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The story
A manga artist’s remarks along the lines of “Games that pile on side-quests just so they won’t be called ‘linear’ are annoying — please stop” were picked up on 5ch’s Hardware & Industry (Geha) board. The artist reportedly caused a stir once before by calling a Nintendo game’s gimmick “not fun,” and on this thread too, rebuttals piled up: “Being linear and having side-quests are two separate issues” and “You’re confusing this with post-clear completion content.” On the other hand, some defended the artist, saying “These days people care about time efficiency (‘tai-pa’), so linear games are easier to enjoy” and “If side-quests add depth to the story, please keep them.” Opinion split along the lines of game-design philosophy.
What people said
It just feels like padding to me — doesn't get the dopamine flowing either.
Seriously, go watch a movie instead
Games like this — linear ones — I clear 'em and sell 'em off right away, bye-bye.
That's actually the same kind of element as a side-quest, you know
Figured his opinion alone would be boring, so he threw in some eye-candy art to keep it fun.
Reason: pure spite.
We're in the era of time-efficiency ('tai-pa') now, so if you just want to clear the game, you don't have to spend much time on it
But side-quests flesh out the story, so it's more like 'do them if you've got the time'
If anything, more users these days find linear games easier to enjoy precisely because they're linear.
This guy's analysis is way too shallow for how much he's acting like some game-design pundit
He's worse than even the trashy reviewers running wild on Metacritic.
They made you go pick up trash, in these super cramped, walled-off little areas.
Not as bad as Xenoblade though, with its pointlessly huge, empty maps where 'walking around a big space' is basically the only exploration element.
At that point don't you have to go all the way back to Famicom-era games, where there wasn't even enough capacity for extra events?
This complaint, though — that's more like 'one straight turd' (a pun on 一本道/ippon-michi, 'linear,' swapping in 糞, 'crap').
If it's such a hassle, I think he should just quit playing the game — and quit drawing negative manga about it too.
It's optional content → 'I don't want to do it, but skipping it makes me feel like I'm missing out, so stop it!' That's just…
If a game's fun I'll play it two or three times, so I do wish it were a bit more streamlined.
Even the main progression got complicated and needed a bunch of management, turning it into this maze-like game
Made me think they must've really been stung by being called linear
Honestly I think FF13's real problem wasn't being linear, it was the shallow ensemble storytelling
FF10 was just as linear, after all
This whole 'linear, linear' thing was just idiots on Geha and news-aggregator sites making noise.
Lightning Returns actually ended up being a hassle for casual players, if anything
The final boss is absurdly strong too
RPG nerds are always loudly demanding freedom this, class-change that.
For exploration and side-quests, FF13-2 was about the right amount. The minigames were garbage though.
Famous manga artist: 'These gimmicks that show up a lot in Nintendo games aren't fun. They're just irritating.'
https://krsw.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/ghard/1577055790/1
1 Name: Anonymous [sage] Posted: 2019/12/23 (Mon) 08:03:10.02 ID:KXBUV456a
I totally get it, it really isn't fun.
Honestly this one's making basically the same point
but it went viral because it directly attacked Nintendo, so PlayStation fans jumped in to back it up,
plus it was clearly just the artist being bad at the game,
and it got sympathy from people going 'yeah I'm bad at it too, can't handle it'
Lightning doesn't strike twice, lol (lit. 'couldn't catch a second loach' — a saying about repeating a lucky success).
Even if you're not interested, this manga artist actually sells well outside of gaming topics too
Also, Mario's completion content really is a pain in the ass, let's be honest.
If 'sells well = justified,' then Mario sells way more, doesn't it?
We'll make every side-quest mandatory and turn it into a linear game.
Development costs are ballooning too, so I think we're starting to see a trend where the main game gets built that way [linear], and the kind of substantial side-quests we used to get become paid DLC instead.
Does this guy only play games so he can complain about them?
Never read his manga and don't plan to, but it sounds boring too.
Props for actually reading post #1.
Background and Key Points of This Debate
“Linear” (ippon-michi, literally “single road”) was a term frequently used in 2000s RPG criticism of titles like FF10 and FF13, originally referring to a progression structure with little branching or open-field exploration freedom. The presence or absence of side-quests and detour content, however, is a separate design choice from that kind of progression freedom, and the thread saw repeated pushback along the lines of “these are fundamentally two different issues.” FF13 in particular is known as a game where debate centered less on its linearity and more on its ensemble storytelling. The view that frames this post as claiming developers “pad games with side-quests just to avoid being called linear” is a subjective interpretation that speculates about developers’ intentions — no material has actually been presented showing this reflects real development circumstances. It’s also worth noting as background that this manga artist has previously sparked reactions with posts criticizing gimmicks in Nintendo games, and that their remarks as game commentary have repeatedly become a topic of discussion.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Hardware & Industry [Geha]) thread “Manga artist: ‘Games with side-quests just so they won’t be called linear are a hassle, please stop’”.
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