If you are telling a story in a game, don’t stretch out your story via
grinding; just tell more story. If your game is more of a sandbox, give
varying avenues/paths players can use to grow, and through their own
experiences they will build a narrative.
Totally agree.
I think the thing that good platformers understand is that the mechanics have to carry the game. A badly designed game has repetitive mechanics that aren’t rewarding, and pads those out with other things, like grinding and stretching it out with story, I think.
I’m re-playing Mass Effect and the planet exploration stuff just bewilders me. Did no-one tell them during testing that it wasn’t fun? I think they had a “realism” problem - why allow the Mako to drop down right next to the stuff to do on the planet? It wouldn’t be realistic! But then again, with starship sensors, why not? And it would have allowed them to cut all the fat. No more trundling around for ages trying to wheel your way up a mountain.