WayOutThere said:
You're acting like there was a correct answer.
Not really. Almost all games which claim their narratives contain choices really just give you a flow chart. Pick the option, the story continues to play out in its pre-ordained way. This isn't a substantial step forward from those old choose your own adventure books.
WayOutThere said:
You may have to explain this a little more.
In a truly interactive story the player both drives and defines the plot; in older games often ridiculed for their
lack of plot, every action the player made was part of an ongoing narrative. The modern game instead tries to disconnect the narrative from the gameplay and segregate it into movie-like segments. It used to be when we defeated a boss it exploded, now we have an extended sequence of our avatar doing things we can't make it do while the boss replies with attacks it didn't posess [see DMC 3 or 4, for example], until eventually it is defeated. This isn't really an improvement since it's taking control [and thus ownership] of the action away from the player.
WayOutThere said:
They snuck into the place, what do you want?
No invisible instant-death walls slung around the place at random, perhaps to be presented with the option of taking multiple routes rather than just whether to fire a shot or not, maybe even to be the guy leading rather than the guy following so it's my job to evaluate and make the calls. Jumping [or more usually crawling] through a series of hoops doesn't really cut it. Neither does having the sniper shot in the middle of the level have the exact same result no matter where I actually hit with it or how many more shots I fire.
WayOutThere said:
You call finding a gap illogical? It took me two tries to get this section right, a small price to pay for the level of immersion it brought because the bad guys were *right there*.
The men don't wander across the field in predictable paths, neither is it clear what they will or will not be able to spot. It's sheer trial and error, and a mistake that'd be easily avoided by adding any hint of logic to the proceedings.
WayOutThere said:
I don't actually remember this.
When you see the two men throwing bodies from a flatbed into a pond immediately after the section in the field, shoot one immediately. A squad of soldiers will immediately jump out of a nearby shipping container. Another example would be being jumped randomly by an entire pack of dogs that come from nowhere if you shoot the one you're told not to.
WayOutThere said:
If it was a cut scene you could not feel as if it were *you* in the car. Think about how powerful the part where the guy was killed could have been if you actually cared for his character. YOU were just killed, not some guy on the screen.
But literally minutes beforehand I was someone else. I actually found the shift a rather bizarre decision; perhaps if I had been that character for some period of time beforehand it would have worked [as with the later sequence with Paul Jackson], but it just seemed to be there as an excuse to copy the Half-Life train ride credits sequence.
WayOutThere said:
You need to show some appriciation for just how hard making games anything else is. If games aren't like movies its because they are interactive but developers aren't going to design different levels or cut scenes for every possible choice the character could make.
Why should they be designing cutscenes at all, though? Structured levels I can understand. Telling a story
at the player rather than letting them experience it is a bad trend. The idea that something being difficult excuses not trying is nonsense.