⚠️☠️Mechanics: Major Flaws That Demand Urgent Fixing"☠️⚠️
💩The Absurdity of Breaking Objects for Resources🤮
This is a point that truly defies RPG logic and immersion. Someone thought it was a good idea to have players break barrels, vases, and parts of the scenery to collect valuable items, as if it’s normal for honorable characters, respected leaders, or noble warriors to destroy everything around them in search of coins and resources.
In previous titles like Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age II, and even Inquisition, resource collection was much more natural and immersive, allowing players to find items by defeating enemies, exploring the world, or searching carefully placed chests and hiding spots. This approach maintained narrative focus and encouraged exploration without compromising the player’s chosen character identity.
In Vailguard, however, we’re forced to interrupt the game’s pace to break every pot, vase, or barrel in sight. This might seem trivial, but it creates a conflict when considering the characters we’re controlling. Imagine a noble warrior, a paladin, or a wise mage who should uphold integrity and respect for others' property, suddenly turning into a vandal just to gather some resources. For characters with high moral standards or honorable behavior, this mechanic makes no sense. How can we expect a paladin focused on protecting the weak and fighting evil to start destroying merchants' or villagers' items just to earn some coins?
For a character like this, it makes no sense to interrupt a serious dialogue or exploration scene to destroy the scenery, as if the goal were indiscriminate looting. This forced mechanic, besides being out of context, undermines the role players aim to perform, which should reflect the character’s choices and values. Putting players in this situation breaks immersion and contrasts absurdly with anyone trying to stay true to a character’s chosen behavior.
Additionally, the activity itself is tedious and repetitive. Even a beginner developer might realize that this compromises immersion, especially in a game where storyline and character-building are everything. With this mechanic, our heroes—who should be seen as saviors or respected figures—end up looking like scavengers out for loose change. Why force players into being vandals in an RPG that has always been synonymous with meaningful choices and consequences? Instead, items and resources should be available as natural rewards from combat and exploration, integrated into the narrative, just as they were in previous games.
😐 Save System😒
It’s surprising that, in a game focused on choices and narrative, the save system requires so many clicks. Wouldn’t it be more logical to have a quick shortcut to save and load the game? Imagine the situation: you make a wrong decision, get distracted for a moment, and then, wanting to correct the story’s course, you have to go through several screens just to save. In 2024, it’s absurd that an RPG of this caliber doesn’t offer a basic shortcut for manual saving.
Although the game has an autosave system, it doesn’t replace the manual control that every RPG player desires. Especially in a game with so many choices and twists, having total control over saves allows the player to return to specific points and explore different options without relying on autosave points, which don’t always align with the exact moment we’d prefer. Being able to save quickly provides a smoother, uninterrupted experience, which is crucial for immersive RPG gameplay.
👆To be continued…⚠️
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