Las first few hours in a video game They are just as important as the first few minutes with a movie, series, Twitch stream, YouTube video, or any other entertainment product. That’s when we have our first sensations and we form the first opinionswhich in most cases mark how we experience the rest of the game.
have a start epic, shocking and/or mysterious It is not an essential requirement for a video game to become a legend. Yes ok God of War IIIGTA V and The Last of Us Part II do not mess around when it comes to starting their adventures, other installments like Red Dead Redemption II and Mafia I take their time to start.
Experience tells me that what is really important at the beginning of a video game is the rhythm the one who introduces us to the story, be it during the most epic battle or the most relaxing walk. And one of the tools that must be better integrated for this to happen are the tutorials.
I don’t know about you, but I have closed several games throughout my life for having bad tutorials. I am aware that it is not an issue that worry or annoy to a vast majority, but I also know that in many cases it is a matter of not having noticed… and once you do, there is no going back.
Video Game Tutorials: Illusion Makers and Destroyers
I recently played the demo of Final Fantasy XVI. Despite not being a fan of the franchise and having only tolerated Final Fantasy XV, I decided to try it as a professional in this video game thing and because I was curious. In addition, I needed several of my friends to stop giving me the tabarra.
A lot has been criticized about FFXVI, but very few people seem to care or bother with its tutorials. Before continuing, make it clear that I don’t want to put him as the very bad bad guy of this subject, I simply use it as an example to open the topic. Lets start by the beginning.
The way I see it, there are three types of tutorials, which I like to call:
- Integrated: They teach us the controls and mechanics as we play, without interrupting us and trusting that we are paying attention. They often use the setting, the HUD, and the story to make them part of the experience.
- paralyzers: the worst. They stop the game at any time, even during combat, and plant a text box for you to read.
- conscientious: They can be integrated or paralyze the game, but they always force you to show that you have understood what the tutorial tells you.
The demo de Final Fantasy XVI (and the final game) features the stun type and there’s nothing that annoys me more in a video game than these tutorials. You try to get into the story, enjoy the setting and get used to the controls, everything is new and spectacular… but every time you a text box paralyzes the screen (in fact, several times during the same fight) is like a kick between the legs that destroys the minimum dive you have achieved.
Final Fantasy XVI
Thorough tutorials tend to be more integrated into the gameplay, but having to demonstrate several times that you have caught the roll can be heavy. In this case, I do not consider that they are wrong, but I think that part of the player’s responsibility for learning to play. After all, it is part of progress. An example is the training for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. In fact, many games integrate them into the story with “master NPCs”.
Stunning (and some thoughtful) tutorials often make me feel like developers they haven’t cared in the slightest in integrating yourself into the gameplay so that the learning process is organic and fluid. It is the easy path. And it has much more crime when it comes to video games with a lot of budget behind it. I would not eradicate them, but I would leave them as one accessibility option.
It doesn’t bother until you start to notice…
The arrival of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order made me start to pay more attention to the tutorials. In this case, we take control of Cal Kestis and proceed through a dilapidated Republic ship. We learn everything about mobility during the walk and combat with sword and the Force as you different types of enemies are presented. All this without cuts and with small statements on the screen.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
If we talk about video games whose tutorials are sublime, then I have to mention Dead Space. Its developers went a step further and used the scenarios to teach us how to play: from the Isaac’s costume until the decoration of the rooms. A phrase written in blood on a panel offers us the key to use the Plasma Cutter and fight ALL the enemies in the game: “cut off their limbs“. Simple, elegant and so integrated that you don’t even know it’s a tutorial.
Dead Space
And speaking of good tutorials, we inevitably run into FromSoftware. In this company they are experts in sinter everything you need to know to start your adventure in a few minutes and with small messages on the ground. From Dark Souls to Elden Ring, they have taught their players that messages on the ground they are helps and warnings. And most of these tutorials and tips are made by the community.
Demon’s Souls Remake
Other video games like Borderlands 3 use small messages on the right of the screen next to a pretty cunt and funny character (Claptrap) who yells at us everything we have to do. If we get stuck, she tells us how to proceed…but he laughs at us too. GTA V, Red Dead Redemption II y God of War they also use the short message system to teach us everything we need.
A little above I told you that the paralyzing tutorials (and some conscientious ones) transmit to me little effort when the experience is organic and fluid. The easy way to do this is to stop the game and put a piece of billboard in the middle of the screen. Integrating it into the gameplay like the examples that I have shown you requires a creative process and that absence of creativity It is what makes me very bad milk.
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
And what about clueless and forgetful people? What if we miss the tutorial and/or want to remember it? The solution is extremely simple and old: Tutorials section in the pause menu (or integrated as a book, similar to the Bestiary of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt) that it is ordered and that we can consult when we need it. Spider-Man: Miles Morales is one of many that has this option.
There will always be people immune (and I admire you, I swear) to the matter, but it makes me especially excited to know at least a few people end this article with the idea of start looking at this section. Not because I like to see people angry or disgruntled, more because the only way for more games to offer original and integrated tutorials. And hopefully so, because they are very satisfying.
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