Escort missions?

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

Dead Rising is about the only game where doing escort missions is actually fun. But then Dead Rising is a game built around escort missions.

 

[Shinji]

Ico (2001) is the only example of a game with good escort missions, because this is the entire premise of the game, which is therefore designed around it.

Yeah, I'm thinking unless the game is entirely designed around that interaction from the ground up it's hard for escort missions to be entertaining.

Dead Rising is another good example.

 

[itsme]

World of Warships has pretty decent PVE escort missions.

 

[Iucounu]

Stalker Clear Sky has a nice escort mission to Witcher's Circle in Red Forest (perhaps not so much mechanically as for the atmosphere).

I think escort missions in general should work with good AI, then it wouldn't be any different than a regular companion except for the writing.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

Dragon's Dogma had a lot of them. They don't tell you that doing them could help you raise approval from certain characters. They also don't tell you that you can use the crystals to teleport and the escorted character will teleport with you (or so they did last time I played).

They tend to be terrible in general, in every game. Most of the time it's just busy work or an excuse to include narrative bits.

 

[Fargus]

Dragon's Dogma had a lot of them.

Noob moment, but it's funny how an escort mission in DD ended up being one of the most memorable for me. I took it very early so instead of an ordinary job i got hell of a journey where i almost died fighting those ghosts for 15 minutes. I thought i wasn't going to make it. And kickass soundtrack made it even better.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Dragon's Dogma had a lot of them. They don't tell you that doing them could help you raise approval from certain characters. They also don't tell you that you can use the crystals to teleport and the escorted character will teleport with you (or so they did last time I played).

They tend to be terrible in general, in every game. Most of the time it's just busy work or an excuse to include narrative bits.

Escort missions in Dragon's Dogma are good only in that the player can plunk a portcrystal down near the terminus of the mission before starting it, then initiate the mission and immediately teleport to the destination, thus avoiding the need to conduct any actual escorting. Also, they're entirely optional notice-board quests (aside from delivering Madeleine to the Encampment or taking Quina through the Witchwood, but those are trivially easy, and Quina can actually help in combat a bit).

 

[Elttharion]

Only escort missions I remember enjoying were the ones present in some of the Ace Combat games were you have to protect your allies against enemy aircraft.

 

[Raghar]

Have you ever enjoyed one? Any game, any genre? Which ones are your favorites?

I'm struggling to think of a single one

Of course Ancient made Gotta Protectors: Cart of Darkness where every level is an escort mission, which I assume plays well enough (I don't actually know), but that's different from a game that places escort missions in a more general simulation engine.

I remember all these rich people who are playing games, and all that butthurt that escort mission causes. And then I find I finished escort mission already. They are typically not a problem.

 

[Thalstarion]

I'm largely indifferent to them. It really depends on the game and context.

If a character is injured or physically weak then it makes sense for them to move relatively slowly. It really frustrates me when a character is capable of fighting but simply doesn't help in any way. If you're generally in a life or death situation even something as simple as picking up a rock and throwing it can help immensely.

That being said, I also account for the age of the game in relation to how complex the AI is capable of being.

A bit of a niche game, perhaps, but I liked the escort missions in Forbidden Siren - a Japanese horror game.

 

[Nutmeg]

Dragon's Dogma had a lot of them. They don't tell you that doing them could help you raise approval from certain characters. They also don't tell you that you can use the crystals to teleport and the escorted character will teleport with you (or so they did last time I played).

They tend to be terrible in general, in every game. Most of the time it's just busy work or an excuse to include narrative bits.

Escort missions in Dragon's Dogma are good only in that the player can plunk a portcrystal down near the terminus of the mission before starting it, then initiate the mission and immediately teleport to the destination, thus avoiding the need to conduct any actual escorting. Also, they're entirely optional notice-board quests (aside from delivering Madeleine to the Encampment or taking Quina through the Witchwood, but those are trivially easy, and Quina can actually help in combat a bit).

Or that fucking cart at the start of the game

 

[Nutmeg]

They are typically not a problem.

Yes but are they enjoyable/memorable compared to other kinds of missions?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Or that fucking cart at the start of the game

What did the cart do to you lmao

 

[Nutmeg]

Or that fucking cart at the start of the game

What did the cart do to you lmao

It was so slooooow.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Or that fucking cart at the start of the game

What did the cart do to you lmao

It was so slooooow.

Yeah, plenty of time to jump on it and read a book irl till something happened.