- Jul 25, 2018
- 702
- 1,106
I completely agree with you! Great addition. And to add to that, pacing in games is highly dependant on individual play styles and skill. Therefore, I'd still say it's good to have different difficulty settingsA good point but also not entirely the whole story (no pun intended). A storyline is not only the story expressed itself but also the pacing. Let events happen to fast, conflicts resolve too quickly, and even a good storyline falls apart. Not that all out action (not necessarily lewd) cannot be enjoyable in itself, but generally speaking when something happens you (as "the hero") cannot just go out and fix it but have to gather resources (in a meta way, usually it's not picking apples and flowers) because you are not ready yet.
Of course it can become a challenge to still keep you in line doing that and not forgetting the main quest - Bethesda games famously suffer from a case of "yeah, I know, dragons and daedra and Hoover Dam and Institute and stuff, but I really gotta collect these 10 thingamajigs for the old widow and then try to get that one armor" (although I also enjoy them immensely).
So yes, in general grinding is not storyline. But having to gather means to advance to me is part of a storyline even with no deeper narrative. Especially in a rags-to-riches storyline like we're facing, with a hero that doesn't really know what he is doing, what he is supposed to be doing, and how to do it, so will need time. It wouldn't fit the character to just go out and kick some ass without further ado.
And yes, this could also be achieved using some narrative sequences, but for people like me who also like to do some stuff in their games it is nice - and there's not that much grinding needed anyway since most of the stuff you can get you don't need. Well, except for Jimmy headpat and that is expensive, agreed.
It's the old thing of if you're in your comfort zone it's too boring, but if you are too far out of it it becomes too much to handle. Everything that needs to challenge people needs to be just outside the comfort zone, so they can access it and grow. The problem with games is that they cater to many different types of people, so the challenge is always relative. Which, again, brings me to why difficulty settings can be a good thing