The Pocket Gamer Podcast Episode 87 - Torchlight Infinite, video game conventions, and the unsolvable power creep problem
On smartphone surgery and chaotic Q&As
Have you ever tried coming back to a game you've abandoned for so long? How do you feel about end-game content and live ops in general? This week's (New and Improved!) Pocket Gamer Podcast is a duo discussion between Will and me about everything from messy user interfaces to problematic power creep.
As I was away last episode due to TorchCon, I kick things off with a quick recap of everything that went down in Shanghai for the weekend - the highlight of which was the Torchlight Infinite devs lining up on stage to take questions from the audience. The players wasted no time in grilling them on the RPG's issues, but they bravely took it all in stride, which is extremely admirable.
Will shares his own experience playing the RPG when he reviewed it three years ago, which inevitably leads to the issue of how challenging it can be for developers to balance end-game content to keep things fresh for veteran players with newbie-friendly quests to keep barriers to entry low.
We segue into cluttered menus and the difficulty of cramming UI elements into a small screen, with references to World of Warcraft, Diablo Immortal, Warframe, and Black Desert Mobile. Mobile optimisations and ports flow into the conversation, before the omnipresent problem of power creep, well, creeps in.
I talk about returning to Last Cloudia again after five years and feeling lost and overwhelmed, while Will shares his experience coming back to Raid: Shadow Legends and beating the main campaign.
Before we wrap up, though, we ponder the ins and outs of developers holding their own conventions for their franchises, and we end with the lovely thought of devs working passionately for these games with as much love as the players have for them too.
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