Ah. Fourteen pages and you're the only one who made note of this. Good show, sir.ChupathingyX said:Also a while ago Yahtzee complained about Red Dead Redemption and I clearly remember him writing in an Extra Punctuation article that RDR would've been a lot better if you had to eat and drink while in the desert. New Vegas does exactly that and now he's complaining about it?
Indeed, Mr. Croshaw did suggest this very thing [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/7699-Extra-Punctuation-Red-Dead-Redemption] in his Extra Punctuation column.
I am wondering if there is any difference between what he describes here and what's in New Vegas. Perhaps hardcore mode doesn't quite work like this or is sufficiently different that it doesn't have the "enriching' gameplay benefit described.Ben Croshaw said:What it needed was a survival mechanic. On-screen meters for hunger, thirst and exhaustion, which constantly tick down as you adventure, requiring that you frequently eat, hydrate and camp out or hire a room for the night. Neglecting these stats worsens your aim, striking power and sprinting ability and decreases the size of your health bar, and may eventually cause you to pass out, at which point it's even odds whether a good samaritan finds you first or a mountain lion. Lose the insta-horse recall button and make it easier for a horse you're not riding to wander off, die or get nicked by opportunistic Mexicans.
Instantly, with the struggle of human existence reinstated, virtually every other mechanic is enriched. Money has more worth because of the appeal of softer beds, larger canteens and tastier food. Players would have to be sure they were properly equipped before heading out of town. For a game with a plot whose central theme seems to be "pretentious trappings of civilization versus harsh purity of the wilderness," it would be most fitting if the player had to ask themselves how much it would take for them to abandon civilization. How desperate will you need to be before you succumb to the wilderness yourself? Before the dog transmutes back into the wolf?
It starts with some pinching of pies from window sills when times are thrifty. Then one day a mountain lion bites your horse's throat out miles from anywhere and after a punishing few miles' walk under the baking sun it's simplicity itself to lasso a passing rider and run off with his mare. You're just doing what you have to do to survive, right? Before you know it you're holding up widows in the street. Evil gets easier and easier and the bounty on your head climbs higher and higher. Them high-and-mighty city folk just don't understand what it's like out here, gol durn it.
Or maybe it was just a dumb idea.