Iron Criterion said:
Treblaine said:
Right, I said I felt more involved playing Mass Effect because I felt like I controlled the fate of not only Sheppard but my crew. I formed bonds with each of them and my very actions could result in their deaths, which is good narrative. You don't get that with Half-Life, what you get at best is several hours of the game dragging you around at it's pace, telling the story how it wants. And the fact that Gordon Freeman has no personality doesn't help immerse me in this world. For a game to be truly involving the most important thing isn't for a character whose shoes you can step in (though that helps) it is being able to feel like your actions effect their fate and by extension the story. All I was doing as Gordon was killing shit, my entire experience could have been replicated by anyone, how is that immersion?
Secondly don't condescend to me saying I'm being insulting and forcing my opinions when you are the one being tyrannical against people who say anything about the 'mighty' Valve. So please don't tar me with your brush.
I didn't say Valve weren't good at what they do I mean I fucking love Portal and Left 4 Dead as much as the next man. I just hate how they can seemingly do no wrong, and that Half Life is praised as the best game ever when it simply played like an average first person shooter which was only worth playing for its story. But it doesn't matter what I say as you'll point out why I'm wrong and portray me as an arsehole so have fun I'm going to bed.
AH! You felt you controlled the fate "of Shepard" better?
Not that you felt you controlled your OWN fate, not that you felt you could DIRECTLY influence the characters relations WITH YOU.
I think you are just viewing games like Half Life with a prejudiced opinion and with VERY narrow expectations of what to expect in terms of story telling.
I mean from all the films, books, comics, every other non interactive media have depended on one thing to get you to care about the characters:
Empathy
Make the characters interesting and complex so you can empathise with them, that is HUGELY different from feeling that you ARE them. See the problem with all directors is how do you get the protagonist to do things that the audience in general will Agree-With, Approve of and Relate-To. The trick with Mass Effect is for the cutscenes is effectively put you in he Director's chair and you get the "performance" you want from the character.
But the problem with that is the separation you feel from the rest of the game world.
It is not 'your' spaceship it is Shepard's, all the other NPCs not your companions, any emotions they express have to be filtered by a degree of separation between you and Shepard.
This is what screwed up Lara Croft's appeal in the late 90's, she was PRAISED like an icon, she was all over the non-gaming magazines even and they all started this idea of "Who is Lara Croft" but all of these punters from Lifestyle magazines who are observing from the sidelines, and really lacked the background in gaming, they began to shape a perspective of the character that was unsustainable.
See the thing to the punters, they just saw Lara Croft in the video games as just some kind of fancy remote control car, a toy to move around and NOTHING MORE THAN THAT before any cutscene. They drew the opinion that became more and more accepted by how Lara was depicted in print as being a character that should conform to Hollywood Archetypes, that is should be nothing more than a short movie scene with gameplay for the joining scenes... the parts a feature film would normally just cut over
But that wasn't the appeal of Tomb Raider where it was possible to create a game where you felt you WERE a hot, female, athletic explorer, gun toting, rope swinging and fearless. Not merely as a character to observe, nor as a character to move around but to really Role-play. And I think there was a lot of appeal to that that I really don't want to get any further into. But at first all you were given about Lara Croft was a brief back story and introductory cutscene, it just gave you a persona to LIVE for the next few hours, to emulate.
It's a lot like the Avatar effect, the trick in that film is to inject early on the possibility that no matter what you earthly body is you can become this fantastic alien being, not just observe and admire but BE them.
Then you say things about Half Life with "I can't influence or change events, only shoot shit" well that is more a criticism of linear storytelling and linear game design than the fact that Gordon might remain mute. I mean you can't change the Story in Final Fantasy IV... does that make it infinitely more crap than Mass Effect?
You have to admit the Pacing in the Half Life games is nigh on perfect, for an action adventure plot, there is no sitting around making no progress you are always escaping, evading, attacking and the environments, enemies and challenges constantly change.
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