Comments by "RiC David" (@RiC_David) on "Top 10 Modern Industry Trends That Have Gamers Worried" video.

  1. After complaining about being left in the dark on downloaded games without instruction manuals (Team Fortress 2, Orange Box) I'm also compelled to rant about the opposite extreme - obnoxiously hand holding tutorials. While this video touched on it, it didn't really highlight why they're so irritating. I recently started playing a quite complex indie game 'The Curious Expedition' (a roguelike-ish exploration game in an attractive Monkey Island 1 graphical style) and began with the tutorial. Unfortunately the whole thing was a "Click this flashing button, now left click on this flashing part of the map to move here, now click this button to trade items and trade the specified item" and it wouldn't progress unless you clicked that specific thing. This might not be so bad if not for the fact that the actual game is incredibly non linear and gives you no idea of where to go or what to do (by design, as I later learned from an interview) - the tutorial makes you follow strict paths but then drops you in a world where you need to do the opposite! Rather than the "you need to move here so click 'Move' then click this spot now", I wish they'd say "You need to move to the area at the top of the screen by the village, move your party to that location" and allow you to freely walk around until you got there. I'm not the only one who dislikes being stuck on rails and having no other buttons work - linearity can be fine but give us the freedom to move our player around in the world a bit. Example: Mario 64 dropped you in the courtyard with Peach's castle up ahead. You knew you had to get to the castle entrance but it allowed you to stretch your legs first - imagine if it drew a white line on the ground and wouldn't let you move in any other direction, that's just stifling.
    1