Comments on: Lead, and I shall more than likely follow

By: cary

cary — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 00:47:52 +0000

I’m with you there! It pains me to think of how many hours I’ve spent wandering aimlessly in (open world) games trying to figure out where to go next. It’s key for a game to strike a decent balance between too hard and too easy. I’m not sure that many games have gotten it right yet! (But many try and do succeed to varying degrees, but like you alluded to, it’s all about personal preference).

By: cary

cary — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 00:40:46 +0000

I can’t quite imagine what Portal 1 or 2 would have been like with tutorials! The mystery of it all was what made it so special.

I’m also not a fan of tutorials at the start of a game. I much prefer when instructions are incorporated into gameplay. It just makes it easier to get engaged with a game right off the bat.

By: simpleek

simpleek — Sun, 13 Jul 2014 13:56:31 +0000

I think it depends on the game for me too. Sometimes I like knowing where to go and other times I want to have the freedom to explore. Either extreme isn’t good at all. You definitely don’t want your games to be too easy, but you don’t want it to be frustrating either. There were points in games where there was too much freedom to explore and when I was ready to move onto the next point to progress the story, I got frustrated when I couldn’t figure out where to go. At that point, I wanted to plead with the game to show me the way!

By: duckofindeed

duckofindeed — Sat, 12 Jul 2014 14:08:04 +0000

I prefer it when games give me more freedom. I don’t want to be told what to do, just as I dislike when games start with tutorials on how to do things I could just as easily learn on my own. I certainly want some direction on what to do, as it can be frustrating when they tell you nothing. I just don’t want to be pushed.

Portal 2 is a game that comes to mind. It could be rather hard figuring out where to go and how to get there because they give you really no direction at all, but that’s part of what made it fun.

By: cary

cary — Fri, 11 Jul 2014 10:09:25 +0000

Yeah, I get what you mean. It all depends on the game. It’s not like I purposefully sought out directionless games, that’s just the way things ended up. What brought on this trail (haha) of thought was Metroid Prime. I was having a difficult time remembering which elevator I had to use to get to the Phazon Mines, and I got myself stuck and confused. I kept thinking about how I wished the game had waypoints. Though I did figure things out, I was truly exasperated in the meantime.

By: Hatm0nster

Hatm0nster — Fri, 11 Jul 2014 01:14:50 +0000

It’s a hard call between the two. If my own gaming choices are any indication (FFVII, Pokemon, the upcoming Destiny Beta) I’d say I’m in the “directionless” camp right now. But depending on the games coming out, that could change at any time I think.