Goals and Storytelling

[the dark side]

Hmm, interesting idea with the cutscene issue, Aldigheri, how about having it so that, although the cutscenes cannot be skipped on the first time they run, the player is given the option to skip them on all subsequent runs.. gives the best of both worlds i think.

@Funderbunk, sorry, it read as if you were insulting the system, also, i feel i should mention, i AM an elitist, i admit to it completely and see no crime in it.

if you are going to say the old system is retarded, then kindly explain to me why you feel it is so, as i certainly feel personally the new system is completely retarded, as it removes all need for exploration from the map, encorages the player to rush in, instead of hanging back and actually thinking about how to take on the platoon in the distance without getting a smacking to their healthbar, and basically, promote clueless gameplay, just run down a corridor killing everything that moves without need of tactics, boring, even Wolf3d needed basic tactics, such as straffing, ammo conservation, and attacking from behind, all to avoid your health taking a smacking, with regen, all that goes out the window, resulting in very simple, near brain dead experience... i will not tolerate the use of terms like retarded without explanation!

also, threshold? what are you talking about? the healthpack system is perhaps the easiest system of all to understand, even for a complete and total utter rookie. on screen healthbar gets low, seek out medical items pictured in the (nowadays) on disk, manual,, easy peasy!. They are also easier than regen to understand, as there is a clear on screen display of what you have left in the tank, if its at about 30% you may take another good 4 or 5 AK hits before taking a dirt nap, were as with a "bloody Screen! so real!" system, its often very obtuse as to how many hits you have left, sometimes the screen can be totally splattered in jelly, and youll still take a good 2 or 3 AK rounds before going down, were as other times, it can have a slight red tinge, and youll go down with one makarov hit, its almost random feeling and smacks of bad game design.

IF, and i say IF, there is a threshold, wich i personally doubt, then there is also this new Segmented Healthbar system that ubisoft cooked up, that is perhaps a good way of getting casual gamers to understand the idea of medkits, in that the health is split into segments that can regenerate if not drained totally, but can only be refilled once drained by using a medkit, offering the best of both worlds, its far too easy for my tastes, but i can see how it would be usefull to a casual gamer, so perhaps offering a segmented health system on easy, but pure medikit only on normal and hard levels might be the way forward.

if you ask me, hardcore gaming has dissapeared because MOST hardcore gamers i know are PC elitist, most games now are designed for consoles and casual gamers, resulting, in easy, boring gameplay, mechanics that are not in the least bit entertaining, and have woefull graphics, not to mention the PC ports are often very rushed, are unreliable, and often even lack such basics as graphical performance options and key rebind, most hardcores i know are OFFENDED by this and have decided to not bother with gaming until after the inevitable next great games crash.

i am not saying we stagnate, no, i just feel the modern gameplay systems are pathetic, they offer little entertainment value and no challenge, there is no point in playing an easy, boring game, as you are better of watching a Schwartzenneger movie instead, so, thats what i do. i am saying we return to the classic systems as they are Superior, they are more entertaining, give the player more of a chance in a bind, and are actually more realistic (in a battle, there is often NO time to use the iron sites, soldiers are trained in shoulder based point shooting, wich resembles the old "hip shooting" style, and to be accurate in it far mroe than they are trained how to use irons, irons are an NRA target range style that has NO place in a battlefield, as a result, the old school "hip" system is more realistic for a battle scenario, in the same way if you get SHOT, you are not going to regenerate wolverine style hiding behind a rock, you will bleed out, you need to find a feild compress, part of the "Medics kit" wich corrupts to... you quessed it Medikit) and then take them in new directions from there using advances in procedural generation.

For example, you say knowing were to find medikits takes no skill, good point, your correct there, once you know where they all are, you can pretty much sleepwalk the levels, so what about using Procedural generation to ensure the kits are never in the same place, after all, the army doesnt always fill all the emergancy aid cabinets due to logistical oversight, by using procedural, to ensure not all cabinets are filled, and by ensuring the filled ones are never the same each time, you make the game more realistic, more challenging, and you can give a story reason as to why most of the aid cabinets are empty, especially if the mission is in Russia, as moscow hasn't resupplied many of its outlying garrisons since Brezhnev was in the Kremlin. again, making story and gameplay as one on top.

its the same with using the old point shooting (FIXED non Expanding Crosshairs with high hip accuracy) and "2 eyes open" style of aiming (precision aim, ge64 type, rather than ADS). by using that, the player is using british battlefeild tactics, not NRA range assists, by having the story define the player charachter as a British elite operative, the 2 eyes open style of aiming (used by the british as it still gives a clear view down the sites, but also gives far better periphial vision and situational awareness, compared to American style one eye, wich will get you blindspotted and killed) as well as the old "run and gun and straffe" systems become more realistic (via point shooting training), make the game more fun and faster paced, but also gives a story reason for the classic gameplay.

Procedural can also be used to ensure the charachter feels better trained, with less bullet spread, but still realistic, by say, dividing the screen into two algorithim areas, the section inside the hairs, and the section outside, programme the game so the majority of round hits will generate, procedurally, inside the hairs, but a few will generate outside, simulating mechanical innacuracy, say a ratio of, for an AK47, 22 hits inside hair and 8 wild ones. thats about right for a highly trained trooper with an AK47, just ask Andy Mcnab.

Again, story reasons can be given for classic gameplay mechanics, even the use of HUD, making story and gameplay one, and allowing games to return to the superior classic gameplay mechanics without any loss in realism, in fact, they gain an actual increase in realism (look, popping into Sites DOES NOT magically make a gun more accurate, if you cant hit the broad side of a barn from the shoulder, popping into sites does not magically make you the worlds best sniper, you still wont be able to hit the broad side of a barn, because the very reason you cant hit that object is because you dont know how to correctly controll the firearm), and by using Procedural Generation, it will be possible to return to these classic mechanics, and then advance them into new forms, preventing gaming from stagnating.

Wich, yes, i agree it will do if we just "go back" without trying to improve them with procedural and integrating story to give reasons for those mechanics,. but, by just making everything copy "call of duty 4", gaming has Completly stagnated, as i am sorry, i personally cannot tell the difference between Modern Warfare 3, Battlefeild 3, and Warfighter, at a gameplay level, the all look Exactly the same gameplay wise, and they even have, get this, the EXACT SAME STORY! "evil russians backed in leaque with evil moslems attempt to kill everyone in new york.." im sorry, but, if that is not total stagnation, i do not know What is.