I thought it was sad initially but then after I played Path of Radiance again I began to realise he's just an inferior Greil who died because the plot wanted it to happen so he just got killed him off to some random nobody, and his death doesn't even affect the story much going forward except the chapter directly after it so it sorta feels forced in upon repeat playthroughs.
This reminds me how the parent death in Engage goes on for far too long, and I remember thinking to myself, "So... when is this scene going to be over?" Greil remains the best dad, as always.
I did play Dark Souls 1 recently and didn't really know much of anything about secrets and the game is full of them so every player is bound to find some and miss others, but I think secrets nowadays exist to vary playthroughs in some way even if it is a "Oh neat I didn't find that the first time." and while I'm not much for open world games, seeing everything in one of them feels very daunting and almost missing the point of exploration, even if it isn't a secret, finding side content is still part of the appeal.
Desmond is the worst parent. Zephiel just wanted to be in a normal family. The big lesson is if you don’t abuse, neglect and attempt to murder your children they don’t end up as genocidal, meglomanical despots.
All the buffs went to Eliwood who used them to live a life longer than majority of the fathers in this franchise but it was at the cost of his son's viability.
Part of the reason for these secrets was to incentivize future playthroughs... but devs now have stats that tell them that gamers barely finish a single playthrough, let alone multiple of them.
I myself was turned off by FE4 and 5 cause of a friend who praised them like the second coming of Christ. Ive played everything else up to this point now (Except the NES games). And I would actually like to play the Jugdral gamesnow that enough time has passed for me. But I am turned off by how old they are and how unforgiving I’ve heard the difficulty is. But I just might do it.
I think someone else already mentioned something similar, but a big reason might be because videogames have shifted their focus on design. Whereas in the past people took months or sometimes years to finish a single game, nowadays people just want to rush from one game to the next one, aggresively burning through all the game's content. And in a time when everyone want everything to have a deeper meaning, finding a well-hidden secret that doesn't really mean anything special will trigger a lot people. Also, it seems to me that devs nowadays are incentivized to "use" 100% of their in-game content. No room for easter eggs or secrets; as if the player needs to be able to experience the entire game in a single playthrough. And, if the game's nature is of missable content, the player will know exactly that they missed part of the content.
"My sister called me reckless for charging into battle to protect my friends" You mean the same sister who brought her newborn daughter on a cross country march to a battlefield?
I've a 'strategy' no one else will do As i review with the Internet, videogames I'm interested in and stop once I'm with enough knowledge to judge it I'll just do nothing. I literally let the game age in my head like wine, approximately after 5 years (no joke, it's scarily consistent) I'll remember the good games and buy them, and experience them like they are new! (plus the mechanical knowledge that sold it to me in the first place)
Fire Emblem is an interesting example, we don’t even think about it with the classic entries but just think about how many characters that pretty much nobody was meant to recruit, at least not on their first play through. It seems pretty clear that Karla in FE7 for example or even Fir in FE6 was meant to be a real obscure find. I mean if I remember correctly you don’t even realize that Fir is in Chapter 9 until you confirm your party, meaning you’d miss her unless you just so happened to want Noah on your team.
As a side note to the video, I'd like to heavily recommend the people here the game Tunic. As for why? Well, that's a secret obviously lol It's interesting to ask someone to play a game without even explaining what's it about, isn't it? But due to it's nature, it's the best way to enjoy it haha Please do consider playing!
Oh. Right. Edelgard's route was supposed to be a secret. Yeah when I played 3h I thought every lord was gonna have something like that and then I played Claude's route and no. Just another way that game's story is a colossal fucking disappointment I guess.
I hear people say 'video game secrets were made to sell guide books' a lot but I don't think it's quite true. In the early days of arcade games and home consoles people would make money selling books with hints / secrets / techniques in (such as how gamefreak got their start) because of this I think there was the expectation built up that good games should have secrets in and therefore developers were incentivised to put them in there. In regards to modern games having less secrets I think this may be due to how costly high end games are to make and publishers don't want devs 'wasting effort' so all secrets are pushed to be findable or part of achievements so that t clues people in to content they've not seen yet, whereas cheaper to develop games such as indies are usually stuffed full of secrets as it keeps people talking about the game for longer.
Shadow of the colossus and Mario 64 are the perfect example of how data mining and file leaks completely put the whole 17th colossi and "L is real" mysteries to rest
I figured the reason modern games don't have secrets is because they're secrets. It wouldn't be much of a secret if everyone knew it was a secret. People check out gamefaqs shortly after a game is released (or even a long time nowadays), and assume that a game doesn't have secrets just because no one has discovered them yet.
I’ve thought about this a lot! And Fire emblem is no better example of this! I miss when games had these kind of Secrets. Steffan is also such a good unit.
FromSoftware still are the gods of secrets. The Elden Ring expansion had such a ridiculous amount of well-hidden and rewarding secrets. I haven't had so much fun exploring and discovering a world in a long time before that. They really do it best. I hope other devs take note of that aspect of their games, at least.
Perhaps players tastes have changed. Have you heard of Valkyria Chronicles? The game had a lot of hidden secrets. The problem is that game system does not encourage exploration. This is frustrating to players who try to play the game as intended. I imagine something similar happened to other video games. I can see newcomers playing Genalogy of the Holy Ware being upset on not getting the Pursuit Ring because how obscure it is to get.
Mm... I don't think developers ever stopped putting them in, because annoying as the internet is for developers in that way, its (rightly) not enough to convince them that they aren't worth adding, luckily. Overall though I largely agree with you 🤌 Love Fire Emblem 4 btw
Strategy guides are a lost art. I still have a stack of them on my bookshelf. Fire Emblem is notorious for not telling you how to unlock the gaiden chapters without a guide
Crosscode is so amazing it left a void in my heart after I beat it XD. Phoenotopia Awakening patched that void up, it plays completely different but it's got the same feel to it, and quite a few secrets that left me like amazed at the effort they put into something so missable. It does benefit from being less well known, and the playerbase generally telling people asking for hints "are you sure? You only have one chance to do it yourself!"
Since using Fire Emblem as an example, there's also the issue of voice acting. Because every scene, support, and overworld convo will be voice acted, developers are probably thinking "We put in too much time and money to get this person to record lines so damnit, the player will hear them." So less of a chance to get secret characters like Stefan, who's very hard to find, or Renault, who appears far too late.
I think its died moreso in the AAA space because games have to be homogenized and marketable. Nintendo is the only company where their games usually have some noteworthy secrets in it. Smash being exception but i get why you wouldnt want to hide a whole character like that cause dev time and marketability
Zero Ranger and Void Stranger are games made by System Erasure. The storytelling is purposely vague. Its dependent on the intent of the author. Also, culpability of the player since its on how far we want to reach certain elements of the game. This style is like how puzzle-style games still exist such as like Baba is You. Those typically have lighter themes since we should recognize that game developers are people too. Challenges made on an equal footing. Then again, there is the Kaga games which heavily rely on event spots the player has to read or find on accident. Its hinted more often nowadays but still there to have an incentive for light mistakes. Replayability was a core of arcade difficulty. Speedrunning gave away the challenges, but they still often derive from casual playthroughs. Approach and investment are the key features in this quick tangent.
Secrets are there so that every playthrough is personalized. Each playthrough is supposed to feel different because you got a rare drop or because you found something on a special place you haven't before, almost seemingly out of nowhere. Now that game developers found out you can just personalize by shoving in roguelikes or randomizers, they do just that instead.
Because they enforced things like Mew Under The Truck. And also because the excuse that they're there to get you to talk with and make new friends died out as the online era started
I disagree with the notion that secrets have died out, stuff like anything gaster-related are secrets in undertale, or how 80% of Noita is only discoverable through sheer luck or persistence And since you said "your favorite franchises does it less than before", Kirby still has its secrets, funnily enough
