Let me start by posting a Penny Arcade comic that essentially sums up what I'll be talking about:
This ties into something I've always found incredibly...."off" about puzzle-based dungeon games. Games like Metroid, Zelda, Legacy of Kane games, and stuff like that. Specifically: who the hell built these ancient ruins and temples that the protagonist must navigate? That's not to say ancient civilizations wouldn't have loaded up their sacred temples with traps and such, but what I'm talking about is that all these ancient temples seem to be specifically built FOR the protagonist.
What got me thinking about this (again) was that I've picked up Darksiders 2 and - like with all puzzle-based dungeon games - I found that all these locations were specifically built so that The Pale Rider could navigate them. There's ledges specifically made for him to climb onto, hooks specifically made for him to grabble onto, etc.
When these places were first built and actually being used by the people that built them, how the hell did they get around? How did the place function and work if in order to get to the main chamber they had to have someone go down to the basement, crawl through a tunnel, climb a ladder, cross a bridge over lava, and pull a switch to open the door? Or as the comic points out: "Yeah, the way you get into the basement is simply by turning yourself into a ball, rolling on into the statue, using an explosive to fire-up the machinery, and have the statue bust through some walls." Granted, these places are often in a state of ruin and as such it shouldn't be expected that all hallways and bridges are available due to cave-ins and such, but even so: the builders of the temple clearly built it with the protagonist (someone they never have and never will meet that excists centuries into the future from them) in mind.
Does this bother you, my fellow Escapists? Do you not really even think about it? Have you ever even noticed it? I'd go so far as to say that it actually detracts a bit from my immersion, making me very much "aware" of the fact that I'm playing a game.
This ties into something I've always found incredibly...."off" about puzzle-based dungeon games. Games like Metroid, Zelda, Legacy of Kane games, and stuff like that. Specifically: who the hell built these ancient ruins and temples that the protagonist must navigate? That's not to say ancient civilizations wouldn't have loaded up their sacred temples with traps and such, but what I'm talking about is that all these ancient temples seem to be specifically built FOR the protagonist.
What got me thinking about this (again) was that I've picked up Darksiders 2 and - like with all puzzle-based dungeon games - I found that all these locations were specifically built so that The Pale Rider could navigate them. There's ledges specifically made for him to climb onto, hooks specifically made for him to grabble onto, etc.
When these places were first built and actually being used by the people that built them, how the hell did they get around? How did the place function and work if in order to get to the main chamber they had to have someone go down to the basement, crawl through a tunnel, climb a ladder, cross a bridge over lava, and pull a switch to open the door? Or as the comic points out: "Yeah, the way you get into the basement is simply by turning yourself into a ball, rolling on into the statue, using an explosive to fire-up the machinery, and have the statue bust through some walls." Granted, these places are often in a state of ruin and as such it shouldn't be expected that all hallways and bridges are available due to cave-ins and such, but even so: the builders of the temple clearly built it with the protagonist (someone they never have and never will meet that excists centuries into the future from them) in mind.
Does this bother you, my fellow Escapists? Do you not really even think about it? Have you ever even noticed it? I'd go so far as to say that it actually detracts a bit from my immersion, making me very much "aware" of the fact that I'm playing a game.
