I have played more of Murders on the Yangtze River (OMEGAMES Studio), and while I still enjoy it muchly, there are more things that are irritating me. Such as the fact that they introduce new mechanics without explaining them. Or give a very brief explanation that doesn’t really tell you what to do. Here’s my post from yesterday. I was planning to talk today about what I do want in a detective game, but we’ll see if I actually get there.
Oh, and when I went to check my achievements in game, all the ones I unlocked playing the demo unlocked for real. Since I was fretting about having to go back and doing them again, I was glad that happened.
Side note: I have a pet peeve with indie games that I fear will never be resolved. I have mentioned it many times, but I want to moan about it again. It’s bad gameplay in a game that isn’t focused on gameplay. Seriously. I would rather have no gameplay than shitty gameplay.
I mention this because there was a truly atrocious bit in Murders on the Yangtze River that had me cursing. Chung-ping is doing some research, and it stretches on for hours. He falls asleep and has a nightmare. I learn a bit more about his childhood (and it’s truly horrific), and then I have to navigate his nightmare. It’s him as a small child running away from the giant face of his father, crying, as his father devours him.
There’s a maze as it were in the library where I am. And as my father is chasing me, I have to navigate around tables, piles of books, etc. It’s up/down arrows or W/S, but there’s a micro-second of delay between input and action. And if you get snagged on an obstacle, you cannot untangle yourself fast enough to get away from the giant face. So, basically, you have to memorize where the obstacles are. This goes on for several rooms with no chance to save anywhere. And there is no skipping it.
It was incredible to me that the reason I might have to stop playing the game was a shitty maze. Honestly, I may knock a whole point off my mental score for the game because of this and other bad mechanics. Fortunately, I managed to memorize the layout (not easy either given how shitty my memory is now), but it left such a sour taste in my mouth.
I want to say that it’s because of my motor skill issues. I’m sure other people did it easily, but I really wish devs would just put in a little skip button. I could not finish Stray (BlueTwelve Studio), a lovely game about a cat, because of the QTEs and bad platforming. I really wish they would have given me the option to skip the QTEs after, say, five tries or allowed me to hold down the button instead of madly tapping it.
Same with this game. There’s no way I should have been in danger of not finishing the game because of a shitty maze that had nothing to do with the plot or any of the mysteries. It’s just to give background on the main character, which I approve of, but it should not be that hard.
Game devs don’t give a shit about disabilities. I mean, it’s getting a bit better in the past several years, but it’s still sadly lacking in many ways. I get excited if an indie game has FOV, and camera sensitivity, let alone text size, text color, and optional QTEs.
I am more generous and patient with indie games than with AAA games because thye have less resources. I’m not going to expect AAA quality in every way, but if I can’t play a game, then I can’t play a game. I’m not someone who thinks every game should be for me. Believe me.I know that every every game is not for me because very few of them are. But it would be nice if I could physically play a cozy little indie game that isn’t supposed to be about the gameplay.
So here’s one thing I want in detective games. Simpler reasoning. In this game today, there was one deduction I made that had a police officer explaining to me in minute detail something about some chemical reaction or fire reaction or something would occur if you did this to that and–my eyes glazed over because of how technical it was. Even though I knew it was coming, I was astonished at how long it went on. Also, I’m sorry, a cop isn’t going to be able to rattle off specific scientific knowledge like that on the fly.
Oh, one positive: Shen Chung-ping is so dang hot. And so is Joseph Bell, a British prosecutor who takes Chung-ping under his wing. Why are they so damn hot? I don’t know. A few of the women are attractive, too. That’s not the point of the game, but it’s distracting at times how hot Chung-ping is. In a very chibi way.
I like the characterization of many of the people in the game. They’re a mix of old-timey and modern, which I like. Is it true to the times? No. Do I care? Also no. In the most recent case I solved (which actually was a past case that introduced me to my assistant), I felt really bad for the murderer because I came to care about this person throughout the investigation.
But the mechanics are getting on my nerves. And the puzzles, too. I’ve reached the point where I will ask for a hint at the drop of a hat beacuse I just can’t be assed to choose any of the choices I’m given when I’m investigating. Why? Because the way they are worded aren’t indicative of what the choices actually are. And it ends up with me just choosing each option until I stumble upon the correct one. This is when I don’t get penalized for the wrong choice.
In each chapter, several new mechanics are introduced, but they are all really pretty much the same. Try to piece together disparate and very vague/esoteric pieces of evidence to make a case against someone. And while it makes sense generally, the leaps of logic they make are torturous and head-shaking.
I do wonder if it’s a cultural difference, too, because I know East Asians don’t think about things in the same way Westerners do. So I have to give some grace for that, but it’s not much fun at any rate.
There’s a part of me thinks it’s just not possible to make a detective game in a way that I would find enjoyable/believable. I have played so many of them, and I have yet to find one that is close to what I want, Yes, I’m enjoying this game and thinkng it’s a solid/engaging/fun to play, but that’s despite the detective mechanics, not because of them.
I used to read detective/murder mysteries by the dozens, and I could figure out the killer 90% of the time. In games, it’s not even close. Then again, there is so much more room to explain, unfurl evidence, and guide people through it in a novel versus a game.
More tomorrow.