I love this game but the Guest House antique coin and files are bad game design

[Shadow Barkley]

This game is awesome and I loved every second of it, but the way the antique coin and files are placed in the Guest House is bad game design.

The first lockpick you acquire is in a completely nonsensical location: on the floor, outside, behind you during the Derelict House Footage tape. This random patch of dirt on the floor is somewhere you would never look because the game naturally draws your attention towards Pete, Andrew and the main Guest House door. Playing the demo isn't of any help either since the location of the lockpick is moved. During the present day, there is nothing of value in the spot the lockpick is found, leading most players to assume the same is true during the tape. There is also no other item that can be picked up naturally during Derelict House Footage, hence there is no expectation setup for the player that there are any items to be found in the first place.

If you do acquire the stupidly placed lockpick, the game asks players to take this huge leap of logic: your actions in the past during your run of tape will alter the present, a mechanic that does not apply to any of the other tapes found in the game. I have seen players try to avoid picking up certain items while running the other tapes under the assumption they will still be there during the present because of this thoughtlessly implemented mechanic during Derelict House Footage and the Guest House. Players who actually would use their brain and not thoughtlessly loot the same drawer multiple times will also assume that the drawer always was and always will be empty, ignoring it in the present after finding it empty in the past.

An issue similar to the way the game draws your attention in Derelict House Footage applies to the files around Mia's cell. After freeing Mia, Mia is in a rush to escape, and is soon kidnapped. The game does its best to focus the players attention on Mia before the kidnapping, while inciting a sense of expediency. The kidnapping then leads players to believe that there is a rush to leave the basement and you shouldn't explore, else risk putting yourself and Mia in danger. Most players will inevitably miss the files around the basement because of this.

Of course, once you leave the Guest House, these items are unobtainable and require you to start a new game from scratch.

Thankfully, poorly placed, missable items and files don't come up again after the Guest House, but these are pretty awful and annoying, forcing a complete restart for anyone going after 100% completion.

[It's about sending a message]

If you're going for 100% completion you'd do several playthroughs either way. Games don't need to nor should hold your hands. In most cases you'd need in-depth knowledge of a game or a guide to get 100%, unless you want to literally scan every millimeter of the game world.
There's no reason to demand that everything is highlighted and GPS-tracked for your comfort, because again, anyone who wants that can look at a guide or just play the game a couple of times and learn these things themselves. Things being out of the way is good, because it encourages exploration and being attentive, unlike games where everything is handed to you.
I understand your issue is specifically those scenes with the apparent hurry involved, but again, you'd do multiple playthroughs anyway to get 100% naturally without guides. I don't see what the issue is. If you want an adventure line and know everything you could play RE4 and have an IGN guide open on the side, to spoil every last bit of surprise and enjoyment you could possibly have with the game.

[Shadow Barkley]

Originally posted by It's about sending a message:

If you're going for 100% completion you'd do several playthroughs either way. Games don't need to nor should hold your hands. In most cases you'd need in-depth knowledge of a game or a guide to get 100%, unless you want to literally scan every millimeter of the game world.
There's no reason to demand that everything is highlighted and GPS-tracked for your comfort, because again, anyone who wants that can look at a guide or just play the game a couple of times and learn these things themselves. Things being out of the way is good, because it encourages exploration and being attentive, unlike games where everything is handed to you.
I understand your issue is specifically those scenes with the apparent hurry involved, but again, you'd do multiple playthroughs anyway to get 100% naturally without guides. I don't see what the issue is. If you want an adventure line and know everything you could play RE4 and have an IGN guide open on the side, to spoil every last bit of surprise and enjoyment you could possibly have with the game.

The Guest House stuff is less "surprise and enjoyment" and more like old school adventure game moon logic ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. It doesn't add anything to the game except tedium, the rest of the game is absolutely perfect.

[Seamus]

Missable items are not bad game design.

Open worlds where you literally can't miss anything that have no agency to anything you do have really warped your perception.

It's fine to have things you can miss in something intended to be played multiple times.

[Shadow Barkley]

Originally posted by Seamus:

Missable items are not bad game design.

Open worlds where you literally can't miss anything that have no agency to anything you do have really warped your perception.

It's fine to have things you can miss in something intended to be played multiple times.

It isn't about being missable, it's about the way these items are poorly placed within the world. Open world game design has nothing to do with where these collectibles are found.

[devious goon]

Overreaction

[It's about sending a message]

Originally posted by Shadow Barkley:

Originally posted by It's about sending a message:

If you're going for 100% completion you'd do several playthroughs either way. Games don't need to nor should hold your hands. In most cases you'd need in-depth knowledge of a game or a guide to get 100%, unless you want to literally scan every millimeter of the game world.
There's no reason to demand that everything is highlighted and GPS-tracked for your comfort, because again, anyone who wants that can look at a guide or just play the game a couple of times and learn these things themselves. Things being out of the way is good, because it encourages exploration and being attentive, unlike games where everything is handed to you.
I understand your issue is specifically those scenes with the apparent hurry involved, but again, you'd do multiple playthroughs anyway to get 100% naturally without guides. I don't see what the issue is. If you want an adventure line and know everything you could play RE4 and have an IGN guide open on the side, to spoil every last bit of surprise and enjoyment you could possibly have with the game.

The Guest House stuff is less "surprise and enjoyment" and more like old school adventure game moon logic ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. It doesn't add anything to the game except tedium, the rest of the game is absolutely perfect.

I'd call it tedium if every item except 1-2 are super visible and you're bound to pick them up, and the game's like 30-40 hours. Aka stuff like FF13. Getting all accessories/whatever in that game can be annoying, since if you miss one that only appeared in a specific spot you'd have to redo potentially hours upon hours, on top of getting to the end of the game which could be another 20+ hours.
RE7 though is a game that will take no more than 2-3 hours if you speed through it. And again, if you're going for 100% you're likely going to use a guide anyway, or you simply want 100% because you've spent a lot of time on the game already and just want to challenge yourself to complete everything there is to do.
Regarding the whole "in a hurry" argument, a lot of games do that, including a lot of the RE games. Where you have scenes where characters imply one thing, but the opposite is true. It's pretty common and nothing out of the ordinary for a character to declare hurry, but then there's no time limit.

A great example is the first favela level in MW2. After capturing and torturing an enemy informant you're sent off to capture another person. After reaching a certain point you'll get a checkpoint and then you're told, over radio, that you should hurry up to not let the guy get away. You're being very much encouraged to rush forward and "make use of your flashbangs".
On VET difficulty that level is a doozy. You're bound to die a ton of times even if you're going slow and being methodical about it, and now you're under time pressure? No. There's no time pressure. There's no on-screen timer.
You can stand there for 10 minutes and nothing will happen, besides the NPC shouting at you over the radio. I'm sure there's instances of timed gameplay in CoD without an on-screen timer, but that specific level has no timer for that part of the mission. The game implies hurry, but there's actually no need for it. It's all smoke and mirrors.

Sometimes that just what designers do. For one reason or another one thing is implied, when in reality it's not true, or maybe just partially.
As someone else said your post is an overreaction to a trivial "issue". If the game was 50 hours and only had 1-2 instances of a hidden note or sth you'd need for 100%, yeah I could understand your frustration. Because if every note is handed to you save for 1-2 super hidden ones, that'd be annoying. But that's not what RE7 does, and it's also not a super long game.

[Annie T. Mood]

Actual bad game design is not being able to skip any of the story stuff that isn't pre-rendered. The whole Guest House sequence sucks on re-plays.

[It's about sending a message]

Originally posted by Annie T. Mood:

Actual bad game design is not being able to skip any of the story stuff that isn't pre-rendered. The whole Guest House sequence sucks on re-plays.

https://www.nexusmods.com/residentevil7/mods/85
Requires the RT version of the game. Blame the devs for overlooking this and never patching it in, because RE8 had it.

[Seamus]

RE8 still has you having to carry rose to the crib and slow walking through the snow by default. It'd be nice to be able to have an option to start right at the slide down into the village outskirts.