You Can Quote Me On That: Tim Rogers
If you know me or read this site regularly, you know that I’m a huge fan of Tim Rodgers of ActionButton.net. I don’t universally agree with him, but I do universally love how the things he says about game design and video games in general make me think critically about games both as entertainment, as examples of good design, and even as an art form. Today’s quote isn’t really all that thought-provoking, but it does bring up a rather good point:
“It’s a lot like the iron boots in modern 3D Zelda games: you have these 200kg boots in your inventory; you’re swimming in water; you open the menu and choose to put the boots “on”; you sink to the bottom of the water. Are the boots only heavy when they’re on your feet? (Maybe they’re magical.) It’s not a puzzle; it’s not “thinking”. It’s just “there”.”
-Tim Rogers in his Ikaruga review.
Sure, video games do require immense suspension of disbelief and Rogers does harp a lot on modern Zelda and Nintendo design in general, but it’s true when you think about it and pretty funny.
Tags: action button dot net, dreamcast, gcn, ikaruga, n64, the legend of zelda: ocarina of time, the legend of zelda: twilight princess, tim rogers, wii, xbox live
August 25th, 2008 at 23:41
Funniest thing I’ve heard all week!
August 26th, 2008 at 8:53
It’s hard to sort of justify being upset about that when there’s the issue of where Link is keeping his giant, super-heavy hammer in the same game, but I do see his point.
What I don’t see is how it can be fixed, since a more realistic inventory system != a more fun inventory system.