I am going to take this opportunity to yield some of my thoughts about your question Tortilla Boy.
It seems every time I jump into a topic it dies a rather quick death. I hope that this is not the case here. I do not know if it is some form of intimidation, or phase of the moon or what?
With many offerings, and the M&B franchise is no exception, the focus is on what the player does, not why they do it. The "context" is either so narrow the players are limited in their choice of actions, or if the game context is more of an open world or sandbox, the designers are not world-builders and they focus on systems and not the world itself.
Great combat systems, amazing graphics, visually stunning. To play is to consume a fantastically layered and frosted cake of stunning beauty that tastes like cardboard.
A great part of the design of POP centers around creating context. When you have context to actions, you have meaning.
It is my observation that most game play by players continues until a point where the player no longer has relevant questions they want answered. They have "consumed" all relevant content, and generally quit. Some may feel the need to play out the scenario to the bitter end, (I call these folks completionists), but the majority of players will just stop playing and move on to something else.
The design of POP and the continued improvements continue to feed more and more relevant unanswered questions. More unique situation, more challenges from different perspectives (such as difficulty). A deep level of lore in multiple media types (literature and game), all feed context.
The more small threads of lore and unique situations all woven together create a tapestry of context that players take meaning from. The cake now not only looks good, but it tastes good.
Apologies to all if this kills the thread Tortilla Boy.
Kindest regards,
Saxondragon
