Expanding on NS2s need for a tutorial... or not

stickybootstickyboot Join Date: 2004-01-29 Member: 25711Members, Constellation
edited November 2012 in NS2 General Discussion
<div class="IPBDescription">Is "NS2 is hard to learn" valid criticism?</div>It seems like one of the most common complaints against NS2 since its release, especially among reviewers, is that NS2 contains a lot of things to learn about, and that it lacks a tutorial to teach you about it all. I'm sure as a fairly experienced NS1 veteran, and alpha/beta participant, my views are a tad jaded, which is why I wanted to start a discussion about this with the community.

I disagree with the implications of the general statement “NS2 contains a lot of things to learn about, and that it lacks a tutorial to teach you about it all”.

NS2 does contain a lot of “things” to lean about. It's combining two very distinct types of play, into a unified experience (and happens to do so quite well if I do says so myself.) There is nothing wrong with this inherently, as this can provide a lot of depth to the game. This in and of itself, cannot be criticized as flawed game design. Some people may not be interested in a game with this many mechanics, but they can't use this as an argument against the game to claim its a un-justifiable flaw.

The reason it would not be valid to make the claim that complexity is a flaw of NS2 is that, fundamentally, NS2 is a simple game. Marines, shoot the aliens, kill the hive. Aliens, run around the map like crazy, bite the marines, and destroy their com station. Thats LITERALLY, all you need to focus on as a new player. Understanding how buffs and items stack isn't a necessity (DOTA anyone?). Full understanding of a tech tree isn't necessary. Hell, you don't even need to know your way around. You have a map. You don't even need to know the map, and if you don't know about that yet, just follow your team mates around. They will help you (more on that). Fundamentally, the game is simple, allowing you to learn as you go, and provides fun mechanics you can jump in on imediately. The only assumption is that the person is slightly familiar navigating a 3D environment, and is able to think about their abilities (attack range, run speed, size) in relation to that environment and its dangers in order to get better.

But what about the complexity that IS there you ask? This is where your team comes in. In order to succeed in NS2, the commander needs to cooperate with the troops, and the troops with the commander, as well as each other. Any other form of team relationship and organization is rapidly punished, as, you cant really do much by yourself, and yelling at others how much they suck at being a noob, just makes your team worse. You don't succeed unless you cooperate. This instills a VALUE system upon the players. It is within YOUR interest, that your team mates know what the ###### is up. So what happens? Team mates tell you what they need from you, and, in turn, you learn about the complexities of the game. When you are doing something silly, your team mates complain (Commander, do we REALLY need that 3rd sentry battery? I dont have weapons 1 yet!) The genius of this design is subtle, and rarely seen in other games. Your teammates are your best tutorial.

I have a theory, that if NS2 shipped a tutorial mode, that this criticism would have been left out of many reviews. But what would the value of such a scripted tutorial bring to the table? What if the tutorial unloaded every ability, stat and subtlety the game has to offer? The new player would slog through it, get bored, and probably sodder of too intimidated to play. Or ignore it and just play like everyone is doing now.

What do you think about this?

Tldr; The best tutorial is provided by interacting with your team mates, asking questions, and starting with mastering the basic mechanics of gameplay (movement and aiming), which most people should be able to do without being told to do so. A scripted tutorial would help fend of this common yet flawed criticism seen in early reviews, yet provide little value to players and waste valuable developer time. NS2's awesome game design requires players to interact and work with each other, thus providing a novel and infinitely more effective way of teaching the game to new players.

Comments

  • AnsomAnsom Join Date: 2012-11-03 Member: 166364Members
    I honestly don't see how NS2 is hard to learn. I guess it's perspective. I played the original and play games like DOTA, which I feel are infinitely more difficult to learn, so NS2 just seems trivial by comparison. I think a simple go-through and read of the Wiki is sufficient enough to learn the game. Experience is experience, but I think the wiki is sufficient enough for everything else.
  • DestherDesther Join Date: 2012-10-31 Member: 165195Members
    The only thing better in DotA is their matchmaking, but a person who has 0 experience will still be shouted at by someone with 20 games who is in the same skill bracket. The hardest part of NS is understanding how fragile the higher Alien lifeforms are, learning the maps, and having to not rambo or attack head-on.
  • 1dominator11dominator1 Join Date: 2010-11-19 Member: 75011Members
    Its harder than xs and os
  • Onii-chanOnii-chan Join Date: 2002-11-05 Member: 7164Members
    I don't know, with the hints on it's pretty clear what you should be doing: kill aliens and build structures that the comm drops. The rest you get from playing.

    Any easier and the game would play itself.
    I guess with all the ###### modern military shooters with 1 corridor map design and 50 cutscenes and scripted events every level, some "modern day" FPS gamers and reviewers expect just that.

    Playing comm might be hard, playing aliens can be a bit tricky, but marines? Just no.
  • SquishpokePOOPFACESquishpokePOOPFACE -21,248 posts (ignore below) Join Date: 2012-10-31 Member: 165262Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited November 2012
    No, it's not valid criticism in my opinion. You can learn most of the basics in two matches.

    Besides, there is already the Green check-mark system that works just as well as a tutorial. All you need to do is experiment, listen to your teammates, and have an intelligence level higher than your shoe size.

    Even playing Commander can be fine to pick up and learn, especially if you've already played Starcraft or other RTS. You just gotta apply what you learned as a footsoldier to the command chair, and learn from other commanders' example.

    Creating a tutorial would be a waste of UWE's time. A person who can't figure this game out from the get-go probably isn't going to stick around even with a tutorial.
  • SwiftspearSwiftspear Custim tital Join Date: 2003-10-29 Member: 22097Members
    edited November 2012
    It's pretty hard to learn. Some things aren't too bad, others are just outright silly. How often you need to press the 'c' button as alien is quite unintuitive. That using the welder builds structures faster is another (you're just supposed to telepathically know that?). Those type of things should be more clearly communicated in game.

    Other things, like learning movement and targeting strategies is difficult, there's definite skill there, but I don't think there needs to be an in game tutorial for it, that's the kind of thing that is better researched externally. For many players it's fun to figure that stuff out organically.

    The mechanical skills of commanding on the other hand. How to drop structures, what order to drop structures (loosely) and how to med marines what not, those should DEFINITELY have an in game tutorial.

    The final category of things, skills like wall jumping, lerk flight, fade blink... I kind of feel they're unique and unintuitive enough that there should be an ingame tutorial for getting people started on those things. However, the advanced techniques cannot be taught over video. Obviously they will require a lot of practice, and that's ok.

    So yes, NS2 is a game that rewards skill heavily and punishes inadequacy greatly. Some of this can be fixed with tutorial, other stuff just requires practice. Anyone claiming NS2 is an easy game to learn however isn't quite all together. I can take quite a bit of time and effort before you start feeling like you're really pulling your weight on your team. It's not senselessly unintuitive and impenetrable like DayZ or DwarfFortress is however.
  • WonderWafflesWonderWaffles Join Date: 2012-11-02 Member: 166137Members
    I think what people don't understand is that Bile Bomb, Leap, Blink, Spores etc. actually need to be researched are not default until researched. People need to know how many Hives or CC's you need for these upgrades and know when it's available. The 'Evolve Menu' was the hardest part for my friend.
  • Shr3dShr3d Join Date: 2006-11-02 Member: 58265Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    It has a steep learning curve for today's gamers. However I only find the learning curve more rewarding when you do pick it up.
  • SafewoodSafewood Join Date: 2012-11-03 Member: 166381Members
    The first games I didn't know where to pick up a new gun or why I could use Leap sometimes and other times not, after a few games I picked up the basics. After a few hours I played both Commander and GL with Jetpack, and Khammander and Gorge, while leading the team.
    I've played for only 35 hours total now, and I picked this game up faster than League of Legends. Way faster. In LoL, it took me almost 300 games (that's on avg. 150 hours) to fully understand how the game was meant to be played.

    However, an in-game tutorial, sort of like step-by-step missions, on how to play this game, would probably immensely help newcomers. Aswell as make it more fun to learn the game rather than watching videos after video.
  • Restless FragerRestless Frager Join Date: 2012-11-07 Member: 167960Members
    edited November 2012
    Don't even try to understand videogame critics. They're completely ignorant of everything game-wise and just wish to have a Call of Duty experience in every single game they play. They probably picked up the game, joined alien, and tried to run at marines by themselves, in obvious corridors, without using walls and ceilings.
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