% complete - good or bad

[MonkeyWrench]

I got around to completing Prince of Persia this weekend, and whilst it is short, it was definitely one of the finest gaming experiences I've had in recent times. However, the game might have not felt so short if it didn't tell me how far I have progressed everytime I saved. I was enjoying the experience so much that I felt a little sad knowing the end was nigh and it would all be over. If I'm not mistaken Metroid Prime did the same too (though it was a tad longer).

What do you prefer, percentage complete or good old total game time as employed by most games?

[PeteJ]

I like it, especially when 100% means more than just finishing the game (so you can finish it at 80% or something). I give up on games too easily, to know I'm just 20% away from finishing usually helps me get it done.

[Commander Marklar]

% - I can see how much of a game I've completed The time thing doesn't really give a good gauge of what's missing, etc... The percentage works better too, as it don't usually spoil the game by telling the player how far they are through the game, just the percentage complete or some other total (e.g. Metroid with weapon pickups) which isn't quite the same thing.

If it does, then that's a bad thing

[MonkeyWrench]

Yeah I can see how 100% complete works well for open ended games such as GTA 3, where there's a lot of different tasks and pickups to be found, but in a linear game such as Prince of Persia I don't think it works so well. It's not like the percentage figure was affected by how many of those secret health boosting areas you find. I wouldn't have actually minded if it was cause then I might feel the need to go back through the game to find them.

[TheForce]

I like it, especially when 100% means more than just finishing the game (so you can finish it at 80% or something).

same here, just like it was done with Metriod Prime, so that when I have 100% I know I have done/got/found everything of the game.

[Sketcz]

I always used to prefer % for how much of a games secrets i had collected, like super metroid on SNES.

I dont like GTAVC % method, since I know how much ive done, and frankly theres a little too much to do to get 100%

I preffered it how before, it was basically if youd collected 100% special items, or secret stages. Like Donkey Kong.
Or SMW where there were so many levels, you could finish with like under half being discovered.

But if its just your basic how far youve gotten then I dont like that.

Conversely, even though I didnt like Ico, what I did like about its play mechanics, is there were no secrets or %, just the timer.
Meaning with nothing to look out for, no secrets to attempt, you could just sit back and enjoy the game for what it is.

Sometimes the hunt for that last extra % can ruin a game, where all you care about is that last item, and you actually miss the aesthetics of the game itself.
In FF7 I spent 2 months looking for skull ship, and I added about an extra 10 hours on my first play through SM to get the last missile tank.
(hidden at the top of a long drop in bloody norfair!)

So, % for secrets but not actual levels completed, if that makes sense. Or only if the levels completed doesnt add a great deal to the %.
So maybe levels = 50% and secrets = 50%, you could finish with 76% and then go back, which is always nice.

But like I said, sometimes it can ruin the last bit of a game, especially if your a completist, or sometimes even when you start, instead of jumping in and immersing yourself, you take it so slow so as not to miss anything.

dang, I have really answered your topic title have I? Well, at least it made me think.

[PeteJ]

Conversely, even though I didnt like Ico, what I did like about its play mechanics, is there were no secrets or %, just the timer.

Ico has secrets

You have to play basket ball at some point and you receive the best Mace in the game. Worth doing

[Concept]

Hmm. I'm a little sick of percentage-based games at the moment. Or more specifically, GTA III.

Completing 19 rampages and being unable to find that very last one, being a prime example of how in-your-face irritating statistics can be. Especially when all they do is remind you of how close you are, but conversely how far you're also away...

Rockstar North could have got around this via numerous ways:

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1) Different levels of vibration in the pad depending how near you are to a rampage.

2) Increasing/decreasing sound signature to let you know when a rampage is near by.

3) Rampage maps/screenshots to buy from ammunation you could possibly obtain with your hard earned cash. (i.e the first of these is $5000, whereas the price increases and the last is $500,000).

4) Location pointers. So when you've picked up one rampage, it clearly shows on the map which of those you've already picked up with an 'X' mark. You don't have to necessarily show those which haven't been picked up. But it really would help to know when you're travelling old ground you've forgotten.

5) Or... How many rampages are on each island in the stat screen menu. That would help too.

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Even with an faq I can't find this last ****ing rampage.

Yes. As of this moment I hate percentage-based games. Oh, and games that artifically extend their lifespan through being unwieldly in terms of explorative design. This problem could so easily have been circumvented.

[Sketcz]

hahaha!
GTA, yah, and with those hidden packages too! I got them all except for 1, took me ages to get it again. Stumbled across it on a mission, so i did get them all in the end.

People say GTAVC is a casual gamers game, what a crock, this game couldnt get more hardcore if you were naked whilst playing it.
There is so much to do, only the most serious of gamers wil even attempt the holy grail of 100%. I didnt want to burden myself, so I made a promise: just enjoy the game, and to hell with 100%

Anyway, I know the mace trick in ICO, but you know what I mean.
Thats only 1 secret as opposed to 100 "randomly jump off a secret pillar to get an extra %" kind of secret, where if you get them all you get 5 seconds of extra ending.

There was obligation to hit everything, or push a block evrywhere, in the hope of finding something. It was just sit back, and do the game.

damn, I dont even like, and Im championing it...

ce la vie