I get burnt out when a video game gives me too much to do.
Does that make sense?
Quest lists that I have to scroll through?
They kill me.
Many game epilogues I have yet to witness, because of this problem… Fallout: New Vegas, Oblivion and possibly Skyrim; if its not careful.
My most recent investment: Borderlands 2, has presented a unique version of this issue of mine; an issue that also plagued its predecessor. But maybe a little background on me, before we really get into it…
I have even less time to put into my video games these days. The combined result of moving into a new house with my girlfriend 5 months ago, and not wanting to ruin our relationship by isolating myself from 7pm-midnight (like I could when I lived by myself.) This situation has generated the lingering perception: My video game time is precious. Thus, wasting that time with tedious gameplay is no longer an option.
Where once I would play a sub-par game to experience its sprinkled moments of quality; I now banish to the bookshelf (…gameshelf?), never to be seen again.
Now back to the show…
Both Borderlands titles were purchased on the provision of their co-operative gameplay, in which I have consumed with fervent enthusiasm. However (and as with the original), I have been unable to invest the same hours as my digital brothers; as a result, I am now at a level much lower than they, and have chosen to apply additional hours to “grind” solo.
Yes… Catch up.
It was not until entering my own campaign, did I realise I had accumulated a substantial amount of incomplete side quests. This; I believe, was most likely due to my loot-addicted cohorts playing these side quests whilst I was offline (as I commonly chose to join their games; to reduce lag-spikes from my less-than-stellar internet connection, on their end.)
Please note: I don’t blame them for this. An enjoyable game is there to be enjoyed.
The bulk of these side quests were now in the “Trivial” gradation. And due to having roots in the “Completionist” skill-tree, my “grinding” method was a process of “hey you’re a lower class than me, so I’m just gona run past and bee-line to the objective yo.”
After completing two quests like so; that recently acquired, lingering perception came forth and spoke.
‘Why the hell are you doing this?’ it said.
And like that, Borderlands 2 hit the shelf.
So, through a combination of “my time is precious!”, “why can’t I cancel this quest?” and “I must see everything!!” I forego a game that does not offer the appropriate feature to overcome (what I see as,) one of the biggest issues in RPG-esque games.
Quest. Management.
There are already a half dozen ideas I can think up to tackle this issue, but here’s one…
QUEST SUGGESTION AI
For the next few minutes you will read a transcript between Buck and Chad; two XBROX gamers, who recently decided to leave their video game “comfort zone” of Madden, Halo and Call of Duty.
‘Duuude, I don’t know what I’m doing…’ said Buck.
‘Turn on the Quest Suggestion thing man,’ replied Chad.
‘What’s that?’ questioned Buck.
‘It’s a check-box in the options dude. Turn it on and once you finish a quest, the game will bring up two new quests for you to choose. Just use left-trigger or right-trigger to pick one.
‘Oh but don’t forget to pick whether you’re a “completionist” or not. If you select that, it presents your oldest quest as one of the options… It helps you complete all your quests if you want to.’
‘…sweeet.’
you are overburdened 