I am not a rich man, so when I throw down 60 american dollars I want to know it is worth it (especially because I am a geek that preorders any game with a pretty cover and a hint of magic). I want to be able to spend some time with that sucker (and honestly that $60 doesn't seem so bad when I think about how much a movie costs, or a night out). I can double my time with it if I can replay it, so this is what will make me do that:
1. STORY, big surprise, right, my answer to everything. Story in video game is not just the plot or the cutscenes, it is setting, character, detail, ambiance, mood, attention to detail, mythology... Bioshock, Red Dead Redemption, Bully, Final Fantasy IX, X, XII, both Dragon Ages, had such depth that there was more to see each time I went back, plus visiting my favorite characters and favorite scenes was a treat.
2. NEW GAME PLUS By the end of the game we get the cool weapons and the cool powers- it is the coolest and most powerful we will ever be, we have the most choices as far as tactics and it lasts 15 minutes? A half hour? New game plus allows you to see and play the game differently- to really see what this thing has "under the hood." Of course it sucks when looking at an enemy kills them or that everyone else is just as powerful as you, or half of your abilities are negated when enemies have new immunities. It's a tough line to see.
3. VALUABLE DLC Add abilities, explore characters, add settings, expand conflict, these are the types of dlc that make me want to play again. Minerva's Den of Bioshock 2 has done this the best so far. The den gave us a contained story that fit well into the mythology and was true to the feelings and themes in the game; it offered us more of a glimpse into Rapture it's citizens and its tragedy. You got new weapons and abilities. It was well written. Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2 had some good ones with simlar features, in Lelianna's song we dumped our Dragon Age warden and played as one of the NPC's and found out more about her. If the dlc is just "Here's a bunch of enemies have at 'em!" then I'm bored.
I get your point and I concur.
ReplyDeleteBut what stopped me to look and read your article was the picture you had posted to accompany your article of Monkey, the main character from one of my favorite games, "Enslaved: Odyssey to the West." Yes, a very strange name, and the voice took a while to get used to - would have preferred an actor with a deeper voice - but very nice to look at indeed.
I, personally, really enjoyed playing this action adventure and, to me, it had all the elements you mention above. Perhaps the fighting did get a little repetitive after a while, but the story was so compelling that it kept me moving forward to find out what would happen next.
So, I wonder why you have the picture shown above but not mention the game it came from?
I enjoyed the game, but haven't felt really compelled to replay it. I fiddled around with it a bit more, but the combat sometimes pissed me off (damn camera). Monkey was hot, and interesting as a character, and I loved the setting at the start of the game, but the clunky, boring industrial stuff was a letdown. I liked the question of what would make Trip enslave another person and still allow herself to see herself as a moral person, and the struggle to trust him, but beyond that she was boring.
ReplyDeleteI think the idea of the world is interesting and would've liked to have known more, it looked beautiful, Monkey was great, and I think it deserved more attention, so I put the picture up to encourage people to check it out.