Thirith on 13/11/2009 at 10:38
Quote Posted by Angel Dust
Once you have good writing you don't even need gameplay restrictions to create a setback. Things like betrayal, the death of a character, consequences of a choice etc would be emotional setbacks and you would feel like you are on the back foot even though you haven't necessarily lost any powers/weapons.
Good point. Look at
Grim Fandango, for instance; there are lots of setbacks in the narrative, and the game makes you *feel* them, but there's no change in the gameplay whatsoever.
EvaUnit02 on 13/11/2009 at 11:27
I just thought of another shitty one, when you lose all of your equipment in the Fallout 3 expansion, "The Pitt". In the scripted sequence a group of normal Raiders stops you in your tracks in takes all of your gear. In normal gameplay my level 30 character would've been able to kill them 100x over.
A similar thing happens when you get captured by Autumn and his men in the main campaign, after retrieving the GECK from Vault 87. In the scripted sequence you get knocked out by a few normal Enclave Troopers, again my level 30 character would've been able to vapourise them in seconds with A-21's Plasma Rifle.
Let's not even go into the arbitrary choices that you're forced to make at the very end of the game. Their rigid stupidity should be obvious to anyone who's played the game.
Aerothorn on 13/11/2009 at 13:03
I don't even remember what they were, only there there was a massive plot where the either/or decision was made moot by the fact that I could easily choose BOTH options within the fiction of the game. Or something. I just remember that it really ticked me off.
Harvester on 13/11/2009 at 13:16
In Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force, there is a point where you're cornered and ambushed by aliens on a space ship somewhere. I was holding them back just fine when all of a sudden a cutscene starts: 'we can't hold them back any longer', and some crewman sacrifices himself honorably to hold off the aliens. Lame. :rolleyes: At least pour so many aliens down my throat that I really can't hold them back.
Thirith on 13/11/2009 at 13:21
Quote Posted by Aerothorn
I don't even remember what they were, only there there was a massive plot where the either/or decision was made moot by the fact that I could easily choose BOTH options within the fiction of the game. Or something. I just remember that it really ticked me off.
Similarly, false either/or situations are something that annoys me to no end in RPGs; I can't think of any specifics right now, but I seem to remember some of them in Bioware games, setting up a phony Damned If You Do/Damned If You Don't scenario where I could easily have imagined a third, fourth and fifth option. (The rachni queen in
Mass Effect, perhaps?)
CCCToad on 13/11/2009 at 13:32
One thing that Jedi Outcast did right is that it presented a credible opponent to defeat you. Unlike the fallout example mentioned where you are knocked out by troops you could easily wipe out, its not very likely that Kyle would be able to take out a Jedi without any force powers.
Harvester on 13/11/2009 at 13:36
Also, the Longest Journey, the first chapter. To get the address of a certain movie theater, you have to agree to go out with your total asshole of a housemate who your character really hates. No other options to proceed in the game. What, they don't have phone books or some sort of internet you can use to look up the address, or anyone else you can ask for the address?
You can choose to blow him off at the last minute though, but it's still pretty lame.
heywood on 13/11/2009 at 14:04
HL1. Apprehension. I didn't feel like the game forced the setback at all, in fact it made me feel like a sucker. Dammit I was going to go through that door.
Being left in a trash compactor seemed contrived though. Soldiers wouldn't do that.
Aerothorn on 13/11/2009 at 14:22
Clearly these soldiers just can't bear to put down a man with such a nice goatee.
doctorfrog on 13/11/2009 at 17:06
Quote Posted by Harvester
In Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force, there is a point where you're cornered and ambushed by aliens on a space ship somewhere. I was holding them back just fine when all of a sudden a cutscene starts: 'we can't hold them back any longer', and some crewman sacrifices himself honorably to hold off the aliens. Lame. :rolleyes: At least pour so many aliens down my throat that I
really can't hold them back.
This sounds absolutely hilarious.
