Irritations and Failures in comparable games

[Seradest]

None of us want 'Overgrowth' to have any bad aspects which could ruin the experience. Even the pros mess something up from time-to-time. We list aspects we don't like in other games to help the developers avoid them here.

[Endoperez]

What would be comparable games?

Tekken and other fighting games in that mold are about learning tricks, while Lugaru was about getting a feeling for it. Button mashing shouldn't work in Overgrowth - but then, there won't be that many buttons to mash any way.

Mount & Blade tries to simulate fighting, but ends up being a game with very few attacks that seem more interesting than in comparable games because the control scheme is more immersive. The "choose a direction to defend against" mechanic is one of the most annoying things about it, and I always disable it. If I am able to react to an attack by pressing defense button, I shouldn't take damage. If choosing a certain direction during the defensive maneuver gave you an advantage (a counter or whatever), that'd be fine, as long as moving into a wrong direction didn't penalize you.

[nutcracker]

I did not care about manual block in M&B, I thought it was great. Atleast with my rocking awesome reflexes.

[WallyWorld]

I usually disabled it too. I didn't so much have a problem with the system, or using it to block attacks, it would just get annoying in long battles with my mouse that is set to rather high sensitivity for other games that I play. It also probably didn't help that I am a rather tend to move a bit while fighting, making the game think I wanted to block one direction instead of the other if I didn't work the controls just right.

[Endoperez]

I did not care about manual block in M&B, I thought it was great. Atleast with my rocking awesome reflexes.

Which was great? The manual blocking, or M&B?

M&B is fun, and the manual blocking detracts from that fun, so I never felt like trying to learn what I felt was a superfluous layer on an otherwise good combat system. The "directionless" blocking felt much more comfortable than the manual blocking.

[Sumguy720]

Doesn't matter what game it is, I HATE losing a lot of progress when I forget to save. Autosaves rule!

[Renegade_Turner]

Quicksaves + Autosaves = Less Pulling Hair Out

[Ylvali]

Quicksaves can make the game too easy.

I like how it is in Max payne in the hardest difficulty, when you get like only 3 saves per level and has to choose when to use the wisely.

[Renegade_Turner]

What an inane rationalisation, blaming a computer game for you abusing its quicksave function.

Limiting saved games only gives an illusion of challenge. It's pretty much artificially creating a challenge.

[Pablopa99]

They should just make them like Lugaru, auto saving after each mission with no saves inside the mission.

[Renegade_Turner]

What if the format was different to Lugaru? What if there wasn't a linear mission-by-mission progression? More open-world? I'm not saying what's going to happen, but if the game progression was going to be similar to Lugaru in that there would be a mission-by-mission scenario, that would definitely work out, but if not what do you do?

[Sandurz]

what do you do?

Do some blow and make some bad decisions.

[nutcracker]

I did not care about manual block in M&B, I thought it was great. Atleast with my rocking awesome reflexes.

Which was great? The manual blocking, or M&B?

M&B is fun, and the manual blocking detracts from that fun, so I never felt like trying to learn what I felt was a superfluous layer on an otherwise good combat system. The "directionless" blocking felt much more comfortable than the manual blocking.

Both, MB and manual block were awesome, manual block = l33t 5k1ll5, you could do feints and shit, the enemy would be like, woooooouh while your like, "smash".
I was so pro that I saw through the feints man, through the feints.

First I liked autoblock but I learned the right way to go with the manual, and if it bothers, use a shield :p

[capn.lee]

What an inane rationalisation, blaming a computer game for you abusing its quicksave function.

do you think that was called for? do you really think jumping in feet first with arrogance was the correct measure to take? If a game has an exploitable feature, you can't blame the end user for exploiting it.

We're not even talking an unfair advantage from a bug in the game, the save game system is operating as intended, therefore it was a design issue.

It can be fixed using autosaves but these need to be manually placed to ensure that players aren't expected to replay parts that have been completed multiple times and also that an autosave doesn't force the player to load a game with one unit of health and no ammo. This sounds trivial (or "sounds inane" if you wish to misuse the word ) but it does mean more work and even different criteria in level design than allowing the user to set their own difficulty.

[Pablopa99]

What if the format was different to Lugaru? What if there wasn't a linear mission-by-mission progression? More open-world? I'm not saying what's going to happen, but if the game progression was going to be similar to Lugaru in that there would be a mission-by-mission scenario, that would definitely work out, but if not what do you do?

Then checkpoints are the way to go.