I think that an excess of information can be detrimental to the enjoyment of many games. This gets us in two ways:
- Thanks to over-abundant media coverage, we already know what the game's about, who the main character is, what kind of gameplay we'll experience way before the game is even released. Now I know that if trailers don't show the game off they won't be very successful, and if I just don't follow up on a game it'll end up being a surprise for me, but in our day and age information is hard to avoid.
- In-game tutorials and waypoints becoming constant annoyances rather than helpful reminders. Take Alan Wake, for example; there's never a time in that game that you're truly lost in the woods. And as we all know Final Fantasy XIII takes it's tutorial practically through the whole story.
I can perfectly understand that the industry has changed significantly in it's way of doing things, and that it's become a necessity to maintain a solid exchange of information between the game and the player, but why is it that newer games seem so unwilling to let the player simply explore and take matters into his own hands? And just a word of advice, the next time you have the chance, buy yourself a game that you know absolutely nothing about; that's how I got Chrono Cross and Persona 3, after all!
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