Wish list for next Indy game

[jazzycmk]

Finished the game last night and really enjoyed it. Very different experience than past Indy games, but had an authentic Indy feel to it.

Here's a few things I'd like to see in next Indy game.

1. Personal preference but return to 3rd person full time, or at least give players the option. Considering the type of game it is, I can see why Machine Games had it in first person. All the stealth and exploration and document hunting probably worked a little better in first person. Between the cutscenes and 3rd person views while climbing or traversing there was still no shortage of views of Indy himself. The game still absolutely worked for me, but if I'm playing as Indiana Jones, I want to see him. I'm sure they can make it work.

2. Need an action set piece with Indy on horseback, along the lines of the classic Raiders truck chase, or Crusade's tank scene. Yes, it would be shameless fan service, but frankly, the whole game is about fan service. Also, such a action sequence would really need to be in third person. Could be something along the lines of great horse chase scene in Uncharted 3.

3. Have Sallah as Indy's companion. Gina was fine, but we've never gotten Sallah as a full fledged companion of Indy on one of his adventures, even in the movies. He was around a bit in Raiders and even more in crucial scenes in Crusade but only for brief sequences. Dial of Destiny teased Sallah going on one last adventure, but then Indy left him at the airport. I'd love to see a great buddy adventure.

4. Better mapping system. That was probably my biggest beef with great circle. Map was incredibly awkward. Mini-map or a semi-transparent overlay would have worked wonders.

I'm sure I'll think of others later, but it's a start.

[oldeschool]

add short round

[HeideKnight]

The reason why the game is in 1st person and doesn't have a mini map is because they wanted to enhance the feeling that you yourself are Indiana Jones. A 3rd person mode or a mini map always reminds one of the fact that this is a computer game. In contrast, with the 1st person mode I felt most of the time as being a real entity in the world myself, and not just navigating a character.

Yes, Sallah definitely should accompany Indy on an adventure sometime.

[jazzycmk]

Originally posted by HeideKnight:

The reason why the game is in 1st person and doesn't have a mini map is because they wanted to enhance the feeling that you yourself are Indiana Jones. A 3rd person mode or a mini map always reminds one of the fact that this is a computer game. In contrast, with the 1st person mode I felt most of the time as being a real entity in the world myself, and not just navigating a character.

I get it. Like I said, matter of personal preference. Gordon Freeman was perfect first person character. He had no history and didn't speak. He was an everyman who got thrust into situation out of his control, so it felt more immersive to play if from his eyes. But for me, if I'm playing as Indy (or Spider-Man, Iron Man, James Bond, etc.) part of the power trip is in seeing the character. First person just feels a bit generic in those cases for me.

Doesn't change fact I'm still crazy about the game.

Best of all worlds would be giving players an option of views. Perhaps that's too much development work, but plenty of games have pulled it off in the past.

[HeideKnight]

Originally posted by jazzycmk:

Originally posted by HeideKnight:

The reason why the game is in 1st person and doesn't have a mini map is because they wanted to enhance the feeling that you yourself are Indiana Jones. A 3rd person mode or a mini map always reminds one of the fact that this is a computer game. In contrast, with the 1st person mode I felt most of the time as being a real entity in the world myself, and not just navigating a character.

I get it. Like I said, matter of personal preference. Gordon Freeman was perfect first person character. He had no history and didn't speak. He was an everyman who got thrust into situation out of his control, so it felt more immersive to play if from his eyes. But for me, if I'm playing as Indy (or Spider-Man, Iron Man, James Bond, etc.) part of the power trip is in seeing the character. First person just feels a bit generic in those cases for me.

Doesn't change fact I'm still crazy about the game.

Best of all worlds would be giving players an option of views. Perhaps that's too much development work, but plenty of games have pulled it off in the past.

Yes, this would be good if there was an option to switch between 1st and 3rd person modes. I am currently playing one of the Sherlock Holmes games by Frogwares, and here it is possible to switch between a 1st person perspective and a classical point-and-click mode with fixed camera views. For looking around and solving environmental puzzles it is actually much better to play with the 1st person perspective.

The only case where the 1st person mode is not optimal in the Indiana Jones game is in the melee combat. Because there is no lock on and it often happens that an enemy gets out of sight and one has to quickly readjust the camera. So what would be needed is either 3rd person here, where the camera is behind Indy and so giving one a much better sight of what is going on, or a lock on mode where the camera automatically follows the opponent.

[max]

I think they didn't go for 3rd person for two reasons:
1. People would immediately start comparing it to TR and UC. My feeling is that they wanted to distance themselves as much as they could from these franchises.
2. MachineGames know how to, and do, first person games.

So, as long as the sequel is developed by MachineGames I foresee same outcome in this regard.

[dprog1995]

Originally posted by max:

I think they didn't go for 3rd person for two reasons:
1. People would immediately start comparing it to TR and UC. My feeling is that they wanted to distance themselves as much as they could from these franchises.

So, as long as the sequel is developed by MachineGames I foresee same outcome in this regard.

That is a lame reason to be honest. Because so far the only 3rd person Indy game that was similar to TR was Infernal Machine.
From the moment Indy games decided to focus on hand to hand combat(Emperor's Tomb, Staff of Kings) they became much more different than TR games. The only TR game with hand to hand combat is AOD and that was one of the worst 3rd person hand to hand combat in video games.

Uncharted games are 3rd person cover shooter games.

So, I don't think a 3rd person Indiana Jones game with great melee combat is in any ways similar to those franchises.

[notSure]

1st person is fine and should stay

[dprog1995]

Originally posted by notSure:

1st person is fine and should stay

1st person is the main reason that Melee combat isn't that good in this game.(Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb which is a 2003 game has a much better melee combat than this game)

1st person is a perfect camera angle for shooting sections though.(Even Emperor's Tomb had some 1st person shooting sections)

[nasenkobold]

Here's my list:

1. No Gina. She was not "fine", she's boring and annoying
2. Better enemy AI that doesn't forget about you while you're standing right in front of them
3. Start off the story with how Indy met Short-Round, then have them go on an adventure that somehow revolves around Chinese ruins/history/mythology. Indy's friend Wu Han, who gets killed at the start of "Temple of Doom" could also be explored more.
4. If you really need a love interest for Indy, do not make her a snarky douchebag and do make her easy on the eyes. Seems obvious but apparently you have to point this stuff out nowadays. Also if you can't write funny, confrontational and cocky flirtatious banter that fits Indy's character because "HR is in the room" or whatever, maybe just forget about the whole love interest thing altogether. You're not doing the game any favors.
5. Don't make a huge part of side-activities about finding hundreds of identical stone-dildos. Give us unique, interesting artifacts to find, that we can sell to a museum.
6. Stop it with the pushy "Let's go! This way! Look here!"-NPCs. Let us play and explore at our own pace.

[GAMING_Alligator]

Having a love interest is fine. It wouldn't be Indiana Jones without one. But need a setting to disable "companion hints". The hand holding is annoying.

I would like better AI (both enemy and companion, as well as bystander NPCs) and better combat mechanics. And yeah, scrap all the little collectathon quests that don't give any meaningful reward. They're just pointless filler and make it hard to know which side quests are worth doing or not.

[nasenkobold]

Originally posted by GAMING_Alligator:

Having a love interest is fine. It wouldn't be Indiana Jones without one.

I agree, if they can get it right next time...
Also 100% agree on the "handholding"...I suppose you mean the constant and pushy pointing out of doors, hatches, levers etc. I actually need to add that to my list, totally forgot about that :D
Luckily, when an actual puzzle starts Gina does shut up if you chose the hard puzzle difficulty.

[VGamingJunkie]

Maybe don't make a GPU that's over $200 the bare minimum, it seems wrong that so many people are defending this by saying they're old GPU's but that's still an outrageous amount. Bloat it as much as you want for the maximum settings, but the barrier to entry shouldn't be so much.

[HeideKnight]

Regarding a companion they could make it like in The Fate of Atlantis in the next game. Here Indy had the option to either go with Sophia or to be on his own, leading also to slightly different progression paths. In this way the game would also gain some replayability.

[nasenkobold]

Originally posted by HeideKnight:

Regarding a companion they could make it like in The Fate of Atlantis in the next game. Here Indy had the option to either go with Sophia or to be on his own, leading also to slightly different progression paths. In this way the game would also gain some replayability.

Agree, that would be nice 👍

[Dr. Faustus]

A little bit more action would be nice.
Not talking about more shooting, but some more Traps in Tombs. More big rolling Stones. More stuff like the Plane Section in Shanghai.
I just hope for a little bit more action.