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Interesting cut/hidden content in games?
Sorenson
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
One of the things that's particularly nice about the current age of gaming is that, thanks to the internet and the general interest in programming and the like that's been fostered in the last decade or so, many games can now be explored and played further than the designers themselves had intended and included content for; mods and editors of all sorts make it easy for gamers - where the interest in doing so exists, at least - to tweak various aspects of their favorite games in some interesting ways or even to generate completily new material to play and share with others. In doing so, however, some gamers and programmers unintentionally wind up digging up some long-hidden relic of the early development days of a game or some disgruntled or sneaky employee smuggles out some documents for an awesome upcoming game that got shitcanned by the publisher/owner, hinting at or containing content that for whatever reason was never included in the final product. Naturally, this makes one wonder about "what could have been", or even to actually try and make "what could have been" into a "what can be" sort of thing.
I was messing around with X-COM Apocalypse during the last few days, and inbetween wikipedia and my own messing around with various editors and hacks and whatnot I've learned that there was quite a bit more planned for the game than what was put out in the end:
* In the commercial version of the game, most of the high-end equipment was stuff that you had to scavenge/steal off of enemies or replicate after doing all the science business on how they're made and work and whatnot. Some leftovers in the code suggested that the devs may have planned on letting the player develop their own (and superior) versions of these items, however; at least one was implimented (but is bugged) in the form of an X-COM disruptor pistol as well as several dummied items that could've proved useful (like "Alien Detectors" to upgrade to from standard motion sensors, a "Dimension Force Field", "Mind Shields", "Dimension Shifters" and "Psi-Grenades")
* Inbetween statements by the developers and remarks made in certain UFOpedia articles, it looks like there were plans for the player to be dealing with at least two different alien groups/invaders and their respective dimensions; one made heavy use of more traditional energy weapons systems like ray guns and subatomic-particle-powered missiles and such, whereas the others based its stuff around bio-technology to make shit like guided acid missiles and grafted rocket launchers using gland-produced ammunition. That and the nature of the final mission hints that there's some other place that the enemy's drawing its troops from, the player having literily dismantled their military and economic capabilities piece by piece in previous missions.
* There was supposedly to be a lot of political and economic intrigue and impact than what was delivered; one item, a "tracker gun" hints that players might not've been able to detect every trace of the aliens nilly-willy like they do now but instead had to do a bit of snooping and shadowwork, like tagging an alien or a collaborator and then following them around the city to learn where the aliens had their base of operations set up; furthermore, in-game text hints that there was supposed to be a considerably larger impact of the attacks launched by the player and the AI groups, with the damages that were incurred taking away from the victim's ability to arm their troops and vehicles and maintain a major presence in the city, perhaps even driving them to outright bankruptcy and elimination from the game as a whole (and possibly leaving their assets and buildings to be snapped up and exploited by the player and the other groups, which would help with the inability to procure certain items when an enemy turns hostile)
Man, "what could have been" indeed. Bigger, more utilizeable tech tree and equipment roster? Multiple alien forces attacking Earth or maybe even each other? Driving your enemies into poverty and dealing with enemy collaborators with literal hostile takeovers? Good lord I can only imagine some of the fun shenanigans we might've had if Mythos had been able to go all the way with Apocalypse...
...but enough about Apocalypse, for my job of passing on that wonder of potential is done. What unrealized potential do you, the good and well-versed people of Penny Arcade, know of of games that were never allowed to be all they could be, or even be anything at all? What makes you sit and sigh and wonder of the development road not taken?
I was messing around with X-COM Apocalypse during the last few days, and inbetween wikipedia and my own messing around with various editors and hacks and whatnot I've learned that there was quite a bit more planned for the game than what was put out in the end:
* In the commercial version of the game, most of the high-end equipment was stuff that you had to scavenge/steal off of enemies or replicate after doing all the science business on how they're made and work and whatnot. Some leftovers in the code suggested that the devs may have planned on letting the player develop their own (and superior) versions of these items, however; at least one was implimented (but is bugged) in the form of an X-COM disruptor pistol as well as several dummied items that could've proved useful (like "Alien Detectors" to upgrade to from standard motion sensors, a "Dimension Force Field", "Mind Shields", "Dimension Shifters" and "Psi-Grenades")
* Inbetween statements by the developers and remarks made in certain UFOpedia articles, it looks like there were plans for the player to be dealing with at least two different alien groups/invaders and their respective dimensions; one made heavy use of more traditional energy weapons systems like ray guns and subatomic-particle-powered missiles and such, whereas the others based its stuff around bio-technology to make shit like guided acid missiles and grafted rocket launchers using gland-produced ammunition. That and the nature of the final mission hints that there's some other place that the enemy's drawing its troops from, the player having literily dismantled their military and economic capabilities piece by piece in previous missions.
* There was supposedly to be a lot of political and economic intrigue and impact than what was delivered; one item, a "tracker gun" hints that players might not've been able to detect every trace of the aliens nilly-willy like they do now but instead had to do a bit of snooping and shadowwork, like tagging an alien or a collaborator and then following them around the city to learn where the aliens had their base of operations set up; furthermore, in-game text hints that there was supposed to be a considerably larger impact of the attacks launched by the player and the AI groups, with the damages that were incurred taking away from the victim's ability to arm their troops and vehicles and maintain a major presence in the city, perhaps even driving them to outright bankruptcy and elimination from the game as a whole (and possibly leaving their assets and buildings to be snapped up and exploited by the player and the other groups, which would help with the inability to procure certain items when an enemy turns hostile)
Man, "what could have been" indeed. Bigger, more utilizeable tech tree and equipment roster? Multiple alien forces attacking Earth or maybe even each other? Driving your enemies into poverty and dealing with enemy collaborators with literal hostile takeovers? Good lord I can only imagine some of the fun shenanigans we might've had if Mythos had been able to go all the way with Apocalypse...
...but enough about Apocalypse, for my job of passing on that wonder of potential is done. What unrealized potential do you, the good and well-versed people of Penny Arcade, know of of games that were never allowed to be all they could be, or even be anything at all? What makes you sit and sigh and wonder of the development road not taken?
Sorenson on
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_PUcu0mBKg
Still just boggles my mind that they thought Hobbes just being a traitor would be better storytelling.
More than that, actually. For instance, the part when your party splits up and you play one scenario, then the other? I believe that was originally supposed to be interspersed, but they couldn't get the gameplay to flow correctly.
Also, the HK factory, and of course the Droid planet. Also, Kreia having the incredibly awesomely-written moment when she removes her hood when confronting the Jedi masters, which would've been fucking so cool.
Pretty much every game could be awesome given enough time and polish, yet it's only okay that it didn't happen with KOTOR2.
It's pretty amazing the lengths people will go to make kotor2 seem like it was the worse game evar!!1! when the core gameplay was twice as good as the first. And it actually had usable PC controls
Indigo Prophecy similarly fell apart at the end (and for similar reasons, time/budget constraints), and people absolutely shit all over that.
Except this wasn't a bad game that had cut content but could've used a little more time and polish. This was an exceptional game with outstanding writing done in an incredibly short time-frame whose problem was that it had cut content.
Like what was finished of the game was incredible, it wasn't just that it was a sloppy game.
KotOR2 is really awesome despite the missing content. It's filled with better writing, more interesting characters, and a more compelling story than the vast majority of games ever strive to present.
Just because it's missing content and falls apart near the end doesn't take away from its accomplishments from earlier in the game. There's a reason that it's worshiped and it's not because it could have been awesome if it was finished, it's because it is awesome despite not being finished.
Really? I was just thinking the opposite. It's annoying how everyone worships the game that KOTOR2 might have been without appreciating what is there. Every game has some great content that gets cut for one reason or another, yet it's only a big deal with KOTOR2.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4783425005198994301#
level of quality?
War that has, as always, taught the wrong lesson....
GOD I LOVE KREIA AND AM SO GAY FOR CHRIS AVELLONE
The ending still made sense, it was just shitty.
http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/legacy-of-kain-soul-reaver/trivia
I was following Kreia's teachings throughout the game, taking the road-in-between, and the endgame made no sense at all, with Kreia acting completely out of character.
That scene was so fucking good. Top notch voice acting there.
Probably because we found out about all the missing content with KOTOR2 so shortly after release when it usually takes many years for all the info about cut content and early design docs to surface.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
God. Ok, the writing and delivery is fine, but the actual content in the in-game context is just bullshit. She never 'taught' a damn thing with her non-sequitur mumbling and overly-cryptic mysticism. KOTOR2 was a fun game and the cut/butchered ending might have been fun too.
Have you considered that you're a bad student? I caught on to what she was teaching.
She really did if you pay attention. The problem is that Kreia and the Game were in different directions. Kreia had a very clear view of things presented well, and her entire character was just astounding, but she was completely not a traditional video game character and was put in a traditional video game framework. So she was constantly fighting the mechanics, and if you weren't specifically looking for her to be herself and totally outside of expectations, then she was annoying as fuck and the game sucked.
The first time I played KOTOR2 I was really disappointed and hated Kreia. dumb bitch wouldn't leave me alone and god I wanted to smash her stupid face in. Then I played darkside and what the fuck she's still a huge bitch I WAS DOING WHAT YOU WANTED WHORE!
Then I realized holy fuck this character is not anywhere near Star Wars or Bioware RPG(yes I know it's an Obsidian game) stuff. She's goddamn brilliant, but she's also very, very easy to misinterpret.
Anyway, lots of games have code left over from older ideas, etc. I believe Super Mario Bros 3 actually has a few complete levels that you can access with a Game Genie. They are still programmed in the game, but not used.
3DS Friend Code: 0404-6826-4588 PM if you add.
/end derail
Heh that room in Zelda was kind of silly. They had the contest, and then make the actual prize all but worthless since most people didn't even know it existed until the internet told them about it.
--
I remember now finding 'hidden content' on the Castlevania SOTN disc by putting it in a CD player
Then Super Metroid came out, and well, people realized that it can still be great if every direction has a point.
Talking about CDs, I always thought the special monsters for certain CDs was neat in the monster rancher games
Those dead-end passages weren't made that way on purpose? Huh. When I was a kid I always got super lost in the first Metroid because of those parts. I look at a map of the game now and the important areas seem so obvious.
Just to play devil's advocate, it's possible that it was done this way on purpose. To show her teachings have a flaw; that you eventually do have to take action one way or the other.
We should continue this in another thread maybe. Not in G&T though, since I'm more interested in the teachings of Kreia (which can be done without Jedism, but it's easier to convey that way) and not necessarily the game itself or the Star Wars universe (in this matter).
Yeah when I heard about it myself I was a little disappointed. I remember so many places where you can start bombing down, but then it stops. Zero Mission at least makes up for it.
That's too bad. Such an awesome book.
The game's set in high school, for those who haven't played it, and throughout each chapter you end up stealing the girlfriends out of various school cliques (Jocks, Preppies, whatever), and by the end of the game you've done this to every school-aged girl in the game. You can also purchase an (extremely expensive) tuxedo which seems to have no purpose in the game other than being an outfit you can wear to class that looks extremely out-of-place. I've always thought it seemed like they were building up to some end-of-the-year Prom that just ended up being too complicated to work into it, or something.
Also, according to some early previews you were supposed to have a lot more options regarding character customization - stuff like tucking your shirt in, rolling your sleeves up, etc. - which presumably would have played into the in-game dress code (you could get in trouble for not being in your school uniform), but that ended up being cut out. Customization was also supposed to affect how different NPC cliques interacted with you (kind of like Respect in San Andreas, but with more than one group), but in practice it ended up just meaning that certain 'joke' items would get you laughed at, and everything else was OK. You were also supposed to suffer penalties based on what you wore - if it was snowing outside, your health would suffer if you weren't wearing a coat, or whatever. That got cut out too.
Finally, I don't know if they ever actually planned it or if it was just pre-release hype, but lots of the lead-up material in the game certainly implied that you'd be able to join and side with the different school cliques (presumably creating branching plotlines, expanding the game play and what have you) but when it actually came out the storyline was extremely linear with almost no choice at all.
Links Awakening has that select trick too but it skips you to the top of a screen, allows for some weird sequence breaking.
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