Post by Bytor on Jul 25, 2011 9:01:18 GMT -5
When does playing a game become, or at least feel like it does, a presentation on abstract particle non-binding zero mass quasi-quantum physics in an environment near a binary star influenced by a black hole? My opinion, when it gets beyond the point of ridiculousness in the customization and sheer amount of items available to collect and/or create. Do I really need an item that takes off 5% of damage done as well as one that takes off 10% as well as one that takes off 15% as well as one that takes off 20% etc., etc., etc. and freaking so forth. I understand developers want to provide options and make the game more enjoyable, but when does it cross the line between fun and catering to compulsive obsessive personalities, or worse yet when does it simply become a tool used to make a game longer and/or have more substance? The answer is a tough one to call, and I'm not really positive it can be "called". Instead I imagine it would probably depend upon the person questioned and their personal gaming experience with the game in question. Let me give you a few examples of my thought process, both the good and bad.
Gearbox has stated that Borderlands has 17,750,000 different combinations of materials. Now that is, by any standards, an absolutely mind boggling number. To put that in some perspective. The Earth's circumference is 24901.55 miles, it's on average about 238,857 miles to the moon, and about 93,000,000 miles from the Earth to the Moon. So, wrap your mind around those numbers and you get the idea how unreal the variation in Borderlands can be. However, never at any given time did I feel I was on an endless, and I imagine hopeless, trek to collect all 17 odd million items. Why? Simple. Because A: it wasn't necessary nor was the game set up with a quest and fetch system of gameplay per se and B: because while there are differences in weapons quite often the difference was miniscule (similar leveled weapons being compared of course) and in my opinion, while fun and interesting to note, for the most part really not that vital to my success in the game. Now if memory serves me there are 83 different individual demons that can be fused in Shin Megami Tensie Nocturne. Each has their own strengths and weaknesses, each is certainly individualistic and many are absolutely vital to surviving and advancing the story and thus the game. Notice I said not all, but many. And while this number is certainly not 17 million it is still a somewhat daunting task to collect every single demons (I think I missed 2, but maybe it was 3, don't remember for sure but it wasn't very many at all). And yet not once did I feel this pursuit of collecting each demon felt like a quest and fetch chore. The integration of collecting and fusing demons was integrated into the gameplay seamlessly and seldom was much backtracking necessary in order to recruit a lower level demon in order to fill my compendium. Now let's look at the bad. I really have no idea how many recipes or items could be crafted in Star Ocean: The Last Hope. You get a trophy for collecting a measly 20% and even that to me was a unrewarding and unreal time consuming task (or maybe I simply sucked at t, lol). But seriously it was simply way too much. The vast, and mean vast, majority of the crafted items were either totally redundant or simply unnecessary to continued gameplay and/or advancing the story. Even the experts agree on this point/ The extras crafted are NOT needed to successfully finish the game, BUT are needed to make doing the new game+ and optional dungeons easier to complete. Really? I get to spend countless hours learning and navigating my way through this system (which only a highly trained algorithmic specialists could truly fathom) and it's NOT EVEN NECESSARY! Yeah, now that makes perfect sense. And before you start saying well yeah, but that's the point, it's optional, it's like the side quests and factory in Rogue Galaxy or the marks in FXII or the even the, thus admitted, quest and fetch tasks abundant in Nier . It's there to do if you choose, but you don't have to. BUT. There is a huge difference, all of the three mentioned optional aspects of the games mentioned above add something to the story. Whether it's simply background information about the various characters (such as in Rogue Galaxy) or add to the story (as in Nier) or simply give you much more experience and money (ala FFXII) it still adds something concrete!
And that's my point. If I am going to be provided with umpteen items or umpteen quests or umpteen options then integrate these said features into the game. It's perfectly OK to make them somewhat of a side game (Blitzball anyone) but still, integrate it at least somewhat into the game and make it have a purpose other than to fill up the game disc itself. I don't mind fluff, heck, let's be honest. The vast majority of games are like movies. The story could be told in 20 mins (maybe 45 if fleshed out) but just like a good book we need filler, we need to have things develop and allow ourselves to develop an empathy with the characters and their world but, do we really need to do that while pondering whether 5% or 10% is good enough? No, I don't think we do.
PS And yes, I know I could simply ignore the unnecessary baggage included and play the game but it still annoys me, and after all, if I wasn't annoyed I wouldn't be here writing and you wouldn't then have anything to read and you'd be annoyed. So in a sense I'm doing it all for you, my loyal readers.
Gearbox has stated that Borderlands has 17,750,000 different combinations of materials. Now that is, by any standards, an absolutely mind boggling number. To put that in some perspective. The Earth's circumference is 24901.55 miles, it's on average about 238,857 miles to the moon, and about 93,000,000 miles from the Earth to the Moon. So, wrap your mind around those numbers and you get the idea how unreal the variation in Borderlands can be. However, never at any given time did I feel I was on an endless, and I imagine hopeless, trek to collect all 17 odd million items. Why? Simple. Because A: it wasn't necessary nor was the game set up with a quest and fetch system of gameplay per se and B: because while there are differences in weapons quite often the difference was miniscule (similar leveled weapons being compared of course) and in my opinion, while fun and interesting to note, for the most part really not that vital to my success in the game. Now if memory serves me there are 83 different individual demons that can be fused in Shin Megami Tensie Nocturne. Each has their own strengths and weaknesses, each is certainly individualistic and many are absolutely vital to surviving and advancing the story and thus the game. Notice I said not all, but many. And while this number is certainly not 17 million it is still a somewhat daunting task to collect every single demons (I think I missed 2, but maybe it was 3, don't remember for sure but it wasn't very many at all). And yet not once did I feel this pursuit of collecting each demon felt like a quest and fetch chore. The integration of collecting and fusing demons was integrated into the gameplay seamlessly and seldom was much backtracking necessary in order to recruit a lower level demon in order to fill my compendium. Now let's look at the bad. I really have no idea how many recipes or items could be crafted in Star Ocean: The Last Hope. You get a trophy for collecting a measly 20% and even that to me was a unrewarding and unreal time consuming task (or maybe I simply sucked at t, lol). But seriously it was simply way too much. The vast, and mean vast, majority of the crafted items were either totally redundant or simply unnecessary to continued gameplay and/or advancing the story. Even the experts agree on this point/ The extras crafted are NOT needed to successfully finish the game, BUT are needed to make doing the new game+ and optional dungeons easier to complete. Really? I get to spend countless hours learning and navigating my way through this system (which only a highly trained algorithmic specialists could truly fathom) and it's NOT EVEN NECESSARY! Yeah, now that makes perfect sense. And before you start saying well yeah, but that's the point, it's optional, it's like the side quests and factory in Rogue Galaxy or the marks in FXII or the even the, thus admitted, quest and fetch tasks abundant in Nier . It's there to do if you choose, but you don't have to. BUT. There is a huge difference, all of the three mentioned optional aspects of the games mentioned above add something to the story. Whether it's simply background information about the various characters (such as in Rogue Galaxy) or add to the story (as in Nier) or simply give you much more experience and money (ala FFXII) it still adds something concrete!
And that's my point. If I am going to be provided with umpteen items or umpteen quests or umpteen options then integrate these said features into the game. It's perfectly OK to make them somewhat of a side game (Blitzball anyone) but still, integrate it at least somewhat into the game and make it have a purpose other than to fill up the game disc itself. I don't mind fluff, heck, let's be honest. The vast majority of games are like movies. The story could be told in 20 mins (maybe 45 if fleshed out) but just like a good book we need filler, we need to have things develop and allow ourselves to develop an empathy with the characters and their world but, do we really need to do that while pondering whether 5% or 10% is good enough? No, I don't think we do.
PS And yes, I know I could simply ignore the unnecessary baggage included and play the game but it still annoys me, and after all, if I wasn't annoyed I wouldn't be here writing and you wouldn't then have anything to read and you'd be annoyed. So in a sense I'm doing it all for you, my loyal readers.
