Too much hand holding in today's games?

[Waaghpowa]

The problem I had with it was that the interface was horrible for looking stuff up and that the opening section is quite difficult when you don't quite understand what's going on. I just about got to the first village before I got fed up, speaking here as someone who enjoyed the first game and is generally a fan of large, complex games.

Every time I start an RPG I hit "J" for a journal, "I" for inventory and "K" for skills. Most of the time I'm dead on and it was the case for the Witcher. For me it was simply logic.

 

[The Heavy Metal Nerd]

This was one of my biggest complaints with Alice: Madness Returns. On EVERY. SINGLE. PUZZLE. or collectible, if you used your Shrink ability, the answer would be spelled out for you on the wall somewhere.

I know there was another game that basically spoon-fed you the answers, but I can't think of it right now. I think it was a DS game...>3>

 

[Triangulon]

I still think the best option is old-school tutorials like the Hazard Room in Half-life (similar in Opposing Force) or the tutorials in Deus Ex or System Shock. A clear and concise (and fun) tutorial section seperate from the rest of the game.

 

[Yggdraz0r]

Soo, you Reckon the Kingdoms of Amular: Reckoning intro did it better?

"Here have a weapon, this is how you use it.
Repeat for other weapon.

Hey a bossfight!

Gl in the open world :3."

Haven't played The Reckoning, but that sounds like a good way to do it.

You can get a demo . Wich basicly includes just this.

 

[RubyT]

Yeah, games do that now.

Batman:AA drove me crazy by telling me hours into the game and after having it done numerous times that I can press button A to smash a wall.
And then there are quicktime events.
These days, some games feel like they're playing you, not the other way around. Like the game says: "Push A you little monkey!"

I hate hinting in RPGs. There have always been stupid RPGs that just told you to find some dude so you had to mouseover and/or approach every NPC to read his name. I never liked that.
But now they're just putting dots and distances on your radar (oh, how immersive) and big fat arrows on your target. Once again, it feels like the game is playing me. "Go right there a--hole, right where I put the arrow!"

Good RPGs have always been great with telling you: Find 'Dave', he's a stocky dude with a red helmet and usually hangs out by the giraffe on the eastern marketplace. Boom. Is that really so hard?

I'm all for options, though. Give people who are only interested in the storyline and/or the fighting fat markers. But make them switchable and give good directions.
Also, since so many people talk about difficulty, I don't want to spend hours battling one stupid boss. For me, make an option to have bosses just twice as hard to kill as regular baddies, not a hundred times.

 

[Westaway]

~Le Snip~

Sorry, I just noticed your post count/Join date and felt the need to say, 'Hello!'

So, HOLA! Welcome to the Escapist!

You were supposed to mention the basement. Now they might go into the basement, and we'll have some explaining to do.

 

[MisterM2402]

Minecraft did the "no hand-holding" thing pretty well. They just dump you in the game, no help or tutorial at all; you just have to fend for yourself and try things out and explore. Admittedly, I first played it when the beta came out, so I'd already heard in passing that you needed to punch trees to get wood, but besides that, it was a nice challenge

I haven't played it in a while though - have they added tutorials or the like yet?

 

[OldDirtyCrusty]

Most games let you disable hints/button promps and i`m glad they do. Other than that i`m pretty happy to be able to finish my games within the difficulty i like. Compared to the 16bit games and older stuff everything seems easy (besides demons souls, never found the time to really get into it).