Aug 15th, 2022, 09:03 PM
I was talking with @ShiraNoMai last night about how almost all of Naughty Dog's games since Uncharted 1 have the same issue of the first few chapters being good on the first playthrough, but being a real slog when I replay any of those games because they're designed to ease the player in, set up the story/world/characters, and tend to be built around walking and talking with minimal interesting stuff to do if you go through those sections already knowing all the setup. To give examples for those who haven't played any of these games or did but don't remember:
Demon's Souls on PS5 is another game that really faltered for me on my second playthrough to the point I actually dropped it for now. Knowing that I could just go straight to the end boss if I saw fit made it hard to be incentivized to do all the other bosses beforehand, especially when most of the content I missed the first time is because I needed Pure White World Tendency which is limited in what can be done to achieve it in a single playthrough, and I knew some of the areas were impossible to get to that tendency in my second run which meant I knew I would have to hope I could get it in my third, and it just felt bleh knowing that a lot of unseen things were going to still be locked to me and so a lot of the second playthrough was just going to be doing the same shit as the first time and not being able to look forward to anything new to discover, unlike something like Bloodborne where things I missed the first time were because I simply missed them, and not because I was necessarily locked out from something that requires multiple playthroughs done in a particular way to meet an unlock requirement.
On the other hand, to give something to praise for how to deal with its opening, I appreciate that Horizon Zero Dawn skips the prologue tutorial section on NG+ and puts you straight into the present-day story. It was a breath of fresh air to find a story based game that knew its prologue wasn't really necessary or interesting to go through on NG+ and so just skips it. The only other game I can think of that lets you choose to skip an opening segment that's designed to ease the player into the mechanics is Silent Bomber, where the tutorial chapter can be skipped so you can just go right into the main game.
What about you folks? What games have you played that falter somewhere in subsequent playthroughs for any particular reason, or games that manage to avoid falling into that trap like HZD does?
- Uncharted 1 - Doesn't pick up consistently until the second half of Chapter 3. Everything before that is walking, talking, platforming, and waiting for NPC dialogue/actions in order to progress except for Chapter 1 which lasts less than 10 minutes.
- Uncharted 2 - After the set piece opening, sticks you into a 15-20+ minute stealth level filled with constant interruptions of in-game cutscenes and NPC dialogue/actions you have to wait on.
- Uncharted 3 - Opening chapter is fine, but it takes until Chapter 5 to get into the consistent cycle of action-packed moments and downtime moments.
- The Last of Us - If you've picked up on a consistent theme here, you're correct. This game too opens up with a fine opening chapter, but then instantly goes to two and a half chapters of just walking and talking with slow puzzle solving before it starts to deliver consistent action gameplay mixed with downtime to balance things out through the rest of the game.
- The Last of Us 2 - Very slow opening with a lot of walking and talking. Combat and action come in about 2/3 of the way into the acts that make up Chapter 1, but then Chapter 2 opens with a lot of walking, talking, and combat in a big open area which has two sections that are required and the rest are optional, and the first time it's interesting to check out everything but the second time I get bored having to traverse this big open area of nothing to reach each section in it that has something to do. Imagine a small open world game that has nothing to do in the world and instead just has little mission areas dotted in it and you're just going to each one in an area that's nice the first time because it's new and you have no idea what you'll find, but the second time you know there's nothing going on outside of the little areas that connect to this larger hub.
Demon's Souls on PS5 is another game that really faltered for me on my second playthrough to the point I actually dropped it for now. Knowing that I could just go straight to the end boss if I saw fit made it hard to be incentivized to do all the other bosses beforehand, especially when most of the content I missed the first time is because I needed Pure White World Tendency which is limited in what can be done to achieve it in a single playthrough, and I knew some of the areas were impossible to get to that tendency in my second run which meant I knew I would have to hope I could get it in my third, and it just felt bleh knowing that a lot of unseen things were going to still be locked to me and so a lot of the second playthrough was just going to be doing the same shit as the first time and not being able to look forward to anything new to discover, unlike something like Bloodborne where things I missed the first time were because I simply missed them, and not because I was necessarily locked out from something that requires multiple playthroughs done in a particular way to meet an unlock requirement.
On the other hand, to give something to praise for how to deal with its opening, I appreciate that Horizon Zero Dawn skips the prologue tutorial section on NG+ and puts you straight into the present-day story. It was a breath of fresh air to find a story based game that knew its prologue wasn't really necessary or interesting to go through on NG+ and so just skips it. The only other game I can think of that lets you choose to skip an opening segment that's designed to ease the player into the mechanics is Silent Bomber, where the tutorial chapter can be skipped so you can just go right into the main game.
What about you folks? What games have you played that falter somewhere in subsequent playthroughs for any particular reason, or games that manage to avoid falling into that trap like HZD does?