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[JayhawkerStL]

I don't recall any game that has story progression locked behind the collectibles.

While progression wasn't locked in the case of Tomb Raider, if you did not continually look for salvage, GPS caches, artifacts, raid optional tombs, and spend a decent amount of time hunting, you play a much different game, and do start to run into enemies that require skills and weapon mods you have failed to acquire. I hit a point in the game in which I realized that all of the stuff I had skipped had hampered my enjoyment.

On the plus side, it was pretty easy to go back and clean up prior maps and boost everything up. But I failed to maximize salvage because some stuff increased my percentage. And some tools, like the auto zip line for going up long lines would have been nice to have.

I finally finished the game, but had I spent more time searching out stuff, it would have been better overall.

 

[Dangansona]

Heads up Tales of Zestiria does this! And they are marked as optional quests which you won't know you have to do to progess later on.

Not going to lie, following the last two Tales games I've played combined with everything I've seen on Zesteria leads to me being a little apprehensive.

They're usually horrible game design. A poor man's way of prolonging a game. I don't like horrible game design in my games. I especially don't like when there are rewards to succumbing to the horribleness that are collectibles, like special cutscenes and endings.

In fact, I bet if collectibles never existed in our realm, devs would be forced to come up with much more creative ways of making their open world games interesting. So, they are a parasite too. You know how you sometimes hear people say video games rot the mind? Well, collectibles rot the open world game.

Well put.

 

[SonyToo!™]

It's not that I don't like collectables, notice no one ever complains about Mario or Sonic having rings and coins but most AAA's / Openworlds do it in a way that isn't fun and are used as a crutch instead of meaningful objectives & gameplay.

A lot of ppl really enjoyed Far Cry: Blood Dragon because it was a Ubisoft collectathon in moderation making it fun to 100%.

 

[Pyramid head]

This was he absolute worst. I didn't even bother. Fuck that.

Yup. I felt like I'd been collecting that shit forever when I was notified I had 25% done. Get to fuck.

It's totally arbitrary too. It's not like leaving the Riddler roaming free changes the outcome of the story in any way, it just means you only get to see half a cutscene that has nothing to do with the Riddler instead of the full thing for no real reason whatsoever. Complete bullshit.

 

[Chris1]

I don't mind collectibles that much, but when I press start and see a map like this:

It's just overwhelming and really puts me off the games. It's why I don't like most Ubisoft games.

I think GTA does collectibles quite well, doesn't clutter your map, can get them if you want them but if you don't then it doesn't matter and they don't try to force it on you.

 

[B4s5C]

I don't mind them but I hate seeing % Complete lower than 100 if I didn't get them. I wouldn't mind game completion being 100% and then as you collect colllectibles for that to go up. Doesn't make sense but I get some weird satisfaction having something like 113% rather than 47% completion. Maybe because it present collectibles as optional?

 

[Mikey Jr.]

I saw this on GAF quite a lot: "The only thing that bothered me were all the collectibles" etc.

I don't get it if you don't like collectibles then you know, don't collect them?

I pretty much only pick up the ones I find naturally, but why would I be bothered by them?

Play batman arkham knight then come back here.

 

[Icedburden]

Collectibles = Fluff

 

[Overside]

Depends on the use of the mechanic. Collectables can be a fantastic side game to an adventure if done right.

The secret shells in Links Awakening is a great example, they are engaging, most are easy enough to find to be fun, the seashell mansion has enough mystery to entice players to actively look on the side, and the payoff is very rewarding.


Of course, as usual, modern AAAAAAA publishers have consumed it like cancerous ameoba and shat out a tedious parody.

They recognized that people enjoyed these things, wanted a bullet point that already had an experience conditioned bias towards positive, but didnt want to put in any effort towards actual design and integration.

So you have the compulsive desire to want to get everything the game has to offer, and a familiarity in the back of your head telling you these are worth your tome, completeky at odds with what you ate actually doing, which is boring and tedious, and the reward you get for it, which is often worthless.

 

[Gren]

I like to explore in my single-player games, so I appreciate collectibles with a bit of text/imagery being little rewards for straying off the beaten path.

What I don't like is when it's just a lame pop-up notification that you found something (2013 Tomb Raider GPS caches, fruits). That they only offered XP meant they weren't nearly as satisfying/compelling.

 

[SuperStiltzkin]

Because collectibles are done piss poorly so often and 90% of the time they offer you fuck all for collecting them other than a shiny achievement.

Arkham Asylum did collectibles well because they were fun to find and had enough hints for you to figure them out. The collectibles were well thought out and felt like part of the gameplay with it's own story tied to them. Arkham Asylum is probably the most fun I had collecting things because it's not a huge open world. You remember where you last saw a thing that you couldn't get yet and so you can easily backtrack to that location to get it now that you have the gadget for it. As opposed to Arkham City where I don't know where the fuck that nondescript alley is where I left that riddler trophy. Collectibles seem like an afterthought most of the time. Some dev just sprinkled a salt shaker of collectible items over a world and called it a day.

 

[ROUGE_BLOCK]

It depends on how the developer does it. I don't fucking ever bother with it in Ubisoft games unless it was Blood Dragon and it was fun, took 5 minutes and got me a quadruple barrled shotgun. Man that was fun! Or in Assassin's Creed I dont ever bother with it, with the exception of Rogue and Black Flag.

Like in Sunset Overdrive you traded in the collectibles to get cool overdrives that changed a bit how your weapons and abilities did damage to the enemies. Like with lighting effects after you built up the style meter that did a number on the robots.

 

[redcrayon]

I don't recall any game that has story progression locked behind the collectibles.

One that I found a bit frustrating was Jet Force Gemini, where you can't move forward in the game if you haven't found every single furry bastard creature.

More recently, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia requires you to find every hidden villager to advance beyond a bad end, but there aren't that many and you stumble across most of them while exploring the relatively simple 2D stages anyway.

 

[RazielCuts]

When it breaks the narrative or illusion of the game world the developers are trying to create. Nothing like being snapped out of the atmosphere as you're walking along a path and see a shiny thermos glimmering in the distance.

Or when they act as filler for game 'content.' 'We have all these things that the player can collect in the environment - hours of gameplay!' Although I will say, sometimes if they're placed well in the environment and the journey getting to them is the challenge that can be fun.

 

[Tigress]

I'm one of the few who agree with OP. I even enjoy the scavenger hunt aspect (though in a game like GTA V they should at least give you some hints on where to look). But I can understand why people don't like them when they feel compelled to get them. I was like that one time too. Then I realized that if I got too hung up on finding every collectable I eventually got bored of the game and wouldn't finish it. I've made myself go with the philsophy of I'll take some time looking for them in linear games where they tell you how many in each level but I move on if it is getting too tedius. And in open world games unless they are ones that let you know about the world (notes/or pictures or stuff that gives you story info) I'll enjoy finding them and maybe if I'm bored I'll even go look but I don't try hard.

In the end I actually enjoy that they are there for me to try to find but I make sure that I'll only do so to the extent it is fun and make myself move on when I find it's just getting chore like. Even if there is a reward for finding them I've learned to not hang myself up on it, that in the end it's not worth it if they make the game unfun.

And the only time I go for trophies/achievements is if they look like a fun challenge. To me that's the only benefit of those and I don't do achievements for stupid stuff or stuff that is meant to just be annoying to make it hard. I just don't do those (Which is why I never platinum a game and I don't care if I do. I only go for the goals I want to achieve in a game). And I honestly don't even get trophies/achievements for stuff that you have to do to continue on in a game (like passing a main mission that you have to do if you want to reach the end of the game). What's the point in even awarding you for essentially playing the game? Shouldn't being able to continue on with the story/get to the next level be the reward for that?

 

[ScaryShark]

The 'true' ending of Arkham Knight is way overblown. It's an extended cutscene that is a treat for people who 100%'d the game and since you can easily just find the cinematic on YouTube, the people who didn't 100% don't really lose out on anything. If it opened a new area, mechanic, or in-game stuff I think it'd be a far better argument against collectibles in that game.

 

[Stiler]

I hate collectibles because many games use them as a means to "pad" out their world and forgo having actual unique/varied things to find and explore the world for.

Ubisoft games are a prime example of this.

Instead of actually filling their worlds with FUN and unique things to find for people to explore, like sidequest npc's, items, rare wildlife , etc they just throw in 100 feathers, almanac pages and other useless crap that MAY give you an item or a "Trophy."

Give me RPG style "Worlds" any day, chests that have a chance ot contain rare items, hidden away npc's to find that give you actual INTERESTING story quest/items.

THOSE are the things I want to "find," not the crap they use now in most "open world games" where you just collect useless junk to feel like there's something of value to having an open world over it being mostly empty useless space filled with cirap that adds absolutely nothing fulfilling to the experience.

 

[redcrayon]

I don't mind collectibles that much, but when I press start and see a map like this:

It's just overwhelming and really puts me off the games. It's why I don't like most Ubisoft games.

I think GTA does collectibles quite well, doesn't clutter your map, can get them if you want them but if you don't then it doesn't matter and they don't try to force it on you.

That map only makes me want to find the pointless collectibles just to tidy it up and make it more functional as a fucking map.

 

[ROUGE_BLOCK]

Oh also cool story based collectibles that give you more insight to the characters. Like the journal entries in the Metro games, or the terminals in Halo.

 

[Raonak]

The only time I don't like collectables is when they're actually marked out on the world map. They become a chore at that point.

I like collectables otherwise, because I only bother getting them for games i really enjoy, be that uncharted, or infamous, etc.

 

[Akronis]

say it with me, game designers

bloat is bad


bloat. is. bad.

I honestly think this is my biggest gripe with 90% of games made recently. Everyone is using the hours per dollar metric so companies make shitty open-world games with shitty open-world design.

Please give me a reason to care about your world. Please learn from GSC and Bethesda.

 

[SephLuis]

Heads up Tales of Zestiria does this! And they are marked as optional quests which you won't know you have to do to progess later on.

Wait, what. I don't remember this at all.

I remember, maybe, 2-4 story moments where they don't point to where you should go next, but I don't remember having it to collect something or making an entire side quest.

 

[Metzhara]

Because often there are ingame items or stuff tied to them. (or achievements)

I feel like this statement misses the concept of an "achievement." It is indeed an achievement to hunt down something spread out and hidden throughout the world.
It is by no means mandatory and is in every way a personal choice.

With that said, if in-game items are tied to them, I feel (personally) that as long as they are vanity driven (or in some cases of having to see the entire game to even collect them all, Over powered awesomeness) then it doesn't really have any negative bearing.

Being a completionist shouldn't alter collectables and their inclusion in games no more than a box of toothpics shouldn't be sold just because there are OCD people who will organize them by height.... in nanometers. .
-Adam

 

[Kazerei]

I'm fine with collectibles as long as they're actually fun to find, not excessive, and offer worthwhile rewards. Zelda games in general I enjoyed collecting heart pieces, gold skulltulas, and whatnot. But the treasure charts in Wind Waker and the kinstones in Minish Cap really tried my patience. Many of them were placed in boring ways (talk to this NPC or clear this grotto of enemies), and often the reward was just getting rupees, another chart, or another kinstone. Some of the rewards were actually useful though, like equipment upgrades or heart pieces, so I didn't want to completely ignore these side quests. Even in cases where you can completely ignore the collectibles, I think it's valid to criticize poor game design.

 

[SliChillax]

Yeah, but then look at all the reactions to the poster who said he watched Arkham Knight's ending on youtube.

To be honest I saw the 100% ending on YouTube. That was after my playthrough where I did all the missions including side missions except the riddles trophies. That's not so bad I mean should I punish myself by doing all riddles trophies or should I not see the true ending at all?

 

[Auto-Reply]

Collecting stuff can be fun, you naturally want to collect stuff as a human right? Now you sabotage that by making the process of collecting stuff unneccessary tedious or difficult.
Now it bothers me. Sure I can ignore it and I do, a lot. It still bothers me that it's not good.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

I don't recall any game that has story progression locked behind the collectibles.

Mad Max just recently is a perfect example.

 

[SmokedMeat]

I enjoyed the "collectables" in Mafia 2 very much.

We're in a burning building, and have to get an injured friend out? Yeah, hold on a sec, and let me explore these rooms before we move on.

 

[daTRUballin]

I agree with the OP. I've never understood this complaint as well. This is like saying an FPS has too many bad guys to shoot or something.

 

[Archaix]

I agree with the OP. I've never understood this complaint as well. This is like saying an FPS has too many bad guys to shoot or something.

That can easily be the case with things like infinite spawns and a lack of enemy and encounter variety.

 

[speedomodel]

Some people like completing games and when designers throw in meaningless crap to grind/hunt it's frustrating. 100 of this, 50 of that, 200 of those, it's meaningless. Leave it out.

But then they get to say "40 hours to complete" so...

 

[protonion]

I like when I discover collectables myself rather than follow icons on a map.

Like in the old Tomb Raider games where you could experiment with the platforming trying to reach an impossible looking place. Finding a treasure there felt like a reward for your skill. Or when a treasure was visible but you could not see a way to get it. Collectables should be tied to skill and exploration.

The way they do it now is to addict gamers into getting trophies and map checkmarks. A huge waste of time. Try to break down you playing time of a ubisoft game. Hours upon hours of doing nothing! Hold a stick in one direction fast travel repeat. And a few minutes of mediocre mechanics in between. I'm glad I got out of this nonsense. Respect my time developers.

 

[gelf]

People need to let go of the "I MUST COLLECT EVERY LAST TRINKET" mindset. Same thing for people who complain about dull side missions. Sure, we'd all like it if that content was all fun all the time, but if it isn't, don't waste your life slogging through it.

I can ignore collectibles just fine but I'm still going to to criticise an element of a game I see as entirely unfun and a waste of time for both me and the developer.

I would say bad missions are vastly worse though as you don't know its bad until you play it. I don't see why we shouldn't criticise unfun content just because it's skippable.

 

[Lord British]

I... wha... huh?

People aren't complaining that the videos are on Youtube, or even that people are watching them. They are complaining about the game design choices developers make that force some people to Youtube.

Clearly I've misunderstood; thanks for clarifying.

 

[Dr.Acula]

Even if they have no functional purpose and can be freely ignored, they can have a couple of downsides. As mentioned, even if you intend to ignore them, they can prod at completionist compulsions (if you have these tendencies) in a way that's distracting.

They can also undermine the atmosphere and art direction of a game – using Arkham City as an example, I have no idea why you'd want to spend so much care and attention on such a detailed environment, only to then sprinkle glowing green question marks and lame puzzles all over the place.

"I've got to stop the Joker... oh wait, is that a glowing question mark down there? Should I stop and grab it?" Kind of undermines whatever reality the game is trying to create.

That's how I feel.

GTAV was awesome because the collectibles were practically invisible.

Any collectible that glows, hums, floats, or spins, is wack.

I'm not crazy about Uncharted either, just little sparkles that distract you down alleyways and things.

I don't mind collectibles that are more organic, like in MGS2 where you could choke out soldiers for their dog-tags. That way they aren't visually distracting, or artificially hidden.

 

[GametimeUK]

I don't recall any game that has story progression locked behind the collectibles.

You mustn't play a lot of platformers.

 

[texhnolyze]

The Witcher 3 did collectibles in open world perfectly. I turned off the point of interest from my map as soon as I enter the main zone. I did stumble upon lots of them as I went adventuring. I didn't get gimped at all when I finished the game. They're totally optional.

 

[webkatt]

The worst offense was probably AC Unity. It have 1000x collectibles/chest, I don't recall but some may be tied to achievements/trophies.

- Cool, whatever, I'm not going to get them all. If I run across them, collect them, if not eh.
-Chest is locked until you reach a high enough lockpick skill.
Eff it, I'll get the others and possibly come back for the lockpick chests once I get high enough level.

You find a chest you CANNOT unlock unless you have the companion app AND leveled up in it far enough to unlock said chest.

- Whateves, I'll ignore those chests and get the other ones I can.

You find ANOTHER chest you cannot unlock unless you have played the Initiates web app.

- FUCK YOU UBISOFT!

 

[FoxnHurley]

I don't mind if the item is useful to me and not placed in some remote spot where I feel obliged to search dark corners or completely abandon the path of cohesive level design

It just creates stress for those who wish to find everything the game offers during the first run through, but they feel the need to search everything nook and cranny before moving on in case you're unable to enter that area again. Infuriating when that happens, nevertheless.

You can keep your "find 200 feathers" achievement and shove it where the sun doesn't shine if I need to adjust my brightness to spot the damn object in question without having to blindly press a button in the hope that something is actually there.

 

[Lord British]

The worst offense was probably AC Unity. It have 1000x collectibles/chest, I don't recall but some may be tied to achievements/trophies.

- Cool, whatever, I'm not going to get them all. If I run across them, collect them, if not eh.
-Chest is locked until you reach a high enough lockpick skill.
Eff it, I'll get the others and possibly come back for the lockpick chests once I get high enough level.

You find a chest you CANNOT unlock unless you have the companion app AND leveled up in it far enough to unlock said chest.

- Whateves, I'll ignore those chests and get the other ones I can.

You find ANOTHER chest you cannot unlock unless you have played the Initiates web app.

- FUCK YOU UBISOFT!

That sounds fucking atrocious.

I was going to buy this when it was £5 or less but now I'm not gonna bother. Jesus christ, that sounds infuriating.