESS MOUSE3 TO ZOOM' pops up on my screen. Like 5 friggin' times! Goodbye, immersion!

That was because you couldn't see the spot you have to hit without it. They messed up the design on that level, and it probably showed up in playtesting.

 

[A5]

Do you have a point or are you just trying to be an asshat? Either way, GTFO if you don't have any sort of constructive posting to make. Shit posts like this are turning AT into a wasteland of neffing and other off topic posting.

Says the guy with 1200 posts in a year

This place has been bad for awhile now. I haven't gone into OT in like 3 years now...

 

[kypron77]

Now, what I really enjoy, is when not only am I forced to listen to a disembodied voice drone on, all character control is taken from me. For example, try playing Gears of War, every 5 frickin' minutes, somebody starts yakkin' into your earpiece, and you are slowed down to a CRAWL. You move like an elderly grandmother with a walker, v..e..r...y.. s...l...o..w....l...y... meandering along until they stop talking and let you move again. Crysis 2 does this a little bit too, occasionally your weapon falls to your chest, and you are restricted to a slow walk until they decide you can be entrusted with full human movement again. Are they afraid I'm gonna break a hip if I listen to a conversation and run at the same time?

Now, go play Serious Sam HD the Second Encounter for a real shooter. Not only is every single bit of dialogue completely skippable, and in fact not even accessible unless you use your nestrica, the whole game just flows and lets you move at your own pace.

 

[zinfamous]

Do you have a point or are you just trying to be an asshat? Either way, GTFO if you don't have any sort of constructive posting to make. Shit posts like this are turning AT into a wasteland of neffing and other off topic posting.

Meanwhile, In Burma....



OK, here's what I'll say.

I understand this sort of thing for the opening of a game. The tutorial section that introduces you to came mechanics and trains you as you go. More and more games are dispatching manuals, even in retail boxes, or so I've heard, and so a bit of this seems necessary, and welcome.

Going on what shorty said earlier: "you must gather your party before continuing" I recently played through KotOR again--holy fuck is that god damn annoying. this mechanic on top of piss poor character mapping means your teammates are constantly getting stuck behind walls, or deciding not to move just for shit and giggles, and they're still at the other end of the map.

 

[zinfamous]

Meanwhile in Angrytown...

 

[AstroManLuca]

Now, what I really enjoy, is when not only am I forced to listen to a disembodied voice drone on, all character control is taken from me. For example, try playing Gears of War, every 5 frickin' minutes, somebody starts yakkin' into your earpiece, and you are slowed down to a CRAWL. You move like an elderly grandmother with a walker, v..e..r...y.. s...l...o..w....l...y... meandering along until they stop talking and let you move again. Crysis 2 does this a little bit too, occasionally your weapon falls to your chest, and you are restricted to a slow walk until they decide you can be entrusted with full human movement again. Are they afraid I'm gonna break a hip if I listen to a conversation and run at the same time?

Now, go play Serious Sam HD the Second Encounter for a real shooter. Not only is every single bit of dialogue completely skippable, and in fact not even accessible unless you use your nestrica, the whole game just flows and lets you move at your own pace.

Yeah I hate that. I know Gears of War, Dead Rising, Batman Arkham Asylum, GTA IV, and probably several others have a "phone call" system in the game. All were roundly criticized for it (except perhaps Batman). The worst part is in Dead Rising and GTA IV where you can receive a totally unimportant call while you're in the middle of a big fight. At least in Gears and Batman they have the good sense to only do that when you're between fights.

 

[Keeper]

Meanwhile in Angrytown...

:thumbsup: +1 LOL.. Some people, need more fiber in their diet.

 

[KaOTiK]

This place has been bad for awhile now. I haven't gone into OT in like 3 years now...

I like going into OT here and there, it is like going on some kind of safari lol

 

[shortylickens]

Meanwhile in Angrytown...

Shens. I'm the mayor of angrytown and I never see that dude.

 

[sandorski]

That's the beauty of Minecraft.

1) Spawn in World
2) ??
3) ??
...
n) Profit

 

[evilspoons]

That was because you couldn't see the spot you have to hit without it. They messed up the design on that level, and it probably showed up in playtesting.

Right, I get it the first time.

But they did it like four times! I've already figured out I have to zoom to place portals sometimes! *RAGE*!

 

[MrWizzard]

That's the beauty of Minecraft.

1) Spawn in World
2) ??
3) ??
...
n) Profit

I came in here to post this.... it's like legos for grown ups.

 

[evilspoons]

I came in here to post this.... it's like legos for grown ups.

Lego is for grown-ups too

Note 16+ age recommendation:

Some custom stuff:
Click for video of a 15+ foot long model of the USS Intrepid.

 

[HunterDT]

Tell me about it. Mass Effect 2 did it with EDI. Shep should have just let EDI play the game FOR him!