For the first time ever, a side quest have actually managed to exhaust and annoyed me so much I ended my gaming session for the day. Not rage, just...energy sapping, draining me of any fun whatsoever. The offending quest? Gravity Rush 2's "Things I like, things I hate." Let me attempt to break down why . Spoilers follow obviously.
1) Horrible pacing. You have to look for a lost dog toy, and are forced to rely on the dog to sniff it out for you. However you can only control the dog by calling out to it, which only works within 20 yards. There are predefined "interaction hooks" in the search area however which is not shown to you via any markers. The dog basically makes a bee line for one of these and sniffs for around 10 seconds before you get an indication if that is the right trigger. You do this for 10 minutes or more as the dog can run off by itself to a hook that's not obvious or have already been triggered. Keep in mind that this is only stage one of three in the damn quest.
2) Lack of state/action feedback. I mentioned that you can call the dog within 20 yards. However if the dog is in "sniff" mode, even if you are within 5 yards the call will not work and the error message will be "the dog is too far to hear". This is exacerbated by the fact that the "sniff" mode animation includes the dog standing there NOT SNIFFING.
3) Inconsistent behaviour of skills. In stage three you are asked to throw a frisbee into a highlighted zone using one of your gravity combat skills. The problem is that the frisbee behaves very differently from your usual projectiles. You might think that it makes sense given that in combat you use it to fling rocks and heavy crates instead of this feather light frisbee, and you'd be right. The silly part however is that the frisbee gets a lot less range and power using the same skill. You also have to fill up a bar by repeatedly doing this, and cannot move out of a predetermined circle.
And what is the reward for the 30 minutes? A useless trinket that attracts dogs if you slot it into one of your precious upgrade slots. I find that despite this being a charming game, most of the side quests seems to have been designed very poorly that relies a lot of restricting your movement, have immediate fail conditions and time limits.
Now you would be right in thinking that it's all optional, but in this game you get upgrades to your vital stats by completing side quests and you do not know beforehand what are the rewards for each of them. It could range from a freaking photo mode prop to boosting your health and focus used to power all your skills. Sometimes you don't get any rewards whatsoever. It's insane.
So ERA, what were the worst or most hated side quests you've experienced in recent memory? I'm expecting a bunch of escort quests but the I one above was far more annoying than any I've done.
1) Horrible pacing. You have to look for a lost dog toy, and are forced to rely on the dog to sniff it out for you. However you can only control the dog by calling out to it, which only works within 20 yards. There are predefined "interaction hooks" in the search area however which is not shown to you via any markers. The dog basically makes a bee line for one of these and sniffs for around 10 seconds before you get an indication if that is the right trigger. You do this for 10 minutes or more as the dog can run off by itself to a hook that's not obvious or have already been triggered. Keep in mind that this is only stage one of three in the damn quest.
2) Lack of state/action feedback. I mentioned that you can call the dog within 20 yards. However if the dog is in "sniff" mode, even if you are within 5 yards the call will not work and the error message will be "the dog is too far to hear". This is exacerbated by the fact that the "sniff" mode animation includes the dog standing there NOT SNIFFING.
3) Inconsistent behaviour of skills. In stage three you are asked to throw a frisbee into a highlighted zone using one of your gravity combat skills. The problem is that the frisbee behaves very differently from your usual projectiles. You might think that it makes sense given that in combat you use it to fling rocks and heavy crates instead of this feather light frisbee, and you'd be right. The silly part however is that the frisbee gets a lot less range and power using the same skill. You also have to fill up a bar by repeatedly doing this, and cannot move out of a predetermined circle.
And what is the reward for the 30 minutes? A useless trinket that attracts dogs if you slot it into one of your precious upgrade slots. I find that despite this being a charming game, most of the side quests seems to have been designed very poorly that relies a lot of restricting your movement, have immediate fail conditions and time limits.
Now you would be right in thinking that it's all optional, but in this game you get upgrades to your vital stats by completing side quests and you do not know beforehand what are the rewards for each of them. It could range from a freaking photo mode prop to boosting your health and focus used to power all your skills. Sometimes you don't get any rewards whatsoever. It's insane.
So ERA, what were the worst or most hated side quests you've experienced in recent memory? I'm expecting a bunch of escort quests but the I one above was far more annoying than any I've done.
