Love the feedback, guys, and the conversation.
I suppose it's a matter of the perspective one has on what a video game is. I'm just old school enough to believe that there are distinct realms of responsibility for the player (the player character) and for the game dev (everything else) and that the two have to overlap (running through an artillery barrage knocking the character around for instance) but they should always remain secular. (That's your job. This is mine.) You try grabbing the wheel when I'm driving a car without some really good reason (I'm feinting or having a heart attack or something) there's a real good chance I'll slug ya. Not to be mean or a bully but because, in that moment, I am legally and morally responsible for keeping everyone in and out of that vehicle safe and secure from several thousand tons of internal combustion powered metal moving at speeds human beings aren't capable of without outside assistance.
I have to admit: I tend to feel the same way when the devs grab the wheel and interfere in my ability to play the game the way I want.
I pull into the parking lot of Lizzy's, the Mox HQ, and my vehicle stalls, stops and refuses to move at all. I can't even park the thing IN THE PARKING LOT.
Why?
Cos they need to prevent me from killing/glitching those two bouncers standing out front.
So... I love the scene. The Asian woman's attitude, the way the scene unfolds... oh yeah. I dig it.
But.... let's be honest... making my car STOP WORKING in the parking lot or when down the block from Judy Alvarez or anywhere near the Aldecado's camp...
What can I say? You know? I mean what's the nice, gentle, I recognize that you guys (the devs) are people too and have feelings and lives and things you care about... I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. Not trying to put anybody down.
With that said... Really?
That's the way you decided to handle that problem?
Those two bouncers in front of Lizzy's? Make them essential and put a waist-high barrier stopping players from driving into them... or a pair of those pylons (just make them not fall down when someone sneezes on them) and then, if the player somehow manages to perform some vehicular acrobatics and lands a Mackinaw on top of them... do something clever. In that game world the devs are GOD. Do whatever you want. I don't mind consequences (especially if they're funny). Have a cutscene play where they shove the car off with their cybernetics, maybe pick up a missing limb and use it to break the player's window or rip the car door off or something before dragging the player out and beating them down. When (s)he wakes up in an alley they've got money (cos it's digital) but are naked and have no weps. Then (s)he's gotta beg and grovel at the Mox before the story can progress. that kind of thing.
But... not even being able to park the car in the parking lot? Yeah that feels.... blunt. It feels clumsy, heavy handed and, well, it feels like a failure to understand what the game is.
If you guys (the devs) want to understand what the players are upset about... just play your game as a player. Be invested in your own immersion and your avatar's success in the game while understanding that we want meaningful challenges that can be solved OUR WAY.
The scripts you include to do our thinking for us (I can't jump when a fixer or the NCPD dispatch calls me?) Yeah. Those are insulting... at best.
No really. The scripts in the Witcher 3 that decided: 1) when I was in combat, 2) what weapon was in my hand, 3) whether I (Geralt is I in this case) wanted to sheathe it again, 4) if I was aware and able to respond to arrows flying at me, 5) if I needed a torch in my hand 6) whether I wanted to (was able) to run (in a cave big enough to park an entire neighborhood inside it)...
... you didn't need to waste yourself on any of that. And you'd have known that had you played it... as a player. All of that was wasted time and resources cos you failed to understand YOUR responsibility and respect the PLAYER'S realm of mastery.
I'm not interested in paying you for a game that plays itself. Red Dead Redemption 2 (these are examples for the purpose of illustrating my point) was an amazing open world with magnificent scenery, lighting... and storytelling. It was! I could tell that much of the development team had put their soul into the work they were doing. The sight of a panicking horse once turned me into the Grinch watching my heart grow three sizes that day.
I just hated actually trying to PLAY THE GAME... cos somebody was constantly grabbing the wheel and then running me off the road; just like wheeling my horse around to take another run at the bandits... while Geralt sheathes his sword. Oh, and you know you keep putting the wrong sword in Geralt's hand at the beginning of the fight with the Ice Giant, right?
Guys...
You have the WHOLE WORLD to play with.
Lay off my guy.
And play the game as a player.
You do those things with the intention to make a game YOU WANT TO PLAY... and you guys will rock the world. No need to chase the quick buck. You'll have loyal and devoted gamers... I'm going on 50. I've been buying video games since Wing Commander. You guys play your cards right and you will have customers for life.
That's the money.
Right?
Cheers.