The Problem with Yoshi-P | An Honest Critique by Ember's Arcade

[Eyrilona]

I agree, excessive focus on not wanting to leave anyone behind in getting to the next part of the story, has the 'necessary side effect' of stripping anything that would be an obstacle from that path. But that defeats the purpose of the writing instrument of the Hero's Journey -- it is supposed to be the journey of a character going through trials and tribulations in the overcoming of obstacles. Take out those parts and you have something whose story beats are not connected by challenges, but by chores. An easy mode that lets anyone experience the story, including those with e.g. disabilities that would prevent them from performing the gameplay, should be a fallback, not the default and only setting.

I wouldn't mind if they even added a 'skip' option to msq dungeons and trials that just gives you the cutscenes and a written summary of any story beats not covered by cutscenes that happened in there. The only thing they'd need to be mindful of then would be that there shouldn't be any advantage to finishing the msq ahead of the majority, to prevent skipping content becoming a meta.


EDIT: And then make the default gameplay something that would actually be interesting to play through and exciting to clear - not this odd halfway point between skipping and gameplay where you're kind of skipping out of needing to do much, but still having to sit the time and go through the motions.