Ethan Kennerly

Obviously I don't think titles like "Escort missions suck" are a bad thing, as they're just a title and they may sum up the author's opinion. As long as the actual piece goes into it...

Anyway, I personally don't dislike escort missions like many of my colleagues do. I actually enjoy them when they're not overly frustrating, but that's just the thing -- most of them are. And the author correctly points out that the AI is usually "stupid" so we just get frustrated about it.

Personally, I enjoyed the escort mission in RE4. I think it goes along with your description of why people let the ICO escort mission (the entire game basically) slide. I personally don't expect Ashley to do anything, and I wouldn't want her to. She's the president's daughter, why would she be fighting off oncoming attackers any more than trying to shove them off? They have hatchets and are obviously stronger than she is. I just want her to stay next to me (she does) and not get shot by me (she ducks when I aim near her). I enjoyed it because it added another layer of tension beyond just saving my own skin that I really enjoyed. Besides, the goal of the game is to save Ashley, so the escort mission is expected.

I guess in short, I think expectations go a long way in determining whether an escort mission is tolerable or even enjoyable or not.

RJ, that RE4 example is just the insight I was hoping for! Well put.

I don't have a problem with the title either. The content unabashedly supports the title's claim. It's the truism (by which, in this case, I mean shallow advice), that I want to go beyond in order to understand design. I want to discuss the edge-cases to expose salient features of the underlying principles. I appreciate you sharing just that!

Expectation is a common thread in the Ico and RE4 example. Also common is a cinematically-hammered bond that is reinforced throughout the experience, and a boy-girl chemistry. I don't know the RE4 example, but in Ico it's innocent (I felt like Yorda was my sister, during the moments when I didn't think she was an artificially intelligent ragdoll).

After some reflection, I thought that another principle at work is, to use Jordan Weisman's words, an experience consonant with the primal fantasy of the game. At least in the villages of might-as-well-be-zombies where I lost interest in shooting those poor peasants, the fantasy in RE4 is that you are going to save the President's daughter. The fantasy in Ico is you are an outcast boy protecting the otherworldly, imprisoned and naive girl, Yorda. As you play, you are subconsciously narrating a pleasing story. Namely: You, and only you, are protecting somebody unique and dear from villainous harm.

Whereas, as in some of the original article's examples, if your escortee gets in YOUR way or frustrates the story you are trying to narrate as you play, then that seems like a fundamental explanation of why those particular escort missions suck, and gives some advice toward definable simulation and story requirements for an effective escort mission. Incidently, in digging deeper into escort missions, we'll probably expose mission design wisdom for other objectives, too.

I think you're on to something here. I think that the escort missions are, in a sense, "empowering" or enhance the fantasy of the game in general. In both of our examples so far, the escort missions don't change the objective of the game because they ARE the objective. If the game changes at all, it's a mere subtitle, which is Me (and the person I am escorting) vs. The World. But my main mission and objective is tied to them, and thus the act of actually rescuing the person is rewarding.

There was a level in GoldenEye for the N64 that I disliked, and it was an escort mission of Natalya through a jungle. I think you're right that it messed with my "narrative." Natalya was dumb as bricks, you couldn't tell her to hide, you couldn't tell her to do much of anything. And if she was getting shot at, she tended to either stand and take it or run around almost aimlessly. I didn't feel like a cool superspy during those moments, and I didn't feel like even overcoming the obstacle showed I was as "perfect" as James Bond. Instead of making me feel like I was, in a sense, a badass -- instead I felt hectic, lost my composure, and frustrated because even if I thought I was doing well, she died -- often for just being too dumb.

I don't think I really added much to the line of thinking here, but I wanted to say that I agreed in general and I was reminded of another escort mission, this time on the more negative side (despite personally loving the game overall).