Comments on: I’m Not a Lone Hero

By: ReversionLFM

ReversionLFM — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 14:19:59 +0000

I LOVE the cut scenes. Any whiners can just figure out that pressing escape skips them.

By: ReversionLFM

ReversionLFM — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 14:18:37 +0000

The choice of now versus vanilla was ‘open’ (it wasn’t) feel with you never doing anything that MEANS anything versus now you get more of an ‘on rails’ feeling that has you jumping from one epic tail to the next. I love it!
The choice of path is what you make when you pick which zone you are going to level in. Or Which arc you start. If you never start Harrison Jones in that first chamber in Uldum then you could just skip that whole plotline. Of course you would be missing out on 2/5 of the exp in the zone. But hey, at least you have the choice, right?

So I am half way through FF-13 on the PS3. I actually at one point a week or so before Cata had the choice of playing the revamped old world WOW or playing FF-13. I was in the mood for cool plot. I got on FF-13 and after 20 minutes of grinding pointless battles that advanced the plot but a fraction of a nanometer I gave up and got on WOW. WOW now has more interesting plotslines and stories than single player games.

By: gromitdaddy

gromitdaddy — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 20:51:59 +0000

I enjoy the cut scenes, and look forward to levelling another just to see them again

By: Mornara

Mornara — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 20:43:00 +0000

I think the cut scenes are directly related to the feeling of linearity and either help or hinder it.

For example, there are a couple of cut scenes in Uldum where you lose control of your character and stupid stuff happens or you get randomly moved around. These cut scenes are just a way of forcing you to see or do what needs to happen next for the quest.

In contrast in Vashj’ir and Twilight Highlands the cut scenes are showing what the bad guys or the uber NPC good guys are doing. I like how these cut scenes work because you see what they do and then you get to react to it, usually via a quest.

It really boils down to allowing you to react and act as you choose. A cut scene followed by a quest to go help is choice. A cut scene where you watch yourself do something totally out of character is on rails, icky stupid rails.

By: Bristal

Bristal — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 19:12:35 +0000

I agree that I both liked it, and worry somewhat about doing them again. Although I think the stories were well done enough that doing them again in a month might just allow the story to get better. And the zones were very fast. this was only 5 levels, not 10 like we usually have. It’s quite possible that the next 5 levels could add some more flavor and flexibility to each zone, instead of creating brand new zones.

I also really liked the cut scenes. They are very short, I don’t get why people don’t like them. I would imagine most complainers are those that play the game without even looking at the screen. It’s all about speed and numbers flying around and rush to the end. The graphics (much less the quest text) mean very little to them, and having to stop for a cut scene just irritates them.

By: Troutwort

Troutwort — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 17:06:46 +0000

To be fair, Elgar just wanted to reach maximum archaeology before questing, I wasn’t actually expecting to get any XP from it, that’s really been just a bonus, but still it’s the same.

I did comment on this over Vent a couple weeks back, that though I love how the lower level questlines are very linear, telling you where to go and what to do, I did say that before I could basically run all over and quest anywhere, that’s not the case. So I can understand how if you roll a dwarf paladin, then later a dwarf shaman, they might follow the same path to 60 at least.

I’m not saying it’s better or worse, but as it is now, I feel there will still be plenty to do by the time I hit 85.

By: Analogue

Analogue — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 16:30:06 +0000

Yeah, I can sympathize with people who feel like there’s no choices but, I don’t feel that way myself, at all.

By: gromitdaddy

gromitdaddy — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 16:28:19 +0000

and when I did Undercity, there had to be at least a couple hundred players doing it at the same time… I couldn’t see a thing there was so much happening!

By: gromitdaddy

gromitdaddy — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 16:24:05 +0000

I generally don’t think about it in that way… not having a choice. I think really, that you do have more than just a few choices. True, the game has become very linear, but still retains several paths from which a player can choose. Yes, if you’re questing, you have to choose Vashj’ir or Hyjal, and within each of those paths, there are not very many alternative paths, but there are still other options in the game. Case in point, Elgar, who chose to level as much as possible through archeology. And I’m sure others have done the same. I’ve even heard of a group of players who are attempting the challenge of levelling to 85 in wrath content complete with the xp nerf that comes with it… Now that truly sounds like a challenge. And can it even mathematically be done? Or you could level solely through battlegrounds and pvp if that is your desire.

I try just to lose myself in the moment of the gameplay. It is afterall a roleplaying game. When I’m playing Gromdred, I’m a paladin slashing my way to the “holy grail” as it were. I don’t care that the quests given to me are designed to take me to a specific place. I care only that someone has asked me to undertake a given quest, and it’s my sworn duty to complete it. When I’m playing, I don’t look straight to the end, I just look at what I have to do now.

It’s all about how you look at it I guess. But I don’t feel pushed in one direction or another. At anytime, I can break from the path and do something totally different for awhile. So I don’t see any issues there. If I thought I had no choices at all, I’d probably be looking for another game.