Vaeliorin wrote...
You're missing the point of my analogy, however. I'm simply claiming that there's no reason not to include advanced options that might not necessarily be something that everyone should be changing.
That isn't the counter argument. The counter argument is that we should only include options where people have a
good idea of what they're changing. If it becomes unpredictable, it can wreck games.
The distinction between FF toggles and the scenarios you gave is a baseline of experience. Someone who even considers messing with the more core architecture of the game
already has the knowledge and skill to predict, to some extent, what these actions may or may not do.
It is also a different
kind of modification that a UI (and therefore developer) sanctioned one. It involves a different expectation of guaranteed performance.
I personally don't care if hard with FF is somehow easier than normal with FF (though I doubt such a thing would occur) because I feel that if people want to mess around with the advanced options, they always do so at their own risk.
Except that people won't feel this way. And as a designer, your goal is to maximize your sales and reception of your game, not stick out your tongue and tell people what they are responsible for.
Bioware has a practical problem as a designer. If you want to say you think that problem is irrelevant as should be ignored - that's your perrogative. This isn't a constraint you can handwave away.
But it would be like arguing that any popular feature should be removed for an unpopular one, ultimately because you don't care if the game sells or not.
The point is to give people who are more experienced with the system/comfortable messing around with it options that aren't necessarily options that less experienced users should be playing around with. To be fair, you can already (on PC) mess around with the friendly fire options as much as you want, it's simply a pain in the butt to do so. I'd like to be able to do it without having it be such a pain in the butt, and while at it, allow that functionality to the console users as well.
The
problem is that you have to make it clear that this is a feature for experts.
On DA:O PC, you have to legitimately attempt to reprogram the game. Once you have a developer sanctioned option to do something, it has to be stable.
Let me put it this way: developers could include bugged semi-finished content into the game and then just label it ''play at your own risk''.
The problem with that is that players have an expectation that were such content included, it would work. The likely reaction is not 'Gee, thanks Bioware for more options!'' but rather''WTF Bioware you wrecked my game''.
As I mentioned above, I don't think such a thing is relevant in what would be labeled as an advanced user option. If people who aren't advanced users mess with something labeled as being for advanced users, and as a result cause themselves some grief, they have noone but themselves to blame (though, of course, knowing our society they will, in fact, blame everyone except themselves.)
A toggle is not something for advanced users. It's a button that changes one feature. It's like saying enabling film grain is for ''advanced users''.
Consumers won't buy that argument. This is a realistic constraint on the developers.
Retour en haut
. I'm replaying BG2 and my charachter is level 11 and has allready 75% fire protection + 25% Ice and electricity. Without spell or anything, just passive protection from items. Then, for very difficult fights, I just need some elemental protection scrolls and the trick is done. While for the others fight I just need to use druids/clerical protection spells (not to talk about potions and such).
