Extra Punctuation: Action Is Not Finisher Porn

[copycatalyst]

I agree that after you've done them dozens of times they start to get old, but God of War did do a few things right with regard to finishers (at least, the first one, I haven't played any of the sequels). 1) Different finishers for each enemy type. Not just animation-wise, but input as well. 2) For regular enemies, it was optional. If you wanted a breather from the combo-fighting, do a finisher when it seems appropriate. 3) Before the aforementioned sword down the throat, he headbutts the minotaur. Let me say that again: He headbutts a minotaur.

[By the way, this was the first CAPTCHA that came up for this post. I'm not sure where to find the Omega on my keyboard...] http://www.google.com/recaptcha/api/image?c=03AHJ_VusXR6ovY9WFk-1H-zjAuX5xAhErzQR0GjALRsgPzDN4k5udeBVorvL3VNGBFqY3C2ZMcQfdLr0ZGkM1FcNkjuLmb8Rl6I0bb8lx8_fDcuog1kmBIFKA5_qB4lY7ApIsngTEWTMx1Z4XvsvlkYiGT1yiC62O-Q

 

[geizr]

Cool features break things because coolness always wants to stand out above everything else; coolness never wants to just be a part of the whole. Games have to be built as a holistic unit, with each element contriving to create a singular, coherent experience. Cool elements and cool features are contrapositive to this goal. Unfortunately, game developers work on the guiding principle of "make it cool.". This leads to creation of cool features and cool elements in the game that vie for the complete attention of the gamer and, in turn, create a jarring, discontinuous experience as each cool feature carves out its own fiefdom of context within the game. The game loses cohesion, which leads to a loss of flow.

I've watched this same problem for years occur in the video games industry. But I've seen the problem not restricted to just the video games industry. I've seen the problem occur with software design in general, and I've seen the problem in other areas of technology, as well. However it was with video games that I first came to the idea that cool things break things. They just don't fit in with the rest of the work, because they are trying too hard to stand out, to be the only thing that gets all the attention.

 

[lord.jeff]

Have to agree, and it's even worse in anime cash in fighting games were you can do the half minute long specials in the middle of matches, sometimes watching it 5 times during one fight.

 

[Espsychologist]

Two harsh realities to bring home: Arkham Asylum was NOT a fighting game (loved it, though), and Mortal Kombat is NOT an action game. Unless a player is the be-all end-all of skill with fighting games, then breakages in flow WILL happen. Hell, every current-gen fighting game actively DOES NOT ALLOW the aggressor to continue attacking when an opponent is prone. That is the textbook definition of "a break in the flow of the action," and it's PART OF THE FUCKING MECHANICS! As for God of War or similar titles: every one of those characters (Kratos, Bayonetta, War [Darksiders], etc.) are all brutal, barbaric 'people' and none of them are Batman, nor should they be. Batman is flawless and must be perfect in everything he does lest a single knife blade to his liver kill his ass dead. Kratos is a mean, nasty, vengeful savage and breaking up the 'action' to highlight said savagery is hardly inappropriate and indeed serves to explore the character and his motivations even further. I would like to agree with Yahtzee this time, but I can't. If you choose to play MK, you DO NOT have to use the X-Ray attacks, I repeat: DO NOT HAVE TO USE! The Super Bar may alternatively be utilized to power up specials or as a Combo Breaker. The X-Ray attacks are not mandatory for killing an opponent! If you don't want to see them, THEN DON'T USE THEM!

Yahtzee has highlighted, not the shortsightedness of developers, but the rampant and wildly out-of-control sense of entitlement of gamers. If I can't have my gaming experience be the one I want, down to the last pixel and polygon, then it's BAD!!!

 

[ZtH]

Reading this brought up the grab kills in Prince of Persia: Warrior Within for me. I remember them being cool the first time and done in slow motion, but as the game wore on I'm pretty sure they stopped showing them in slow motion. This was a pretty good balance as I never got tired of them seeing as I only saw them once in slow motion and after that they were just quick and brutal. The speed kills in Two Thrones made me happier though seeing as I enjoyed the platforming more than the fighting and they created stealth obstacles in addtion to the normal Prince of Persia routine.

 

[cymonsgames]

I'd argue that the X-Ray attacks in Mortal Kombat are valuable in that they provide the player with breathing room in an otherwise thumb-straining button-mashy combo fest.

I also like the fact that they power up based on the beating your getting. In other words they're an equalizer. Good for gameplay.

But I agree with Yatzee. They're boring. The same moves over and over again. I noticed when I played that none of the X-Ray moves included the arms bones. Was this because of Jax and the multi-armed characters making animating them procedurally difficult? That's a shame. Plus this means that the cyber characters were basically suits of armor around an otherwise completely human physiology. Robocop they ain't.

If they had managed to fix this problem, however, imagine what the X-Ray moves _could_ have been! Super powered any regular combos where the connected hits get the TSA treatment, and you could have a different X-Ray move every time. I think this would have been a better road to go.

 

[irishda]

I have to disagree with his assessment of God of War, mostly because you could simply opt not to do the finisher prompt on the usual enemies (except for that damn chimera). And the finisher moves for the bosses were all unique sequences that were pretty impossible to become repetitive.

 

[Inkidu]

I am the perfect model of a modern game developer.
I work and make clones of a game fans will fuss over
I copy the mechanics so carefully
Now I have created the industry's greatest I.P.!

Chorus.

 

[yanipheonu]

I dunno, I like finishers. Sometimes it's fun to see a long flashy move pulled off. Why do you think nearly every fighter has some sort of Ultra Move or Finisher now? People like it.

Of course it's a matter of intergrating it well, which he's stressing of course. Keeping it short, or having you do a little mini-game to make it work a la Dissidia are some ways to do it.

 

[Zhukov]

I reckon the most annoying example of this would be Assassin's Creed Brotherhood.

About 85% of kills end in an Ezio performing a somewhat elaborate finisher, complete with fancy camera angles (which can be mercifully disabled in the options). They look cool and there's enough of them that I never really got tired of seeing the same ones.

Problem is, other enemies can run up and smack you before you're done. Since you have no way to avoid the finishers, this results in a ridiculous series of interrupted stabbings.

 

[hermes]

Actually, I enjoy the X-Rays in MK more than I enjoyed the QTE in God of War or even Bayonetta. The reason for that, I guess, is repeatability... For MK, you have to fill a bar to be able to pull them off. That, combined with the amount of damage they did when they connected, means you can't just spam those moves over and over and over again. At most, you get to see one per round... X-Rays are the response to SF4's Ultras: Not a necessary part of the fighting "experience", but capable of tipping the balance. Also, they fit with the world of MK, are flashy and fun to pull off.

This comes from a more purist fighting game fan vs a game fan. I get that x-rays and fatalities doesn't involve as much skill as a 20 hits combo that does the same, or more, damage... but they are part of the MK experience.

In God of War, you can make those elaborate animations for nearly every enemy. That is all cool when there are few enemies and they have enough HP to be able to withstand a fury of Kratos' attacks for more than a minute, but when there are a lot, and you only need a couple well placed attacks to enter "QTE mode", the novelty disappears fast...

 

[Omega Pirate]

Once you get into it, Batman Arkham Asylums combat is fun. This is probably the only game which I actually enjoyed the combat, and replayed it just for the combat.

 

[SanguineSymphony]

I hated the combat in AA. It was too simplistic and took control away from the player. It was designed for casuals or just shitty gamers. But I also most of the time hate finishers and QTEs. Bayonetta's were done well (in combat) and I liked the ones in Madworld and The No More Heroes games. All of those felt very visceral and kept me in the moment however.

I absolutely hate cinematic attacks in fighting games as a rule. They break up the pace and once again take away control. They can be stomachable in games like Dissidia though.

 

[katsabas]

I don't know what Yahtzee decided to get all worked up about. I never found QTEs in GOW to be game-breaking. In fact, I liked mashing the 'fuck you' button to death to make a minotaur eat my blades. It is called letting off steam.

Same thing with MK. Shao Kahn just spammed me again. I punch his dick off three times. Inner peace through outer violence.

 

[internetzealot1]

Yes, but by the time you do a finisher in MK, the fight is already over. There's nothing left to do...except reinforce to your opponent that you just kicked their ass.

 

[DontBotherNone]

Cool features break things because coolness always wants to stand out above everything else; coolness never wants to just be a part of the whole. Games have to be built as a holistic unit, with each element contriving to create a singular, coherent experience. Cool elements and cool features are contrapositive to this goal. Unfortunately, game developers work on the guiding principle of "make it cool.". This leads to creation of cool features and cool elements in the game that vie for the complete attention of the gamer and, in turn, create a jarring, discontinuous experience as each cool feature carves out its own fiefdom of context within the game. The game loses cohesion, which leads to a loss of flow.

I've watched this same problem for years occur in the video games industry. But I've seen the problem not restricted to just the video games industry. I've seen the problem occur with software design in general, and I've seen the problem in other areas of technology, as well. However it was with video games that I first came to the idea that cool things break things. They just don't fit in with the rest of the work, because they are trying too hard to stand out, to be the only thing that gets all the attention.

Fantastic assessment.

As for the X-Ray moves, I knew they would get boring the first instant they were revealed. I disliked them immediately because they broke the aesthetic of the game, however. They just didn't look good.

If a game wants to be based around combat - like most games do - then they cannot create some mechanic that is overly long and robs the gamer of control, because it'll lose all impact after being executed ad nauseum.

Oh, and as much as I loved Arkham Asylum the first time around, few things in recent gaming have been as satisfying as going back to the game several months later and truly mastering it by completing all of the stealth/combat challenges. Clearing a room of 40 baddies with one combo and without taking a lick of damage, as mentioned, is exhilarating.

 

[SaintWaldo]

felch-coughing

You're a weapons grade looney and I love you second only to Susan Arendt. Don't ever open a video game bar here; I'll destroy your karaoke.