I never understood the "the game design is shit because you need a wiki to play it" angle Games used to come with a guidebook with the CD - ThreadSky

fumolazy.bsky.social • 23 days ago

I never understood the "the game design is shit because you need a wiki to play it" angle

Games used to come with a guidebook with the CD

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mildstrife.bsky.social•23 days ago

I think this moreso refers to when a game has overtly complex mechanics or fails to explain them well. Fromsoft games for example, I don’t see a scenario where you just happen to talk to NPCs in the right order to move them along. You literally need a wiki to progress an npc and I’d argue that’s bad

fumolazy.bsky.social•23 days ago

I mostly see the sentiment towards Terraria and that I don't agree with

but I think the fromsoft NPC design is for the most part fine.
Losing out on quests and experiencing stories because you didn't pay enough attention is normal, and perfectly fits into many fromsoft games.

fumolazy.bsky.social•23 days ago

But the issue is moreso that the quests can be pretty clunky. Especially in Elden Ring, I had quests fail for seemingly no reason (like Blaidd being aggro even tho I just started playing.)
Or I'd follow a wiki perfectly and for some reason the NPC wouldn't show up

mildstrife.bsky.social•23 days ago

100% agree. Elden Rings sticking to dark souls style NPCs progression was a misstep. Being vague is fine when you’re guaranteed to come across an npc on your path. But in an open world? Nah, I don’t even wanna bother with it now.

fumolazy.bsky.social•23 days ago

I've replayed Elden Ring like 15ish times and most of the time I try to do every NPC quest, or I have to do some of them for items I want, and I have never been able to successfully complete every quest without error despite following a wiki and the comment sections LOL

fumolazy.bsky.social•23 days ago

Like even if the quest didn't fail, they just wouldn't proceed to a new location and I'd have no idea why.
Then I'd do random things until it magically progressed

mildstrife.bsky.social•23 days ago

It’s fine in older games that are linear, but Elden Ring is a misstep in my opinion. The specific conditions to be met just to get NPCs where they need to be is genuinely difficult without guidance and it imo has no place in open world design. Terraria would be overwhelming with a guide. Just play

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