It seems opinions are most polarized when it comes to some of Dragon’s Dogma 2’s unique gameplay “obstacles.” According to Oyama, players in Japan and Asia tend to be quite vocal about what they perceive as “inconveniences,” while players in Europe and North America are more likely to view these same game elements as “friction” and welcome them. While the developers don’t cite any specific examples, they do describe travelling by foot and Dragonsplague as some of the “inconveniences” the game throws at players earlier in the interview.
“Friction” implies some form of challenge.
If you’re just putting literal speedbumbs in my way like random NPCs who have the magical ability to stop me and engage me in dialog, that’s not “friction” that just dumb.
Chais@sh.itjust.works 3 days ago
“Inconvenience” vs. “friction”? Seems neither of them is overly fond of the mechanic. Definitely doesn’t make out sound like opposites.
MarcomachtKuchen@feddit.org 3 days ago
Nah I’ll disagree there is a certain amount of friction a game should have to enhance its intended gameplay
violentfart@lemmy.world 3 days ago
If someone from Japan calls it an inconvenience, it means it’s actually fucking terrible.
Uruanna@lemmy.world 3 days ago
The term friction in gaming is a good thing, it’s basically engagement, keeping you awake while going from point A to B, a challenge, a puzzle, making you think or act / react, test of skills. Seeing it as inconvenience just shows the disconnect between what the dev wants you to do and what gameplay loop makes you happy.
Mardukas@lemmy.world 3 days ago
But they “welcomed” the friction. I do not think I have ever heard someone “welcome” an inconvenience.
Zombiepirate@lemmy.world 3 days ago
I loved the game partly because of the lack of fast travel, which is not my usual attitude for an open-world game.
They made it actually interesting to get around and fun to figure out how to proceed after a hard won fight.
It’s strange to me that people would find that inconvenient, because it seems to be half the point of the game.
DeadDigger@lemmy.zip 3 days ago
Did you ever play dark souls? Dying 100 times against a boss can be pretty epic
warmaster@lemmy.world 3 days ago
Shitty & Shitnado = opposing and polarizing
WTF