I think he understood the game just fine, given that his criticism focused on why certain concessions made to the realtime inventory are why using a realtime inventory was a tremendously stupid idea.
And yeah, the magic briefcase was far better, because at no point did it cause my untimely death or make me yell at the screen. Its quantum existence was a method of improving the play experience, whereas the concessions made for realtime inventory stand out as flaws because they’re wrapped up in an infuriating mess of a design decision.
I think you understand it and disagree with it anyway, so I guess there is a full spectrum of being wrong available on this point. Nevertheless, I think Yahtzee’s is trending towards a superficial grasp of the game.
If the real-time inventory didn’t have the quick-select D-pad slots, I’d probably hate it too.
Yahtzee always betrays a superficial grasp of a game unless he likes it. While he occasionally makes valid points about why a bad game is bad, he’s also very good at missing points entirely.
I don’t think it’s a shallow understanding of the game at all. That’s a silly suggestion. The brief case was an abstraction. I feel very confident in suggesting he understands this.
The RE5 inventory is also an abstraction. It’s arguably a worse one (I’ve seen plenty of people who didn’t care for the “slot” system used by games like RE5 and the IE games, e.g.). But he’s also right that it’s patently absurd you can order your partner to immediately feed you an egg. Or combine across inventories (I may be wrong there, but I swear I tried last time I played and couldn’t). And it’s stupid that you have to keep armor in an inventory slot, IMO.
He’s being deliberately hyperbolic in making the point, of course.
There’s Agrees With LK and there’s Wrong. Don’t fight it, guys. A is A.
Just set the stuff you want to hotkey spaces and put your ammo in the corners. I never use my item screen unless I need to combine stuff or drop something. I think it’s a great inventory system.
It would be a great inventory system if the controls were responsive enough to support it.
I know some people still find it enjoyable, but I feel that “building tension” via shitty controls is a relic that needs to be abandoned. In fact, it has been by everyone but Capcom. I’m still irritated that they basically made an action shooter on every level except the fucking controls.
or just exaggerating things for the sake of humour perhaps? SURELY NOT!
I totally see your point but RE5 has become a wierd Twilight Zone game for me. I’m usually very bothered by strange control schemes but for some unknown reason RE5’s wierd ass control comes naturally too me. I don’t get why, but it just works for me.
I agree that fucked controls in a lame way to add tension, but for me it doesn’t. I feel like I’m playing a fun action game, and I never even notice the controls (or any tension for that matter). Weird, I know. Irononically, though Capcom has totally failed to make a survival horror game with really tense moments, I think they’ve made a pretty fun third person shooter. I have no idea what sort of game they were intending to make, but I like what they ended up with even if it is all a bit bass ackwards.
No shit. Therefore, it’s not a dichotomy between something that “made sense” and something that is wholly illogical. At all times, it was a convention guided by the needs of gameplay.
The RE5 inventory is also an abstraction. It’s arguably a worse one (I’ve seen plenty of people who didn’t care for the “slot” system used by games like RE5 and the IE games, e.g.). But he’s also right that it’s patently absurd you can order your partner to immediately feed you an egg. Or combine across inventories (I may be wrong there, but I swear I tried last time I played and couldn’t). And it’s stupid that you have to keep armor in an inventory slot, IMO.
Those limitations are there on purpose. The armor(s) are tremendously effective tools and arguably necessary on harder difficulty levels. Some people spread them out in terms of an up close character and a ranged character. Some people stack both and go balls deep in every fight. And some go without for the sake of more inventory space. In every instance, it’s a tactical decision that should have an impact, and the call they made was that armor=gun. It’s a lot like the way that herbs don’t stack. Obviously it’s not a decision made based on their size or mass, but rather on what they do and how they affect the game’s balance.
And the designers are clearly aware of how convenient it would be to combine herbs across inventories in game. They even let you do it in the inventory screen between levels. You just have to have your shit together before fighting starts, or make it to calm space in order to pull out your inventory. That’s a much better balance than most games, which simply insert some absurd healing animation to provide the gameplay penalty for healing.
That’s more or less separate from what I’m talking about. The registration of a complaint and the exaggeration of the rationale for the complaint aren’t the same thing.
I was thinking maybe he just wanted a hug or something. I know sometimes, when I’m feeling blue, a hug will pick me right back up!
Right, but that’s not really what his argument is. He liked the case abstraction. He doesn’t like the RE5 abstraction. He delivers his point the way he delivers all his points.
Of course, Re4 was filled with all those “tactical decisions that had a ZOMG impact!” as well. The case makes more sense if you’re one of those people who finds “slot = anything” inventory systems annoying (especially when arbitrary stacking rules come into play). I’m not, but I get his complaint.
I have not played Resident Evil 5 and haven’t really had an interest to for some time now, but I have to say that the game Lizard King describes sounds absolutely godawful.
Rimbo
2714
Clearly some of us still think ZP is (or is meant to be) something other than entertainment.
Zylon
2715
Did you seriously just assert that making part of the game UI intentionally cumbersome is superior to providing a realistic in-fiction action penalty?
I think that’s actually the premise you have to buy into in order to enjoy RE.
I can’t believe a joke that wasn’t even very funny sparked off such a heated debate.
maybe if he tried his hand at talking about something a little more relevant than computer games, it would be. the guy is clearly inspired by charlie brooker, who also used to appear in a computer magazine way back when. i hope he goes on to be similarly successful.
In the same way that not having infinite health or instantly killing all enemies when you push a button is cumbersome. Which is to say, not at all.
And yeah, you and your “realistic in fiction action penalties” can find another customer, I’ll take the unrealistic ones that accommodate the game’s mechanics well every time.
Another way to explain it: Capcom has created a pill that gives worms to ex girlfriends. Not to ex boyfriends. Will not cure cancer or treat PMS. It will only do a certain thing well for a certain set of tastes.
Halo Wars! I don’t think he’s done an RTS before, has he? Hey, wait a sec…
