I have recently played 3 games that have forced a lengthy, unskippable tutorial section that runs for several hours of the game, just to unlock the most basic functions like buying the items, customizing features, multiplayer, and even 2-player split screen modes.

For 2 of these games (Armored Core 6 and Gran Turismo 7), the major draw for me was the MP and I haven’t even gotten to check out MP yet because it’s locked out until you get passed a certain point in the progression system. Fuckin’ why do any developers do this? I just wanted to play with my sister but we have to get through most of the fucking game before we are allowed to do the multiplayer modes. Such bullshit.

  • 【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    People won’t enjoy a game unless they learn the basic features.

    It’s a fine line for devs between teaching the player what they need to know in order to even have a chance at enjoying the game, and jamming it down their throats.

    The classic example is the game Portal. It’s a perfect tutorial. The player doesn’t even realize it’s the tutorial.

    https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/analysis-of-game-concepts-and-player-learning-in-portal

    I am frustrated with Cities Skylines 2, lately. Text-based tutorial with optional progress checks which is okay, but they pop up as soon as you look at a newly unlocked feature, not necessarily when you are ready to build the feature.

    • SSTF@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      My favorite tutorial was in STALKER. The guy gives you a pistol and tells you good luck.

        • cyanarchy@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          Halo makes a point of limiting the enemy and weapons sandbox on the first level, and does have a few explicit tutorial moments, mostly around melee and grenades.

        • SSTF@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Even in Halo, there’s a bit of a movement tutorial to get to the bridge and get the gun.

          STALKER opens with a dialog screen and “hey want to kill some bandits for me?”

    • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.netOP
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      1 year ago

      The original Super Mario Brothers’ first level is the best tutorial ever made. It teaches you every function of the game right in that first level, without holding your hand or even telling you it’s a tutorial.

    • cttttt@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I guess another example of the Portal technique, where the teaching moments are blended into gameplay, is Cocoon. It takes that concept to an extreme.

      Can’t wait for a sequel/DLC tho.

  • Wahots@pawb.social
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    1 year ago

    Sometimes I feel this, but the opposite is also true. I have a friend who will play a game for less than half an hour, declare it trash, and then complain the entire time because he thinks the mechanics are broken because he never bothered to play the single player mode where the game teaches you how the weapons, vehicles, and planes all work. It makes playing virtually any game with him a total drag unless he actually spends a bit of time in it. And then suddenly, he actually likes it.

    He’s declared a bunch of games trash, played them for longer than a few sessions, and then puts 100 hours in it once he’s been forced to actually understand how the game works x3

    Subnautica, Deep Rock Galactic, The Forest, Divinity 2: Original Sin, and Baldur’s Gate 3, all trash until he actually put time into them, and then really liked them. Somehow, he put 500 hours into Elite Dangerous, lol.

    • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.netOP
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      1 year ago

      I am playing Elite Dangerous right now with over 500 hours too. I know all the mechanics since I’ve been playing since beta and saw them as they were added and have even contributed to the wiki.

      It is trash. :P

      • MilitantAtheist@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        3000 hours, done everything, killed everything, mined everything. It’s horrible. Oh well. Back to Tarkov, and my 13000 hours…

      • Tarquinn2049@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        By far my favourite horrible game. Hehe. I will spend several more thousands of hours on it, hoping they decide to finally finish the VR implementation in the “recent” expansion.

  • 31415926535@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Get bored with games SO quickly. Part of how to keep interest is figuring out on my own how the game works. And I can, on my own, figure out games, software, very quickly.

    Too many phone games try to make you sit thru insufferable tedious tutorials. So you’re not only depriving me the chance to figure out on my own, you’re also insulting my intelligence. Any game does this, instant uninstall.

    • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      I find figuring out the controls the least interesting part of any game. I would be pissed if I played a game and couldn’t unlock multiplayer without hours of play, but I’ve not played a game where the tutorial was so long that I was really bothered by it, even if I found it completely unnecessary.

  • Tarquinn2049@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Yeah, local multiplayer or custom hosted multiplayer should be unlocked right away. Online matched multiplayer can be skill/tutorial gated just fine.

  • Pxtl@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    In ac6 it’s about the inventory and not the gameplay. Before the multiplayer unlocks you simply don’t have enough stuff to go online to fight.

    Yes, it would be nice if they had some kind of fixed inventory multiplayer mode, but the main game is about getting stuff and early on you don’t really have enough for a decent fight.

    • Statick@programming.dev
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      1 year ago

      100% this. AC PvP would be awful for a new player using the limited early game parts/weapons. Think MMO level 50 vs level 5.

      Yes an argument can be made to still allow it so people can fight their friends early… but a lot of people would just go straight into it and just be turned off to it altogether.

      • alienangel@sffa.community
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        1 year ago

        I don’t even remember anything in AC6 I would consider a tutorial. Unless he means the first 5 minute mission.

        OP, the only multiplayer you missed playing with your sister was pvp, and you would have been absolutely shat on if you went into pvp. And you would shit up the games for other people too, because no one wants to fight a bunch of noobs all in the same starting gear who don’t know how to move (or worse, have them on your team).

  • Flickerby@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I thought you were talking about mobile games or something locked behind a paywall before I read further and realized you’re mad that multi-player is “locked” behind someone completing a tutorial. I haven’t played either of the two games you mentioned by name but I would imagine that they are complicated/unique enough where a tutorial is warranted. It’s kind of annoying if you just want to hop in and go, sure, but if “most of the fucking game” content consists of the beginning tutorial then you bought the wrong game to begin with.

    • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.netOP
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      1 year ago

      GT7 isn’t any more complicated than GT1-6. To have an unskippable tutorial in the umpteenth installment of a game go over the basic controls and mechanics of racing a car is madness. They don’t actually give you any tutorial on the stuff that should have it, like manually manipulating the engine tuning, but they have several points of progression to familiarize you with the brakes and gas and steering. Which anyone who has driven a car or played a racing game can very much figure the fuck out without a tutorial.

      • Flickerby@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Tutorials are designed for the dumbest person out there who has zero idea what they’re doing. So in this case someone who has never driven a car or played a racing game before. If a tutorial told you “this works like the last game, do the same” it’s obviously bad design. Yeah that’s a super small subset of the people playing the game but it’s better to overexplain than underexplain. But in this case yeah they should 100% just have a separate tutorial mode section for people who need it, having that REQUIRED in a racing game is ridiculous. I haven’t played racing games in years but last I remember that’s what used to be the norm.

        • Rokk@feddit.uk
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          1 year ago

          I mean, the easy option is just selecting your level of experience at the beginning and offering experienced players an option to skip the tutorial.

      • glitches_brew@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Based on what you and others are eating about GT7, I’m not sure this will totally apply, but in my experience it seems like games will do things like this deter smurfs from making a fresh account and destroying low ranked players in MP. Not saying that is a good way to handle smurfs, or that these games are doing it for that specific reason, but might be something to consider.

  • Usul_00_@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I recently restarted Borderlands and even though I have multiple characters leveled to the top they make me start at the basic floor to prove I can play or something when I picked a new character. Annoying

  • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Natural selection 2 forces tutorials before unlocking multi-player, but it’s absolutely needed for that game. It’s also not that long, if you can’t spend 15 minutes learning the basics of the game you are useless anyway.

  • Waluigis_Talking_Buttplug@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I have uninstalled and refunded games with frustrating tutorials

    At this point in life, if a game is too complex for me to understand by simply playing the game organically, I’m going to watch a YouTube video. Reading pop up menus is okay unless they physically lock you out of the game.

    • OrderedChaos@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      If there is a constant need to watch YouTube videos or look up game guides the days of playing that game ends very quickly. Must be intuitive to play.

      • Waluigis_Talking_Buttplug@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I very much disagree. Games like Dwarf Fortress or Rimworld absolutely benefit from both being left to your own devices AND having a repository of information to resort to.

        Games with a steep learning curve shouldn’t necessarily lock you into a tutorial, just give me the option and let me fail a few times until I get the hang of things.

        • AmosBurton_ThatGuy@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          Factorio and Stellaris are another 2 great games with steep learning curves. They’re also 2 of my most played games according to steam.

          • bigmclargehuge@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Another commenter mentioned Elite: Dangerous. I have almost 300 hours into this game (rookie numbers for a lot of ED players), and I was still learning brand new mechanics I had no idea were in the game. One of the best experiences I’ve ever had in a game purely because it let me fail and learn on my own, even after I had lots of experience.