What's up with hints?

[OversizeCarton5]

I just finished up God of War (2016) and went directly into this one. Not much to say so far since I'm really early on in the story but one thing that I have to say is very frustrating is just how much hand holding this game seems to do when it comes to the puzzles. The first thing I did when booting up the game was check to see if I can turn hints off and while you can't I at least appreciate that there is a minimal setting. However, even on minimal, the amount of times Atreus chimes in with hints or outright answers to in-game puzzles is a little ridiculous. Every time that I encounter a new puzzle I have maybe 20-30 seconds before the answer is just handed to me. Also, I get having Atreus or Mimir give a hint the first time you encounter a specific in-game mechanic but having them say the same hint every time you encounter said mechanic or at some points straight up telling the player where to look when exploring is pretty egregious. It's like the developers were deathly afraid that you might miss even a single thing which is pretty silly given a large portion of this game is exploration based. Even with what little time that I've put into this game it's getting pretty annoying especially considering that the previous one didn't seem to have this problem or at least not to this degree. Might try to find a mod the cuts the hints completely.

[Uvirith]

Fair enough. I think there should be a way to disable Hints. They make sense inside the game though. Why would Atreus or Mimir not say anything.

[OversizeCarton5]

Originally posted by Uvirith:

Fair enough. I think there should be a way to disable Hints. They make sense inside the game though. Why would Atreus or Mimir not say anything.

It's about balancing what makes sense in universe vs the actual mechanics of the game. If you're treating the characters of Atreus and Mimir as "real" people, sure it makes sense that they would point things out to Kratos that he hasn't noticed yet. That would be fine if this were just a narrative like a book or movie but it's not. Because this is a video game, there has to be considerations and balances made with the out of universe player in mind. I play the game to actively engage with the story, world, and mechanics; not to have a guided tour. Having Atreus and Mimir constantly point out paths and puzzle solutions when these are obstacles specifically intended for you to overcome takes away agency from the player and diminishes the overall experience. Haven't you ever been doing something in real life like assembling a piece of furniture or solving a math problem only to have someone come up to you and just tell you what to do or give you the exact right answer? It's annoying right? Maybe because you were already doing what they just told you to do or you knew that you were capable of finding the right answer given enough time. Same principle applies here.