quote: Original post by irbrian
Anyway, depending on the game, it may be helpful to offer optional objectives to be completed, and associated rewards intended to sweeten the experience.

Bolding by me. "Optional" is an important point as, depending on the game, some people may not want to be limited by having to complete objectives. This also depends on what comes after the objective completion. I played Roller Coaster Tycoon, which has many different maps with different objectives, but in order to access the next map you had to complete the previous ones. That''s not too bad, but the thing that happens is that I eventually complete the objectives just so I can start again somewhere else. That wasn''t partiularly fulfilling, and I would''ve preferred it to be some sort of prize I could use in the park I''d just spent ages making.

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That reminds me of something I didn''t like about GTA. If you went through the missions, you eventually found yourself in a hopeless situation. In GTA3, after "beating" the game, there are parts of the city you just can''t go into anymore, because you die pretty much as soon as you come into sightshot of enemy turf. The Mafia blows up your car with shotguns faster than you can get out of it, and even if you get clear before it blows, you get eight pounds of buckshot through your sternum before you can get out your own smokewagon.

In Escape Velocity, you can get such a low reputation that ships will shoot you on sight. I remember times when I had to jump eight system out of my way to avoid Confederate patrols. Sometimes, just one planet will hate you, and if you try to land there, they''ll refuse you docking privelages. But in EV, you could eventually convice them to forgive you, either permanently via dedicated service (mission completion, pirate extermination, raids against enemies" or temporarily via bribes or threats of violence (it takes a lot to intimidate a planet, but it can be done). I wish I could have just greased the mafia''s palm (or greased their enemies) and gained safe passage through the 23% of the map under their control.

quote: Original post by Iron Chef Carnage
That reminds me of something I didn''t like about GTA. If you went through the missions, you eventually found yourself in a hopeless situation. In GTA3, after "beating" the game, there are parts of the city you just can''t go into anymore, because you die pretty much as soon as you come into sightshot of enemy turf. The Mafia blows up your car with shotguns faster than you can get out of it, and even if you get clear before it blows, you get eight pounds of buckshot through your sternum before you can get out your own smokewagon.

I''ve avoided GTA3 on principle, but it sounds like you''re describing a method of "blocking off" previously used areas. While the ability to explore previously visited areas freely is often a nice feature in a game, in some games, it makes more sense for the player to focus on the task at hand. I remember in playing The Longest Journey (which I also quit playing eventually due to the language -- yes, by some definitions, I''m a bit of a prude ) that sometimes I ended up going way back to an earlier area thinking that maybe there was something there I''d missed. I would just as soon have been logically denied access to those areas after I''d progressed a certain amount so that I knew for sure I didn''t miss something much earlier in the game. Since I haven''t played GTA3 I couldn''t comment on whether there was a good enough story-based reason (excuse) for making it difficult to go back to those areas, or even if thats what you''re talking about for sure.

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Brian Lacy
ForeverDream Studios

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brian@foreverdreamstudios.com

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Yeah, you actually wind up assassinating the Mafia Don, so they''re up in arms about that, but you absolutely have to in order to progress. That''s what i''m griping about. If there was a little bit of wiggle room in how you go about certain things, you might have been able to continue the story on a parallel path without getting a thousand shotgun-weilding hitmen mad at you.