Joseph Ridgeson
WarRavens
Capital Punishment.
2562
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Posted - 2014.11.15 23:35:00 -
[1] - Quote
This year, two games have come out in the Sci-Fi Shoot People genre that feel quite short. Titanfall got all this hype, everyone loved it for a week or two, but then it was "wait, that's it?" as soon as they realized that it was a 60 dollar game with no single player and a variety of other features that were not there. Basically, people paid 60 dollars for a game that wasn't filled with 60 dollars of content. Still fun to parkour and shoot people with a shotgun though.
Destiny is the other game. I have not played it myself but have only heard critical and disappointed things. I believe the joke is "half a billion dollars is not enough to make a good video game." But, unlike Titanfall, it has a single player and has more stuff in it for 60 dollars. The problem is that this hype train was built up so much with the idea of "10 year plan and commitment to the game" that when it turns out it is 'just' a game where you shoot people, shoot AI, and grind for guns, the hype train explodes into Disappointment Valley. What I will say is this: it is a bloody shame that Bungie has moved away from "10 Year Plan with Destiny" and is instead pushing for "10 Year Plan with the franchise" after it was revealed that Destiny 2 is in the work rather than more stuff for Destiny 1. That's not how an MMO works, by the way.
But back on point:
"Dumbing down" is not exactly a bad thing depending how it works. The best example I have ever seen is the original UFO Defense and X-COM. X-COM most certainly is "dumber" than UFO Defense because it is more simple. However, the mechanics of play are still quite high and the strategy is still enormous. "User Friendly" is the way they went and it works wonders.
I don't think using EVE as an example for "how to do things correctly" is a good idea on most things. In truth, the original game concept in EVE is quite mediocre. Combat is slow and dull. It takes ages to "do anything." If it were not for the luck that people built close knit bonds and worked together and CCP didn't have the foresight to change the game from "kill the NPC, get the loot" to this entire player owned universe the game would have died long ago.
One of the FanFests, Hilmar mentioned the fact that the game was meant to be a "kill the monster, get loot" game with just a hard crafting mode put in. He was playing it and borrowed someone's Cruiser and, of course, got it blown up by the NPC. As he put it, "that drive to rebuild this thing because I had lost someone's ship got in the way of me actually making the game for everyone else!" Slight shift in focus of game design and EVE is the game that is both incredibly boring and the game that offers players something that no one else can.
I would say CCP got lucky with EVE and it works because the game is meant to be super slow paced. If DUST/Legion and especially Valkyrie look to EVE's super slow model, I can't see the games being super successful. They probably can't offer the massiveness that is EVE and trying to be EVE is like trying to be the stinky old dog that defecates gold but mixing up "gold" with "liquid death."
"This is B.S! This is B.S! I paid money! Cash money, dollars money, cash money!"
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