The Order 1886 is garbage. (Gaming)

by cheapLEY , Friday, June 03, 2016, 15:09 (3102 days ago) @ Korny

I know many people who think Breaking Bad sucks, because the first few episodes were really "boring". Those of us who kept watching witnessed a show that pretty much perfected storytelling by its end.

I'm that person. I gave Breaking Bad three episodes and it did nothing for me. I've been told to power through the first season. I'm not watching ten hours of a show before there's any chance of finding enjoyment in it. Life's too short.

If the first five minutes of the game are enough for you to deem the entire package as "garbage" enough to shout it from the rooftops, then that's fine. I really hope you don't end up playing The Last of Us, which is pretty terrible, since you start out by playing as a little girl just walking around a house for five minutes. ;)

The thing is, I love The Last of Us, and I think the beginning is perfect. It's intriguing and makes me want to explore the house. The Order makes the fundamental act of controlling your character unbearable. Every time he stumbles and wrests control from me it's annoying. It's not dramatic or tense. It's just bad design.

I hate segments like that in the middle of games, but I forgive them because I've already been shown the strengths of the game. Starting a game like that is ridiculous and is basically starting a game on an extremely weak note. It'd be like if Halo had started with the level The Library, except far worse than that, because The Library can still be fun.

If The Order had opened with basically the same scene except as a cutscene, if have happily watched it and possibly be enjoying the rest of the game. But trying to control an unresponsive character is an almost unforgivable way to open a game for me. It tells me immediately that the game doesn't respect my time and isn't giving me what I want. I'm a firm believer that games should open on strong points that highlight the good things about the gameplay.

I fully recognize that I've missed out on a ton of great games by making snap judgments made on first impressions. I've also given bad games way too many chances to win me over for weird reasons. I've talked before about my problems feeling like I'm always missing some great game I should be playing. But I'm getting better at that, and this is part of that. Life is too short and there too many other games to play.

For what it's worth, my first post was supposed to come off as more sarcastic and light hearted than it actually did. I'm trying to be better about that too, but clearly it needs more work. Really I was just flabbergasted that anyone would open a game in such an awful way.