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A Rant on Modern Gaming

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  • A Rant on Modern Gaming

    So, I finally got Paper Mario: Sticker Star for the 3DS. It's a great game, I had no doubt it would be otherwise. But something irks me, which isn't the game's fault. Why the hell do they not make actual manuals for 3DS games? For that matter, a lot of Wii games were like this, and I can only presume it's the same way for the WiiU. In the case of the 3DS, you get a single fold-out sheet that gives you the basic commands and very tiny bit of gameplay info.

    I know how to play this game, that is, I know the basics already. I've been playing this series since it's spiritual ancestor, Super Mario RPG on the SNES. But there is this annoying trend over the years where they don't give you as much information before you play the game, which creates the need for the game itself to grind to a halt so it can inform you of all the things they could have told you in a manual. Which pulls you out of the game. Especially in the very beginning where every few seconds the game has to stop and tell you what to do. Even very basic things you should inherently know. Because the devs feel guilty about sending you in blind and they feel like they have to make up for it by holding your hand. That way they feel like they can't be blamed for not properly informing you. Which they could have done by just making a more in-depth manual as opposed to creating EXTRA work for the programmers by having to construct so many tutorials you can't bypass (and also could have avoided disrupting the flow of the game). Besides, I don't need a game to hold my hand, I have a girlfriend who does that just fine and is much better at it.

    Then there are the things they DON'T tell you within the mess of tutorials in the first part of the games. For instance, in Sticker Star, they don't have any descriptions of items. All you have is the in-game description. One item I found told me that it's use is unknown and that I should sell it at a shop. And it sells for a decent price. What nothing in the game tells me, however, is that this item will cause every attack I make to do more damage and allow me to block every incoming attack for a short period of time. So why would I want to sell it, why would they even SUGGEST selling it? So why do games even bother force-feeding me information I can figure out just fine on my own and neglect to tell me things I really should know?

    It's just annoying. It's like, how everyone hated Navi in Zelda: OoT. And as a cruel joke, all games have a "Navi" now.

    Another thing 3DS games need to do is stop fucking telling me to take a break so I don't hurt my eyes. Seriously, I got enough of that from my mother 25 years ago.
    "You are loved" - Plaidman.

  • #2
    Navi tells you to take a break too in the 3DS version....like she wasn't talkative enough as is >.<

    Fi still takes the cake on most annoying computer guide, though. Oh dear lord.

    But yeah, everything gives you hints on how to do stuff anymore. And no way to turn them off. I'm just glad Kingdom Hearts hasn't bought into it yet.
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    • #3
      Reminded myself of this video. It's NSFW because Ego drops more F-Bombs-per-minute than the AVGN, but it perfectly illustrates what I'm complaining about.
      "You are loved" - Plaidman.

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      • #4
        Money. Simply. They cost money (printing manuals that is). So, why not put stuff in the game, and use less printing. And I agree, its stupid. But I cheat, I use a tablet and look at the Wiki when I'm not sure about an item or I'm lost.
        "On a scale of 1 to banana, whats your favourite colour of the alphabet?"
        Regards, Lord Baron Darth von Vaderham, esq. Middle brother to mharbourgirl & Squeaksmyalias

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        • #5
          What ApolloSZ said.

          It costs money to design, print, pack, and ship all that fancy paper and much, much less to do code in the game, instead.

          However, there should be an option in-game to set how basic you want your tutorial info (with the ability to look it up in-game if you don't know something they class as below your chosen level) as opposed to telling you even the most simple of information.

          ^-.-^
          Faith is about what you do. It's about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are. It's about making sacrifices for the good of others. - Dresden

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          • #6
            also they can sell the guides for the games.

            Navi needs to die, with a flamethrower.
            Coffee should be strong, black and chewy! It should strip paint and frighten small children.

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            • #7
              Quoth Kheldarson View Post
              But yeah, everything gives you hints on how to do stuff anymore. And no way to turn them off. I'm just glad Kingdom Hearts hasn't bought into it yet.
              Shhh! Don't give Square Enix any ideas!

              KH: Birth By Sleep does have a tutorial, but it's skippable after your first time playing. And that's pretty awesome. A couple of the games also give you hints about how to beat bosses....on the Game Over screen. "Hmm, you died again. Maybe you need more levels." No, really?
              I am no longer of capable of the emotion you humans call “compassion”. Though I can feign it in exchange for an hourly wage. (Gravekeeper)

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              • #8
                Squeenix already has the idea...have you played FF XIII??

                I'm just praying the KH side of house doesn't pull it from the FF side of house.
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                • #9
                  Quoth jedimaster91 View Post
                  Shhh! Don't give Square Enix any ideas!
                  I disagree. Lately it seems they need all the ideas they can get :P
                  "You are loved" - Plaidman.

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                  • #10
                    Personally I blame gamers more than the devs for this crap. You have no idea how much crying there used to be from people about how they had no idea what to do and the game sucked. Then when they were told to RTFM (read the fucking manual) they'd kick up a shit storm about that as well.

                    It's the same when anyone buys anything new and shiny. They toss the manual away and just start smashing things, then throw a hiss fit when it either breaks or they can't figure out how to change a setting or something. Then they are told "Well it was in the manual" and the response is "I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO READ THE MANUAL!!!"

                    No win situation, apparently. It'd be nice if the developers would implement a "Skip the tutorial" button, but then I think a reinstatement of the "I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO PLAY THE TUTORIAL" would follow. Though I would hope that this go around everyone would pull up their adult diapers and holler back at the idiots, "WELL IT'S YOUR OWN DAMN FAULT THEN."
                    My Writing Blog -Updated 05/06/2013
                    It's so I can get ideas out of my head, I decided to put it in a blog in case people are bored or are curious as to the (many) things in progress.

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                    • #11
                      See, back when Video Stores existed, I often blatantly defied reading the manuals. I could figure the games out on my own, cause I was a badass gamer girl. But then sometimes I'd find out something important I missed because I didn't read it, and it was totally on me. But as there is no personal accountability anymore, I can completely believe that.
                      "You are loved" - Plaidman.

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                      • #12
                        Better guides hit the Internet almost immediately after the game is released. If it costs money to print proper manuals, and the net beats their manuals, why do it?

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                        • #13
                          I'm increasingly becoming a Luddite when it comes to gaming. I've yet to find a game for the PS3 that would justify buying one, and the only reason I ever asked for a Wii was to download old SNES favorites. I've hated every Final Fantasy that came out after FFVII and by this point have given up on them.

                          As I've said before, I want a game to tell me a story. I want it to have a definite beginning, middle, and end and I want it to do what it does very well. I do not want a game that wanders endlessly all over the world(s), spawning expansion packs like gaily-gotten bastards, with no end to any of it. And because I want that, the gaming world is leaving me far, far behind.
                          Drive it like it's a county car.

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                          • #14
                            Games are slowly becoming more like books (and books series) but they're doing it all the wrong ways. As a book series, each book is supposed to have a contained beginning, middle, and end, and then each book adds to the larger beginning, middle, and end.

                            Unfortunately, we have games doing it more along the lines of, "This game is the beginning, then the next X games are the middle, then maybe we'll have an ending."

                            The only games series that immediately pops to mind as doing it the right way is Mass Effect. Each Mass Effect game had its own, completely contained beginning, middle, and end and they all added to the over arching story (whether or not you liked the final ending doesn't change the fact that it was a final ending.)

                            We just have stuff like Call of Duty which is just "Here are some differently skinned maps and weapons, and maybe a game play upgrade, have fun." Which to me is really annoying.

                            I want to get into writing the content, story, characters, etc. for video games, but as of right now a vast majority of the video game industry doesn't see the value of having a well trained and strong writer. Or if they do have some idea, they immediately want writers that have already published books never mind the fact that writing for a video game is very different than writing for say, a book, TV show, or movie. *headdesk*
                            My Writing Blog -Updated 05/06/2013
                            It's so I can get ideas out of my head, I decided to put it in a blog in case people are bored or are curious as to the (many) things in progress.

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                            • #15
                              Quoth Lvl_9_Gazebo View Post
                              I'm increasingly becoming a Luddite when it comes to gaming. I've yet to find a game for the PS3 that would justify buying one, and the only reason I ever asked for a Wii was to download old SNES favorites. I've hated every Final Fantasy that came out after FFVII and by this point have given up on them.

                              As I've said before, I want a game to tell me a story. I want it to have a definite beginning, middle, and end and I want it to do what it does very well. I do not want a game that wanders endlessly all over the world(s), spawning expansion packs like gaily-gotten bastards, with no end to any of it. And because I want that, the gaming world is leaving me far, far behind.
                              I'd say you'd enjoy FFIX and XII then, which are great stories, but sounds like you didn't necessarily like those either.

                              I think a big thing with the tutorial issue is most games haven't figured out how to incorporate it right. You can have a decent tutorial by having it be something that makes sense in game. Like I've been told Halo takes you through basic training (as in you've been out of commission, so now they're getting your baseline). That makes sense.

                              Having constant reminders of how to do things or a completely separate out of context tutorial? That's bad game design.
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