I think we can all agree there is a lot to do in modern roleplaying games. In some games, like 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth or 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, there are a massive amount of minigames. True, you will need to play a few minigames to get th⭕rough the main storyline, but you don’t need to master them to finish the plot.
Other games like 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Baldur’s Gate 3 (and, for that matter, those games I already named) have an endless series of 168澳洲幸运𓆉5开奖网:optional side stories that take hours to complete. Some, like 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Tears of the Kingdom, just m🅺ake it fun to screw around for hours. But all of it is making it hard for me to care about the main quest in RPGs.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Doesn't Know When To Give Players Freedom And When To Take It Away
As great as it may be, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is a game that 🌺is at odds with itse🎉lf.
I’m not saying I don’t like the storylines themselves. Each of the games I’ve mentioned have incredible, fulfilling stories that take dozens of hours to complete. These are stories that make you laugh, make you cry, and make you go, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:“Wait, was that JK 🅠S🔥immons?”. They’re all intricately planned, beautifully written, and - in the case of Baldur’s Gate 3 - do in fact feature JK Simmons. I’m being genuine when I say that I deeply enjoye♓d the main quests of these roleplaying games - when I got around to it.
RPG Side Quests Steal The Spotlight
That ‘when I got around to it’ is sort of the problem. Because as much as I do enjoy the stories in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Infinite Wealth, I also enjoy every other part of the game more. That’s not a bad thing by any means. But if you’re going to drop me into a fictional theme park, I’m going to want to spend time exploring every nook and cranny - and doing as well as possible in every minigame - before moving on. One, I’m afraid that I’ll reach a point in the plot when those minigames are suddenly unavailable. Two, I know that even more minigames are coming so I better buckle the hell up and get working on the ones I’ve got now. I don’t need Que☂en’s Blood opponents to start piling up on my map.
Part of it is the fact that the main quest is something you’re supposed to do. In mꦯost modern RPGs, you know where you’re supposed to walk and, usually, you know why you’re going there. Oh, there will be plot twists and battles and surprises! But you have a journal that specifically tells you where the next step in your journey is. Maybe you can avoid it! Maybe you can skip ahead in the story! Usually not entirely. Meanwhile, the side quests and mini games are supposed to be a little treat that makes the main quest more resonant (and, with bonus items, easier).
Except I don’t want to do what I’m supposed to do in a game. That’s why open world games come with a big slice of cognitive dissonance. In a lot of those games, I’ll find out someone is in terrible danger and - usually - I can ignore it and spend the next ten hours riding a horse from bar to bar and mastering my skills at a fictional card game. Some games like 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dragon’s Dogma 2💫 don’t let this fly; they’ll just let your friend die and laugh at you for thinking otherwise. But outside of specifically timed missions, most RPGs will let you take a good, long vacation before rescuing someone from imminent danger.
The More You Ignore The Main Quest, The Less You Care
And, again, it’s not that I hate the main storylines of these games. But they are the homework. They’re the commitment. When I find a side mission in Infinite Wealth, I know it’s probably going to be some goofy a-hole asking me to do something short and stupid. I know it’s going to make me laugh. I know it’s going to be fun. I know it’s going to be over quickly. And, perhaps most🦄 importantly, I know there are little to no stakes. I don’t usually need to be completely pumped up or have the right equipment. I don’t have to remember everything that’s happened over the last 40 hours. I can just have fun over here while not saving the world.
On the other hand, it’s not like removing the mini games would improve the experience by making me focus on the critical path. And it’s arguable that for Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, the critical p✨ath is more of a way to unlock the real goods than it is the star of the show. More fans talk about Sujimon and Dondoko Island than they do Ichiban’s missing mom. The central plot is still great, but it’s less compelling when I need to ignore it for te꧒n hours if I’m going to run a successful island resort.
This causes a vicious cycle in my head. I avoid the main story to finish a minigame or complete a sꦗide quest. Then, because it’s been even longer since I’ve progressed the game, I become even more reluctant to just pop into an important mission. And so on and so forth. To put it another way, there is never a time when my apartment gets cleaned more than when I have an assignment due soon. I’d rather use my vacuum in the cleaning minigame than storyline where I need to make money to survive.
It’s difficult for me to want to see the next extremely serious scene in Infinite Wealth or Rebirth when my other option is fun wacky hijinks. This isn’t a bad thing - and nor am I saying these games are bad for having so much to do. But I do struggle to care about the main quest when everything else is so much more compelling and so much m𓄧ore fun.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 Shows An Open World RPG Can Work Withꦫout Segway Scooters
No wheels required 🌞to get around Dragon's Dogma 2.
