5 replies to this topic

[Wolf O'Donnell]

I've managed to get my hands on a copy of Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. I was clearing out old games and had enough to make the ST affordable. It's quite fun, but it occurred to me there was one thing that was severely lacking. Now, I must confess, I played a ROM version up to the second dungeon just to see whether I'd like it or not, then stopped and deleted the thing.

So I knew what was coming when I first started it up. And then it occurred to me, "Why on Earth doesn't Nintendo give us the capability to avoid back-tracking?" For example, you've just got the green clothes from Princess Zelda, and want to head to the Tower of Spirits for reasons that shall be best left untouched for those of you who haven't yet played the game up to that point. You are forced to go to all the way to the back exit, to find out that you need a weapon, then go all the way back to the Captain of the Guard. Why? What reason could there possibly be for that, apart from lazy coding?

Why not let intelligent players go straight to the Captain of the Guard and ask for a freaking sword before going out on an adventure? After all, it shouldn't come as a surprise to players to know that they need to be kitted out.

Okay, perhaps not full outright non-linearity, but at least let players to go grab items if they have the foresight to realise they need them and can figure out where to get them. In place, of course, of treating them like dumbarses and telling them exactly what to do.

Now, no spoilers. I'm only up to the Blizzard Temple.

[Zeruda]

I kind of thought the same thing, but then I realized... it's a "filler", I think. Without the constant backtracking, the game would be a lot shorter than it already is. I think another reason is to help people get used to the stylus controls, but it gets annoying when it happens throughout the entirety of the game.

I think it was just lazy, yes. A way to fill the game... I really love ST, but I think they could have put a lot more into it.

[Showsni]

It's not too bad in Zelda. What got really annoying was in... was it Hotel Dusk and/or Another Code (1+2) where you can see an item that you'll clearly need later, but you can't pick it up until you get to the point where you need it, and then you'll have to go back for it. Like, seeing a key. Not being able to pick it up. Finding a locked door. Now you can go back and get the key. Why???

Adding game length by tacking on needless backtracking (and triforce hunting quests, eh, TWW?) is a cheap tactic, that really shouldn't be used in good games.

[SteveT]

Spirit Tracks was about 50% filler.

Another example is Super Paper Mario, only that one was even more blatant about wasting your time.

[Wolf O'Donnell]

Super Paper Mario as well? Darn it. Looks like Yahtzee of Zero Punctuation has a point. Nintendo seems to be treating players as if they lack a brain.

[wisp]

I really like Spirit Tracks, filler and all, for when I want to relax and kill some time with a game that doesn't give me a headache... but I do wish that there was a way to set your difficulty to easy/hard when you start the game. Plenty of older video games had a difficulty option and I think that was a good way to allow the game to adapt to the skill level of the individual player. I think this would be much more useful than the battle mode that they've included in the DS titles.