Note to Developers: Chases
Author:
For all the skills you have in Drakensang, the game doesn’t give you a lot of flexibility in how you deal with situations. They tend to be rigidly scripted. You can’t target the pack of giant rats from a distance because you have to trigger the “encounter” in order for them to become targetable. Your perception ability won’t allow you to find that hidden item because you’re supposed to find out about it from the barmaid first. You can’t use stealth to sneak up on the group that your chasing because the script calls for a lengthy chase sequence. Okay, fine, its a linear game but this last case - the chase scene - was a particular annoyance. What’s that? You want to me to rant about it? Well, okay.
Now, everybody who has played videogames for any length of time knows that most chase scenes are rigged. NPC’s will tell you to hurry up because somebody is getting away and every second counts but, in reality, you can take as long as you want and when you turn the next corner, your quarry will be just a few steps ahead of you. Drakensang is no exception in this regard and I can accept that it’s a legitimate design decision. I’m willing to suspend my disbelief and plunge headlong after the murderous band that is ostensibly trying to evade me.
The problem is, while I’m willing to play along, the game seems intent to thwart me by throwing up distractions from the sidelines! My dwarf keeps detecting hidden side-passages with (rather unimpressive) bits of loot in them. Now I’m forced to make a choice between role-playing the chase and skipping the loot or grabbing the loot and destroying the believability of the scenario. Why would a designer want to present me with that choice? Either way, I’m going to catch these guys. Why reward the player for ruining the scene?
This is not the first time I’ve seen this in a game. So a word of advice to game designers: If you want me to behave in a certain way, don’t tempt me to do otherwise!