28-10-18, 11:18 | #1 |
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 6,978
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Do Games Rely Too Much on Combat?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4BpjNDuX_A&t=4s ^ This. Currently playing though Dragon Age 2, and finding myself interested in the story, but annoyed by the structure of every battle. However, this game is far from the worst offender. Far too many games make liberal use of the F.E.C.A.L. (Forced Endless Combat Adds Length) system of game design, and I'm getting sick of it. Last edited by Tyrannosaurus; 28-10-18 at 11:19. |
28-10-18, 11:52 | #2 |
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The only time I ever strongly felt this was when playing Watchdogs.
It really felt like that game should have been completely devoid of guns as a means of dealing with situations. That on both occasions the protagonist should have been able to rely solely on cunning, stealth, gizmos and hacking and it would have made the game much more unique. |
29-10-18, 09:27 | #3 |
Golden
Joined: Apr 2006
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Bioshock Infinite is also an example of a game where the combat feels like an add-on rather than an integral part of the experience at many times. At least they have story reasons for having it, but if it had been cut by a lot, the game would not have been missing anything.
I think it's definitely an issue that combat is still the default thing to do in games, something that many developers feel has to be there whether it makes sense or not. Not all games do it well, and it often limits the types of stories that games can tell, specifically to those stories where violent resolutions to conflicts are appropriate and necessary. (Aside: While I obviously don't agree with the shouts of "games turn people violent!", it is true that games, movies and other media generally portray fighting and killing as the default means for resolving important conflicts. They make sure that they create scenarios where that fits, but still, a lot of media works hard to tell us that "sometimes things are so important that you just have to physically fight". I'm not a fan of that message in that frequency at all.) There are a lot of games where it makes sense to fight and where it can be fun to do so. But that doesn't have to be literally all of them. |
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