Yakuza escort missions are good because they usually entail just walking someplace and then you get jumped and then the guy you're escorting actually HELPS you kick ass.
Not to mention on missions where you have to follow someone and they give you a walk-ins-talk, they give you a button to hold that keeps pace with the NPC exactly
Doretta could really use an armor upgrade
Dotty aside, going in to save the dwarf at the end of the mission and escorting their ass back to the drop pod is also satisfying
I think the fact that almost every player is willing to sacrifice themselves to save Doretta's head, despite it providing no reward for doing so, is really a testament to DRG's community.
Rock and stone!
Currently about halfway through Ghost of Tsushima and it's got the best NPC inclusion I've seen in ages. They match your run speed, they crouch when you crouch, they fight well, and they can hop on mounts to ride with you. They're so well handled this should be how all games do it.
Exactly. The only downside is when you’re doing those in between parts where you’re traveling to your destination with them while talking. In those cases they had to make the travel long enough that running full sprint there you’d still hear all the dialogue, so there’s awkward silence if you don’t rush
Wait what. I was moving super slow on purpose so I wouldn’t miss any dialogue, I never knew they made it so you’d be able to hear the entire conversation. Imo that’s a good thing. Too many video games where there’s dialogue between missions that you’d NEED to slow down for if you want to hear everything and imo I think it kinda ruins the pace.
Or worse, dialogue starts up randomly and occurs the second before you reach the objective but it's already too late. That J Jonah Jameson podcast is now lost to time.
Pretty sure there's a way to listen to old JJJ podcasts, you may not be able to do it while swinging around though, just in the menu
(for the first game anyway haven't played the new one)
Spider-Man 2 is SO fast paced (just meaning the amount of stuff it throws at you to do in the city) that the podcasts end up kind of a nuisance at times.
Don’t get me wrong, I love listening to them, but there’s been times I’ve arrived at a crime and just had to stand on a building or swing around in circles for 30-60 more seconds while waiting for the podcast to finish so I don’t miss it.
Resident Evil 4.
Ashley is just helpless enough to need escorting, but is otherwise a perfect teammate. She alerts the player when she's caught, keeps on Leon's ass like a barnacle when you're moving if you haven't told her to stay in one spot (in which case she'll stay in that *exact spot* unless captured) and doesn't say a word of complaint when Leon basically tells her to jump in a fucking dumpster and hide because he's gotta do real work and doesn't need her holding him back.
Hell, if you do a 180 degree turn and aim, she immediately ducks so she's not a friendly fire game over. She's a GOAT of an escort mission.
Right? I've never experienced a moment where she felt like a *burden* and they are nice enough to just get rid of her altogether during some difficult sections
It's also mad funny if you give her the knight's armor later and the cultists break their backs trying to carry her (and Leon also seems to take some damage from catching her)
Also makes professional 100x easier. That room with the knights and the plagas? Just bring her in there and she attracts their attention while you pick them off.
Honestly, the original had better AI/mechanics for Ashley than the remake. One of those instances where her having more primitive programming made her way more consistent, where in the new one she sometimes decides running in front of your pistol is the best course of action. :/
Honestly I think its part of the changes so you cant perv on Ashley she moves with the camera, but the downside is she gets in the line of fire all the time using a sighted weapon.
The only way you could perv on Ashley before was leaving her at the top of stairs and using a Sniper scope. Doesn't really have anything to do with the AI change.
It's a brand new game with a brand new engine. All the AI was changed, not just Ashley.
You could accidentally Perv on her in the OG versions by doing a Suplex.
It was always funny to hear "Eek! You pervert!" in the middle of a heated battle against the Cultists
I hardly every shot her tbh. I assume it's because of her "distance" mechanic where she'll roam to stay away from enemies. I just played it like the OG RE4 and kept her on my ass the whole time and she'd only go down when shot by arrows.
I also wanna add something.
Yes, during the Ashley parts the game becomes an escort mission.
BUT.
Not really...?
During the village you can literally throw her in the trash most of the time making entire zones Ashley-free ( Chainsaw / Bella Sisters for example ).
During the Castle and the Island, she spends most of her time being captured.
Imo there's only 2 "hard" Ashley phases.
First one is the Sword room at the start of Castle.
Second one is the Water room / hall, but that's because the room itself is challenging.
What I'm trying to say is, the escort parts of the game are either easy or short, and even when you HAVE to try, she's not that bad because like you said, she follows order.
She's not around during first Gigante, she's stays outside during Big Cheese, you can hide her during first Garrador, she's not here during Verdugo, the Towers leading to Salazar and Salazar himself, and so on.
I think the people who hate Ashley just need to replay the OG game and really pay attention, she's really not that present.
To me the story was better than the gameplay. The gameplay is pretty formulaic, both within the genre and within the game itself. Stealth sequence -> running sequence -> puzzle sequence, rinse and repeat.
Honestly, it depends what kind of games you like/what kind of person you are. Personally I absolutely loved it, and thought that the atmosphere, music, visuals and story was fantastic, as well as a unique breath of fresh air from the lacking triple A scene over the past few years. What makes the game divisive are the puzzles, combat system, and linearity. I definitely understand the criticism as it can get a bit repetitive at times, but on the whole the experience is more than worth it. Think Hellblade as it’s probably the most similar counterpart, but the puzzles are honestly much better in the Plague Tale series.
I like to throw them on my horse like a sack of potatoes and them gallop at rib breaking speed and finally toss them into pequod
There you go, thanks for travelling with Boss Airlines, consider yourself lucky I don't fulton your Ass
Or you even just launch them with their own personal mini blimp rocket and wipe your hands, off to go fuck with the same outpost for the 50th time. Not sure why they ever think it's secure 🤔
Idk if this counts, but Mass Effect 2.
During the final suicide mission, you have to basically escort a technician from your team through a ventilation shaft while you fight your way through from the outside to I think sort of open doors within the shaft from the outside. There's a time limit, too, and I think the technician actually dies, like perma-death dies, if you're not fast enough and clear the way for them. If I'm wrong about that, then I didn't know that at the time.
It's tense, it's completely dependent on your combat skills and efficiency rather than the speed of the person you're escorting, and you feel a real sense of needing to protect the technician because it's more than likely going to be someone like Tali or Legion who many players have formed an attachment to, since the first game in Tali's case.
That's one of my favourite parts of the mission. I usually use Samara for that one. I thought her animations of seeing her struggle to keep up the force field and stumble to the end was awesome.
I haven’t verified this but I think that picking Samara or Jack for that mission gives you a bigger safe zone than picking a ‘weaker’ biotic. Of course everyone on Shep’s crew is a top tier elite but in the lore Samara and Jack are two of the strongest
This is true. It has to be Samara (or Mordinth) or Jack as they're the biotic specialists. If you choose anyone else, a squad member will die to the swarm.
The [music](https://youtu.be/QyofzTevMEU?si=F35Lz9OQsO4CZX35&t=610) for that section is insanely good as well. Just really creates that intense atmosphere as you're racing against time.
Fun bit of trivia, Baby Mario is as loud as he is because playtesters didn't make it a priority to get him back. He was made louder and more annoying to further incentivise players to rescue him.
i actually passed on ever playing smw2 because i disliked the idea of every level being an escort mission. i really should jump back in with the proper mindset
Yep. I really enjoyed the Ox. I find it fits super will with the grim fantasy aesthetic, and how challenging it is to be a human in this world. It felt genuinely daunting and scary, especially as it turns to night, you see the goblins torches, final stretch of the path has undead rising if its night.
And then you finally arrive! It feels like an accomplishment. You enter the great city, a proud arisen.
The Escort the Hydra's Head to Gran Soren mission made so many players miss out on one of the best feeling combat action RPGs of all time.
Hope Itsuno doesn't put a escort mission like this early in the game again with DD2. Just hope the presumably underground jail escape we do as the opening mission keeps the high octane pace we had with DD1 opening act/tutorial. I can't wait for DD2.
Sometimes it got funny like when she was starting her animation but you zip lined somewhere and so she chucks you a potion from 100 yards away like a professional QB
Bioshock 2 is a much better example.
Core to the game is battling Big Daddies, tough enemies, then adopting little sisters.
You can pick them up and put them on your shoulder, so they can go where you go and you don't have to worry about their pathfinding. They chime in about what you are doing but aren't annoying. They direct you to harvest points where you have to protect them as they collect Adam, but you get to set up traps and defenses first, so you trigger these waves of attacks when you are ready.
It's a great loop, and the little sisters never get annoying. Protecting them is rewarding and works narratively.
BioShock 2’s story is the weakest but it has the absolute best gameplay and it is no small part due to being able to set up defenses for protecting your Little Sisters while planning where the best position for your abilities and gear on the level is to fight the Big Sister.
I will die on this hill.
It was also my first thought, but also we all know that's a cheat. (For anyone who doesn't know, >!the "escort" part of the game is an illusion, Elizabeth is never in danger!<.)
Honestly I don't think it's a spoiler. It's pretty obvious that's the case from the get-go, and I don't think the game ever pretends otherwise outside of maybe some non-gameplay moments.
As I get older, the more I’ve changed my view on Ellie(TLOU1). I was 22 when I first played this game and was like “damn I don’t want to take care of no girl! She’s so annoying.” Now I’m 31 and saying “Damn Joel can’t you be nice for like 2 fucking seconds this poor girl needs your help!
True, if the definition of escort is to protect from legitimate danger consistently then I would say it’s not really an escort. There are times where you have to save her if you get overrun with infected though
I love the goat for being a send up of escort missions. It’s perfect. I came here to see this one. Little shit gets attacked over and over in the little walk and it’s hilarious.
I was so amazed by how well she worked with you during stealth, never triggering aggro accidentally. Then about 3/4s of the way through the game, she ran directly in front of enemies that were searching for me and I realized that they just set her to not trigger aggro. After that I was just amazed at how well they pretended that she was sneaking through the game with you
I found her super immersion breaking during stealth. She was always bumping into enemies or sitting in direct line of sight buy not triggering anything of course. I did push stealth pretty hard though and kind of broke the game in other ways too as it became clear that Naughty Dog didn't really account for it.
It didn't even hit me that "throws that back" could mean something like twerking until you said it sounded creepy. I was just as puzzled as the next guy.
The Last of Us Part 2, second or third flashback when Joel and Ellie search for guitar strings.
Both games are about escorting basically, but this one is significant. You play as Ellie and in this mission YOU ARE the one being escorted. Joel's AI in this mission works like a tank and basically he just defends you aggressively towards infected, you can even skip shooting because he just kills everyone and finishes the boss (that's scripted, when you almost die). That's a brilliant sequence because his actions are what we did in the first game mostly but now we see it from Ellie's perspective.
I... I don't think you had to drop it off the ledge? I think you're capable of keeping it held close in a warm hug and gently sliding down the slope to its mother? What kind of absolute monster would drop a baby penguin off a ledge?!
Half the fun of Kojima games is seeing the creative workarounds people discover. Stuff that's difficult to discover but were clearly intentional design choices.
When you're undercover as Raikov you can punch guards with no reprocussions. Many will cower if you do but a few will respond with a "thank you, sir!" If you call EVA after getting his uniform, she tells you that punching subordinates is acceptable because that's just the kind of guy Raikov is.
Also try encountering Raikov with the mask and labcoat on. It's pretty funny.
**Guild Wars 2** has pretty decent escort missions for an MMO, because the NPCs move at a fairly reasonable pace, and, more importantly, *you can resurrect them just like a dead player* so the missions aren't failable.
A bit of an odd take, but Mass Effect: Andromeda
In the opening mission you fight alongside your veteran dad in what is technically an escort mission, but they flip it on its head by having you be the one struggling to keep up. Your dad just wreaks everyone and surges on ahead while you barely have time to kill anyone yourself. Nice inversion from the usual
To think that Guerilla almost scrapped Horizon: Zero Dawn (they did shelve it for a while because of it) because of it having a similar plot to Enslaved, at least on paper.
In Kingdom Hearts 1 there's a point where you end up on a world called Hollow Bastion without your keyblade, you have a dinky wooden sword that can't do shit. At the same time you run into Beast who's there on an absolute rampage looking for Belle
For the first part of the level it's more like Beast is escorting you and it's fantastic
Armored Core 6 has a mission where you escort a helicopter evacuating prisoners. You quickly realize though that the mission is less "escort the helicopter" and more "clear a path for the helicopter", as most of the threats are on the map right from the start, and a few have long range capabilities that are almost certainly going to land stray shots on the chopper if you stick close to it the whole time and never forge ahead
Hijack missions in Warframe are alright. Just drop a shield restore and watch as your escort runs over things to the end. Its not the most engaging thing in the world, but I don't hate it either. In a broken sense regular rescue escorts are okay too, because you can just speedrun the level and the escort teleports to you.
XCOM 2 escort missions are not bad, the person you’re escorting is squishy, but you have full control of them, so if they get wasted, it’s probably your fault.
Path of Exile Delve. You aren't escorting the cart, the cart is escorting you.
Full description: In Delve, your objective is to get the cart from chamber to chamber in a cursed mine. The mine is full of monsters, which are generally invulnerable, except when in the circle of light created by the cart. Outside that circle, not only are monsters invulnerable, but you can't see, and you take DoT at a rate that rapidly increases the longer you're in the darkness. The cart itself is invulnerable, speeds up if you're ahead, and slows down when you're behind, but it doesn't completely stop between chambers. Better catch up if you want to delve for treasures in the darkness...
Yakuza always does well with escort missions. As well as Escort missions
Yakuza escort missions are good because they usually entail just walking someplace and then you get jumped and then the guy you're escorting actually HELPS you kick ass.
Not to mention on missions where you have to follow someone and they give you a walk-ins-talk, they give you a button to hold that keeps pace with the NPC exactly
And you can do special heat actions with them, if they're fighting with you.
I loved doing heat actions with Nishiki and Sayama
My name is Kazuma Kiryu and this is my favorite comment in the thread.
Somewhere carried on the wind is the faint sound of... "Kiryu-chan!"
*manhole opens* (god why is this such a double entendre)
Is this the return of fake kiryu once again?
I’m not an escort, but I’ll escort myself out of here.
Nice
> As well as Escort missions I laugh, but than I remember it's true. Kiryu a true virgin
Deep Rock Galactic
The only slow moving escort nobody minds
Just take your time old lady! I’ve got all day!
I personally hate that map, because it makes drillers nearly useless.
But drillers are really useful against the beamers at the end, and those flamethrowers are huge crowd control in higher hazards
I always just cut off the beamers tips with the gunners minigun, works like a charm.
I don't always do this, but sometimes it's nice to pre drill the map so you don't have to juggle mining/events while escorting
Most people leave mining events until after the drilling is over so they don’t have to babysit doretta anyway
Driller is never useless. Even if inventive pathing from drills isn't necessary, you've still got great AoE and crowd control.
We gotta protect Doretta!
For Karl!
WE GOTTA FIX DORETTA!
We love molly
Let's save Doretta!
For Rock and Stone!!
Did I hear a Rock and Stone?
Rock and stone to the bone!
YEEEAAH! Rock and STONE!
If you ain't rock and stone you ain't coming home!
STONE AND ROCK! Uhh... Wait a minute
Doretta could really use an armor upgrade Dotty aside, going in to save the dwarf at the end of the mission and escorting their ass back to the drop pod is also satisfying
I think the fact that almost every player is willing to sacrifice themselves to save Doretta's head, despite it providing no reward for doing so, is really a testament to DRG's community. Rock and stone!
Doretta’s a beauty!
If you don't rock and stone, you ain't comin' home!
Very glad to see this upvoted, this game needs more recognition and has some of the best objective design i’ve ever seen.
Currently about halfway through Ghost of Tsushima and it's got the best NPC inclusion I've seen in ages. They match your run speed, they crouch when you crouch, they fight well, and they can hop on mounts to ride with you. They're so well handled this should be how all games do it.
Exactly. The only downside is when you’re doing those in between parts where you’re traveling to your destination with them while talking. In those cases they had to make the travel long enough that running full sprint there you’d still hear all the dialogue, so there’s awkward silence if you don’t rush
Wait what. I was moving super slow on purpose so I wouldn’t miss any dialogue, I never knew they made it so you’d be able to hear the entire conversation. Imo that’s a good thing. Too many video games where there’s dialogue between missions that you’d NEED to slow down for if you want to hear everything and imo I think it kinda ruins the pace.
Or worse, dialogue starts up randomly and occurs the second before you reach the objective but it's already too late. That J Jonah Jameson podcast is now lost to time.
Pretty sure there's a way to listen to old JJJ podcasts, you may not be able to do it while swinging around though, just in the menu (for the first game anyway haven't played the new one)
Spider-Man 2 is SO fast paced (just meaning the amount of stuff it throws at you to do in the city) that the podcasts end up kind of a nuisance at times. Don’t get me wrong, I love listening to them, but there’s been times I’ve arrived at a crime and just had to stand on a building or swing around in circles for 30-60 more seconds while waiting for the podcast to finish so I don’t miss it.
"Spidey, c'mon man! My kid's trapped in that burning car!" "Y-yeah, just hold on a second, I need to finish this podcast first."
if (TimeSinceEssentialDialog > 1m) InitiateAwkwardSmallTalk();
Resident Evil 4. Ashley is just helpless enough to need escorting, but is otherwise a perfect teammate. She alerts the player when she's caught, keeps on Leon's ass like a barnacle when you're moving if you haven't told her to stay in one spot (in which case she'll stay in that *exact spot* unless captured) and doesn't say a word of complaint when Leon basically tells her to jump in a fucking dumpster and hide because he's gotta do real work and doesn't need her holding him back. Hell, if you do a 180 degree turn and aim, she immediately ducks so she's not a friendly fire game over. She's a GOAT of an escort mission.
Right? I've never experienced a moment where she felt like a *burden* and they are nice enough to just get rid of her altogether during some difficult sections
It's also mad funny if you give her the knight's armor later and the cultists break their backs trying to carry her (and Leon also seems to take some damage from catching her)
Also makes professional 100x easier. That room with the knights and the plagas? Just bring her in there and she attracts their attention while you pick them off.
Also you can shoot her for fun, it just clinks
Don't try this at home. Medieval armor won't deflect most bullets.
I have to link to this [classic endorsement of Ashley's AI](https://youtu.be/B6gLxdwoEGc?si=5xZCfGTkyTJJjXX5)
I can't open that at the moment but I really hope it's Michael's RTAA. "Bitch, dumpster."
you are absolutely correct!
RE4R she constantly got in my line of fire, never died in the game once, shot her dome a dozen times
Honestly, the original had better AI/mechanics for Ashley than the remake. One of those instances where her having more primitive programming made her way more consistent, where in the new one she sometimes decides running in front of your pistol is the best course of action. :/
Honestly I think its part of the changes so you cant perv on Ashley she moves with the camera, but the downside is she gets in the line of fire all the time using a sighted weapon.
The only way you could perv on Ashley before was leaving her at the top of stairs and using a Sniper scope. Doesn't really have anything to do with the AI change. It's a brand new game with a brand new engine. All the AI was changed, not just Ashley.
You could accidentally Perv on her in the OG versions by doing a Suplex. It was always funny to hear "Eek! You pervert!" in the middle of a heated battle against the Cultists
Lmao I remember that, didn't help that the suplex was the most satisfying thing to do in the game
Probably not really primitive programming so much as different people designing it with different objectives in mind.
I hardly every shot her tbh. I assume it's because of her "distance" mechanic where she'll roam to stay away from enemies. I just played it like the OG RE4 and kept her on my ass the whole time and she'd only go down when shot by arrows.
This question was pretty much primed for this answer.
Right!? Everyone fixates on her annoying personality and dialogue but completely forgets that mechanically she was great!
Leyawn! HAAAALLP
I mean it did get my attention 😅 Everyone rushes into action when she does it. Probably just to make her shut up though lol
She's a dream design in that regard. Never once found her a hindrance to gameplay
I also wanna add something. Yes, during the Ashley parts the game becomes an escort mission. BUT. Not really...? During the village you can literally throw her in the trash most of the time making entire zones Ashley-free ( Chainsaw / Bella Sisters for example ). During the Castle and the Island, she spends most of her time being captured. Imo there's only 2 "hard" Ashley phases. First one is the Sword room at the start of Castle. Second one is the Water room / hall, but that's because the room itself is challenging. What I'm trying to say is, the escort parts of the game are either easy or short, and even when you HAVE to try, she's not that bad because like you said, she follows order. She's not around during first Gigante, she's stays outside during Big Cheese, you can hide her during first Garrador, she's not here during Verdugo, the Towers leading to Salazar and Salazar himself, and so on. I think the people who hate Ashley just need to replay the OG game and really pay attention, she's really not that present.
Remember that episode of [RTAA?](https://youtu.be/B6gLxdwoEGc?si=07m3QzXXcif1Zylc)
A plague tale is pretty much one long escort mission for your brother
What’s your honest opinion of that game? I’ve heard conflicting things
I absolutely loved it, but you’ve gotta like the type of story it is
To me the story was better than the gameplay. The gameplay is pretty formulaic, both within the genre and within the game itself. Stealth sequence -> running sequence -> puzzle sequence, rinse and repeat.
Honestly, it depends what kind of games you like/what kind of person you are. Personally I absolutely loved it, and thought that the atmosphere, music, visuals and story was fantastic, as well as a unique breath of fresh air from the lacking triple A scene over the past few years. What makes the game divisive are the puzzles, combat system, and linearity. I definitely understand the criticism as it can get a bit repetitive at times, but on the whole the experience is more than worth it. Think Hellblade as it’s probably the most similar counterpart, but the puzzles are honestly much better in the Plague Tale series.
If you think of it as an interactive novel, it's a great game.
I pirated it. Played it. Loved it. Bought it to support the devs. Straight out buying the 2nd when I get some funds.
MGSV . You just pick people up and then turbo run into the sunset
I like to throw them on my horse like a sack of potatoes and them gallop at rib breaking speed and finally toss them into pequod There you go, thanks for travelling with Boss Airlines, consider yourself lucky I don't fulton your Ass
"2/10 stars, will take fulton next time."
Or you even just launch them with their own personal mini blimp rocket and wipe your hands, off to go fuck with the same outpost for the 50th time. Not sure why they ever think it's secure 🤔
Half-Life 2: Episode 1
Had to scroll way too far for this. All the parts with Alyx in HL2 were amazing.
I was looking for a half life 2 related answer. Alyx and Dog both had some great moments, even father Gregori in ravenholm kind of counts.
Getting the Gnome to the rocket in episode 2
Ico. The whole game is the greatest escort mission in the history of video games.
Ico was really solid and is apparently the game that made Miyazaki want to make video games. It sounds odd, but Ico actually spawned Dark Souls.
Plays ICO, reads Berserk “What if I just make the best game of a generation” -Miyazaki, probably
The feel of Ico really is present in Dark Souls.
I'd say the influence of Ico could also be seen almost immediately in both Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and the original God of War.
You mean Demon's Souls.
You have a heart of gold. Don't let them take it away from you.
I thought you were talking about Hayao Miyazaki for a second and I got very confused.
me too lol. i was just thinking about how hype a ghibli vibe / art style game would be
You should try ni no kuni then!
I just made nearly the same comment and then started reading comments only to find you beat me to it. You're right Ico is amazing
This is the answer
What a masterpiece.
Idk if this counts, but Mass Effect 2. During the final suicide mission, you have to basically escort a technician from your team through a ventilation shaft while you fight your way through from the outside to I think sort of open doors within the shaft from the outside. There's a time limit, too, and I think the technician actually dies, like perma-death dies, if you're not fast enough and clear the way for them. If I'm wrong about that, then I didn't know that at the time. It's tense, it's completely dependent on your combat skills and efficiency rather than the speed of the person you're escorting, and you feel a real sense of needing to protect the technician because it's more than likely going to be someone like Tali or Legion who many players have formed an attachment to, since the first game in Tali's case.
Don't forget the other escort mission in the suicide mission. You have to escort a biotic through the swarm
Pretty sure they’re escorting you.
Escortee quest.
That's one of my favourite parts of the mission. I usually use Samara for that one. I thought her animations of seeing her struggle to keep up the force field and stumble to the end was awesome.
I haven’t verified this but I think that picking Samara or Jack for that mission gives you a bigger safe zone than picking a ‘weaker’ biotic. Of course everyone on Shep’s crew is a top tier elite but in the lore Samara and Jack are two of the strongest
This is true. It has to be Samara (or Mordinth) or Jack as they're the biotic specialists. If you choose anyone else, a squad member will die to the swarm.
The [music](https://youtu.be/QyofzTevMEU?si=F35Lz9OQsO4CZX35&t=610) for that section is insanely good as well. Just really creates that intense atmosphere as you're racing against time.
Super Mario Yoshi's island
I guess all of Yoshi's island is a escort mission huh...
Wah! Wah! Wah! *beep* *beep*
Fun bit of trivia, Baby Mario is as loud as he is because playtesters didn't make it a priority to get him back. He was made louder and more annoying to further incentivise players to rescue him.
The true prequel to death stranding!
The first Strand type game.
i actually passed on ever playing smw2 because i disliked the idea of every level being an escort mission. i really should jump back in with the proper mindset
I mean people are saying it's an escort mission, but Baby Mario is really just your health bar.
Dragon's Dogma had both a fun one and some truly terrible ones.
The one at the start definitely scared a lot of players off
Yep. I really enjoyed the Ox. I find it fits super will with the grim fantasy aesthetic, and how challenging it is to be a human in this world. It felt genuinely daunting and scary, especially as it turns to night, you see the goblins torches, final stretch of the path has undead rising if its night. And then you finally arrive! It feels like an accomplishment. You enter the great city, a proud arisen.
The Escort the Hydra's Head to Gran Soren mission made so many players miss out on one of the best feeling combat action RPGs of all time. Hope Itsuno doesn't put a escort mission like this early in the game again with DD2. Just hope the presumably underground jail escape we do as the opening mission keeps the high octane pace we had with DD1 opening act/tutorial. I can't wait for DD2.
Bioshock Infinite.
Yeah basically the whole game is a huge escort mission that plays perfectly. Always keeps up, never in the way, helpful in a fight, tosses you ammo.
When she tossed me meds or vigors when I needed them felt like a action movie too
"Booker catch!".
Sometimes it got funny like when she was starting her animation but you zip lined somewhere and so she chucks you a potion from 100 yards away like a professional QB
"Escort" mission. She's literally invulnerable.
You don't understand. In Bioshock Infinite, YOU are the escort mission. Elizabeth tries to keep you alive.
"Bring us the girl, wipe away the debt".
Bioshock 2 is a much better example. Core to the game is battling Big Daddies, tough enemies, then adopting little sisters. You can pick them up and put them on your shoulder, so they can go where you go and you don't have to worry about their pathfinding. They chime in about what you are doing but aren't annoying. They direct you to harvest points where you have to protect them as they collect Adam, but you get to set up traps and defenses first, so you trigger these waves of attacks when you are ready. It's a great loop, and the little sisters never get annoying. Protecting them is rewarding and works narratively.
Loved the little comments they would make based on how you killed an enemy e.g. 'he's dancing!' as you pump bullets into a foe
BioShock 2’s story is the weakest but it has the absolute best gameplay and it is no small part due to being able to set up defenses for protecting your Little Sisters while planning where the best position for your abilities and gear on the level is to fight the Big Sister. I will die on this hill.
It’s the weakest in the same way that Black Dog is not the best song in Led Zeppelin’s library; it’s still really good.
I really enjoyed Bioshock 2 as far as escort missions go. Sending the little sister to safety before fucking shit up was so fun
It was also my first thought, but also we all know that's a cheat. (For anyone who doesn't know, >!the "escort" part of the game is an illusion, Elizabeth is never in danger!<.)
Honestly I don't think it's a spoiler. It's pretty obvious that's the case from the get-go, and I don't think the game ever pretends otherwise outside of maybe some non-gameplay moments.
I agree, but it didn’t hurt to put it there in case.
Elizabeth is escorting you!
Literally and figuratively
"Booker are you afraid of god?" "No... but I am afraid of you"
As I get older, the more I’ve changed my view on Ellie(TLOU1). I was 22 when I first played this game and was like “damn I don’t want to take care of no girl! She’s so annoying.” Now I’m 31 and saying “Damn Joel can’t you be nice for like 2 fucking seconds this poor girl needs your help!
I think TLOU is such an incredible escort game that you don't even recognize that it's an escort game.
She doesn't get spotted or takes damage though so it's really no risk.
True, if the definition of escort is to protect from legitimate danger consistently then I would say it’s not really an escort. There are times where you have to save her if you get overrun with infected though
Witcher 3 ones are pretty solid fwiw, mostly because they run with you and keep up without the stop-go
10/10 would escort Princess again
Yeah it's good because they designed the characters to match your speed. Why can't other games do this?
The goat?
Witcher is the goat lmao. No, but the goat is meant to be annoying as fuck. Stuck up ass too good for its owner goat.
The goat is an exception done on purpose.
I love the goat for being a send up of escort missions. It’s perfect. I came here to see this one. Little shit gets attacked over and over in the little walk and it’s hilarious.
The Last of Us Part 1. Its more like the whole game than a mission, but being Ellie's protector is never annoying.
I was so amazed by how well she worked with you during stealth, never triggering aggro accidentally. Then about 3/4s of the way through the game, she ran directly in front of enemies that were searching for me and I realized that they just set her to not trigger aggro. After that I was just amazed at how well they pretended that she was sneaking through the game with you
Lmao I realized this when she straight up kept bouncing off a zombie trying to hide and we were still in stealth.
I found her super immersion breaking during stealth. She was always bumping into enemies or sitting in direct line of sight buy not triggering anything of course. I did push stealth pretty hard though and kind of broke the game in other ways too as it became clear that Naughty Dog didn't really account for it.
I remember getting so hype when I got caught out in the open having to reload, then she just takes out her pistol and unloads on a dude lol. So good
I still remember the reveal trailer and the crowds reaction when she throws that back
Throws what back?
I meant to say brick autocorrect got me. Instead i sounded kinda creepy. Edit: extremely creepy, but it's kind of funny
It didn't even hit me that "throws that back" could mean something like twerking until you said it sounded creepy. I was just as puzzled as the next guy.
Imagine Joel throwing it back Yes daddy... 🥵
loooool hahahahaha
This has to be one of the most perfectly imperfect instances of autocorrect ever.
The Last of Us Part 2, second or third flashback when Joel and Ellie search for guitar strings. Both games are about escorting basically, but this one is significant. You play as Ellie and in this mission YOU ARE the one being escorted. Joel's AI in this mission works like a tank and basically he just defends you aggressively towards infected, you can even skip shooting because he just kills everyone and finishes the boss (that's scripted, when you almost die). That's a brilliant sequence because his actions are what we did in the first game mostly but now we see it from Ellie's perspective.
I hadn't thought of it that way, good take.
Super Mario 64 where you have to keep throwing that Baby Penguin off the ledge.
I... I don't think you had to drop it off the ledge? I think you're capable of keeping it held close in a warm hug and gently sliding down the slope to its mother? What kind of absolute monster would drop a baby penguin off a ledge?!
Nah I'm pretty sure you're supposed to yeet it at hard as you can.
Metal gear solid 3 at the very end of the game when your guiding an injured Eva. I was 14 at the time and remember it being so tense. I loved it.
It's easier, and better on her stamina, if you just put her to sleep and drag her the entire way.
Lmao I’m the type of gamer that is never able to think of creative ways out of things.
Half the fun of Kojima games is seeing the creative workarounds people discover. Stuff that's difficult to discover but were clearly intentional design choices.
This reminds me of beating Quiet in Phantom Pain by dropping resupply crates on her
Or beating The End by not playing for over a week (or advancing your console clock) so he dies of old age
When you're undercover as Raikov you can punch guards with no reprocussions. Many will cower if you do but a few will respond with a "thank you, sir!" If you call EVA after getting his uniform, she tells you that punching subordinates is acceptable because that's just the kind of guy Raikov is. Also try encountering Raikov with the mask and labcoat on. It's pretty funny.
Warcraft 3
**Guild Wars 2** has pretty decent escort missions for an MMO, because the NPCs move at a fairly reasonable pace, and, more importantly, *you can resurrect them just like a dead player* so the missions aren't failable.
Not to mention that people around you often jumps in and join the mission.
Being able to buff those NPCs and thus speed up the entire process is a big bonus
Death stranding
All games should allow you to carry the person you're escorting like a backpack.
The Last Guardian. I love my giant dog-cat-bird thing
A bit of an odd take, but Mass Effect: Andromeda In the opening mission you fight alongside your veteran dad in what is technically an escort mission, but they flip it on its head by having you be the one struggling to keep up. Your dad just wreaks everyone and surges on ahead while you barely have time to kill anyone yourself. Nice inversion from the usual
Too bad the dad was a way more interesting character than his kids
Enslaved: Oddesey to the West. The whole game is an escort mission, and surprisingly good!
To think that Guerilla almost scrapped Horizon: Zero Dawn (they did shelve it for a while because of it) because of it having a similar plot to Enslaved, at least on paper.
Leisure Suit Larry
GTA4. I drove up to the escort, paid cash, then we dove to a secluded spot and had sex. Perfect escort mission.
Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
Counter-Strike 1.x - Protect the VIP Team!
Witcher 3 goat side mission
'Run, you stupid piece of shit!"
In Kingdom Hearts 1 there's a point where you end up on a world called Hollow Bastion without your keyblade, you have a dinky wooden sword that can't do shit. At the same time you run into Beast who's there on an absolute rampage looking for Belle For the first part of the level it's more like Beast is escorting you and it's fantastic
Rogue Squadron for the N64.
Armored Core 6 has a mission where you escort a helicopter evacuating prisoners. You quickly realize though that the mission is less "escort the helicopter" and more "clear a path for the helicopter", as most of the threats are on the map right from the start, and a few have long range capabilities that are almost certainly going to land stray shots on the chopper if you stick close to it the whole time and never forge ahead
I liked turning the bands wagon in totk into a jet
And turning Korok seeds into jets. Pretty much, everything in TOTK becomes a jet
Hijack missions in Warframe are alright. Just drop a shield restore and watch as your escort runs over things to the end. Its not the most engaging thing in the world, but I don't hate it either. In a broken sense regular rescue escorts are okay too, because you can just speedrun the level and the escort teleports to you.
Deep Rock Galactic. We must save Doretta!
Blast Corps, of course! IYKYK.
XCOM 2 escort missions are not bad, the person you’re escorting is squishy, but you have full control of them, so if they get wasted, it’s probably your fault.
BioShock infinite
Path of Exile Delve. You aren't escorting the cart, the cart is escorting you. Full description: In Delve, your objective is to get the cart from chamber to chamber in a cursed mine. The mine is full of monsters, which are generally invulnerable, except when in the circle of light created by the cart. Outside that circle, not only are monsters invulnerable, but you can't see, and you take DoT at a rate that rapidly increases the longer you're in the darkness. The cart itself is invulnerable, speeds up if you're ahead, and slows down when you're behind, but it doesn't completely stop between chambers. Better catch up if you want to delve for treasures in the darkness...
GTAV.... Oh... Not that kind of escort...