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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - The problem with modern video games summed up in one review

http://www.gamesradar.com/3ds/the-legend-of-zelda-ocarina-of-time-3d/review/the-legend-of-zelda-ocarina-of-time-3d-review/a-20110616202423556029/g-2010061610502183083

Ocarina is particularly bad about dropping excessively vague hints (or no hints at all) as to what to do next. There are a handful of extremely important items (say, the Fire Arrows, Lens of Truth or even Epona) that are buried under a layer of riddles that don’t quite add up. Back in the day, we expected games to be mysterious and obtuse; today, we’re all accustomed to mechanics that lead us from one place to the next, even if it’s on an almost subconscious level. This isn’t about hand-holding or over-tutorializing, which is a whole other problem with games today – it’s about fundamental design, and Ocarina has always had this issue, especially compared to Wind Waker or Twilight Princess. 

 This is the problem with modern games. No mystery. No Adventure. No discovery. Its pathetic, every game now a days has waypoints and other nonsense to drag you through the game. It pisses me off. There's never any easter  eggs or sidequests or things to find. Its just mission/cutscene/ waypoint to the next mission etc. All but a few games follow this formula- and those exceptions are far and away the best games of the gen. 

And here is a mainstream reviewer complaining about a game that has these elements (with plenty of hand holding via Saria and Navi). Casual to the max, and everything wrong with modern game design. 




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I agree... WAAAY too casual and there is a setting on every game that you can make it so easy a child can finish it.

Even games like LA Noir, EVERY time you pick up an item that needs to be examined more closely the stupid pop up comes up telling you how to examine it more closely!

I got it after 2 tries, let ME figure out if I need to examine it more closely instead of YOU!

UGH!

StevenKreg said:

I agree... WAAAY too casual and there is a setting on every game that you can make it so easy a child can finish it.

Even games like LA Noir, EVERY time you pick up an item that needs to be examined more closely the stupid pop up comes up telling you how to examine it more closely!

I got it after 2 tries, let ME figure out if I need to examine it more closely instead of YOU!

UGH!


And the worst part is LA Noir purports to be an adventure game. I remember back in Resident Evil where you had to go over every item with a fine tooth comb to figure everything out. 



ǝןdɯıs ʇı dǝǝʞ oʇ ǝʞıן ı ʍouʞ noʎ 

Ask me about being an elitist jerk

Time for hype

StevenKreg said:

I agree... WAAAY too casual and there is a setting on every game that you can make it so easy a child can finish it.

Even games like LA Noir, EVERY time you pick up an item that needs to be examined more closely the stupid pop up comes up telling you how to examine it more closely!

I got it after 2 tries, let ME figure out if I need to examine it more closely instead of YOU!

UGH!


I don't like the "casual" connection, as I think this trend came about in all games, even the "hardcorz" games. I more blame the overall trend of game developers going after a "cinema experience" where a game MUST be completed for it to make any sense or be fun, because you have to see the cutscenes and such, so the developers go out of their way to make sure you get through the game.



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Glad to see people agree, we need someone to lead the trend back to adventure and discovery in games.



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So now we're complaining that 3D Zelda is too vague and not straightforward enough.

This guy would get kicked in the sack repeatedly by most NES games, wouldn't he?



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Mr Khan said:
So now we're complaining that 3D Zelda is too vague and not straightforward enough.

This guy would get kicked in the sack repeatedly by most NES games, wouldn't he?


He probably wouldn't even find the first dungeon



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Ask me about being an elitist jerk

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if he has these problems with OoT, I would love to see him try the NES original




I think this brings up an interesting topic regarding games as entertainment vs. games as a form of art or expression. There is of course room for both, but I find they serve a very different purpose.

[rant]

There are many times, especially in adult life, when you don't want to spend all this energy racking your brain over what needs to be done in a game. Often you can't afford yourself that privilege as an adult. I can certainly tell you from my own experience that more often than not I need my brain-cells to focus on school work or challenges at the work-place. During these times I am more likely to play games in order to be instantly entertained and in order to unwind. This need more often lends itself better to mindless, reflex based games, like racing or scrolling shooters or even highly linear FPS/TPS games than to point and click adventures or Zelda/Pikmin games or turn-based strategy games.

That's not to say I don't need deeper, more thought provoking and challenging experiences to balance out my diet too, but I find myself getting into them more easily when my mind is already relatively at ease, such as on weekends, vacations and so on.

I have no problem with either type of experience as long as the games are honest about what they are trying to deliver. Nothing wrong with some Serious Sam as a side dish to your Morrowind. Nothing wrong with having it the other way around either, in my opinion.

The other thing to remember here is that the more experience you have as a gamer, ie: the more years of gaming you have behind you and the more games you've already completed and mastered, the more new experiences are likely to seem 'simple' or even 'casual' to you. After all, we aren't exactly rewriting the book on gaming with every consecutive console release... Most of the fundamentals are pretty much the same as they were 15-20 years ago.

The same goes for less experienced gamers, who are less likely to have a thorough basic grasp of what a Zelda game or a Metroid game is, since they haven't experienced most of them yet. For them, completing their first or second game of this type probably still constitutes a 'challenge', and as such is probably not their ideal activity for relaxing and unwinding.

The author of this review is obviously not this type of gamer, so the criticism against him is legitimate. But I still think the issue stands as an important one. Regardless of how a game presents itself to the player as being 'casual' or 'hard-core', the subjectivity of these concepts should be taken into account as well.

[/rant]



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