Don't you miss the days when you used a gun of choice in a videogame and when you pulled the trigger the enemies would react and either be wounded severely or die straight up? Well not so much anymore because shooters are becoming increasingly RPG-heavy and are starting to abandon what they are to incorporate grindy mechanics where you have to shoot the bad guys over and over and over again all the while you stare at the screen watching a white health bar slowly drain, potentially mirroring the patience you are losing after every shot and non-reaction. Then you have all these numbers that bounce off the enemy like their bad odor that stings your nostrils-these are hit points and they don't belong in any shooter at all whatsoever.
So why are these puny little insignificances a bad thing? They simply waste the player's time and they will increase your boredom quickly unless other parts of the game are so enticing that they can win you over. Examples of games that include these grindy features include Destiny and Borderlands among others-but in the past few years Ubisoft have snuck them into Assassins Creed and Far Cry. Now Assassins Creed has no business being an RPG-style game but this article isn't about Assassins Creed so much, it's about numbers and health bars-RPG systems that invade FPS games.
Now some might say that Borderlands is an RPG at heart and yes it has been recognised as an RPG first before anything else, but the tedium and grinding you have to put up with is overkill. Perhaps Borderlands caters to gamers who don't demand too much other than a lot of pointless virtual loot to collect, but how is it even remotely enjoyable to encounter enemies who are of a much higher level than you and you die again and again simply because your level isn't high enough to compete with them? It's like smashing your head into a brick wall until the wall shatters-which is something you might want to check out because those skull injuries could prove fatal. There's nothing wrong with working and earning your levels and levelling up but when your weapon with bullets in it can't even shoot a wrongdoer dead and you have to waste time levelling up so that you can magically shoot him dead-there's no reward in that at all. What you could have achieved and prospered if you didn't have to go off and shoot dead lower-levelled enemies just so you can shoot dead a higher level enemy is not even worth thinking about.
The upcoming Square Enix title Outriders looks to have incurred the same problems. At its core Outriders is a third-person shooter but the RPG elements incorporated look to pose as reminders of far more successful RPG/shooter hybrids but time will tell if it'll be at all successful in what it's trying to do.
Perhaps the best way to play games like Borderlands and Destiny is to go through them with other players-that way you're more likely to deal greater damage and the abilities you pick up will be put to much greater use. Playing any game is usually more enjoyable with other people online and locally, so when it comes to grindy FPS games they can at least be salvaged when played with other people, but they still should be modified and improved so the single-player gamers are catered for and the less repetition endured the better.
So why are these puny little insignificances a bad thing? They simply waste the player's time and they will increase your boredom quickly unless other parts of the game are so enticing that they can win you over. Examples of games that include these grindy features include Destiny and Borderlands among others-but in the past few years Ubisoft have snuck them into Assassins Creed and Far Cry. Now Assassins Creed has no business being an RPG-style game but this article isn't about Assassins Creed so much, it's about numbers and health bars-RPG systems that invade FPS games.
Now some might say that Borderlands is an RPG at heart and yes it has been recognised as an RPG first before anything else, but the tedium and grinding you have to put up with is overkill. Perhaps Borderlands caters to gamers who don't demand too much other than a lot of pointless virtual loot to collect, but how is it even remotely enjoyable to encounter enemies who are of a much higher level than you and you die again and again simply because your level isn't high enough to compete with them? It's like smashing your head into a brick wall until the wall shatters-which is something you might want to check out because those skull injuries could prove fatal. There's nothing wrong with working and earning your levels and levelling up but when your weapon with bullets in it can't even shoot a wrongdoer dead and you have to waste time levelling up so that you can magically shoot him dead-there's no reward in that at all. What you could have achieved and prospered if you didn't have to go off and shoot dead lower-levelled enemies just so you can shoot dead a higher level enemy is not even worth thinking about.
The upcoming Square Enix title Outriders looks to have incurred the same problems. At its core Outriders is a third-person shooter but the RPG elements incorporated look to pose as reminders of far more successful RPG/shooter hybrids but time will tell if it'll be at all successful in what it's trying to do.
Perhaps the best way to play games like Borderlands and Destiny is to go through them with other players-that way you're more likely to deal greater damage and the abilities you pick up will be put to much greater use. Playing any game is usually more enjoyable with other people online and locally, so when it comes to grindy FPS games they can at least be salvaged when played with other people, but they still should be modified and improved so the single-player gamers are catered for and the less repetition endured the better.
Now as far as RPG mechanics are concerned, they tend to be a mixed bag but it depends on how well games of this ilk do to make your time worthwhile. When you play The Witcher III: Wild Hunt, the feeling of empowerment is always increasing, but the vibrancy of the world around you and all of its systems combined with the fantastic cast of character and an engrossing story will make you want to keep moving forward. When it comes to shooters-yes they can certainly marry the FPS elements with RPG systems very well, but this largely depends on what is going on in the game's world as to whether it's truly worth sticking around. Player agency matters as well because if all you're doing is collecting and scavenging whilst also grinding-then what you have is a game that doesn't respect the player's time and constantly enslaves them to move forward at the slow pace it demands for progress.
It's quite suspicious for FPS games to include systems that force gamers to do the same things over and over. There are certainly breeds of gamer out there who don't mind and rejoice in the repetition and they feel like they're contributing meaningfully to the game, but when you've paid about £60 for an experience where you're essentially a fetcher-that shouldn't convince you that your money is well spent. It's true that gloss and characterisation can save a game-with Borderlands its art style and attempts at humour show there is some substance in there-but what you actually do and the agency given to you as the player is often one-dimensional and there isn't enough intrigue to make you want to keep going forward. More meaningful quests and more diversity will always sit well because you will feel like the game appreciates and rewards your time playing-making you think that maybe the publishers/developers care for more than making money.
Ultimately shooting bad guys in games should be a quick endeavor unless there's a way to meaningfully make the process grindy-such as empowering you to an effective degree. There's no need for you to mindlessly shoot health bars and to kill lesser enemies to fell a larger higher-levelled up one as that's just a waste of the player's time. If it's true that grindy features are included to make the player's time more meaningless while the developers/publishers run off with all the money they've taken from you, then it's your responsibility to find the most enjoyment you can get out of the game if you bought it digitally or you could otherwise sell it and attempt to get your money back. Remember killing bad guys should be be fun not a needless chore because it's a videogame-don't let the game you play force you to do something you don't want to do-life isn't worth spending hours grinding away to reach higher levels-take a break and return when your mind is ready to do so.
It's quite suspicious for FPS games to include systems that force gamers to do the same things over and over. There are certainly breeds of gamer out there who don't mind and rejoice in the repetition and they feel like they're contributing meaningfully to the game, but when you've paid about £60 for an experience where you're essentially a fetcher-that shouldn't convince you that your money is well spent. It's true that gloss and characterisation can save a game-with Borderlands its art style and attempts at humour show there is some substance in there-but what you actually do and the agency given to you as the player is often one-dimensional and there isn't enough intrigue to make you want to keep going forward. More meaningful quests and more diversity will always sit well because you will feel like the game appreciates and rewards your time playing-making you think that maybe the publishers/developers care for more than making money.
Ultimately shooting bad guys in games should be a quick endeavor unless there's a way to meaningfully make the process grindy-such as empowering you to an effective degree. There's no need for you to mindlessly shoot health bars and to kill lesser enemies to fell a larger higher-levelled up one as that's just a waste of the player's time. If it's true that grindy features are included to make the player's time more meaningless while the developers/publishers run off with all the money they've taken from you, then it's your responsibility to find the most enjoyment you can get out of the game if you bought it digitally or you could otherwise sell it and attempt to get your money back. Remember killing bad guys should be be fun not a needless chore because it's a videogame-don't let the game you play force you to do something you don't want to do-life isn't worth spending hours grinding away to reach higher levels-take a break and return when your mind is ready to do so.