Several times Grant (the guy in the red shirt) tells the main character, "You have to distract him, create a diversion, etc." While the developers wanted Grant to present some sort of realism or immersion, it doesn't work: no one is going to keep repeating their directions to you like a broken record. This happens in other games where you're progressing through a stage and an NPC is like, "This way, c'mon, the village is this way, let's go, etc." It really brings you out of the moment even though developers are trying to keep you immersed in the game. NPCs should not be forcing/reminding/babying you to do X so that you know how this game mechanic works. If it works naturally, i.e. if the player can teach themselves that "I have to create a diversion by throwing a rock because it makes being stealthy easier," rather than "I have to throw a rock because the game won't progress forward," then the game will be more immersive. Let's watch another example where immersion fails (12:42 to 13:00):
There was an update to the system so you want to run some tests to make sure there aren't any bugs? Yeah that's kind of believable, but it's obvious that this is the tutorial. In my opinion this whole sequence could be removed and the game can get right into it with Haytham at the movie theater and a few prompts to guide you on the controls. Let's look at the intro for Dead Space 2, where immersion works well:
Now you can't tell, but if you decide not to run, you will end up dying. From a gaming perspective, this means dying in the tutorial section, which doesn't happen often; the tutorial is there to tell the player how to play the game, not kill him/her needlessly. However, in the case of Dead Space 2, killing the player works well because it teaches him/her when necromorphs are swarming you, RUN. It also works naturally, since in real life most of us would not stand still waiting to be killed like that last guy. To the benefit of Dead Space 2, it is a horror game and so horror will be the main drive in having the player immersed. With the segment in Far Cry 3, some sort of time based segment could kick in where if the player doesn't create the diversion, the enemy knows they're there or Grant creates the diversion and berates you for not listening to him. Some sort of segment like this would make the game more realistic.
My critique is moot, but I feel like if games have become much more engrossing and in depth, why can't tutorials follow in their footsteps?
