In an interview with Xbox360Fanboy, Denis Dyack talked a little bit about Valkyrie the death animation in Too Human. His response to consumer groans over the boring animation is surprisingly like PR spin.
If you're getting frustrated with the Valkyrie cinema, you might be dying a little too much. The bottom line is ... If it's a sign that people love the game so much that they just want to get back in and play, could we make it skippable? Sure, it's an easy change.
If you’re anything like me, you have spent more time dead in the air than you have playing
Too Human. I died around 60 times in the second level where everything on the screen fires arrows and bombs simultaneously. I’d like to think the Valkyrie and I have a special relationship at this point. Every time she puts my crumpled body in her arms I know she’s whispering sweet things in my dead ears.
Is it a result of love that makes me wish Valkyrie wouldn’t take so long to pick my character up? It’s definitely not love. I think it’s a troubling cinematic that serves as a reminder of how awkward the game is in almost every phase of the gameplay, including dealing with death.
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Contest:
2:46 PM on 08.27.2008
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Is it really that slow of a news week? Who cares what this guy has to say anymore?
You should never punish the gamer for dying anymore than what is already natural punishment (i.e. failure). The Valyrie death scenes may look cool, but it prolongs the time between death and respawn longer than necessary. It's inconvenient. You should never sacrifice good design and functionality for "art." Fuck off, Denis. I've had it up to here with your goddamn egocentric bullshit.
Better yet....don't die. (Died 3 times in 2nd level on my second playthrough, so just take the time to learn how the effing game works.)
People were moaning about 'no death penalty' now they moan about the death penalty.
Uhm.....WHAT DO YOU WANT?
WoW...you can die 10 minutes away from the effing graveyard.
Some games you have to walk back to your corpse....BUTT NAKED!
Some games remove hard earned XP (Titan Quest, among others)
Some games have entire level reloads that are longer than 15 seconds.
Some fucking games ask you to insert a quarter.
Here, you are penalized 15 seconds with no loot or possible XP gain.
What is it these days? As soon as a game forces you to figure things out or throws a challenge your way you all get up in arms about it?
Why don't you all revile MEga Man or the Ninja Gaiden series? I mean, those are hard? Right?
I guess you are the same type of people that require safety warnings on hot beverages?
You need a warning written on knives that says: 'Do not move knife over skin, it may get cut'
I'm really really really starting to hate gamers...
And as such
Hating the Valkyrie death scene means I hate the game
Now my review is up I never have to put that godawful disc into my 360 again
"dyack just needs to learn want cool is?"
?
Anything in a game that causes me, or anyone else, to get unnecessarily annoyed, is a design flaw, in my opinion. Good games don't annoy the player. (If there's to be any annoyance, and there always is, it should be because the player is failing or because the game is properly challenging. Sitting through the same damn cutscene everytime you die is just stupid.)
However, now that I have said that, anything that is frustrating to the player should ideally be removed. Games are entertainment, and if you aren't being entertained, then the game is failing at its purpose.
I thought we left annoying punishments behind us when we left the 8 bit era.
- Anonononomous
- KGBrAm
...that is all.
You say that if there is annoyance in the game it should exist when the player is failing but you criticize the choice to show the animation when the player dies. Shouldn't dying be considered failing? I also don't agree that annoyance can be considered a design flaw, annoyance is a valid tool in games.
And I told the guys from Silicon Knights I thought so too. The death system is way better than most games. I prefer the 15 seconds wait time rather than starting over the level or hard @ss boss battle.
What an ass.
If you can't handle 10 seconds then maybe you should just never play a game again, I should have known the sheeptoids would hate the game without even playing it.
@Sharpless
Every game on the planet has something that annoys people, even the games considered that are the considered great, I'll use MGS3 as an example, great game, great story, even the most ardent fanboys hate the clunky menu system.
Or Half Life, the FPS most PC fans call their god, even the biggest fanboy says the final areas sucked.
So if you write off game based solely on "annoying gameplay mechanic" perhaps you should just sell your consoles and not play anything ever again.
Too Human is a fun game, its not perfect but what is? Great co-op, awesome armor designs and 5 classes which you can evolve in 3 different ways and don't even get me started or human or cybernetic aligment.
Rent the full game you pathetic sheeple, maybe you'll actually like it.
That death scene is honestly one of the worst parts of the game, and that's saying a lot. It's amazing I actually finished the game considering the number of times I had to watch that shit.
Of course Silicon Knights won't fix this flaw in the game, even though it would be an easy fix as Denis said. Why? Because Too Human is perfect apparently. Who cares what many gamers and reviewers have said, Denis Dyack knows everything.
Right...
Sharpless I think youre an idiot.
On another note. At first the scene bothered me but I happen to agree with Dennis here. I mean, it really isnt that long first of all. Second, it gives you a chance to make a quick change if you need to.
This game doesnt punish you much for death and if you respawned the second you die you could basically play without any fear of death in the game. That might take away from the sense of accomplishment which in turn would make the game worse.
Also to the fella who wrote this post, it seems like because you didnt like the game, you are using your position to say some pretty irresponsible things about it. What you said bothered me, because I would think if you didnt like the game, you might keep it to yourself or get into it in a more appropriate place. Spewing out your negative opinion on the front page seems uncalled for. I guess it is just cool to knock this game.
That's my point. Death in itself should be punishment enough. Tacking on a prolonged death sequence all in the name of "ART!" is, in my opinion, unnecessary and shoddy game design.
@Kyousuke Nanbu
I never said there was such a thing as an (objectively) perfect game. I never said that most games didn't have faulty elements in them. What I said was that the Valkyrie sequence, while visually attractive, is a nuisance and I think it's a poor design choice.
@big filth
Thank you for your constructive criticism of my opinion. I look forward to further feedback from you, at a future date. Come again. (Also, why the hell can't Brad post his opinion? It's a fucking blog. N'Gai Croal is the most respected games journalist out there, and he's always posting his opinions on things. Stop acting butthurt.)
And what is so hard for you people (yes, YOU PEOPLE) to understand? A lot of people think this is a lackluster game, myself included. Dyack told us it would be incredible and innovative. It wasn't. Stop acting like we're not entitled to our opinions. You're the "sheep" (cliche much?), not us.
Then again, I'm all about games having penalties for failure. It's the only way anyone bothers to learn how to play, instead of throwing themselves into battle and mashing all the buttons.
Whether it be time taken for the cinematic sequence to play, or XP loss, or whatever, the player needs that bit of motivation to improve. It's a vital component of games, sadly lacking in many modern releases.
I don't play games to wait for them to let me play again. More specifically, I don't want to play games that make me wait to play.
People complain about freedom of speech. Is that a bad thing?
People complain about gay marriage. Is that wrong?
People complaining about things has never been a good indicator that the things they are complaining about shouldn't exist.
Neither of your examples fall into the category of "entertainment product." If an entertainment product has an element to it that the consumers complain about, it is, as manasteel88 rightly pointed out, bad design.
You know, if you enjoy Too Human, or have a crush on Denis Dyack or whatever, then good for you. I don't care, do what you want. But don't come on here and try to invalidate people's opinions. A lot of people happen to find the Valkyrie cinemas to be inconvenient. That's that.
No, seriously, Anonononomous, your arguments in favour of animated time wasters come across more than a little defensive and out of place. Nobody minds if you like the game (meaning: we all mind and think less of you), but instead of trying to justify obvious flaws, you should emphasise genuine positive aspects instead (which we will then equally dismiss for no apparent reason).