I identified my own biggest turn-offs when playing Assassins Creed III and The Witcher 3. The first is the near instant over-filling of the map with icons representing busywork that begin to make the game tiresome before Ive barely even gotten started. Just opening the map and realising its mostly copy/paste gameplay made to extend any distinct content completely drains my motivation.
I appreciate a lot of it is meant to be optional but the last thing Im looking for in a game thats intended to be compelling and enjoyable is the internal conflict between wanting to ignore vast amounts of content and wanting to see the full game.
There have been exceptions, such as Marvels Spider-Man and Horizon Zero Dawn, where I know what Im getting into with each map marker and clearing it tends to actually be enjoyable more often than not.
My second beef is the game dumping a torrent of optional items available for consuming/purchasing/equipping/upgrading on me before Ive even figured out what the game is meant to be. Shout out to Red Dead Redemption II with its endless dire shop catalogues but it was also a big motivation drainer in The Witcher 3.
I seemed to cope a lot better with this in the likes of Dark Souls but maybe that was because I accepted pretty early you just choose a set up you like and go with it, and your different choices seemed to affect your experience in a satisfying way, while with others I just felt like saying one thing at a time, please.
None of this is to do with being overwhelmed per se, rather its about looking at a long slog in front of me and wondering if its worth the effort. Theres definitely something to be said for well-considered, compelling design that involves an element of funnelling players through till they recognise the point of everything they pick up.
(Dis)honourable mention to my third peeve, and to Mass Effect 3, which not only locked a seemingly compelling character with interesting backRead More – Source
