Stark wrote:You haven't? Have you played San Andreas? The whole player maintenance crap in that game sucks. Constantly having to exercise and deal with your girlfriend and whatnot totally broke that game. And they did a lot of that in GTA4 too, although I didn't find it quite as annoying, it still was annoying.
Roman: "Hey Niko, want to play darts?"
Me: "No, go to hell."
This brings up a great point about game design that a lot of people don't really notice when it isn't there. Games usually have a natural flow to them. They tend to introduce new game mechanics, characters, plot and activities in a seemingly natural and meaningful way.
Zelda is a great example of how this is implemented. Every dungeon you enter has a theme and puzzles that revolve around the weapon or item you currently get. This shows you how it can be used in future dungeons and also introduce ways to implement it into your combat repertoire.
It also introduces that side quests and other activities naturally. There are places you can explore and come upon that give you a unique mini-game, or activity a-la Wind Waker's camera quests, or the skulltatas. They were unique and interesting activities that aren't required, but when introduced, didn't stop you dead in your tracks and force you to undergo an activity that may seem cumbersome to your style of play.
I think that may be the key thing. The core mechanic of a zelda game is the same and will appeal to the same person. Other activities within the game may appeal to people with a broader interest, like taking pictures, doing skill-based survival combat or dicking around hitting chickens.
I am not saying Zelda is perfect by any means, but you can see how it utilizes mandatory features and gameplay mechanics, as well as tertiary side activities and how those flow wonderfully.
With GTA San Andreas, you had the core GTA experience, but it was bogged down with turf wars and managing your gang, which felt clunky and outside of the normal GTA experience and it was required. With GTA IV, the constant phone calls may not be required, but they interrupt you and break your concentration. It sets you outside of your goals and what you want to accomplish in an attempt to bring you into an activity that may not be your thing.
It would be better to just say, "Hey you can use your phone to contact your friend and play darts, or go bowling... use it when you want to." instead of forcing you into acknowledging that feature.
