Do we really want games to surprise us? (Gaming)

by INSANEdrive, ಥ_ಥ | f(ಠ‿↼)z | ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ| ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, Wednesday, August 09, 2017, 16:26 (2673 days ago) @ Korny
edited by INSANEdrive, Wednesday, August 09, 2017, 16:40

So nothing about Destiny 2 has really gotten me pumped. New Subclasses? Eh. New worlds to explore? Expected. Large-scale Cabal assault? We've been calling it since Year 2. Other than a few elements that it's borrowing from Horizon Zero Dawn(and a few other games), nothing is a surprise.

(From Bold) That comment is beyond disingenuous. That's... just not fair.

And yet, preorder sales are through the roof. People who whined and moaned about the first game have been saying good things about what they see, and from the looks of it, we're going to coast off another three years of much of the same repetitive grind that we have been for the past three years. And for the most part, we are all okay with that. We know that not enough will change to make it a brand new experience. We know that people will continue to have the same complaints that they had before, as Bungie has clearly played it safe (remove Specials, remove self-rez, remove random stats, remove variety)... Players say that they want drastic changes, that they want things to be fresh, but they clearly don't, given the preorders and buzz...

(From Bold) That presumes we know the truth behind the numbers. Correct me if I'm wrong, but while we may know of numbers, we do not know who is behind them.

And this week, an experiment has come along to challenge that complacency. It throws standard conventions out the window, and gives us something different for a change... And the reactions have been very mixed, which has gotten me thinking.

A far too late "Uh Oh" is in order then. *Ahem* - Uh! *Dramatic......PAUSE!* OH!

The experiment is Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice ...

... Now let's talk about the things that it does different.

The one you've likely heard about (if nothing else), is that the game has a mandatory permadeath feature if you die too much. Except it doesn't. But it does. What's going on? It ties into what the game even IS. The game has you playing a character, Senua, who suffers from psychosis. And not just in a Dead Space "you hallucinate sometimes" way, either. The game does everything that it can to put you into Senua's shoes. When you load up the game, it recommends that you play the game with headphones (3D Audio is not only supported, but recommended), and then you're thrown into the world with no tutorials, no explanation of what's what. There are voices that constantly plague you. They help you... Sometimes. Other times, they'll mock you, they'll disturb you, and worse, they might even flat-out lie to you. When you die, the game will inform you of the permadeath that will happen if you fail too much. And you'll have that looming over you for the rest of the game. Every hit that an enemy lands is that much more terrifying. Every death a gamble... Some folks immediately jumped on Ninja Theory to denounce the feature (including prominent moron TotalBiscuit, who ended up sheepishly deleting his tweet once it was pointed out to him how much of an idiot he is, because he hadn't even played a single minute of the game).

So in other words its Schizophrenia - THE GAME. I approve.

So that really caught my attention. It's something that you never see in games these days: true punishment. And some people rage about it, while others praise it (and in the end, it may just be intended to make you uneasy rather than actually going through with its threat, which fits thematically, since you're not supposed to be sure about anything that you see or hear in the game, and it's clearly working, since people don't even know how to trigger it)...

In fact, each of the things that Hellblade does differently, such as no tutorials, no HUD, no hand-holding of any sort, and the looming threat of actual consequence... it's all being criticized by a large portion of the gaming community. And the funny thing is that reviewers themselves, who did play the game from beginning to end, love it. It currently holds an 81 on Metacritic. And something that was funny to me is how not all reviewers loved the same things.

For example, while one of the lowest-scoring reviewers (METRO) said:

A technical masterpiece with some of the best swordfighting combat in years, but the storytelling and puzzle elements come across as muddled and awkwardly mismatched.

another of the lower-scoring reviewers (Vandal) said:

Although gameplay-wise is far from Ninja Theory’s best works, the universe and the story are outstanding.

They pretty much praised and criticized the exact opposite of what the other said. And these are the people who gave some of the lowest scores.

Yea? So... Humans like different things. No Way... News at 11.

_______________________________________________

Another thing that Ninja Theory did differently is the self-publishing that I talked about earlier. People like to hiss and spit at Activision, and at Bungie's partnership with Activision, and many wonder what it would have been like without that union.

Ninja Theory has done just that. They funded the game themselves, using their own resources and a tiny team, and it's blown my mind. The entire game was developed by a team of thirteen people. The main character, Senua, is played by Ninja Theory's video editor, who helped put out nearly 30 fantastic Dev diaries. The studio used this freedom to put out an experience quite unlike any other, that's being praised by reviewers, and is being sold for $30, half the price of a standard game release. The game includes both a 4K mode, and a 60Hz mode for 60Fps. It has a Photo Mode. It's everything that people say they want!

It is pretty fantastic what we can do as a species when we come together. Helps even more when there is common thing we love to do too.

And yet, people are complaining... So do we want games to surprise us? Do we want developers to break away from their publishers and deliver truly unique experiences? Hellblade is the manifestation of that question, and the sales and player response will be the answer.

Let me rebut that with; Is that really surprising? The goldilocks zone varies from person to person, again, news at 11.

To me, it seems the question should be; Do people know what they are getting into when they play this game? In till the day comes where we get a Holodeck and can do whatever we want, there will always exist the question "What can I do" in games. I'm all for being thrown into the deep end, especially if it helps with the so called immersion factor. TO "live" anothers skin, which seems to be part of this games goal as you describe it.

Yet if I didn't know what I was about to experience, and I'm thrown in, and I want to do something but I don't know how or if I can do it within this or any game - that's frustrating. It's a bit like being tied up while being thrown in; no one wants to drown. Based on what I see from this post alone, it seems the creators got too clever and creative for the own good of their game. It's not that we don't want to be surprised, just we don't know what we are about to get into. From the trailers alone (didn't click the links) its obvious it's not a very happy game, it's hella gritty, but...that's it. It seems more a marketing issue from this side. WHAT IS THIS? WHAT ARE YOU SELLING?

They are defying convention, which is GREAT! WAY TO GO! BUT! There needs to be a warning, which can be done in a number of ways. If the person playing doesn't understand "What happened", that's crazy frustrating. These are the questions asked while a game is made. That's why there are test groups. Something can be great on paper, but suck in practice.

If I was part of this team, I would suggest to sell the mindset. THAT seems to be the main game play of this game as you describe it, but I'm not getting that AT ALL from the content provided. Looks to be some old world Gears of War. Is that what it is? I don't know!

RUN PUNY MORTAL! BAW-HAHAHAAH!