Yeah, if they're going to have us jump jump all backwards and awkward like Kris Kross, it would be nice to have some colored arrows to let us know when we're about to biff it face first into the ground lol.
Honestly jumping is one of my least favorite things about this game. It overshadows everything else in the tactical combat scheme and doesn't add whole ton to the exploration appeal to me. It just feels sort of tacked on.
Like I can understand why other RPGs add a relatively pointless and purely cosmetic spacebar jump, or maybe a weapon's flourish too, just to have some level of spontaneity in an otherwise endless walk-a-thon. I guess to make it feel slightly more like an action game? but the BG3 jump feels somehow less entertaining and more awkward than even that. Jumps in other games are mainly for shortcutting from higher elevations to lower ones, but that's more of an expedient for movement around the game environments, rather than like a thrilling combat or exploration experience. Creating environments that allowed for scaling over hazardous terrain, up an incline or tree or whatever, would have been a much more interesting thing for them to spend their time on. Also, having otherwise "normal" looking terrain (like not molten lava) serving as invisible barriers feels pretty annoying in 2021. If there are vista views and window dressing, at least have some sort of visual cues to tell us we're not meant to go that way. Instead of just having us break every bone in ill fated attempts to get places we're not meant to go. Having seen what an interactive 3D environment could be in a game like Breath of the Wild or any FPS worth its salt, really makes all the set piece conceits of RPG games with these tiers and platforms feel pretty dated already. Like Donkey Kong or Lode Runner or something, all ladders and falling into pits hehe.
ps. The roof top battles feel particularly irksome. You know where the enemies start out already occupying elevations that PCs can't really reach, or even see with their cam. It feels like they are designed with misty footing as the default, or as if already knowing where hidden ladders are located and then doing a gauntlet rush to reach them before catching a hail of bolts and arrows is supposed to be all rad. It's hard to imagine anything in these environments that a PC with better than a 12 in dex/str wouldn't be able to scale or otherwise get to the top off. Like aren't we supposed to be fantasy ninjas by now? Or like freestyle walk up the side of a wall doing that classic side to side bounce. If Mario could do it on the N64 in the late 90s, you'd think they could come up with something cool by now. Something colorfully animated, that captures an "Athletic" essence, or an "Acrobatic" one, or whatever it's meant to play off of in the abilities/skills. I'd rather roll for a check and watch the PCs attempt something wild. Issue the command and sit back and watch the results, not mucking about with jump controls. Like rather than trying to target a jump with all the accuracy of carnival skee-ball, I'd prefer the PCs just be able to get places normally (using normal animations), or maybe get there crazily (using crazy animations). But based on their stats, and done in a way that presents the player with enough information to make a judgment, whether it's worth the attempt or not.
Last edited by Black_Elk; 07/06/21 06:43 AM.