I posted awhile ago about annoying support characters, and recently I've been helping my neighbor play through the game containing the classic example of that, "Hey! Listen!". Yes, Ocarina of Time. Looking at the game again, having been awhile since I last played and not being the one playing for once, I've been trying to truly evaluate the merits of what many consider the greatest game of all time. One thing I've noticed, the game forces you into a particular course of action all the time.
It's odd to see, after coming out of more recent games with all their multiple endings and open world sandbox play. After all the thousands of conversation branches possible in Dragon Age, it's amazing to go back and see the day where if you told someone "No" they'll repeat themselves until you say yes (to say nothing of this particular neighbor's speaking habits in addition to the game's). Often, choices are not really choices, but really seem thrown in just for the sake of making sure the player is paying attention.
To be honest though, there's nothing wrong with linearity. There's a story to be told, and there's only one way to tell it. Fair enough. Plus, even though the story is linear, progression is not so rigid as the designers intended. I for one, discovered it is possible to skip the entire second dungeon as an adult in Ocarina until you've done all the other dungeons. What you get from that dungeon is not needed in the following dungeons, but is required to complete the game. But it still feels fun to have Navi yelling at you to go to the mountain when you're way past that.
Also, at times the game is rather open about how to proceed. Even "That cloud over Death Mountain... there's something strange about it...." gives you no hint as to how to do anything once you've gotten there. It's nice to see after all these games today that blatantly tell you the answer to see one that points you in the right direction and leaves you to find the answers there. It also saves the player from the pitfall of many open ended games, "Where do I go now? What do I do now that I'm here? What am I accomplishing exactly?".
It's nice to find the flexibility within the guided tour of Hyrule that Ocarina provides.The best games I find are the ones that let you run free, while maintaining a clear ultimate goal, and Ocarina provides.
No, that's not my Mom, but Princess Zelda sure acts like it.
"Do you have it? "No." "Do you have it?" "No." "Do you have it?" etc.
Maybe a blend would work nicely: an open world where at any point there's someone who'll give you a clue as to what you might want to do next. You don't have to follow their suggestion, but they'll only suggest something possible and not already accomplished.
ReplyDelete