I was thinking away as I normally do (particularly now as I have so much free time after being crippled by a oncoming car (haven't been VG for the past week because of it, did you miss me? No? oh well) but that's another story) and I came to start thinking about Accessibility in games. That thought process was very much aggravated by watching some extra credits and I decided to make a post on it, YAY.
Anyway I am a great fan of the thinking man side of the hit-man series and I'm also very partial to some mindless blowing shit up and totally inconceivable story nonsense you get from stuff like COD. And as I've voice before I'm really quite worried about the apparent attempt to make hitman more accessible. But then I was like- "wait, it’s not accessibly that's the problem, its simplicity that is.". Now stop and think of a game that's a really good, well rated triple A title but has only a few missions, guns, mechanics etc. There's none that I can think of. The fact is that the natures of games mean that its one of the few places where less isn't better, it's quite obvious really. It does work in an arcade downloadable title like the upcoming From Dust and also in Limbo, but simplicity doesn't mix at all with the 40 quid pay-off games are getting nowadays. Simplicity is what made so many people hate dragon age 2. You just couldn't do as much there was less loot, less levelling and less customisation. And this was born for trying to make the game more accessible (ARR, it may had helped for me to learn how to spell accessible and Accessibly instead of me coping and pasting all the time). The devs tried to cut out some of that stuff that beefed out the game and made it addictive in order for it not to get in the way of stuff like combat and the exciting sequences lots of people crave for. Sounds kinda good on paper but in reality it cut out the stuff that actually made the game great. If you wanted a big action sequence you'd by one of the many first person shooters (or uncharted which does the job great with a great cast which makes it awesome). So the danger with going accessible with something like hitman is you could cut out some of the stuff that makes it great making it just like everything else. BUT maybe there's a way of giving you that blowing shit up for funzies but also exploiting and really exploring some of the games mechanisms that run further in than sin deep. What even further instils my confidence in Hitman is that it already pretty much does this. You can sneak around and be completely invisible but sacrifice the 'COME ON THEN BITCHES' runnin' and gunnin', or vice versa. If you want to run in and kill everyone you really can. Problem is the developers only have so much time and money on their hands so some of the stuff doesn't feel quite so 'polished' and the controls don't feel quite so smooth with the running and gunning as a game where you can only run and gun. So you get to the problems of having to cut corners and leave stuff out. And thats why 'Accessibly' can so easily leave a game ruined. Accessible but no fun that's more than skin deep. Not that that kind of fun isn't any good. Thats mainly the kind of fun that you get in multi-player but that doesn't mean multi-player is a waste of time or no fun.
Anyway because of the nature of Hitman and also the upcoming Deux Ex there is actually space for both play styles to co-exist it means you can get some really mean game play. You get the stuff that is mentally satisfying and the stuff that satisfies your more primal hit stuff with rocks instincts. It just depends on the way the developers handle it and with Deux Ex defiantly looking like it will fulfil both game styles and the potentially for hitman to do the same means where not just looking at GotY but I'm thinking more like Game of the Century. And since if you compare the games 10 years ago well they don't really compare so I'm thinking it could be Game of the Ever.
Accessibly in Hitman Absolution.
(7 posts)-
Posted 1 year ago #
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Although saying that (prepare for slight tangent) I'm not really sure it possible to get a GotE. One thing I've learned over my gaming career is that developers can't do everything perfect. No matter how good a particular part of a game or its overall goodness there will always be a part that isn't perfect, that isn't very good. And despite nearly all other aspects being fucking awesome it pretty much defies the laws of nature to have everything like this. So problem being is sometimes this particular aspect is more noticeable or more damaging which in turn stops the overall experience from being GotE. Even if that part is well hidden not only will it probably slightly affect you subconsciously but sometimes people just notice it more and so it consequently ruins the game for them. It's not their fault and it’s not really the devs fault it’s just about personal taste and opinions.
This is extremely well highlighted with the new game L.A. Noire. A game that did so much and did them well but did too much so couldn't polish everything down. It made it massively less than perfect with massive design flaws that for me didn't ruin it but for others theses parts weren't executed well enough. And then what highlights this difficulty is that there will always be another game that does these parts to an extent where it’s brilliant and really satisfies people. It means that were all endlessly comparing certain areas that aren't perfect of a game to the same area of a different game where these area are perfect. It means games are GotE of their strongest points but always have parts that are inferior to other games which these parts are their GotE (GotE being Game of the ever(made) to avoid any confusion). Not to mention the personal opinion and preference meaning the way a game mechanic works is perfect for one but boring for another.It sets the whole thing up to be one impossible train ride that means that you can never have the best game ever label because it will always have an imperfection. Anyways What I'm saying is if there is a game everyone's raving about but you don't like for one reason or another don't shout hate at the game and call it rubbish because it’s not, it’s just not perfect which is impossible.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Lesson to learn here...people don't like to read long posts(even if they are pretty good if somewhat contradictory),anyway,it's becoming something of a trend for the game developers to make their games "more accessible".For instance,Skyrim's UI or should I be more specific it's inventory looks like a cell phone menu or a PC's own start>all programs panel,which is something that in my opinion does not belong in an epic RPG fantasy driven game(no matter how accessible it makes the game's inventory).
Back to Absolution,the new feature that they are bringing to it called "the instinct mode"(similar to detective mode in AA or eagle vision in AC series)is something that bothered me the most about the game,but the fact that you can turn it off certainly helps despite the fact that the people will still be tempted to use it just like the previously mentioned detective mode.Posted 1 year ago # -
You can ignore Instinct mode if you are easily tempted by these features maybe you should look at why you are. With LA NOire I turned off the hinting system and had a blast with it because you don't have these immersion breaking sound cues telling you fail or you win. If its not absolutely needed I don't use it but with AA and AC you have to if you want to collect things like the riddles puzzles. And who cares if people use it, Hit man is not a MP and there is no dick waving in it to tell people how awesome you are. If its fun to you its doesn't matter what other people do. Get over this elite attitude.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I was talking about "people" not myself.Yes,you are wright,we had to use detective mode and eagle vision,but obviously not all the time.I am well aware of the fact that Hitman is not a MP game,and that's one of the reasons I enjoy Hitman games since I don't play MP games at all,and "Get over this elite attitude" really,considering other people's opinion makes me somehow elitist!?
Posted 1 year ago # -
@ Edo
In a interview Bethesda said that the UI is far from finished. In the finished version you can see which armor/weapon is stronger than the other and overall it will look different. Someone from Bethesda confirmed this to Angry Joe on Youtube.
As for Hitman, i won't be using the instinct mode. But one thing bothers me, it seems like all the new (and also some very cool ones) features will all be part of Instinct. Take for example the improved disguises system,it really sounds cool...but probably only available in Instinct. I could use Instinct but i don't wanna see through walls and crap.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Well like I said it all comes down to how the developers handle it. And as it happens at the moment developers don't really release any solid information about how far or how they're developing games so its anyone's guess until it comes out. I have quite alot of confidence in IO, I love hitman Freedom Fighters was oddly one of my favourite games (on PS2) and although Kane and Lyne was never great it was never terrible. So I'm thinking that they might just pull it off... Although like I said, they won't pull it off for everybody.
P.S. Yeah the thread was a just a little bit too long but I said all the things I wanted to say and I'm not sure I wanted to say any thing less.
Posted 1 year ago #
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