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In playing Red Dead Redemption, I began to start thinking about what exactly drives me as a character in this world, why do I do the things I am doing. While looking at that, I discovered how often this direction or motivation, comes from external means—things outside of the game world.
Take for example a random event that occurs in the game world: a person will approach you to say something or other was stolen, be it a horse or money, and then they will request you stop the thief. But they don’t point in the direction that the thief went, a blip appears on the minimap indicating where the thief currently is. It breaks any illusion of being in a situation by not giving enough information within the game world itself. The direction is removed from the game world and given to the minimap.
The same thing happens with motivation to go on another mission. I find myself frequently asking, “Why am I going to see this person now?” The answer most of the time is because they are on my map and that is how I progress in the story. For most of the mission giving characters, the overarching motivation for the main character you play as does not apply to them. There are a few characters that promise help, but then there are many others that are, well, just there to fill time. The only motivation for helping these people are that the game indirectly says, “You have to.”
During the missions themselves, there is another external source of direction: the objective text that appears at the bottom of the screen while playing. It is mostly redundant, telling what you just heard to do in the cut scene previously (which can become annoying), but in other times, it is the sole motivator. You would probably eventually figure out where the game wants you to go but instead of integrating this into the game itself, the designers just give straight instructions.
So much effort was put into making the game world and the characters around you yet they go under used. If only the characters themselves would try to push just a bit more and point me in a general direction. As it is now, the mix between integrated and external motivation is awkward and illogical.
Comments
14 years, 2 months ago
As is the case with all Rockstar games. People praise these games as being "immersive" but they exactly the opposite of that. You run to the big red G on the screen and shoot people, rinse and repeat. Making the distance between the G and the F is the devs feeble attempt to make the game world feel Big and Expansive filled with little rattlesnakes and rabbits...give me a break. Motivation and caring (hell any human emotion) is a hard thing to stir up in a video game. What chaps my ass is when games get praise that isnt due.
14 years, 2 months ago
Fallout 3 was a bit better than that, a bit, but by no means perfect. It gave you a vague direction of where you need to go, and sometimes you had to interact with characters to tell you you should try looking certain places. A game that had no mini map would truly be a quest, perhaps just supply a compass, and people can say head due west like they did in old westerns.
14 years, 2 months ago
I agree the game could easily have tried harder but I think this was the easiest solution.
You remind me of the structure in Oblivion where you would hear rumors while walking around town and learn about a ghost town or something in a very reactive way or you could inquire about it and take a more active role in discovering the quest.
I never felt that RDR was aiming for that level of immersion but you make a good point on how it can yank a player out of a game.
14 years, 2 months ago
Especially in a game like Red Dead. At least in the last GTA they the cell phone text message and phone calls directing you.
The treasure map sidequests were cool because they forced the play to think and observe their environment. It would be nice if you just (literally) heard that someone wanted to speak with you and you had to think, observe, and figure out where that person might be. Or even what he or she wants with you.
14 years, 2 months ago
I did like RDR but I didn't love it, and a big part of that was the feeling that the 'GTA mold' really needs a re-think. There was a point where I was stuck doing things I didn't want to bother doing for people I didn't want to work for, but with no other way forward in the story. You're restricted into a single option if you want to move on, sometimes an option which is then inverted later anyway just to spin more time out of it.
I'd like to see these sandbox games become sandbox not only in the 'messing around between missions' stakes, but also in your choices in moving the story forward.
On another note yeah, the treasure sidequests were definitely fun. A nice little puzzle/reward structure rather than just finding secrets out of the blue.