Escort Missions

NitoriAria

NitoriAria

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How do you feel about escort missions in gaming?

Escort missions have to be the most frustrating mechanic in gaming. I (insert Kefka line) hate them due to terrible setup, horrendous difficulty balance, unbearable pacing, stupid AI, and the fact that most characters you have to escort I never want to see again.
 
Depends on how they're done.

Often escort missions involve being followed by a very vulnerable NPC with critically stupid A.I., and you have to protect them from not only the enemies but also their own stupidity. Those are terrible and I usually don't bother with them if I have the choice.

Then there are escort missions that are about being followed by a reasonably well rounded NPC that doesn't die as easily, but still has really stupid A.I. and walks in front of you while you're attacking, and if friendly fire is supported that either kills them or turns them hostile. Those are terrible too.

And then there are escort missions where the escortee is unkillable and either stays behind you or helps you out smartly with friendly fire not being an issue. Basically an escort mission in name only because the annoying escorting is not the focus of the mission. Those are ok.
 
Like Edo already said, most escort missions are awful. Off the top of the head, one of the worst ones I recall from recent memory is escorting the useless Scrapper in Skyward Sword to the top of the volcano. Piece of shit is useless and gets himself killed when he sees a Lizalfos.

I'd say about half of the escort missions in the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series are tolerable, although that really depends on the dungeon and your escort's AI. I usually avoid Escorts where the Dungeon floor needed to reach is above 15 floors and if it's a dungeon with annoying enemies. The deeper floors and harder dungeons have little shits that spam Discharge and Ominous Wind and Heat Wave and all those fun moves that hit every Pokemon in the room even if they're on the opposite side. Good thing almost all the escorts are optional. Actually, the only mandatory escorts in the main story I recall are with Chatot in Brine Cave, and he was fairly useful, and Cresselia in the volcano dungeon where she was ok until the real final battle where she was just dead weight. I really hate useless partners that use up reviver seeds....

There are probably a lot of games with a lot worse missions.
 
I hate escort missions with a passion. In Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, they don't even make sense. You're supposed to escort them (which are very weak, level 1) to a missing partner in a hostile dungeon? I mean, how brain dead are those clients?
 
The ones in Mystery Dungeon do my head in, I just gave up with accepting them.
 
Halayà úbe Praseodymium Mario said:
I hate escort missions with a passion. In Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, they don't even make sense. You're supposed to escort them (which are very weak, level 1) to a missing partner in a hostile dungeon? I mean, how brain dead are those clients?
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The best part of those is when they get Warp Trapped away and defeated, thus wasting your time and any Reviver Seeds you may have. Happened to me far too often, though I was foolish to accept most of those in the first place.
 
The Freespace series handled these more gracefully than most other games. The developers actually had a clue about this "acceptable losses" thing, so you're not forced to protect the *entire* 10-ships convoy just to move on to the next mission, though protecting them all will usually net you a medal and additional praise during the debriefing screen.
 
LEON! HEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPP!!!

I like escort missions that are like Edo's third option.
 
I guess another acceptable instance of tolerable escort missions happens in earlier Fire Emblem games, where you sometimes have to protect neutral units, but you can just walk towards them and have your units... uh... "absorb" them for the duration of the battle, which puts them out of harms way as long as the carrier unit isn't killed. So if you manage to get a fast and mobile unit like a Pegasus Knight to the escortee right away, and then manage to get away before being shredded by enemy archers, you can basically play those missions like regular missions. Rescue staves also help.

Unfortunately, Awakening really dropped the ball when they removed this feature. Damn suicidal villagers moving in range of one hit kill Pegasus knights and you can do nothing about it fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
 
Glowsquid said:
The Freespace series handled these more gracefully than most other games. The developers actually had a clue about this "acceptable losses" thing, so you're not forced to protect the *entire* 10-ships convoy just to move on to the next mission, though protecting them all will usually net you a medal and additional praise during the debriefing screen.
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Yeah, I did like how they handled that as well, although those missions did often have a nefarious "mission creep" where one minute you'd be blasting asteroids out of the way and the next you're being swarmed by Shivan fighters.

Freespace was a fantastic game. I should really look into Freespace 2.

As for escort missions, for the most part they're not very well done but I've had fun with them before. From my experience, you need to be escorting someone who can actually impress you for it to be fun. I was escorting Esburn in Skyrim the other day and it was quite enjoyable to see this old guy conjure up magic and take out the Thalmoor like it was nothing. Same for escorting Tarrful in Republic Commando, because he can pick up Trandoshans and slam them into walls for a one-hit kill.

That way, your escort feels less like a burden and more like a partner, even if your objective is to keep them alive and you might have to sacrifice some health to do so.