Logic of Tarkov’d videos is perfect. But what if Veritas gets one important thing wrong?

I have this almost philosophical question about the core of Tarkov experience, about what makes it the unique game it is. And I would like to know, if it's just horseshit, or if there might be something to it. So here goes a clumsy attempt at a polemic:

Especially the last part of video series Veritas has recently made, made me think about this. The series is obviously brilliant, his logic and reasoning perfect, and he is often right. But it all stands on one assumption – that he wants Tarkov to be like this, or thinks that Tarkov should be like this. Because his mind is analytical and he loves science and cold, hard laws of the Universe. But his idea might be slightly divergent from, what Nikita wants Tarkov to be.

I am obviously not in contact with him, I am just a random fellow Slav, but after some time consuming everything Tarkov and following Nik's Instagram and stuff, I have this idea. And that is, that the ultimate goal for Tarkov is to simulate strong, lifelike emotions, one would feel in the cruel world of "postapocalyptic" region of Norvinsk. And a cornerstone to that is chaos and unpredictability and randomness. Because that is also a cornerstone of real life and real emotions.

Veritas says, that many things in the game are bad design, Norman doors. But i think, most of them are just somewhat clumsy attempts at fostering uncertainity. Why does Nikita hate the Wiki so much? For taking away chaos and uncertainity by giving exact information on, well everything. The game actually wants to withold information, and it is doing so on purpose. Because it wants you to discover and fail and strive and try again and again, because then the feeling of accomplishment is so much more deep, real and satisfying. This is what gives Tarkov it's mythical thrill.

Clues leading to this are scattered everywhere, not just in-game. For example, in one of Nikitas IG stories, he has shown a book called Roadside Picnic, an old soviet sci-fi, which I really love and recommend. And it is literally about the uncertain and inexplicable, about The Zone, where people die and vanish in absolutely weird ways. It served as inspiration for the Stalker movie (by Andrei Tarkovski) and also the games.

In his last video, Veritas has a whole segment about information, where he automatically assumes, that lack of information is sort of a bug. How you must shoot your friends to figure out stuff, how there's lot of magic happening in the ballistic calculations. But what if all of this is a feature? What if Veritas's vision of Tarkov goes against Nikita's and against the stuff, that makes Tarkov, well Tarkov? By removing elements of surprise, chaos, uncertainity, you would technically flatten the curve of emotions, you could feel in Tarkov. Highs would less high, lows less low, if everything could be predictable, explicable, calculatable to the point. Veritas is a bright analyst, scientist hungering for all the information and explanations. That's also why he made the Battle Buddy app. And he's also a pro streamer, so he wants the game to rely purely on skill, thus eliminating random deaths to less skilled players or to simple chaos. It is almost like he wanted Tarkov to be just more hardcore Call of Duty or CS:GO.

Wouldn't this approach applied to the game principles be detrimental? I, for one, think that Veritas's approach would simplify and more importantly, sterilize the game. And I don't want Tarkov to become like that.

TL;DR: Veritas's version of Tarkov stands on lack of uncertainity, which might lead to Tarkov (partly) losing one of its strengths – chaos. It is not instantly apparent, but that would lessen the goal of creating strong emotions and ultimately made it flat and boring. So please fix stutters and audio, make ballistics realistic, but leave some chaos and uncertainity in the game, thanks. Sorry for potato english.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/EscapefromTarkov/comments/k41xqf/logic_of_tarkovd_videos_is_perfect_but_what_if/

One comment

  • Matthew Johnson 16.01.2021 in 01:39

    Have you watched his video on “Theory of lag and stutters”? Also part of the series. Client-side Authority & Desync is absolutely ruining a lot of gunfights, making the game feel like total bullshit. It is a problem which could be fixed, and most other games don’t have this issue, or at least not nearly as bad.

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