In Defense of Hepler Mode

[Dogstile]

Wasn't this pretty much in LA Noire, where it was praised/generally ignored depending on who you talked to?

It was a good idea so I picked it up, but i couldn't finish the game because of how terribly boring it is. To be honest, if I want a conversation, i'll go talk to someone. It was a novel idea but in practise it kinda sucked, especially since it had a problem with the story, but if you've not played it i'll put it in a spoiler.

Spoiler

There is a scene where you have to accuse someone of doing the crime even when you know both of them didn't do it. It was stupid to make you do that and it ruined the game for me. One bad scene, I know, but I couldn't play it after that, fearing more scenes like it.

 

[WanderingFool]

There's a difference between not playing parts of the game or skipping game content because it is open world and wanting to entirely bypass essential game mechanics like combat/inventory management or whatever altogether because they frustrate/bore you. I'm talking about the latter.

What about situations like I said above? You know, how driving games aren't really my thing, so they option to skip the vehicle sections is appreciated. Am I being unreasonable by saying that would be a nice option to have?

Yes, Yes you are, because of ART-ISH-TIC IN-TAG-RAH-TEE!!![FOOTNOTE]Im having a hard time not laughing my balls off... never thought this arguement could be used this way.[/FOOTNOTE]

 

[Suicidejim]

I'd love Bioware games with a "skip battles" section. I've never enjoyed Dragon Age combat, and Mass Effect's always felt a bit dull. I just wanted to get to the talking sections.

Also, what about replays? These games have multiple paths and choices, and I'd like to experience those without having to replay half the battles I did last time.

Besides, it'd be optional. What possible reason could you have to deny a completely optional feature that a significant number of people might find use for?

 

[Versuvius]

Fallout 1/2 Pacifist runs are a great example of how games could do Hepler Mode which requires work. Arcanum worked well too, high charisma char with a small army at their disposal to do the fighting. I'm also part of the group who thinks Hepler, her ideas of how RPGs should work (None of the RP bit...or the G) being a cancer. Not her as a person, just the mentality and attitude, it is toxic and horrible and i wont have any part of it. IE No EA or Bioware games until they convince me they are going back to the old ways, NWN-flavour. I can dream.

 

[1337mokro]

Allot of people over reacting for stupid reasons.

Games have allowed you to skip combat MANY MANY times before. Total War Series basically has the biggest skip combat button of them all saying "Auto-Resolve Battle". People who object to having a skip combat button either hate not being frustrated or hate not getting annoyed.

If there is a section of a game you really hate, like I hate most of the combat in Mass Effect for being a boring cover shooter, I would have loved the option to just skip past that, get on with the game rather than have it dick me around for 5 minutes in a room with enemies I would have beaten anyway.

Playing through a game without taking shortcuts doesn't mean you had a much better experience or that other people missed out on something. It just means you really really didn't want to take the shortcut and were willing to raise your blood pressure and spend time doing it on your own.

That's fine, but how about people that are just yawning through most of the combat hu? How about you let me skip that random Pokemon encounter. You know right? The Repel, the avoid combat item that has been around for as long as most of you have been alive.

If people want it, let em have it. I'm from the Battletoads age, where a game was so gruellingly hard you couldn't get past stage 3, would I have wanted to skip that god awful bike section? No, cause I wasn't gonna admit the game beat me. But there's the thing right there. Choice. No one is forcing you to skip parts of the combat, cutscenes or whatever. Just know that there are people in the world who would like to have that shortcut.

However I do see the flip side of the coin. Developers taking shortcuts or half assing parts of the game covering it up with "you could just skip it if you don't like it". That is a real concern I have once this is implemented, which it already has been, in more games.

A part of development will get neglected if the there is an easy excuse of you don't have to play it. It will also mean that the "Casual" market will have a greater "stranglehold" over the games industry because now every game is accessible. If they run into a difficult part they can just skip it.

Games will lose complexity and depth if they aren't required to implement their mechanics well so that people can beat it. Normally a badly designed game with sloppy controls and broken gameplay suffers because the "hardcore" crowd who would usually have bought that don't pick it up.

If the market widens to include people who just want to see Asura's Wrath with all the combat cut out (which improves that Anime by a big leap) games will have a fall back if they just look nice enough.

So yes, Hepler mode is an already existing and smart thing to have in games. It allows you to spend more of your time having fun or being entertained rather than annoyed or bored. Simultaneously it also holds a risk for sloppy design and "dumbing down" to reach more people who would usually not pick up a game like this.


PS: Also for the people whining about achievements becoming pointless. They are pointless, they have always been pointless. They are an easy reward system used to keep you playing the game for longer and not trade it in. Your basically a dog on a treadmill being fed a cookie every 400 yards of running.

560'000 gamers score just tells me you have wasted ALLOT of time.

 

[Irridium]

Thing is we kind of used to have a hepler mode, they were called cheat codes. I didn't see any "hardcore gamers" whining about those.

Wonder what happened to those things.

Oh, right. [http://store.steampowered.com/app/55390/?snr=1_5_9__405]

Though Saint's Row The Third is the only game I've seen actually sell cheats. All others seem to have had them just... removed.

Which I feel is a damn shame.

 

[Frostbite3789]

This idea would make the achievement system essentially worthless, wouldn't it? Like, I could skip the combat and cinematic sections, couldn't I just achievement whore every game?

You say that like achievements aren't worthless now.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

Shamus, you're far too reasonable for the internet. Bringing reason, logic, and discourse to our frantic unthinking mass? I mean...how unfair is that? Were now we have to consider things might not be ragefuel? Tsk. And telling us that we unfairly skipped the tedious parts in some games, but not the other tedious parts in those same game? Crap that makes sense!

Your reason fills me with RAAAAGGGEEEE!!!

[sub]I'm in favor of it though.[/sub]

 

[Andronicus]

2. Gameplay can not be skippable.
If gameplay is this essential element of a game that must be present and must not be shoved aside for any reason whatsoever, then so are cutscenes, and sound, and level design, and graphics, and story. Every single solitary one of these elements are essential for making not just a proper game but a game period. If even one of these elements is removed or can be ignored, then it is not a game by definition.

See now, this is wrong. If you have a disc that you put into a PS3 or PC or whatever, and it gives you cutscenes, sound and a story, then you wouldn't call it a game; you'd call it a movie. If you have a disc that gives you cutscenes, sound, a story, and gameplay, then you'd call it a game. If you had a disc that only gave you gameplay (and everything that gameplay entails, eg level design etc), then it can still be called a game, quality notwithstanding.

However, if you have a game with all the above stated factors, but gives you the option to actively remove gameplay then, well, it's still a game; the option to play the game is still there. Adding an option to remove the gameplay parts doesn't make the parts with the gameplay any less of a game. And hell, if all you wanted to do was watch the cutscenes, that's fine too. Do what you want. I don't care. The fact that there's an option to remove gameplay from my game isn't going to make me start researching which are the best guns to shoot lead designers with. If a game has a sequel coming out, and I want to briefly recap the storyline of the first before jumping in, I think it would be great to have an option to just have the story there, and not have to put up with some dolt yabbering on in the background on poor quality LP's on YouTube.

Put it this way; I hate FPSs. They make me want to shoot myself in the head. If I find the greatest FPS ever made, I would still rather eat a brick than just walk around shooting things. It's not got anything to do with the quality of the game, it's just a type of gameplay that I hate. But I loved Bioshock. I thought the story in Bioshock was phenomenal. I put up with the annoying gameplay just to experience the underwater city of Rapture. Actually, come to think of it, I didn't even finish Bioshock. The point is, I was willing to put up with the gameplay, but I didn't enjoy it. If the option to skip those parts were available, I'd do it. Why? Because it's a fucking underwater city. With crazy gene-splicers and giant scuba-golems with drills for arms. But that doesn't make the gameplay enjoyable for me; only worthwhile.

 

[Imp_Emissary]

In Defense of Hepler Mode

Shamus offers support for a "Hepler Mode" in games.

Read Full Article

Hey Mr. Young.

Sorry to bug you but I got kind of a weird/scary question relating to this topic. I figured you or someone reading could answer it.

This is something I heard about from MovieBob a long while ago. Either in a Game Overthinker or Big Picture video. In it he talked about Nintendo's plans for a kind of "Helper mode", but more advanced than just skipping combat. The biggest idea behind it was that it would actually play the game for you when activated to. It was a really cool idea.

Now you may be asking yourself, "Well what's weird or scary about that?" Well apparently from what I heard Nintendo put a patent on the idea.

Now I am no Einstein on this stuff (worked at the patent office), but this isn't possible is it? You can't put a patent on something that you not only you haven't made, but hasn't even been made at all yet, right?

Thanks for all the brain food by the way.

 

[ms_sunlight]

I'll play devil's advocate for the "Reddit" Troll's in the sake of fairness, as well as try shed some light on the real troublemakers.

It wasn't just that.

She was also the one who wrote Anders, in Dragon Age 2.

Yeah, Anders is a bit of a pillock. I sort of thought he was supposed to be needy, weird and irritating in DA2. He's not the guy he was in DA:A because he's literally not that guy anymore.

BioWare games have an unfortunate tendency towards including angst-ridden navel-gazing prats, especially as male love interests for female PCs. Carth Onasi, anyone? Bloody hell, you think Anders is bad, remember Anomen Delryn? Even so I've no idea why but they keep writing them - a certain demographic must dig that sort of thing or something.

Writing a dislikeable character doesn't make her a dislikeable person, though. Besides, writing the character means you do their dialogue, their subquests, stuff like that. It doesn't mean she was in sole charge of making the chantry go boom. Even if you don't like the character or his place in the story arc, his dialogue and character were competently written.

There is nothing - nothing - in DA2 that justified the vile sexist, homophobic bile that came out of Reddit towards Ms. Hepler.

 

[Knight Templar]

You're only given 3 options to Ander's offer, 2 variations of "Yes" and 1 "No" but which involved getting very blunt about it and being an asshole about it.

You are given a 'yes', a 'no' and a 'no comment', that is not the same as two ways of saying no and one yes. "I don't want you thinking of me that way" while a stupid thing to say isn't a terrible thing to say, it isn't very arsehole-y. He isn't the only character with whom flirting or turning down meets rivalry or friendship change, and you can have this conversation without any rivalry being gained when you turn him down.

Furthermore one cannot blame her for Anders change in character, that was decided before she ever wrote a thing about him.

Then, there was the quote's from an alleged earlier interview

These quotes are utter fabrications, a basic look into them should reveal this.

You know the real interview that everybody is getting pissed about even thought they never read it? In it she lists George R.R. Martin as one of her favorites.
Devil's advocate is one thing, spreading lies is another, and you have engaged in the latter.

You are correct that 4chan's /v/ was the one making this happen, the glee there as people hoped she committed suicide was disgusting.

 

[ms_sunlight]

Now I am no Einstein on this stuff (worked at the patent office), but this isn't possible is it? You can't put a patent on something that you not only you haven't made, but hasn't even been made at all yet, right?

Sounds like a myth or a misunderstanding to me. What you're describing is the demo mode that every arcade cabinet game ever has - the game plays itself to draw coin-inserting players in. How could they patent that when it's basically universal in the coin-op world, and used to be common in the home gaming world too?

*Edit* I take it back. Kotaku article here. [http://kotaku.com/5127251/nintendo-patent-reveals-potential-paradigm-shift-in-design] Still think it sounds like being able to switch to demo mode mid-game though.

 

[Imp_Emissary]

I'd love Bioware games with a "skip battles" section. I've never enjoyed Dragon Age combat, and Mass Effect's always felt a bit dull. I just wanted to get to the talking sections.

Also, what about replays? These games have multiple paths and choices, and I'd like to experience those without having to replay half the battles I did last time.

Besides, it'd be optional. What possible reason could you have to deny a completely optional feature that a significant number of people might find use for?

I know how you feel. Mass Effect's combat was fun the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd time but after that it just ends up feeling like work and isn't really fun.

Thank goodness for Youtube.

 

[Imp_Emissary]

Now I am no Einstein on this stuff (worked at the patent office), but this isn't possible is it? You can't put a patent on something that you not only you haven't made, but hasn't even been made at all yet, right?

Sounds like a myth or a misunderstanding to me. What you're describing is the demo mode that every arcade cabinet game ever has - the game plays itself to draw coin-inserting players in. How could they patent that when it's basically universal in the coin-op world, and used to be common in the home gaming world too?

No, the idea was that say your in the middle of playing Zelda, you phase the game go to a menu and turn on the mode, and the game actually play itself for you. Not just showing you gameplay, but actually playing in real time. And it could be turned off and on by your will.

Again I am pretty sure no one is even close to doing this so they pretty much are saying they own something that isn't real yet.

 

[Imp_Emissary]

*Edit* I take it back. Kotaku article here. [http://kotaku.com/5127251/nintendo-patent-reveals-potential-paradigm-shift-in-design] Still think it sounds like being able to switch to demo mode mid-game though.

Pretty much yeah. Neat idea, if you can do it, but if someone does would this mean that Nintendo owns it? How can that be legal?

 

[TomLikesGuitar]

Am I the only one who sees this for what it really is?

She's a relatively large, unattractive woman who said something honestly really stupid. I think most people get what she's saying, she just phrased it so freaking badly.

Personally, I think Bioware games are getting obnoxiously off-point with the relationship bullshit, and the story would be much better if they would just write it without so much emphasis on pandering to every single subdivision of humanity... but it's not just about that.

Not only is her company obnoxiously rubbing the controversial parts of the story in everyone's face and defending them with zeal... and not only did she pretty much say that she'd be better off writing something that isn't a video game... but she's not naked and she's not attractive, and from experience on the internet, that means very few people will listen to her.

I'm not really certain if she's making a good point to be honest. Maybe if she was Megan Fox, I'd take her more seriously. Unfortunately, her looks and her attitude make her unattractive, and her position unappealing. It sucks, but hey... welcome to reality.

EDIT:

One of my favorite ways to play sports games (football, baseball, basketball, hockey, etc.) is to set up a cpu vs.cpu match.

No offense, but you sound like the most boring person ever lol.

 

[copycatalyst]

My girlfriend is not at all interested in playing videogames, partly because she thinks she'll be terrible at them. I did, however, intrigue her about the possibilities of a well-realised interactive story as I was gushing about the Mass Effect trilogy. She said I had made her curious enough that she "almost wanted to try it."

I tossed around the idea that I could play the combat parts and she could make the conversation choices, but this wouldn't really work well: combat sections can take a while and she would surely grow bored of watching them. For this reason, I support Hepler Mode even though I wouldn't use it personally.

 

[Dreadjaws]

It wouldn't have been such a bad statement to make if she was a good writer. But she's one of those idiots who thinks that Twilight is cool. And she's awful with Bioware fanbase. My new mission in life is to earn enough money to buy a controlling share of EA, fire that stupid ***** and set Bioware on the right track of making great RPG's again.

You know, maybe calling someone an "idiot" and a "stupid *****" is not the best way to make your argument in a forum whose theme is complaining about gamers who insult for no valid reason.

You also can't complain about she being awful with Bioware's fanbase if you somehow decided your "new mission in life" is making enough money exclusively to fire her.

My point is, you kinda sound like a jerk. Actually, even creppily psychopathic. Maybe you could use some rest and calm down.