Protagonists moving slower

Recommended Videos

MrDelicious

New member
Oct 3, 2012
43
0
0
Is it me, or are protagonists moving slower? I was replaying Dragon Age 2 to get ready for 3, then took a break and dug out my ps2 and Prince of Persia Two Thrones game, and the prince seemed to be zipping along. I realise these might not be prime examples but does anyone else see this disturbing trend?
 

TrevHead

New member
Apr 10, 2011
1,458
0
0
While i'm not sure about every game this gen I'd say there were some games that are very popular that I hate because of the avatars move like snails, Gears of War and Bastion.

Also I would say the speed of console FPS has certainly slowed down compared to the PC FPS, like Tribes, Quake 2/3 and Serious Sam.

It's why I tend to prefer Japanese action games on console as they have faster pacing.
 
Jun 16, 2010
1,153
0
0
I suppose the slower your protagonist moves, the longer your single player campaign seems.

Though it's particularly annoying when you have a game with stealth elements where the main character sneaks around like a drunk toddler. They have the "standard" speed for walking, and then have a sneaking speed which is even slower, making it arduous just to sneak across a small room.
 

lRookiel

Lord of Infinite Grins
Jun 30, 2011
2,821
0
0
Well on Dark souls I'm playing a knight who is very... stout, so as you can expect my character moves pretty slow.

Not sure of any other examples. :/
 

ShinyCharizard

New member
Oct 24, 2012
2,034
0
0
TrevHead said:
While i'm not sure about every game this gen I'd say there were some games that are very popular that I hate because of the avatars move like snails, Gears of War
I disagree with that. Once you get good at the controls in Gears of War you can move across maps incredibly fast.

OT: Can't say I've really noticed that. Just depends on what type of games you play I guess
 

The Wykydtron

"Emotions are very important!"
Sep 23, 2010
5,458
0
0
You know I have never really noticed it. I wish other games would think up something cool movement-wise like Amaterasu's increasing run speed in Okami for example. It's such a small thing but it elevates the game up to a whole new level.

I think every game has a sprint button anyway nowadays so they could afford to make things a bit slower. Thinking about it, how do they decide on a character's base movespeed in any game? At least when movement isn't SUPER important.

Oh and you have Dishonoured's infamous Blink. Literally a speedrunner's wet dream.

You want speed? Play BlazBlue where the majority of the cast has a straight run instead of dashes. Imagine Marvel if you could simply run at someone and LOL CROUCHING LIGHTS OP. They also have a shitload of air dashes. I main Noel for a reason. That reason being autocombos her run into airdash moves her almost full screen in a second. It's nuts!

Sure you have Jin and his fullscreen ice surfboard but really, who needs gapclosing specials? So Season 2.

lRookiel said:
Well on Dark souls I'm playing a knight who is very... stout, so as you can expect my character moves pretty slow.

Not sure of any other examples. :/
I believe the polite term is "well armoured." You could always do what the speedrunners do. Be naked 24/7, dodge like 50% of the locations in the game and instagib bosses through knowledge of everything they have and the +10 Handaxe of Dunkification. The top one is like 37 minutes from Undead Asylum to final boss.
 

thesilentman

What this
Jun 14, 2012
4,513
0
0
Depends on the game. In Dark Souls, I occasionally take off all armor to outspeed some enemies and in Persona 4 Arena, Yukiko and some other characters have some pretty fast dash speeds. The only games slowing down that I see are FPSes.
 

Rylot

New member
May 14, 2010
1,819
0
0
The Wykydtron said:
The top one is like 37 minutes from Undead Asylum to final boss.
Sweet jesus, I'm not even at the first bell tower by then!
 

thesilentman

What this
Jun 14, 2012
4,513
0
0
Rylot said:
The Wykydtron said:
The top one is like 37 minutes from Undead Asylum to final boss.
Sweet jesus, I'm not even at the first bell tower by then!
If it makes you feel better, it took me 20 hours on my first playthrough to beat the Gargoyles. Thank god I finished Blighttown in 5, otherwise I'd be driven insane...
 
Jun 11, 2009
443
0
0
It's a change in game focus. The early Dooms and Quakes were about fast-paced fights that were about dodging projectiles and dealing consistent damage to enemies and bosses. They were also about single player gameplay and had settings that made bosses and unique & varied enemies plausible.

Fast forward to the world post-CoD 4, and you have a world in which competitive multiplayer and realism reign supreme - the slower the protagonist and gameplay, the longer the game seems and the easier it is to shuffle players from set piece to set piece.

Times change. Unfortunately, not always for the better - as objectively as "better" can be in situations like this.
 

lechat

New member
Dec 5, 2012
1,377
0
0
metroid other M was good
the further you ran the faster you went. just sucked when a corridoor was too short to go to hyper speed :(
 

00slash00

New member
Dec 29, 2009
2,321
0
0
uh, no. you cant really compare the two. they are very different games. its very possible movement speed has fallen, but i havent noticed any difference but prince of persia is a platformer. compare that one with a platformer that is significantly older and newer
 

Nazulu

They will not take our Fluids
Jun 5, 2008
6,242
0
0
I haven't noticed it, but I didn't enjoy Donkey Kong Country Returns as much because the movements felt clunky and slower.
 

Some_weirdGuy

New member
Nov 25, 2010
611
0
0
MrDelicious said:
Is it me, or are protagonists moving slower? I was replaying Dragon Age 2 to get ready for 3, then took a break and dug out my ps2 and Prince of Persia Two Thrones game, and the prince seemed to be zipping along. I realise these might not be prime examples but does anyone else see this disturbing trend?

1) Play Doom (1) ((infact, here, have a link: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/470460))
2) ???
3) Profit!*

((*for bonus points, realise you can press shift to watch 'warp speed' become a comparative 'snails pace'))


protagonists are definitely moving slower :p
 

uchytjes

New member
Mar 19, 2011
969
0
0
Yes, they do tend to move slower nowadays. Guessing its either age or the fact that consoles are lagging behind (both literally and figuratively) On a side note, I have been playing some of Level 5's older PS2 RPGs (I missed them soooo much) and realized something. In dark cloud, there is an item that allows for faster movement speed. it breaks after using it for a certain period of time, but lasts quite a while but is mildly (at least at the beginning) expensive. Because of this you have to make a choice: speed to clear levels faster or supplies to ensure survival. Its not too well implemented IMO, but I wish more games would do something like that. Choices: the best, and hardest, thing to give a player.
 

Vigormortis

New member
Nov 21, 2007
4,531
0
0
I'd say from the moment the "walk" key changed to the "sprint" key in most games, protagonists have been moving slower and slower.

So, yes.
 

BrotherRool

New member
Oct 31, 2008
3,834
0
0
Vigormortis said:
I'd say from the moment the "walk" key changed to the "sprint" key in most games, protagonists have been moving slower and slower.

So, yes.
To be fair before then we had the lunacy of having a 'run' key instead of a 'walk' one and a 'walk' button isn't really required these days (on consoles at least) because you just tilt the analogue stick less to go into walk
 

MrDelicious

New member
Oct 3, 2012
43
0
0
00slash00 said:
uh, no. you cant really compare the two. they are very different games. its very possible movement speed has fallen, but i havent noticed any difference but prince of persia is a platformer. compare that one with a platformer that is significantly older and newer
Alright, Prince of Persia trilogy with Darksiders 1 and 2, or even Prince of Persia the Forgotten Sands?
 

Tallim

New member
Mar 16, 2010
2,054
0
0
The Wykydtron said:
You know I have never really noticed it. I wish other games would think up something cool movement-wise like Amaterasu's increasing run speed in Okami for example. It's such a small thing but it elevates the game up to a whole new level.

I think every game has a sprint button anyway nowadays so they could afford to make things a bit slower. Thinking about it, how do they decide on a character's base movespeed in any game? At least when movement isn't SUPER important.

Oh and you have Dishonoured's infamous Blink. Literally a speedrunner's wet dream.

You want speed? Play BlazBlue where the majority of the cast has a straight run instead of dashes. Imagine Marvel if you could simply run at someone and LOL CROUCHING LIGHTS OP. They also have a shitload of air dashes. I main Noel for a reason. That reason being autocombos her run into airdash moves her almost full screen in a second. It's nuts!

Sure you have Jin and his fullscreen ice surfboard but really, who needs gapclosing specials? So Season 2.

lRookiel said:
Well on Dark souls I'm playing a knight who is very... stout, so as you can expect my character moves pretty slow.

Not sure of any other examples. :/
I believe the polite term is "well armoured." You could always do what the speedrunners do. Be naked 24/7, dodge like 50% of the locations in the game and instagib bosses through knowledge of everything they have and the +10 Handaxe of Dunkification. The top one is like 37 minutes from Undead Asylum to final boss.
Top run as far as I'm aware is 29:37. Maybe not exactly that time as I might be wrong but it's certainly under 30 minutes.
 

GrimHeaper

New member
Jun 1, 2010
1,012
0
0
Sonic was slower than mario in gameplay.
Of course Sonic still doesn't move at the speed of sound we can react at those speeds.
Make him faster darn it.