Best way to kick-off in an RPG

[laclongquan]

make the tutorial optional the VTMB way: you can take it and get a few weapons at the start of the game, and some XP. Dont want to take it? Fine. The loots are not too important. Convenient and profitable in early stage, yes, but not a requirement.

Why? Because I always choose to take that tutorial. The most important thing is to get full ammo for that police SW gun. on the other hand, If I dont use guns, or hate that piece of crap of a gun, I could ignore the tutorial and jump straight into the game with only a very small disadvantage.

No one ever complain that VTMB force you to play tuto.

 

[Unradscorpion]

So what would be the point of it?

You want to reward the player for boring himself with an unneeded tutorial.

 

[soggie]

So what would be the point of it?

You want to reward the player for boring himself with an unneeded tutorial.

This. I don't believe in enticing the player to go through a boring tutorial just to start off with better equipment and a few extra XP.

 

[Zeus]

Rewarding the player for completing monotonous tasks is what gaming is all about!

Just think of it this way, that newbie-friendly starting equipment is going to go a long way in the hands of an amateur. An experienced gamer/someone playing through the game on their 5th time is probably going to have a lot better exploits in mind (nearby hidden weapons caches, enemies you can easily defeat and loot, etc) so they won't need to bother.

Of course EXP... eh, that's kind of a different matter. Unlike some newbie weapon you discard and forget, EXP is going to bring you closer to unlocking the really cool stuff, so yeah, I'd feel compelled to complete a tutorial (I did not need) if I'd miss out on EXP otherwise. Especially in a game with no respawning enemies where every bit counts.

 

[soggie]

Rewarding the player for completing monotonous tasks is what gaming is all about!

Just think of it this way, that newbie-friendly starting equipment is going to go a long way in the hands of an amateur. An experienced gamer/someone playing through the game on their 5th time is probably going to have a lot better exploits in mind (nearby hidden weapons caches, enemies you can easily defeat and loot, etc) so they won't need to bother.

Of course EXP... eh, that's kind of a different matter. Unlike some newbie weapon you discard and forget, EXP is going to bring you closer to unlocking the really cool stuff, so yeah, I'd feel compelled to complete a tutorial (I did not need) if I'd miss out on EXP otherwise. Especially in a game with no respawning enemies where every bit counts.

Which brings to question the balance of it all. For newbies, getting extra loot MIGHT aid them in surviving the early game portion, but make it (the equipment) too powerful and you'd end up with little to no challenge at all. Make it too weak however, renders the tutorial obsolete when you can find better weapons 5 minutes into the game.

I believe tutorials should serve as an information cache and nothing else. The only incentive in going through the tutorial is to gain more information about the game's setting and story.

 

[laclongquan]

VTMB tuto give you a gun, and some crappy melee weapons, and all of them can be had a few minutes into the game. Unlimited ammo for that crappy SW, however, is not. You want a full ammo belt for that, you pay big dough.

VTMB does great in that aspect, never let anyone tell you otherwise.

 

[Unradscorpion]

Still no good argument for it.