|
I finally completed Baten Kaitos: Origins last night, and after 35 hours, I don't feel accomplished, enlightened, or relieved. The story was excellent, the gameplay unique, and the difficulty refreshingly high. And I truly enjoyed the delightful-bitter quibbling between Guillo and Milly, the two sidekicks. For the first 32 hours, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and savored everything I love about gaming. Then, for the last 3 hours, I pulled my hair out in anticipation and frustration.
Why do RPGs always have a long, unnecessarily difficult last dungeon? It seems like the worst possible place to have one. The player is deeply involved in the story, most of the twists have occurred, the final pieces of the plot are in place, and all that's left is to take that final turn of the page. Interrupting the flow of the game at that point is just plain cruel. And it happens in almost every past and present RPG.
Long dungeons are great for players who are truly enjoying the battle system and want to extend their play time. They're great for completionists or those who just want that one special item. But otherwise, when placed at the end of a game they become anti-climactic and sometimes ruin the flow of the plot for good. It's akin to building up excitement for something, and having to wait, and wait, and wait, until finally you're so tired of waiting that the excitement wanes away and you just want to get it over with.
Do developers think gamers' attention spans are so short that they need an excruciatingly long dungeon at the end to feel accomplished, like they've forgotten the other 30-40 hours they just spent playing the game?
I understand the importance of the last dungeon. It is prudent to make the gamer wait a little bit for the last bits of the story to unfold. But a 3 hour ordeal is simply uncalled for, especially when coupled with pointless puzzles (that's another story completely), and continued random battles (yet another story). I say keep the final dungeon to an hour, 90 minutes max. Players will still have to work for that last page of the plot, but won't feel overwhelmed by the shock of a dungeon abnormally longer and more difficult than the rest of the game.
Admittedly, BKO is not the worst last dungeon in gaming history. I'm sure there are plenty of games I haven't played which have frustrated gamers to greater ends. For me, that title goes to the entire game of Suikoden IV, which felt like a tedious last dungeon for the duration of the 40 hour quest. I'm interested to know, what's yours?
|
RSS feed
iTunes
