Thaurin
SasqWatch
The point is, the game was designed like this from the beginning. "Watered down" makes it sound like it was supposed to be this real awesome hardcore PC experience, but they took that out because they "had to" release it on console, too. That's just reverse thinking. This is the game they wanted to make and no one forced them to do it.
I agree that were it a PC-only title, things would probably have been done slightly differently, because of course there's another market to be had there. I don't think it'd be that crucially different, though. I like playing on both platforms, but I liked the quest arrow, actually. I don't see how aimlessly wandering around constitutes any form of fun in this type of game (like one would have to do in some of the older FPS games). This isn't an RPG, after all. There's no real sense of exploration in the game other than finding out more of the events leading up to Rapture's fall.
I do see how modern games (on all platforms, PC-only titles included) hold hands more than classic titles. This is most noticeable with adventure games and role-playing games. I don't see that as game developers catering to a console crowd at all, but a necessary result of an explosive gaming market. Games are mainstream now and cost a bundle to make. That's going to affect how games are being designed. At the same time I think that the niche of gamers that will put up with (or prefer) the more hardcore and more reasonably priced games has shrunk. So it's bad business to do retro on a big budget today.
"Balanced for 7-year-olds" is a bit harsh. It may just be figure-of-speech, but more importantly I think that the casual gamers just outnumber the hardcore by a large margin, with the (for the gamers that long for less simpler times) unfortunate effect that gamers get... to invoke this inverse thinking mode again, watered down games.
I agree that were it a PC-only title, things would probably have been done slightly differently, because of course there's another market to be had there. I don't think it'd be that crucially different, though. I like playing on both platforms, but I liked the quest arrow, actually. I don't see how aimlessly wandering around constitutes any form of fun in this type of game (like one would have to do in some of the older FPS games). This isn't an RPG, after all. There's no real sense of exploration in the game other than finding out more of the events leading up to Rapture's fall.
I do see how modern games (on all platforms, PC-only titles included) hold hands more than classic titles. This is most noticeable with adventure games and role-playing games. I don't see that as game developers catering to a console crowd at all, but a necessary result of an explosive gaming market. Games are mainstream now and cost a bundle to make. That's going to affect how games are being designed. At the same time I think that the niche of gamers that will put up with (or prefer) the more hardcore and more reasonably priced games has shrunk. So it's bad business to do retro on a big budget today.
"Balanced for 7-year-olds" is a bit harsh. It may just be figure-of-speech, but more importantly I think that the casual gamers just outnumber the hardcore by a large margin, with the (for the gamers that long for less simpler times) unfortunate effect that gamers get... to invoke this inverse thinking mode again, watered down games.