PSN: Flower

[MinisterofDOOM]

This game is the perfect example of one of my biggest complaints with modern games. The game is all about relaxing, flying around, and enjoying the vistas. Except it isn't about that, because every few seconds the game steals the camera from you and says Hey Hey Hey Hey Dude Hey Look Hey Over HERE Go HERE LOOK NEW LOOK GO. I don't want to go over there. I'm still over here. I want to relax and enjoy flying around. That's the point, right?

Worse, since the camera directly controls the direction of your...whateveritis, every time the game steals camera control, it screws up whatever line you might have been on. And the camera always BACKS up to your...thing...so you are stuck facing whatever it WANTS to to go to. It's annoying. And it completely breaks the game. I spent more time being annoyed with the game stealing camera control than actually enjoying the game.

So, ThatGameCompany, here's a lesson for you:I can't enjoy your game if you won't LET ME enjoy your game. Back the hell off, and let me play at my pace. Or maybe don't design a game that presents itself as being about relaxing freedom of movement if you can't just let the player actually have relaxing freedom of movement.

What a pathetic way to screw up an interesting concept. Nice work, morons.

[RCA]

And if it didn't do that then you wouldn't know what to do to advance and you would be complaining that it doesn't have an objective.

But to be honest, why waste your time from the get go?

[MinisterofDOOM]

No, that's exactly my point: the game doesn't need an "objective." And in fact, that's sort of contrary to the rest of the game. The game gives you ALL the visual clues you could ever need as far as where to go next. It doesn't need to hold your hand. And it SHOULDN'T, because hand-holding is contrary to the feel of the game. Once you complete an area, there's an obvious trail leading to the next. All you have to do is look for it. It does not need to be pointed out. And it certainly doesn't need to be pointed out at the expense of player control.

As for your second question: waste my time how? What are you referring to there? Why waste my time playing the game? Because I thought it would be fun. I had seen it played and messed with the motion controls a bit. The motion controls are brilliantly done, almost telepathic at times once you learn to stop overthinking them. And the visuals are beautiful. And the audio is great. So I downloaded it and found that all of that was overshadowed by the game trying to make me play its way instead of just letting me enjoy what it had to offer as I pleased.

Or why waste my time with this post?Because this is a growing problem. So many developers these days are determined that their games be played THEIR WAY that they forget that games aren't about THEM at all. And Flower is the perfect example of how this problem can ruin an entire premise on its own. Don't TELL the player how they are to play the game. Just let them play it.

This problem presents itself in other lesser forms, too. Zelda, one of my favorite game series, is guilty of the "camera steal" for completely stupid things. Do something in a dungeon and the camera flies away to show a statue move. Or, worse, the DS Zelda games spend several seconds showing EACH DOOR opening from a first person perspective. I can see the doors already, thanks. I don't want to wait 30 seconds to watch them all open one at a time. Stop forcing me to notice crap. If you've designed the game well (as is the case with Zelda and Flower) I will ALREADY be looking for what you're trying to force me to look at. Don't MAKE me see it, LET me see it. One of them is distracting and annoying, the other is not. Plus, the 2nd is more rewarding for me as a player.

I guess the answer to your question, if I'm interpreting it right, is:Because I wanted the game to be good, and it let me down.

[RCA]

The game gives you ALL the visual clues you could ever need as far as where to go next. It doesn't need to hold your hand. And it SHOULDN'T, because hand-holding is contrary to the feel of the game.

Well imagine who they marketed this game to? Major gamers that play at 300fps with their self built 12GB of Ram machines, or young kids that might need the extra help.

This video will probably answer why you feel they are getting to involved when flying around.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQ1LjDfBBqE

Chen says that when test playing many people didn't know what it was, what to do and where to go. He noticed that most people went really high in the air and so he used this vantage point to allow people to figure it out by looking at the ground (which has a layout that shows you what to do) from a high point of view.

And the game definitely has an objective. The developers didn't make it so you can free lance the entire time. When I said why waste your time I meant by playing the game.