I have a problem with action-adventure games…
I like adventure games. I like the investigating, the puzzle solving, the strong story-lines. I like action games and first-person shooters. But recently I found that I have a problem with Nintendo-styletm action-adventure games. This genre includes the recent Zelda, Metroid, and Paper Mario games. I haven't finished any of the recent games in any of those categories. I've gotten to the final boss and lost interest and it's not because they're not good games and that I didn't enjoy the gameplay or the stories. It's because they're too predictable.
If you've played any of these games lately you know what I mean when I say that they are predictable. At any given point in the game you know how far along in the story you are. In Super Paper Mario it's established very early in the game that you have to collect the eight pure hearts. You then embark to complete that task, but once you have four you know you're half-way done. The same with Phantom Hourglass, the latest Zelda game for the DS. You know you need to get the three spirits, then the three pure metals, and you're pretty much done. By the end of the game I feel like I've been doing the same thing over and over. When you finish a world or temple or defeat a boss you return back to a "home" location and some mentor tells you to go to the next world/temple which is now unlocked. That's not plot. There's no variety in the objectives. It's too repetitive.
Here's my second problem. I'm a collector. It's my personality. I'm the one that needs to "catch 'em all" and not just beat the game in pokemon. That's a problem when you know that you are ten minutes away from the final boss and you haven't collected everything. I can't finish the game yet because I'm not done. I don't have all the recipes in Super Paper Mario. I don't have all the scans in Metroid. I don't have all the heart containers in Zelda. So the only option I have is to put the narrative on hold and set out on a quest to complete my collections. But then you find out that some of the things you have to collect were one-shot deals, they don't exist anymore in the game. I would have known that if I were following a walkthrough, but I like to beat the game myself, using my own problem solving skills. Inevitably, I lose interest due to the stalled narrative or get too discouraged and I stop playing. Ten minutes to completion and I stop.
There has to be a solution to this. First, games need to have plots with varying objectives. Don't make the entire game a quest to find eight identical-except-for-hue items. It makes the game too predictable and the ending is never fun when you see it coming from a mile away. Maybe try a story that has some real depth, some layers to peel away, some plot twists that happen before act three. Second, don't put collectible items in parts of the game that I can't access from at any point in the narrative. Yes, I know it sounds like I'm asking for the game to be easier because I'm too lame to get the items in my first go round, but really, does it make the task of collecting everything less meaningful if I can go back to the beginning and get something I missed. It's the effort I have to take to collect everything that should make it meaningful not that I did the right thing at the right time. Don't make me have to follow along with a walkthrough to make sure I didn't miss an item; it ruins my experience.
Hopefully someone will figure out away; in the mean-time I look forward to completing 90% of many more games.
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