Alphachris said:
Well, the exploration in older JRPGs was done in a special way. You got a hint that somewhere was a really special item (the strongest in the game)... and since the world map was simplistic, it didn't take long. you could fly over the world map in 1-2 minutes. And most things were not MISSABLE. In the few WRPGs i played, I was always kind of stressed because I feard that I could miss anything important in the game and that I would have to restart. I started the Dalish Elves quest in Dragon Age and I had to choose, if I should let some strangers go, shoot one of them or shoot all of them... I didn't even know who I am, where I am, who they were etc... How am I supposed to make a good decision here without any suitable information. I just hated this game design and I was starting to look for a guide which choices I should take so that I would not miss anything important... which completely negates the sense of this game concept. For me, or my gaming habits, this game design simply feels broken. I prefer my exploration to be "controlled"... like not missable and you have some sort of clear information where you should look. If exploration is relying to much on luck/randomness I just don't like it. Doing a Sidequest for the Ultimate Weapon/Spell/etc feels rewarding. But in games like Borderlands, where item drops are completely random, it feels more frustrating. You follow a secret path and at the end you find a random item that you just don't need because you got a better drop from a random enemy... Some WRPGs mechanics are there to ensure that the game plays differently every time you play it... But I only do 1 Playthrough were I try to get as much as possible before I lose interest. I only play the game a second time after several years and by then I will have forgotten most details anyway. As I stated before, I hate missables because I just do not want to start over. This is a problem in JRPGS too, but some WRPGs just give to little help on what is missable... I will certainly never play Half-Life 2, because I just can't deal with this damn first person view. I only played the Resistance franchise, because my brother wanted to play with me... and Borderlands, because my wife wanted to play with me. But I will certainly never play a first person view game solo if I have the choice. Deus Ex... Hm, I might try it. I watched some videos on youtube and the gameplay seems to have evolved. But the whole Story simply feels not interesting to me. I just can't relate to technical Augmentation of Human. Secret Agents and High-Tech Thriller are also not really my cup of tea... Well, I might give it a try since it is for free, but at the same time I doubt that it is worth the time to reinstall... It is a bad situation... It is like I won two free tickets for the new James Bond Movie and I get something for free. But in the end I would just waste some time where I could have done something that I really liked to do. |
Yeah, it really is a completely different philosophy of game design in WRPGs. There is no controlled path and every decision you make is a valid one. They're designed to make you think about the different POVs of characters before making a decision, but no decision is right or wrong, you just make them based on the info available. I suppose the only way for you to enjoy these games would be to accept that "missables" just aren't part of the story/playthrough. They aren't so much "missable" as "optional".
It's a shame you struggle with the first-person perspective because you're missing out on a great story based game in Half-Life 2 and is one of the few where they actually do a good job of utilising the first-person perspective. If it wasn't for the perspective then I think you'd actually rather enjoy the game as it's a controlled and well-told story.
As for Deus Ex, it's free as you said. It can't be any worse then Final Fantasy VIII can it 
