Postby HighwayWizard » Sat Mar 14, 2015 5:09 pm
Too many collectibles is a kind of hard thing to nail down. I think that as long as there are collectibles that each have a purpose and are distinct from each other, it should be good. An important thing to think about is also how often you see which collectibles- in Banjo-Kazooie actually had a lot of things to collect, but it was really well done in how those collectibles were portioned out. There were a ton of notes, because you needed a lot of them to progress, and they could just be littered all over the world as a way to get players to explore around and help indicate where you have and haven't been. Jiggies were your primary goal, and there were enough in each world that you didn't have to get all of them, but you did have to get the vast majority of them. Usable items like feathers and eggs were all over the place, but didn't matter for completing the game, just as a way to replenish your resources. Empty honeycombs were few in number and hard to find because they were valuable to make you permanently stronger. Jinjos were 5 to a world, and only mattered for a jiggy if you found all of them. Mumbo Tokens were scattered all over the place and often hidden, but you didn't need all of them- just enough for that next transformation. And that's not even going into all the world-specific collectibles, like caterpillars to feed Eyrie the eagle in Click Clock Woods.
I think that how many kinds of collectibles you have doesn't matter as much as how well they're implemented. A lot of the things you can grab in Banjo-Kazooie don't count towards your progress in the game on their own- ultimately notes and jiggies are the only collectible that progresses you in the game. But all the other collectibles help you progress, because they're used as a resource, or part of a jiggy challenge, or to get access to a transformation to get to new places. Every collectible should help you in some meaningful way, even if it doesn't actually progress you in the game directly. In addition to that, how many collectibles of a kind exist and how hidden they are should reflect their purpose in the game.
Last edited by
HighwayWizard on Sat Mar 14, 2015 5:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.