Escorts Aren't Free
Yahtzee explains the ups and downs of escorting a character in games.
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Yahtzee explains the ups and downs of escorting a character in games.
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Escorts Aren't Free
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
- Start date
To start off with, I'm a bit impressed that Yahtzee didn't mentioned Rockstar's... uh, charming gem of a game State of Emergency, which had some of the most annoying escort missions I've EVER seen. Then again, it's possible he's never played it, since it was not nearly as popular as, say, Grand Theft Auto, likely due to it being just plain awful. It's one of the few games I actually went out of my way to return.
I'll also go out on a limb here and say that I'm probably one of the few people on this planet who played 'ICO'... and absolutely *hated* it. I've never been a huge fan of escort quests in general, and that entire game was one long annoying escort quest. Maybe it's just me, but after getting bounced around by those shadow critters, and knocked off a ledge, while that gibberish-speaking wench is getting kidnapped yet again for about the sixth time, I decided to stop playing it and returned it to the rental store.
Still, Yahtzee makes some valid points, especially at the start about how escort quests are a valid medium... and I can agree with that, actually. That said, there's also something else to add, that a lot of MMOs are guilty of: escorts that want to follow their own damn pace and expect you to follow along. Generally speaking, they NEVER move as fast as the player, therefore requiring you to babysit their every step, or run ahead and have to stop every so often. Dead Rising 2 had it right when the people you rescue have the common decency to just run after you, like any self-respecting person would.
I'll also go out on a limb here and say that I'm probably one of the few people on this planet who played 'ICO'... and absolutely *hated* it. I've never been a huge fan of escort quests in general, and that entire game was one long annoying escort quest. Maybe it's just me, but after getting bounced around by those shadow critters, and knocked off a ledge, while that gibberish-speaking wench is getting kidnapped yet again for about the sixth time, I decided to stop playing it and returned it to the rental store.
Still, Yahtzee makes some valid points, especially at the start about how escort quests are a valid medium... and I can agree with that, actually. That said, there's also something else to add, that a lot of MMOs are guilty of: escorts that want to follow their own damn pace and expect you to follow along. Generally speaking, they NEVER move as fast as the player, therefore requiring you to babysit their every step, or run ahead and have to stop every so often. Dead Rising 2 had it right when the people you rescue have the common decency to just run after you, like any self-respecting person would.
-_-
Really? That is why Amy wandered off?
That has the worst idea I have ever heard of. Besides the whole "be nearly zombified, go back to trashbin, and find Amy is gone," isn't the point of those easter eggs and those hidden items to award me for MY exploration? Isn't that the whole point, to look at every inch so I can get the rare supplies that are in this dark and dangerous world?
Hey, Mr. Heavily Armed Soldier Player Character (wo)Man, let me show you how it's done! We are equally qualified for this job! Wheee! I've poured so much fucking coloured liquid from one glass flask into another, now it's time to put those skills to use!"
Actually, I would want to play an escort quest with this guy. It could be very amusing!
Actually, I would want to play an escort quest with this guy. It could be very amusing!
Silent Hill 4, almost forgot that little gem. The method of healing her made oh so much sense.
When I think of escorts I hearken back to my first big one - Golden Eye, the Control Center.
When I think of escorts I hearken back to my first big one - Golden Eye, the Control Center.
I actually played all the way through State of Emergency despite the escort quests. But seeing as how I had rented it anyways, I had an incentive to get as much out of it as I could.Shannon Spencer Fox said:
I think the thing that makes for a good escort vs a bad escort is predictability. The Companion Cube never gets up and moves on its own, so you always know where it's going to be. You also don't have to rely on it randomly deciding to help at the right time in order to get to a particular goal. It blocks every shot that hits it.
If there's one thing I think most gamers want out of a game, it is that good input leads to good results. There's nothing more frustrating than replaying the same section over and over again until your NPC randomly decides to act helpful.
When Im playing a game, I like for the challenge to come from testing my own skill against the game. That goes out the window when I have some dumbass following me that cant do anything and is the easiest way for me to loose.
If escort mission are needed at all, I the character needs to at least hold a weapon and I need full control over what they do. Follow button, hide, run that way, ect. And fix the wasting my ammo thing by only letting them shoot when enemies are really close.
If escort mission are needed at all, I the character needs to at least hold a weapon and I need full control over what they do. Follow button, hide, run that way, ect. And fix the wasting my ammo thing by only letting them shoot when enemies are really close.
Thats pretty much the Doctor from Black Ops zombie mode.zefiris said:
MMO escort quests are also very annoying, especially in contested zones where opposing faction members can grief you by killing your extremely slow, weak, annoying NPC by killing them or kiting mobs onto (since often the AI is programmed to attack any hostile mob it comes across on the normal mission path).
It's worse if you're on a PvE server and you just haven't signed up for that nonsense, but your dawdling NPC buddy is obviously flagged and attackable.
The only time I really found escort missions to be difficult was Legendary Halo during the one section on the Truth and Reconciliation where you need to storm the bridge with Captain Keyes.
The marines are nothing but toothpicks for Legendary-level Elites, and it's normally not so bad when they die, but Keyes is equally squishy and foolish and just as much of a plasma sponge - and the game ends if he dies, so it's more luck than anything to get past that bit without him taking too much fire. You can try to engineer your entry to keep him and the marines back, and try to control the fight a bit, but there's no assurance that he won't go charging in anyway.
It's worse if you're on a PvE server and you just haven't signed up for that nonsense, but your dawdling NPC buddy is obviously flagged and attackable.
The only time I really found escort missions to be difficult was Legendary Halo during the one section on the Truth and Reconciliation where you need to storm the bridge with Captain Keyes.
The marines are nothing but toothpicks for Legendary-level Elites, and it's normally not so bad when they die, but Keyes is equally squishy and foolish and just as much of a plasma sponge - and the game ends if he dies, so it's more luck than anything to get past that bit without him taking too much fire. You can try to engineer your entry to keep him and the marines back, and try to control the fight a bit, but there's no assurance that he won't go charging in anyway.
Ico has done it excellently, in my opinion. No other game's "escort gameplay" measures up to it in my books. The biggest reason is probably the fact that I cared about Yorda a lot while playing, I actually had an incentive to protect her. But she also had a sufficient AI to prevent her from being an annoyance.
That's the problem with escorts, they become annoying if you don't like the particular characters, at least as I see it. Why would I go through all the trouble of guarding a shmuck I couldn't care less about and who also possibly runs straight into the enemies or jumps off clips?
That's the problem with escorts, they become annoying if you don't like the particular characters, at least as I see it. Why would I go through all the trouble of guarding a shmuck I couldn't care less about and who also possibly runs straight into the enemies or jumps off clips?
Alyx from Half Life 2 had regenerating health, so fast she was almost immortal. Don't expect to sit back and let her do all the work though
yeah. I was thinking of alyx all through reading this article. However i think valve has proved on multiple occasions to be the exception that proves the rule. although i will admit alyx never really felt like an escort. more like a turret that i didn't need to carry with the gravity gun.UnrealCanine said:
For me, and it seems for Yahtzee, what made escorting Yorda bearable (apart from the storyline/emotional reasons) was that combat was focused around protecting her. You don't have to protect yourself; the shadow monsters don't decrease your health or anything. So combat is built around protecting this girl. Though the fighting was repetitive, it still worked. I can easily see how a person would not enjoy ICO, but it definitely pulls off escort-driven gameplay better than, say, Amy.Shannon Spencer Fox said:
Like you, Enslaved is one of the only games when reading the article that I thought did escorting well. She wasn't a hinderance, if the action got too much she'd usually be hiding anyway, and if you got to a jumping section she'd cling to your back like a monkey, meaning you always knew where she was.Akalabeth said:
I suppose parts of Bioshock 2 ammount to escort quests when your helping the Little Sisters. It's the game I'm playing at the moment, and I really don't enjoy helping them. However it's not totally terrible.
Saying all this, I still hate escort quests with a passion. The only thing worse than escort quests are timed missions and sewer missions for me.
I thought a really interesting take was that in Metro 2033.
SPOILERS
So there's a whiny little kid, hunched over some dead body. He talks a lot. You agree to escort him. You pick him up and put him on your shoulders. He is no longer visible. He spots creatures (though to be fair, in quite a non-specific, unhelpful way) which are behind you, and this is good because in that section the monsters are ALWAYS behind you, and move very fast.
I guess technically it's not an escort mission, because he has no separate identity, but he does seem to change your aim a little bit (it feels heavier, and it glides more than when you dont have him on your back). He helps, and it is useful. It was handled well.
To be fair, that game is mostly made up of missions in which you are running with someone else, and for the most part they work fairly well, giving you an assigned role, and allowing you to get on with it. And the NPCs are invulnerable when they need to be, and all have automatic weapons. Yeah.
SPOILERS
So there's a whiny little kid, hunched over some dead body. He talks a lot. You agree to escort him. You pick him up and put him on your shoulders. He is no longer visible. He spots creatures (though to be fair, in quite a non-specific, unhelpful way) which are behind you, and this is good because in that section the monsters are ALWAYS behind you, and move very fast.
I guess technically it's not an escort mission, because he has no separate identity, but he does seem to change your aim a little bit (it feels heavier, and it glides more than when you dont have him on your back). He helps, and it is useful. It was handled well.
To be fair, that game is mostly made up of missions in which you are running with someone else, and for the most part they work fairly well, giving you an assigned role, and allowing you to get on with it. And the NPCs are invulnerable when they need to be, and all have automatic weapons. Yeah.