GameStop will remind you every time you get a new game that you can save so much money by getting a strategy guide with the game. Now, generous as this may sound, the majority of you have discovered GameFAQs by now, or at least IGN Guides, so it's not really necessary to drop money down for this. It is nice, however, to have that information on your lap and in flippable form, because if there's one thing that computers haven't quite worked out yet, it's how to make text seem book-tangible.
Selling strategy guides doesn't bother me so much, though I will never buy one. What does bother me is that the complete game documentation is printed before the game is even released. Maybe not 100% complete, but complete enough. Doesn't that immediately defeat the purpose of game secrets? Many of you will immediately cling to a specific game secret that isn't in your strategy guide, but that's still not the point I'm trying to make.
I'm currently reviewing what the latest Fallout 3 DLC's, Point Lookout and Mothership Zeta, have to offer. It's exciting because Fallout 3 getting bigger is obviously a good thing. Unlike most people, however, I have not purchased any of the DLC's yet because I'm holding out for the disc-compilations. From the sounds of it I might not have to buy the PC version again in GOTY form. Eventually, I'll get around to playing these expansions as thoroughly as I've played the core game, but that's not going to happen for a while. Ghostbusters kept me indoors for a full three days, and I don't want to submit myself to Fallout addiction so soon after that.
My lack of DLC love might show through in this next statement, but I am increasingly faulting Bethesda for the lack of JRPG love shown in the DLC's.
Yes, I said JRPG.
If there's one thing that stopped me from pursuing the DLC's, it's that there was nothing particularly “extra” that I needed to find in the Capital Wasteland. Everything was an exterior add-on. Every single DLC sent you somewhere else, and with the exception of Broken Steel, nothing gave you much incentive to stay on the original map. I haven't trekked over to The Vault lately because I don't really like ruining the experience, but not one Bethesda person has said anything about a “surprise” in the Wasteland, and that's a shame.
This is where JRPG's tend to shine, and also immediately fail. There is a nice little niche in the JRPG community that involves completing the most frustrating challenges known to gamers. Whether it be one of Final Fantasy VII's Weapons or one of the recent Persona's trend of “ultimate” bosses, the JRPG developers seem to know that there is only so much a person can do with the main quest before they begin to want that extra something.
From a plot standpoint, this is a terrific opportunity to insert philosophy or bits of hidden information that will lead to outside the box thinking. There have been many people over the years that have had theories about what else might actually be in a game, or at the very least, suggested. Final Fantasy was notorious for having these extra bits in the VI-VIII series. In VI, which practically launched GameFAQs in the minds of most people, there were constant attempts to revive a certain NPC (before Aeris happened), discover the identity of a bonus character, and to get a little bit more information about yet another party member. In VII, there was the Aeris revival (and if I need to spoiler rig that, you really don't need to be reading this blog). In VIII, there was speculation that a boss character was intricately linked to an important party member on more than just mere circumstance.
Fallout 3 contains none of these little hidden extras. There is a bit, yes, but everything that could have been hidden in the Wasteland has been found and known about since day 1. So far, there have been five opportunities to really get the gamers chasing that extra challenge, and since a player can easily dominate this game once they've played Godzilla in D.C. for a while, it was sorely needed. Who cares if the level cap was changed to 30? That means very little to me if there's nothing to really go after. For a game this expansive, I was extremely impressed with the scope, but there was something missing once level 18 happened. Exploring became more of a chore than a search for truly hidden things. I enjoy the chase, and for the fans of the JRPG community, this was a great opportunity to draw them in. The only “man in black” that could have truly saved this game with an amazing, mysterious backstory was handed to the player on a silver platter in the first hour.
In the age of a strategy guide, this was something truly necessary to give the community a shot of intrigue. Ever since Final Fantasy VI kicked off the GameFAQs RPG conquest, every bit of every game has been known about since day one of its US release. If I could only remember who said this, I would quote that person, but a developer once said that the greatest success a developer could have with gameplay is knowing that the gamer feels like they have created a solution to the game on their own. That statement was made to solving a challenge within a game, but it also applies to the feeling of discovery. We are in a gaming age where we can now create worlds that demand square miles of real estate. You (developers) are telling me that there isn't anything else we can hide in there?
I searched for a while, and understandably I couldn't find a single game that had more secrets to offer after its first year of release. This is understandable, since you can't exactly drop a couple of hints on a half a million people and expect them to not notice. Still, why not? Why hasn't there been a game that still has secrets to this day? Why is there not a game out there with a little bit more to it than meets the eye?
In my mind, Fallout 3 really screwed up in this respect, and that's a strong opinion considering how much I love the game. With all that space, I am simply amazed they haven't inserted something into the background for the gamers to discover on their own without it already being in print somewhere. I don't see why this can't happen in the future. It's not so much to slam Bethesda, but come on. It can't hurt to stick a little extra in there to reward a gamer that really wants to discover something in a world they are supposed to be exploring in the first place.
As for strategy guides, I don't hate them because they are meant for the gamer who needs a little guidance. That's all well and good, but it's tough to have a unique experience when everything is already on the table. Strategy guides have babied us for a while, and it would be nice for a developer to shun that once and a while. The Dark Spire, for example, has no strategy guide that I know of. GameFAQs has tackled it already, of course, but at least someone is trying to give a throwback feel to RPG discovery. I hate to admit it, but I really do miss the days when you could be stuck on finding the solution to a main quest problem for a couple of days. There was a sense of discovery to that you simply don't find in current games. I tried playing King's Quest a month ago, and I was amazed at how frequently I visited GameFAQs for answers. It was embarrassing.
This actually tempts me to perform a little experiment. More on that later.
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