hulot said:
Definitely. I remember opening my menu after every fight, every container, every step to check on my equipment. I mean, pressing that start button constantly was incredibly cinematic, nay, even more ever since you can't change equipment in the movie theater. Truly an organic experience. I almost forgot I was playing a game and was really living the experience.
You got me there. :lol
Obviously sacrifices have to be made for a video game (or at least, up to this point in video game history, are being made). You don't get XP in real life. Nor can you carry 20 weapons in your back pocket. But theres some necessary sacrifices and some unnecessary ones. To me, its a better experience to not take the player out of the game world as much as possible.
The pause menu stuff is there either because:
- you do want out of the experience (save game/quit)
- you want to immerse yourself into the experience more (journal/codex)
- you want to change your armor/weapon upgrades-- it would be nearly impossible to do this in a non-menu situation just do to the limitations of input devices in games
I think the big thing about the Mission Complete screen is that it seems to be in the middle of a scene transition (although I haven't played enough to see if it happens in places when you don't transition). Even if the Mission Complete stuff was absolutely necessary, I could see them doing it in a more clever way (like not taking up the whole screen so you can still see the game world) so it doesn't feel as much like an omniscient point of view. When you are pausing the game you aren't transitioning to another scene, you go back right to where you were so its not as jarring.
stupei said:
Like I said, it doesn't break the experience for me at all. It reads like a debriefing. It's the paperwork that would exist if this were real. If Shepard really were out there in the field doing this shit, there would be paperwork filed detailing the results of the mission. Lengthy cut scenes would only seem to belabor the point, though, and this is a more visually interesting way of getting the information across than just a list.
And unlike the last person, I don't care about whether or not I "miss" anything, I just like the reminder at the end of how many credits I got in total and the quick reference for things I might want to go upgrade in the lab immediately.
Obviously you're going to feel about it however you feel and there's no changing that I'm sure, it's just unfortunate that it brings you out of the experience because to me it really enhances it.
I think keeping the "gamey" stuff behind the scenes is what enhances the immersion of a game. I agree theres things that you have to show (and know) like credits. But I just think theres a better way. Like actually having a credit count on the HUD that pops up everytime your credit amount increases/decreases. I know that if a game like Assassin's Creed 2 was HUD free/menu free it would be impossible to play-- but I admire the way that they rarely take you out of the experience of playing as Desmond/Ezio. Even those guys made concessions with AC2 such as adding more indicators on the screen (like when guards are investigating you) but they managed to stay away from overt behind the curtains stuff and still managed to make a game where it was clear what you did and where you were supposed to go next. It ended up being a game that more people completed than the previous game.
