Much as I am loathe to agree you with Hassun (you monster) I feel you on this point.
XPmania, MiniMapmania, SideQuestmania - games are just chock full of this stuff. It's all nightmarish to me.
I know I am in danger of inviting some real hate here, but bear with me for a second, because I'm going to talk about Shenmue.
I've been playing it for the first time since seeing it in the ER. Why do I love Shenume? Why does it make me feel relaxed? Breath easy? Chill?
No XP bars. No level ups. No lists to tick off. No disgusting mini map. No marked side quests. No numbers going up, no numbers going down. No nothing. The only numbers in the game are the slowly swirling hands of the clock. Even the fact that "Martial Arts Move Mastery" is indicated by a coloured bar rather than a number filling up 8000/10000 is a massive step in the right direction (you know, if this wasn't a game from the past). To some extent I think when humans see a number like 3/5 or 223123/230000 we just NEED to fill that shit up. If Shenmue was made today you'd have XP fucking everywhere. After every conversation, every fight. First time visiting a store? XP. First time buying a capsule? XP. First time listening to a tape? XP. Oh now you got *all* the capsules? Well how about BIG XP BONUS! Instead of playing the game you end up playing the Get XP Game.
@geraltitude: I only posted an incomplete piece earlier so I took it down. Thanks for the reply though.
I'll try to make a more complete post about it in the future. Maybe even write to the Bombcast since Brad and Jeff are both hugely into the numbers going up and loot treadmills.
@hassun: you should, "numbers going up" mentality and feedback loop trends have run amuck, would be interesting to hear from someone on the other side of that coin. Bombcast-write-in a good idea.
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