Escort Missions.

Otogi 2 has provided me with the first actually fun escort mission I can remember. Not possible you say? I would have thought that too. I'm aware of escort missions as the bane of every longtime gamer's existence. But what makes them such dreaded events? The unfair nature of the beast? The retarded AI? The cheap surprise near the goal with a rush of enemies? Otogi 2's has me wondering about control and pacing. Because that's what makes this one fun. They don't remove any control and they allow for flexibility in your pacing. In the course of the game Raikoh gets split into two parts, his light side, and his shadow side. The level has you escorting your shadow to a shrine where the ritual to unite you into one can take place. The demon horde isn't about to let that happen. Your shadow isn't too bright. No pun intended. It's actually obsessed with light. All through the level are ceremonial torches. Your shadow will head right to the nearest one at the start of the level and just stay there entranced by the dancing flame. The demon horde heads directly to your shadow knowing if they destroy your shadow, your light side will be trapped in hell forever. You have to defend your shadow. Once you've cleared an area you can destroy the torch your shadow side is currently obsessed with, causing it to move on to the next nearest one. So you move, clear, move, clear. They do throw in a wrinkle, but it's actually cool. Some enemies have a fire attribute. Your shadow side will home right in on them. So you have to be aware of what your shadow is actually tracking. There are multiple paths to take as well. You control where by simply removing certain torches in advance. It's this aspect of control, and pacing that makes the difference from every other horrific escort mission I've ever played. This has me contemplating just what's at the core of why we hate escort missions.  Maybe the psychological effect from loss of control and the resulting pacing plays a larger role than the more on the surface dealing with retarded AI and unfair enemy placement. Escort missions are here to stay. They are sound on a couple levels. Story wise they work. They also add variety to level progression. Developers will continue to employ them.  Developers should look into more control as a means to offset what's wrong with them. Or maybe that's just me.