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Teaching Without Tutorials

Video games that teach without tuturials are superior and do more to engage and/or inspire the player. The first hour of a video game is often the most important; it's where the player learns how to interact with the machine, explore the rules and mechanics, and form an understanding of the game world. Games that effectively communicate this lead to a better-informed player that isn't slowed down or interrupted by verbose tutorials. The flow of the game remains smooth, and the player feels a sense of accomplishment or skill because they figured it out on their own, with the design of the game as their guide.

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Y u hate me, RNG?

I recently finished acquiring all of the ship parts in The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Getting the Power, Courage, and Wisdom Gems was no big deal. Look around, try new things, and you'll find them. Ship parts? They're randomly acquired. You get them from shops (whose stock changes every day), treasure maps (which can be scummed to get the same type of part), treasure chests, and minigames. The problem is that it's controlled by the RNG. There are 64 parts to collect, but thanks to our friend Mr. Statistics and Probability, you will likely acquire over 200 ship parts before you get all 64 unique ship parts.

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