Great post Sonyfan.
Maybe it\'s just me, but having a little bit of scripting is a little bit better then being able to choose every small tiny detail. If it meant having a much better story, then I\'d be all for it. Linearity never bothered me, it was not being pointed in the right direction that bothered me in games. If there are no hints as to where to go next or what to do next, I get bored quickly. It\'s not that I don\'t have the patience to figure it out, that\'s far from the truth, it\'s just that the game loses its appeal quickly and the story just suddenly becomes stagnant. I had a similar problem with the Oracle games on the GBA.
For example, in the Oracle games, it is your task to save the world from the destruction of the evil that is taking control of the seasons\\time. That\'s fine and all, but suddenly the only way that you can save this place is by going to eight different dungeons and getting these different items that can save the land. During the game, the story begins to unfold and you begin to get involved in the lives of the inhabitants like the Zora people of the sea and many other species. Entering Jabu Jabu was quite a funny experience btw even though that dungeon was absolutely horrid.
Anyways, what bothered me was that the central goal of the game just suddenly lost its appeal by then. It\'s the 7th dungeon in the game and I\'m so close to completing it, but after seven dungeons and the only really big story developments that happen are messages from the Deku tree telling you where to go next, it\'s as if the items you are collecting are just these little things that don\'t mean anything and what you are doing now really does have no consequence and no one is really trying to stop you except for these weak bosses. Without a little bit of story thrown your way here and there, the game loses interest and that\'s what I\'m affraid Project Ego will become.
It\'s a bit like Shenmue before you leave the town and head into the docks. You merely gather information about so many places and people, you meat more people, and then suddenly the story starts to unfold, but not until you reach a certain point after a lengthy amount of time. It just left a sour taste in my mouth before the end of the game took place.
Although, maybe I\'m just talking out of my ass, who knows. I just think having a little nudge and a little encouragement goes a lot farther to making a good game then giving the player all these extra options that don\'t really effect the story in the slightest. There is a central goal, but I want a little bit of motivation to achieving it. Maybe that\'s why so many people like the Sims and I\'m just not a huge fan. There is no central goal in the Sims, just to make a big house, have great relationships, and be at the top of my game in my field of work, that\'s just unappealing to me, but to my girlfriend, that sense of micromanagement is amazing. To each their own I guess, maybe I\'m just a person who prefers things straight forward rather then obscured by billions of little pointless extras like tatoos and muscle expansion.
