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Rerolling a character, I was just wondering if I was the only silly sod that did this regularly.
You revisit an old game, you know you've still got the game save with your level 3 billion character and all weapons unlocked on your memory card, but you want to savour what it was like for the first time so you wipe everything and start from scratch.
I did this, hopefully for the last time, in Final Fantasy XI. What's worse is it's a pay to play game, but last year when I revisited I thought 'meh', I want to be Elvaan but I don't want to pay for an extra character slot so whoosh, 3 years worth of character building deleted just like that.
But I've also done it with Forza, which was fully unlocked, Fable, which I'd completed, and there was a phase I went through a couple of years ago where I systematically deleted all my memory cards on the PS2 so I could get that 'as new' feeling from all my old games again.
Is it the case that the rewards for getting to the end game are more than the fun you can have in the end game? Is all the fun in the 'getting there' rather than what happens after arriving? I have a sneaky feeling, especially after playing WoW, that all the fun is in the getting there.
It's the same with shooters. You think your six-shot pistol is the bees knees until you unlock the Magnum .44 and the Grav-gun. But once you've got to the end and there's nothing more to unlock, what's the reward? Cut scene and credits?
It's the same with racers. By the time you've unlocked every car and track, with most racers it's just a case of endless repetition.
Is this the trick developers use sub-consiously so that they don't create the everlasting game which would theoretically put them out of a job?
You revisit an old game, you know you've still got the game save with your level 3 billion character and all weapons unlocked on your memory card, but you want to savour what it was like for the first time so you wipe everything and start from scratch.
I did this, hopefully for the last time, in Final Fantasy XI. What's worse is it's a pay to play game, but last year when I revisited I thought 'meh', I want to be Elvaan but I don't want to pay for an extra character slot so whoosh, 3 years worth of character building deleted just like that.
But I've also done it with Forza, which was fully unlocked, Fable, which I'd completed, and there was a phase I went through a couple of years ago where I systematically deleted all my memory cards on the PS2 so I could get that 'as new' feeling from all my old games again.
Is it the case that the rewards for getting to the end game are more than the fun you can have in the end game? Is all the fun in the 'getting there' rather than what happens after arriving? I have a sneaky feeling, especially after playing WoW, that all the fun is in the getting there.
It's the same with shooters. You think your six-shot pistol is the bees knees until you unlock the Magnum .44 and the Grav-gun. But once you've got to the end and there's nothing more to unlock, what's the reward? Cut scene and credits?
It's the same with racers. By the time you've unlocked every car and track, with most racers it's just a case of endless repetition.
Is this the trick developers use sub-consiously so that they don't create the everlasting game which would theoretically put them out of a job?
If we all agree that the fun is in the journey, what we need is a never ending journey via the concept of both immortality and games linked to time.
They could do this via 'connected' games, quite possible if one publishing house releases a few titles.
Imagine planting a C4 charge on the wall of a casino in Las Vegas then breaching through only to discover you've passed through some unknown portal and now you've got a Grunt bearing down on you from the Halo 4 universe. Or passing through a Dimensional Door in Fable 3 only to discover that your only hope of getting back is to help out with some zombies in a shopping mall.
It would take a fair bit of planning to work out how a character from one world with their existing equipment can fit into the control scheme, item acquisition and character development formulae for another, and it would take a new kind of storage medium (optical disc? nano disc?) for this new breed of connected games.
The fun factor would be quite phenomenal. Being able to use a Broadsword that you pinched from Fable 3 to take out some terrorists in Washington D.C. (Rainbow 6: Capital Punishment) and then using one of the sniper rifles you pinched off your victims there to help out with a little 'tyre pressure adjustment' on the opposition during a Forza 3 race by taking cover from behind the wheel, then being able to use the winnings from that race to either buy a new exhaust and keep racing or converting them to gold so you can afford to craft an enchanted mace in Age of Conan, then being able to use that mace back in Fable 3 in place of your broadsword etc.
Couple of generations away, maybe. I'd like to see something like this in my lifetime.
Bit like Tolkien really, with perhaps Microsoft as Lord Sauron giving out special dev kits to the major developers and then having a 'master kit' that allows universal cross-content to be applied simultaneously to all games.
I suppose the Achievements system is just the forerunner of this, the Dashboard being the equivalent of the One Ring.
Downloadable content gives existing games a little bit of longevity, but it's generally just 'more of the same'. However, acquiring a new technologically advanced laser targetting system in Mass Effect might have a little more appeal to it if you could then consider the possibilities of what it might do for gameplay if you could then take that same targetting system into, say, Oblivion.
They could do this via 'connected' games, quite possible if one publishing house releases a few titles.
Imagine planting a C4 charge on the wall of a casino in Las Vegas then breaching through only to discover you've passed through some unknown portal and now you've got a Grunt bearing down on you from the Halo 4 universe. Or passing through a Dimensional Door in Fable 3 only to discover that your only hope of getting back is to help out with some zombies in a shopping mall.
It would take a fair bit of planning to work out how a character from one world with their existing equipment can fit into the control scheme, item acquisition and character development formulae for another, and it would take a new kind of storage medium (optical disc? nano disc?) for this new breed of connected games.
The fun factor would be quite phenomenal. Being able to use a Broadsword that you pinched from Fable 3 to take out some terrorists in Washington D.C. (Rainbow 6: Capital Punishment) and then using one of the sniper rifles you pinched off your victims there to help out with a little 'tyre pressure adjustment' on the opposition during a Forza 3 race by taking cover from behind the wheel, then being able to use the winnings from that race to either buy a new exhaust and keep racing or converting them to gold so you can afford to craft an enchanted mace in Age of Conan, then being able to use that mace back in Fable 3 in place of your broadsword etc.
Couple of generations away, maybe. I'd like to see something like this in my lifetime.
Bit like Tolkien really, with perhaps Microsoft as Lord Sauron giving out special dev kits to the major developers and then having a 'master kit' that allows universal cross-content to be applied simultaneously to all games.
I suppose the Achievements system is just the forerunner of this, the Dashboard being the equivalent of the One Ring.
Downloadable content gives existing games a little bit of longevity, but it's generally just 'more of the same'. However, acquiring a new technologically advanced laser targetting system in Mass Effect might have a little more appeal to it if you could then consider the possibilities of what it might do for gameplay if you could then take that same targetting system into, say, Oblivion.
My closer circle of geek-friends are Warcraftites and while they've hit 65-70, their quests for XP, discovery of some purple hat and ability to blow 500G and not think about it signal the end of the fun, in some ways.
My friend of the highest level, persuaded that 'Life begins at 60!' would argue until red in the face that the World of Warcraft still had plenty to offer, but it's nowhere near as exciting when you're there... there's a sense that you can slack off... that there's nothing really to work for, unless you want to spend 2 more years mining and killing spider things in Athari Highlands. You don't get a feeling at 70 like you do at 14 when you've done your first dungeon. You don't get the feeling at 70 that you do at 45 when you first brave the Burning Steppes with a raid party. While technically there's a billion and one different journeys, there's a sense that they're all secondary objectives.. that you only need to do them if you're playing on 00 difficulty and need to finish Facility in 2:05 (I did that, by the way *smug smile*)
The fun is definitely in the journey. And while the end can be satisfying, it only heightens the thirst for more adventure, for something fresh, to start an ALT, perhaps. Warcraft does things very well, and it's success, from my 14-day trial experience is justified.
My friend of the highest level, persuaded that 'Life begins at 60!' would argue until red in the face that the World of Warcraft still had plenty to offer, but it's nowhere near as exciting when you're there... there's a sense that you can slack off... that there's nothing really to work for, unless you want to spend 2 more years mining and killing spider things in Athari Highlands. You don't get a feeling at 70 like you do at 14 when you've done your first dungeon. You don't get the feeling at 70 that you do at 45 when you first brave the Burning Steppes with a raid party. While technically there's a billion and one different journeys, there's a sense that they're all secondary objectives.. that you only need to do them if you're playing on 00 difficulty and need to finish Facility in 2:05 (I did that, by the way *smug smile*)
The fun is definitely in the journey. And while the end can be satisfying, it only heightens the thirst for more adventure, for something fresh, to start an ALT, perhaps. Warcraft does things very well, and it's success, from my 14-day trial experience is justified.
Nope.
They have a stainless steel one though..
They have a stainless steel one though..
Please tell me the new one isn't the first where you play a female character.
Its always in the journey. Thats why Final Fantasy games do so well. Each one is pretty much the same. You play a guy who goes on a quest with a hot girl and a huge bloke, fighting monsters and learning spells. You spend all your time trying to level up and once you get there you go and buy the next game and start again. Why? because the journey is the best part.
Rerolling a character, I was just wondering if I was the only silly sod that did this regularly.
You revisit an old game, you know you've still got the game save with your level 3 billion character and all weapons unlocked on your memory card, but you want to savour what it was like for the first time so you wipe everything and start from scratch.
I did this, hopefully for the last time, in Final Fantasy XI. What's worse is it's a pay to play game, but last year when I revisited I thought 'meh', I want to be Elvaan but I don't want to pay for an extra character slot so whoosh, 3 years worth of character building deleted just like that.
But I've also done it with Forza, which was fully unlocked, Fable, which I'd completed, and there was a phase I went through a couple of years ago where I systematically deleted all my memory cards on the PS2 so I could get that 'as new' feeling from all my old games again.
Is it the case that the rewards for getting to the end game are more than the fun you can have in the end game? Is all the fun in the 'getting there' rather than what happens after arriving? I have a sneaky feeling, especially after playing WoW, that all the fun is in the getting there.
It's the same with shooters. You think your six-shot pistol is the bees knees until you unlock the Magnum .44 and the Grav-gun. But once you've got to the end and there's nothing more to unlock, what's the reward? Cut scene and credits?
It's the same with racers. By the time you've unlocked every car and track, with most racers it's just a case of endless repetition.
Is this the trick developers use sub-consiously so that they don't create the everlasting game which would theoretically put them out of a job?
You revisit an old game, you know you've still got the game save with your level 3 billion character and all weapons unlocked on your memory card, but you want to savour what it was like for the first time so you wipe everything and start from scratch.
I did this, hopefully for the last time, in Final Fantasy XI. What's worse is it's a pay to play game, but last year when I revisited I thought 'meh', I want to be Elvaan but I don't want to pay for an extra character slot so whoosh, 3 years worth of character building deleted just like that.
But I've also done it with Forza, which was fully unlocked, Fable, which I'd completed, and there was a phase I went through a couple of years ago where I systematically deleted all my memory cards on the PS2 so I could get that 'as new' feeling from all my old games again.
Is it the case that the rewards for getting to the end game are more than the fun you can have in the end game? Is all the fun in the 'getting there' rather than what happens after arriving? I have a sneaky feeling, especially after playing WoW, that all the fun is in the getting there.
It's the same with shooters. You think your six-shot pistol is the bees knees until you unlock the Magnum .44 and the Grav-gun. But once you've got to the end and there's nothing more to unlock, what's the reward? Cut scene and credits?
It's the same with racers. By the time you've unlocked every car and track, with most racers it's just a case of endless repetition.
Is this the trick developers use sub-consiously so that they don't create the everlasting game which would theoretically put them out of a job?