Which is exactly what the tutorial mission was. And for some reason you think that's bad. Why is bad to tell them it's practice? The giant popup window in the game telling them how to do it is going to be a big giveaway. The fact that they've never done it before will be another.
I don't think that is acceptable because there are no real stakes involved. Nobody gets killed if you screw up. You're not under any pressure.
The mission that teaches you how to use aspect seeking missiles IS a training mission. No matter how tough you make it or how quick you think they learn it. The missions that teach you something new ARE training missions.
But it's certainly different from a proper training mission in that it's a real battle with enemies out to kill you and/or vital mission objectives, and if you switch off the tutorials there would be almost no evidence of any "training" other than perhaps a suspiciously weak wing of fighters showing up.
As for treating you as if you already know what you're doing, you've stated it should only take them 30 seconds to get it period, so even on easy it should be assumed they know what they're doing.
No it didn't. The part in Halo where the guys check your suit by having you run and jump around.... not fooling me either. It's very obvious they're tutorial missions and I wish I could skip them but I can't because they've been tied into the storyline.
Maybe you didn't notice the character moments for Eli, Alyx, and DOG, story exposition, and advance of the plot at Black Mesa East. The story of the game never stops from the moment the G-Man wakes you up until the moment Breen dies.
Why? Why is this needed? Are players going to quit playing if the game teaches them how to actually play? Every time I play a new game I always play the tutorial.
Because I think the average modern gamer will quit. They want to be in the game doing their thing in minutes. My concept allows them to indulge this wish without severely simplifying the game. And since the average modern gamer are the people to whom
and THQ will need to sell a lot of copies of the game to to make money and ensure the continued existence of the franchise, it's rather important that the "console generation" sticks around to play the whole game.
Doesn't Rome: Total War force you into a tutorial the first time you play? I just reinstalled it on this computer and the tutorial was my only option.
Maybe, I don't remember that being so (although the tutorial was a single mission instead of several), but it could have been. However, the people who buy Total War games are not the kind of people who buy action games.
Maybe I should clarify a bit. I personally wouldn't mind a training segment provided the instructor was more like, say, MechWarrior 2's (especially the part where he compares you to his dog, that was loaded with incredible personality) and less like the droning TSM guy. However, I'm looking at it through the eyes of the average person who I think this game will be marketed at. He'll see the pretty explosions on the packaging and want to go blow up some spaceships. He'll get annoyed if he has to sit through something like the TSM modules from FS2 (especially if there are
three of the things in a row) and tell his friends not to buy the game. Multiply this by several thousand times and it's a massive financial loss for
. So the trick is to introduce all the gameplay elements as you go along so as to have most or all of FS2's features without overtaxing the Console Kid's Ritalin-addled brain.