Stupid game design tricks, part 2
Oct. 2nd, 2005 12:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yendiI've bitched about one or two dumb idea killing a game before, notably in the original PS2 Baldur's Gate, which has a stupid jump-on-falling-stones puzzle early on that completely killed my ability to even give a shit about the game.
I found yet another one last night.
I bought X-Men Legends, now that the price has dropped. After finishing the first level, there's a sequence in which Jean Grey is giving Alison Crestmere (Magma, with a different and less silly origin than her comic-book version) a tour of the X-Mansion. As Alison, I moved to the corner of a room to look at a bookcase, and Jean followed. And stayed there. I could talk to her, I could tell her I was done with the tour, but no matter what I did, I couldn't get her to move the fuck out of the way. Since this was a non-fighting segment, even the jump option was off. Literally, no choices.
Now, I'm sure that there's some great fanfic out there in which Jean Grey corners Alison Crestmore and exposes her to her Phoenix Force*. But in this game, it meant that I had to fucking reload to the save point in level one, since there's no autosave or other option (granted, the save point was after the boss battle with the Blob, so it wasn't a huge deal. Just annoying. But still, stupid goddamn designers.
FWIW, I'm loving the game otherwise. Highly recommended, as long as you don't let Jean get you alone in the corner.
*Or, if you prefer, she shows Alison why she's called Marvel Girl. Or offers to make a New Mutant out of her. Etc.
I found yet another one last night.
I bought X-Men Legends, now that the price has dropped. After finishing the first level, there's a sequence in which Jean Grey is giving Alison Crestmere (Magma, with a different and less silly origin than her comic-book version) a tour of the X-Mansion. As Alison, I moved to the corner of a room to look at a bookcase, and Jean followed. And stayed there. I could talk to her, I could tell her I was done with the tour, but no matter what I did, I couldn't get her to move the fuck out of the way. Since this was a non-fighting segment, even the jump option was off. Literally, no choices.
Now, I'm sure that there's some great fanfic out there in which Jean Grey corners Alison Crestmore and exposes her to her Phoenix Force*. But in this game, it meant that I had to fucking reload to the save point in level one, since there's no autosave or other option (granted, the save point was after the boss battle with the Blob, so it wasn't a huge deal. Just annoying. But still, stupid goddamn designers.
FWIW, I'm loving the game otherwise. Highly recommended, as long as you don't let Jean get you alone in the corner.
*Or, if you prefer, she shows Alison why she's called Marvel Girl. Or offers to make a New Mutant out of her. Etc.