These blogs are all short, I don't want to read 2,000 words from a random stranger so I don't expect you to. Shao Kahn in Mortal Kombat (2011) is cheap. I know this, you know this, but for some reason my wife didn't know this. So, last night I lay there trying to explain to her what a cheap moment was and why it was so annoying. I said, "Cheap is when you spend a whole game being told 'this is the way you play this game' and then you are presented with a situation where those rules no longer apply." And then she dropped the perceptive bombshell, "Yeah, that's just lazy and uncreative." As our scar-faced gangster, Omar says, "Oh, indeed."
Do cheap moments mean bad game design?
These blogs are all short, I don't want to read 2,000 words from a random stranger so I don't expect you to. Shao Kahn in Mortal Kombat (2011) is cheap. I know this, you know this, but for some reason my wife didn't know this. So, last night I lay there trying to explain to her what a cheap moment was and why it was so annoying. I said, "Cheap is when you spend a whole game being told 'this is the way you play this game' and then you are presented with a situation where those rules no longer apply." And then she dropped the perceptive bombshell, "Yeah, that's just lazy and uncreative." As our scar-faced gangster, Omar says, "Oh, indeed."
I'd say that a few FF bosses are incredibly cheap, but you don't have to really change the way you play-you just have to do it more.
I don't think Shao Kahn is lazy or uncreative. I think he's how the guys at Netherrealm wanted him to be. Nice Kill Bill avatar, by the way. I think.
Yeah, I think so. I believe good game design means the developers can create a challenge with the rules they set during the game. For a recent example, Portal 2. Every puzzle, and the final boss fight, can be solved with the rules you learn throughout the game.
" These blogs are all short, I don't want to read 2,000 words from a random stranger so I don't expect you to.^THIS^
I seriously wish more people would adopt this attitude toward blogging.
Too many of the blogs on Giant Bomb are just so fucking long-winded and pointless. Which is unfortunate because Giant Bomb attracts a good crowd, but so many of them buy into the myth that the only good blog post is a long, rambling, multi-media blog post. But dull is dull no matter how many coats of paint you slop on it.
Which brings me to another pet peeve, the "top poster" myth. Again, all that matters is volume. Just sit your ass in front of the terminal and post 50 inane responses per day for a month and you too can be a "top poster." But, why the fuck would I? Why does anyone? (Well, other than for massive case of OCD.)
People can be so weird. :-D
I think you forgot that during the 90s the majority of games were "cheap". Super star wars for the SNES, TMNT for the NES, The Lion King's second level with the ostriches... Shao Khan is slightly below a typical SNK boss.
There are two sides. Sometimes it's bad game design when something cheap happens(Death, end of a level) but sometimes it's a tool to open up a game to inexperienced players. A good player playing a cheap character has little more chance than a weak playing using the same character. On the other hand a Good player using a tough character is more likely to do well. It's like a tutorial.
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