Why do people like "exploration" or "maze" games?

[burgundy]

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I don't understand all this backtracking bashing. If you games to reflect reality in even the slightest way, it's necessary. When you guys walk through your house, do you say "Yup, been there, done that, never doing that again?"

[SearchManX]

Some people use guides so that they're never stuck. However that takes away the fun of actually figuring things out for yourself.

Originally posted by opa-opa
My favorite genres are: shooter, beat em up, platform-shooters (Metal Slug etc), strategy, puzzle, strategy-RPG, sports, and racers. None of these involve any sort of scavenger hunting.

I can pose questions for your favorite genres:

For beat 'em ups: why play a game where every punch is executed by one button? All you do is walk up to some CPU controlled character and mash the same buttons.

Or RPG's: why play a game that requires no reflexes and all you do is go back and forth with an enemy exchanging blows until one of you falls dead?

Sports: why play a sports game if you can't feel the same excitement as scoring that goal in real life?

I like exploration games when a certain amount of thinking is required to solve a certain puzzle to access a new area. That means I need to memorize all the locations I've been through, and perhaps I need to have an eye for detail for my surroundings. I love it when something clicks and I look at a spot I've never noticed before or tried an item to open a certain door... and it works. The mark of a good game is by giving just enough clues to let the player figure things out without handing all the information to them.

[Jeremy]

Developers can throw in as much backtracking as they want, as long as it makes some sense in either the real world, or the world that the developers have created.

[opa-opa]

I like exploration games when a certain amount of thinking is required to solve a certain puzzle to access a new area. That means I need to memorize all the locations I've been through, and perhaps I need to have an eye for detail for my surroundings. I love it when something clicks and I look at a spot I've never noticed before or tried an item to open a certain door... and it works. The mark of a good game is by giving just enough clues to let the player figure things out without handing all the information to them.

What is an example of a game that does this? Of all the "exploration" type games I've played, like Metroid, there is only one way to open a door, one way to get through an obstacle, etc. To open the red door you need the red gem. To destroy the blue wall you need the blue gun, etc. There is no flexibility, like offering you multiple ways to pass an obstacle or reach a destination. It's all just trial and error and going through the motions, ie try every key you have until you find one that works, or shooting every block in the wall until you find one that breaks open. How does that require any real "thinking"?

I don't understand all this backtracking bashing. If you games to reflect reality in even the slightest way, it's necessary. When you guys walk through your house, do you say "Yup, been there, done that, never doing that again?"

Is it "realistic" in Resident Evil that you can only carry 8 items, no matter how big they are?

Is it "realistic" in Metroid that all doors in the universe are created so that they are destructible by only certain weapons?

There is nothing "realistic" about most exploration games, so I dunno why you are even bringing this up at all.

[sleeve]

I've been thinking about many of these issues over the past week while playing Splinter Cell.

It's a much more difficult game than MGS or its sequel, and requires you to develop many more skills to a more heightened degree -- silent, efficient killing is essential, and you absolutely must learn to walk silently, stay in the shadows, and use all the techniques available to you (split jump, climbing/shimmying, rolling, diversion techniques, etc.). It's heavily story-based, and the environments are pretty linear. But I think it does a much better job than MGS of providing a real gameplay challenge while still remaining an immersive experience.

Fans of skill-based games rather than "exploration" games ought to check it out.

[opa-opa]

BTW, I never played ICO, but from the descriptions of it, is it like a 3D version of Solomon's Key, that old 8bit game?

[SearchManX]

Originally posted by opa-opa
What is an example of a game that does this? Of all the "exploration" type games I've played, like Metroid, there is only one way to open a door, one way to get through an obstacle, etc. To open the red door you need the red gem. To destroy the blue wall you need the blue gun, etc. There is no flexibility, like offering you multiple ways to pass an obstacle or reach a destination. It's all just trial and error and going through the motions, ie try every key you have until you find one that works, or shooting every block in the wall until you find one that breaks open. How does that require any real "thinking"?

Clearly you have not played these games that much.

Zelda: Ocarina of Time's puzzles are a classic example puzzle solving (Forest Temple was really cool). Majora's Mask's Ice Tower is also a mark of true ingenuity.

I never said there were multiple ways to open these levels. Very rarely are games THAT linear. Have you ever tried to make a simple branching path game? It's annoying as hell to keep track of everything if you only delve about 2 levels deep.

And ICO is an amazing game. It represents some great puzzle challenges though the action scenes are too simplistic. The final boss fight is also incredible.

[sggg]

I happen to enjoy backtracking when it's done well... For example, it was really neat towards the end of Skies of Arcadia when you ended up, err, back in a place you saw much earlier in the game (I said it like that to keep it spoiler free)....

[Jeremy]

OoT's puzzles were quite enjoyable due to the fact they required you to use logic, and creative thinking to solve them.

[SearchManX]

Originally posted by Jeremy
OoT's puzzles were quite enjoyable due to the fact they required you to use logic, and creative thinking to solve them.

Yep, it involved a lot more than "red key goes to red door" and "blue card releases blue cat".