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averyminya, do gaming w The world is ending but here's a side quest - will RPGs ever solve their urgency problem?

I agree with the other user who said it’s a writing problem e.g. choosing the immediacy of end of the world plot device. Unless it’s done with very specific circumstances, like Overcooked 1 where the first level is the Spaghetti Monster Apocalypse and then you jump back in time through a portal. I think Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a good example of this exact problem the article raises though. It’s a relatively short game, but there is no end of the world. There are 2 major events, your destiny as the Arisen to fight the dragon that killed you, and the in-world politics of a government and some corrupt individuals working to prevent this event for their own plan.

I mention this game primarily because it uses a mechanic that many completionists tend to dislike - there are “timed” quests. Not all of them, usually ones that make sense to run out of time on (but again, not all of them.) So for example, at one point there is a quest to attend a masquerade ball, which is a permanent main story quest until you choose to attend. This is the exact issue the premise of the article brings up, where time is infinite until you decide to continue.

And yet, at the same time, there are a few quests where you may encounter a random NPC who is asking for help for someone who goes missing, and if too many in game days pass by, well… They die.

Ultimately I had other pacing issues with the story, but I did really enjoy how it goes about “solving” urgency when an in-game world timer exists. I’ve never been the biggest fan of time-managed items, (for example, raw potato, ripened potato, rotten potato over the course of 1-3 days), but Dragon’s Dogma 1 and 2 both did it fairly well since the items that do expire 1) make sense, it’s food, and 2) are in fair abundance. It helps solve the hoarding of your items, gives you a little extra money if you sell it as the right phase, and allows for varied item combinations as well (raw+item = curative, ripe+item = stamina, rotten+rotten = oil for lantern or status effect combinations).

I think really the issue just comes down to what is fun gameplay mechanics? Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu for PS2/Gamecube had timed levels, a mechanic that makes sense for a game centered around saving people before they kill hostages. Star Ocean had an in game timer matched to clocks, so the only way to stop the timer was to turn off the game. After (24?) hours, it’s game over. Quite frankly… timed mechanics are usually seen as gimmicky and are not very popular - they may have moments of appreciation, but I’m not sure if it’s a beloved mechanic.

Which in turn results in, “I have you now Spider-Man! In just 8 hours my bomb will blow New York to high heavens!” And then the player goes to help every child get their balloon back before the main story progresses.

pruwybn, do gaming w The world is ending but here's a side quest - will RPGs ever solve their urgency problem?
@pruwybn@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

Surprised this article didn’t mention Ludonarrative Dissonance, which this seems to be an example of.

theangriestbird, do gaming w The world is ending but here's a side quest - will RPGs ever solve their urgency problem?

This approach is so common in RPGs it’s like dwarves with Scottish accents; a better question to ask would be whether there’s an RPG that doesn’t do it - one that hurries you up instead?

I mean…Dark Souls is the obvious answer, but that’s almost a different subgenre of RPG. Dark Souls does have side quests, but they are obscure and often incidental to the main quest. They also skirt this problem by having “time” be a loose concept in the lore - in every game, the world is in the process of slowly ending, in a literal way that fucks up the flow of time.

ryven, do gaming w The world is ending but here's a side quest - will RPGs ever solve their urgency problem?
@ryven@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

In Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, the world is ending, and the 13-day timer is very real. You basically get told “do as much as you can before the world ends” and let loose. So there’s urgency AND side questing.

And of course you have the opportunity to spend that time doing things that are completely irrelevant to making progress, like collecting silly outfits and forcing Lightning to wear them so that Hope can laugh at her.

TachyonTele, do gaming w The world is ending but here's a side quest - will RPGs ever solve their urgency problem?

That’s why i love Metroid so much.
The world doesn’t end until you decide it will.

SnotFlickerman, do gaming w The world is ending but here's a side quest - will RPGs ever solve their urgency problem?

Honestly, toughest part of Baldur’s Gate 3 is recognizing how much there is to do despite the fact that you literally have specific characters haranguing you to move the story forward (I’m looking at you Frog Wife, we’ll get to your fucking Creche when I’m ready!), which makes you feel like maybe there’s a time limit. First playthrough I missed massive amounts of the game because I felt rushed by the characters in my party.

On the other hand, maybe there does need to be a time limit so the urgency is real? In the original Fallout, on release, you had something like 100 in-game days before The Master found Vault 13 and it was game-over. They later removed this because it was seen as too difficult… but I actually dislike that it got removed. Maybe change how long the player is given, but still, give them something to press that urgency as an actual, real, urgent thing.

Lost_My_Mind, do games w Of course someone has Doom running on Nintendo Alarmo now

At a $99 pricepoint with a forced Nintendo Switch Online requirement for an alarm clock, I’m more surprised that someone has an Alarmo.

SomethingBurger,

The subscription is only required to buy it, and only until mid January. It’s possible to use Alarmo without an active NSO subscription.

DudeDudenson,

Inb4 they “update” the firmware and suddenly they stop working if you’re not subscribed

caut_R,

Never update the firmware on devices you have no issues with (if you have the choice). I learned that the hard way when I updated my LG B2 this year and now it has VRR flicker at any framerate below its refreshrate… And ofc I can‘t downgrade.

Updates for big corporate stuff rarely come with useful features or improvements anyway, just with more ads.

I‘m ranting, apologies.

DudeDudenson,

You say that as if companies weren’t pushing over the air firmware updates these days

caut_R,

That‘s why I said „if you have the choice,“ I certainly won‘t connect my next TV to the internet.

slazer2au, do games w Of course someone has Doom running on Nintendo Alarmo now

It was only a matter of time

xan1242,

You could say that this isn’t very alarming

makingStuffForFun,
@makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml avatar

Wait a second. I’ve just woken up, to what’s happening here!

QuadratureSurfer,
@QuadratureSurfer@lemmy.world avatar

This is starting to tick me off. Now you’ve got me all wound up!

makingStuffForFun,
@makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml avatar

I have no time for such things.

Alexstarfire, do games w Of course someone has Doom running on Nintendo Alarmo now

A what?

Bonesince1997,

The latest Nintendo!

heavy, do games w Of course someone has Doom running on Nintendo Alarmo now

Now make it so you have to beat e1m1 for the alarm to turn off.

mercano, do games w Of course someone has Doom running on Nintendo Alarmo now
@mercano@lemmy.world avatar

Next up: Skyrim. “Hey, you. You’re finally awake.”

catloaf, do games w Of course someone has Doom running on Nintendo Alarmo now

Neat! Good to see it’s actually running Doom, and not a “we replaced everything in the case” thing.

Ioughttamow, do games w Of course someone has Doom running on Nintendo Alarmo now

I almost forgot the alarmo

Fuzzy_Red_Panda, do games w Playdate Season 2 drops in 2025, but firm release details, price, and games all still to be finalised

I really like my Playdate, and I say this as someone who was very critical of it before it came out ("No color or backlight? Only A and B buttons? Why would anyone pay $200 for that?) and received it as a gift from my very intuitive husband. I am still very critical of the fact that there is no backlight, but the damn thing is so cute and charming. I like playing games on it.

I’m very disappointed that the dock just got shelved and won’t be released. Now I have to make my own or buy an Etsy one. :(

Lost_My_Mind, do games w Playdate Season 2 drops in 2025, but firm release details, price, and games all still to be finalised

I like the concept of the playdate. I even like the little gimmicky crank. I don’t like the non-backlit screen. And the price is a deal breaking barrier to entry for me.

Make this thing $60, and put a decent color screen on it, and I’m sold.

ABCDE,

Black and white (or whatever colour) with backlight is fine. If I can buy an Anbernic or whatever the buggery for <$50, this can be not much more.

Lost_My_Mind,

If I recall correctly, the playdate was $250 a year ago. Not sure if it’s the same price today. But that was enough to stop my purchade a year ago.

floofloof,

$199 now. Still seems a bit overpriced.

ABCDE,

“A bit”, my lord.

“Since the beginning, the number one question from Playdate owners has been: ‘When will there be another Season?’” says Greg Maletic, Playdate project lead.

I’m pretty sure it was ‘why is it so damn expensive’.

Badeendje,
@Badeendje@lemmy.world avatar

That’s the question from non customers.

ABCDE,

If I bought it and realised that’s all I got, I’d be wondering that.

Badeendje,
@Badeendje@lemmy.world avatar

Hehe… true also

Atherel,

Ufff, why would you buy one of these instead of a r36s or similar

MurrayL,

Because it has a library of interesting and innovative exclusives, making use of an unusual control input. Whether that makes it worth it or not is personal preference, but you can’t disagree that it offers something unique.

Virkkunen,
@Virkkunen@fedia.io avatar

Because they are different devices serving different purposes. The r36s is a portable emulator that'll run games from different consoles; the playdate is a portable console that runs games made specifically for the playdate.

ABCDE,

Bonkers.

Coelacanth,
@Coelacanth@feddit.nu avatar

I love Lucas Pope and would like to one day play Mars After Midnight, but I’m not paying over 200 bucks for one of these anytime soon.

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