Chore crawling :(

[zuhane]

Many games I've downloaded which have been created using RPG Maker have included a lot of "chore crawling". You know:

"Go and get your brother a present"
"Collect some wood"
"Go and de-lice granny's pubes"

Personally, I find it really boring. I think a game should rope you in ith immediate action within the first 5 minutes to give the user a taste, THEN
start showing the storyline. When there's so many games out there, people have to remember that others aren't really excited to test
a game out when it's released unless it looks spectacular (Ruins Of Azgayle ) 

The worst chore to me is "castle crawling". Yes, I've witnessed it even in Locke and Terra's brilliant adventure at Figaro castle. I don't
know how to get my point accross, but scavenging crates and talking to every villager to get some info is NOT fun. I'm not against
storyline at all, I love it. But "crawling" around to get info is diabollical.

Anyway, that's my opinion. What do you all think?

[Musha]

People pay upawards of $60 for comercially released games that are chock full of "chore crawling" and "castle crawling."  They are, for better or worse, an element present in virtually ever RPG out there.

[Felix-0]

yea...My game drops you straight into the fray (litteraly dropped) but games with intro quests that explains how to fight or use a feature I find use-ful

[zuhane]

It's always good to give the option of if you want to hear it or not.

[Hell Angel]

Well then, seeing as how some people enjoy the whole "go here, do this" stuff, then it'd be nice to have that available, but can be skipped. Like the cliche kid in his hometown moments before it's destroyed, having to go do a buncho **** for you pa, you could just slack off and leave town, kind of skip ahead to the goodies, if it's what you want.

[zuhane]

I don't really mind it. But I've spent valuable time out my life preparing
for some really epic games. I spent at least 6 hours "chore crawling"
on Atelier Iris 2 and ventually found out it was really boring.

If I knew the game was going to be fantastic, I'm sure I'd
be okay with it. With my town scraping chores, I put out
pointers and make it really obvious what to do. I also make
it possible for you to look up what you've been told to do.

I've often found in a situation of:

"King: A long time ago
Priest: There was a dragon
King: Which was green
Priest: And it had arms
King: And a face
Priest: And knees
King: Along with everything else
Priest: The village was peaceful
King: Then the dragon came and..."

That I've tapped spacebar and stared at an exciting new shade of white on my bedroom wall for too long
without actually reading the horrificly boring, dragged-out story. That's why I like to make a little
logbook.

[Moosetroop11]

The skipping idea would be odd though, wouldn't it?

"I'll give you my key if you find me five fish! I think I saw them in the red barrels dotted around town..."

AUTOMATICALLY FIND FISH Y/N

[Prpl_Mage]

Forcing the player to make chores is a way to entertain them outside of battle.
Just having battles as the only thing you can do in the game will get boring, RPGs are about exploring, and stealing 10.000 gil from grandmas bed.

So to prevent the player from simply fighting,fighting and fighting completely random monsters and bosses(See ffxii) you make them actually stay in town and do something instead of just stocking up the best weapons and be on your way to the new cave.
Chores is a way to prevent a player from simply hacking his way through the game, maybe his party can kill every monster in one hit? You better stop him somewhere along the line or he will complete your 6h game in 3h.

And being forced to talk to a certain person is a way for the maker to force you to talk to other people.
Talking to the NPCs will make their message display, and as a maker; you'd want your work to be noticed.

It's kinda like Flavie in Diablo 2. She si guarding the path, if you talk to her - she'll say that you should complete Akaras quest first. But you can still just run past her anyway.
If the player was forced to talk to her then they would have to read the message and get information.

But yeah, finding stuff goes for non-rpg games. The latest zelda, whatever. Those games work better with such a thing in the beginning since you could use some training at the controls. Being plunged into battle when you can barely move straight or interact with objects isn't that fun.
But yeah, it's more for minigmae-ish things in the middle of the game, not in the beginning since it makes no difference. Unless you want the player to feel sympathy for the soon-to-be-burned town.

[zuhane]

I don't mean it like that. Games need a good balance of storyline, puzzles, towns/resting, skill (dodging/jumping) and of course, fighting.

I do enjoy all of these factors. I just don't like it when I'm stuck in a ridiculously big town with
millions of NPCs and not a clue what to do. You've just been told "someone might have useful
information". Arrrgh! Drives me nuts!

[Hell Angel]

... What game does that? The few games that do come to mind with the whole 'choring up' bull, are pretty clear about what and why you're doing it. And if the game doesn't have good enough dialog tacked on these "millions" of NPCs to keep you mildy interested in the role playing of it all, then it's not much worth playing anyway.

[zuhane]

So many I can't remember!

Dragon Quest 8 was terrible for that in a certain section of the game "Peregrin Quay"
I think it was. You had to find recipes stashed around town. That was the mission.

[HobomasterXXX]

I'm not against Chore Crawling as a whole, but at the very start of the game i want some real gameplay. For example, in my game, you do a whole dungeon at the start, then comes the town quests (which i plan to make wholly optional).

[zuhane]

That's exactly what I like. That's why Final Fantasy games rope you in easily. They pull you
in with loads of action and excitement, then eventually ease the storyline in, keeping it
lively with funny characters and small bursts of excitement now and again!

[HobomasterXXX]

That's exactly what I like. That's why Final Fantasy games rope you in easily. They pull you
in with loads of action and excitement, then eventually ease the storyline in, keeping it
lively with funny characters and small bursts of excitement now and again!

True that, but 10 is still not the best. 9 is.

[Meiscool-2]

Chores are there to break the ice and define your character's personality. They are practically needed in a lot of games for character developement and begining the major plot.