Difficulty of side quests, secret characters, and game extras in the RPG genre
This idea came across me a week ago while re-playing Final Fantasy 9 for the PSX. Since the server I play on World of Warcraft is down tonight for the second night in a row, however tonight it seems like its not coming on anytime soon, I was sitting around thinking about this issue yet again. Developers put items and extras in their game that requires you to have outside help such as a strategy guide or online obtained online such as GameFAQS. I’ll stop right here and acknowledge the fact that someone reading this will disagree and say nothing can’t be obtained by just playing the game on your own or your just a terrible gamer. I’ll list some examples for all of you now.
First example I will use the game i’ve been playing recently which is Final Fantasy 9. The Tetra card game is a fun addition to the game, but in no way do you have to play this game in order to beat the storyline. Whats the problem with that you ask? Finding all the cards.
Second example is the Suikoden series where you have the ability to collect all 108 stars of destiny (playable characters for those of you who don’t know, now get out from under the rock you’ve been living under). Some of these characters are outrageously hard to aquire. In Suikoden 2 theres one character you have to get from one point in the game to another in under a certain amount of hours. How are we suppose to know that without outside help?
Third and final example i’ll use is Halo 3. The hidden skulls you have to find are well enough hidden that unless you feel like searching every inch of every map your gonna need a little online help.
You might be wondering whats my point here. I really don’t have one to be honest, it just creates some questions I figured I would share with GamerLimit so that you can all ponder on this as well. Granted it IS possible to find all these extras without any help what so ever, but lets get real unless your extremely lucky your gonna have to invest hours upon hours into a single game that reachs in the triple digits and in some games cases (depending on the gamer) quadruple digits. Now this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I do like running through a game until the end and when the game is worth it starting over with a guide or gamefaq to get the all wonderful 100% complete. Now my questions vary from game to game, but take suikoden 2 for example. Why not even reference on how quick you have to go to get this character?
I enjoy games that gives me extras such as this, however while not looking at a guide I get extremely frustrated that I collected all but one or two extras in a game only to have realized that I would have to start all over for just one or two because you can’t go back to get it unless you got it at a certain time in the game or in a certain sequence that I already permanently ruined. Its like the ultimate FU after spending anywhere from 30-80 hours on a game just for the game to tell you ha ha start all over if you want 100%.
Now GamerLimit I threw out the questions, discuss.
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kowbrainz
I think these sorts of secrets go back to the original Legend of Zelda where you had to do overly specific things like bomb a certain rock or light a specific bush on fire in order to progress. The games relied on communities of gamers to pass on little secrets here and there, but it didn’t feel like cheating. I think these secrets can be okay sometimes because it feels super rewarding if you happen to accidentally come across one on your own, so I don’t feel that designers should remove them entirely.
Like you said, it’s pretty hard not to resort to GameFAQs sometimes and when you finally do there’s often that feeling of “how the hell was I meant to know this”, but I think it’s still good for designers to hide this stuff away so that you can come back to a game in ten, twenty years’ time and still learn something new.
November 24th, 2009 at 6:39 am
Jimmy Lofton
i dont think it should be taken out either, it does add a degree of reason to replay. each game is different.
November 24th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
Jamie Obeso
This is a big reason why, when I do RPG reviews, I tend not to discuss sidequests. For one, RPGs are long enough as it is without having to go through the rigmarole of figuring out all the lengthy sidequests. But, they’re also really silly and difficult, and don’t tend to add much to the game as a whole.
Suikoden games are a huge offender of this; gathering the 108 characters is virtually impossible without a guide, and they keep you from seeing the “best” ending (I say “best” because I think that Suikoden 2’s “bad” ending was actually more appropriate and compelling) if you don’t get all of them. This is doubly crappy because I think it kills the sense of urgency when your military strategist is like “We need to launch the attack IMMEDIATELY” and you tell them “Nah, dawg…I’ma go recruit some guys first.”
To me, sidequests are huge detractors from the narrative unless approached properly, but the absurdly hard sidequests (Suikoden, most Final Fantasy games after FF7) is like the cherry on top. Why go through the hassle in the first place?
November 24th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Chris Carter
The only sidequests I go out of my way to do are the “superboss” quests, ala the Weapons in FFVII. I just like knowing I’ve bested the strongest enemy the game has to offer.
November 25th, 2009 at 1:23 am
James Pinnell
I hate all the card games in FF titles – so overcomplicated and redundant.
November 25th, 2009 at 8:29 am
Jimmy Lofton
The card games in the FF titles would be a whole lot more fun if the cards were easier to find. In FF9 I didn’t like the card game as much as FF8’s because it was more chance than strategy.
November 25th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
RJ Clarke
Along the same lines, it bothers me when games make hidden items to collect….I can see the thought process behind it, and why it might have been a good idea…but in games like Uncharted (1+2), Resident Evil 5, Killzone 2, Halo 3….etc. You have to intensely search every inch of every level in order to find some of these “hidden items.”
Sure, they unlock things, and they make replayability better, but I’m the type of gamer that wants to find everything and explore everything!…and I hate it! But I do it every time! It sucks because I get pulled out of the story because I’m too curious to go the correct way and instead I walk around the map and hit every corner and crevice and look in all directions to see if I can find something hidden or shiny….
November 29th, 2009 at 7:19 pm