Blast from the Past: Tutorials Part 1: Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines
Welcome back to Blast from the past, a series where we talk about design choices from old Western RPGs. So I just started Pathfinder: Kingmaker yesterday and the tutorial was utterly awful, I completely hated it and the whole experience just to me embodies everything bad about tutorials.
(This entire sequence almost made me quit the game)
It was so bad that it got me thinking about older tutorials and which ones I liked and didn’t like. But I think the biggest reason why I disliked it is that it reminds me of what I think embodies bad tutorial design, the opening level of Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines
(Pictured, somebody who could have used more screentime)
Bloodlines is a fascinating game, an odd mix of shockingly innovative design and terrible broken choices (mostly due to the game not being finished fuck you Valve), but the game really shines in terms of its quest design, which are often designed to be open ended and have more of a social basis. The best part of each chapter (except Chinatown) is the beginning where you walk around the new hub zone and find all types of missions you can do, as well as having some really enjoyable scenarios
(we need more painting quests)
....absolutely none of which is reflected in the fucking intro
Basically the tutorial is one giant warehouse where each room has a different design problem that can only be solved by using one of the mechanics. So there is a room you solve by picking something up and moving it, there is a room where you have to find an object, there is a room where you have to pick what is in-game the most comically shitty lock in the world, and hack the most comically shitty code before doing a little stealth segment. Its extremely obvious, tedious, and a little world breaking, the Sabbot apparently just openly attack you in what feels like it should be a masquerade violation and Smiling Jack, a character who we know for a fact has much better things to do with his time, rather than going in and solving this whole mess, apparently he was like “no wait, I am going to let this newbie walk through this vampire obstacle course because i’m in a tutorial level”. The whole thing is forced, boring, and a little bit racist. So why is this such a terrible tutorial, to the point where some of the mods actually remove it and let you keep the 2 XP you gain in the level?
Well I’ll tell you
1) It is obviously a tutorial, making the whole thing feel extremely boring, even if you know the mechanics. When I was a first time player, I was just like “really game? really?” and so was utterly disengaged. Nothing about this place has personality other than the mechanics, every room has a single lesson in it and then you move on in the most inelegant manner possible (almost like they built this while in a rush)
(this section isn’t from the tutorial but can you even tell?)
2) It doesn’t actually sum up the experience of playing bloodlines, which is usually about quirky quests and dialogue options, this type of play is at disconnect with the game itself. Specifically, the best part of Bloodlines is how each quest is radically different depending on your build and your clan, from character’s responses to the results you can get, and the tutorial offers none of that save the “testing your powers” room, which is not what the game is truly about.
(ahem)
3) It doesn’t tell me anything about the game. We never come back to this ware house, it doesn’t play a major role in the plot, and none of the events of the tutorial matter in any way, apart from “you meet Smiling Jack” the entire section of game can be written off as worthless. From a story perspective, you could have gone from Prince LaCroix being like “Ok get out of my sight” to Smiling Jack taking you to your home all in one sitting and skipped all of this
(this sequence means absolutely nothing)
Its also a huge wasted opportunity, Smiling Jack is actually one of the most important characters in the story and his whole “i’m vampire bender the anarchist” thing is mostly a ruse, the man is actually the most politically saavy and cunning character in the game, so this tutorial is likely the only point of the game where the player can really get to know him but they don’t, he mostly just gives exposition dialogue
4) It ruins the mood. Bloodlines starts with you being super confused surrounded by vampire politics and asking questions to Smiling Jack about what is the true nature of your condition. Rather than dwell on that and adjust to your cursed existence (you know...roleplaying) you wind up going through a warehouse murdering “Gangbanger” in a linear corridor. It utterly kills the pacing and mentally just reminds you “oh right, this is the tutorial level for the game...how fun....I love it....” There is no option for the player to roleplay or express creativity leaving this as just “The part where you learn how to play the game.
(you can design a level with character....also ewww)
5) It fucking sucks for repeat play through. Everything I wrote is what I thought when I first played the game, but starting a second file so I could see the game as a Malkavian fucking hurt because I had to go through this period all over again and it makes it even worse. I know how to play the game, I don’t need to go through this nonsense again.
(picture an actual story)
Pathfinder Kingsmaker is far too similar to this in terms of awfulness in Tutorial but I will address its problems later, next I want to talk about three different good Western RPG tutorials and what they mean.
First off, Baldur’s Gate I and the opening to Candlekeep.
