Instead of using my long standing "Vanguard" class that relies on Heavy Pistols and Shotguns I went "Soldier." I had to adapt to how Bioware changed the game from ME1 to ME2.
They made it more of a 3rd person shooter so I choose to play like that and it's made the game a lot more fun. Partly because I have access to a lot more guns to use and I don't have to rely on recharging powers of Vanguard that are underpowered, in my opinion, when compared to the lack of ammo and relatively crappy guns you get.
Anyways, on to the point of this post.
Emotions. In games. When did this happen and when did it start being done well?
Not so much character emotions, but getting you, the player, to feel for a situation either good or bad in one way or another.
Last night I was playing through the "Overlord" DLC of ME2 (DLC I haven't played up to this point) and was moved almost to tears at the end of it. It wasn't hamfisted and it wasn't overplayed. It was both visually and audibly disturbing (felt like a haunted house at some points) and it really pulled on my "pity/anger emotions" I guess.
I don't want to ruin the story or plot of the DLC at all so I'll just say that it's about a Virtual Intelligence that goes rogue.
What games have you played that made you mad at some great injustice?
I remember helping some ghouls in Fallout 3 be accepted into Tenpenny Tower as equal citizens to people that weren't "ghoulified" (around 2 hours of hard questing) and being happy that I'd helped a minority show the majority that different people aren't all bad.......I came back to the hotel later and was actually horrified and mad to see that the ghouls killed off all the normal people! HOLY HELL THE NORMAL PEOPLE WERE RIGHT!!!!!
I guess I want to know what games and parts of those games got you more interested in it, for a moment, as an emotional experience over a game?
Mass Effect doesn't require that the player make a choice that's fueled by emotional reactions, but instead creates a context that the player can express their own will and decision in a practical way. Like Gordon Freeman... he works because he is the player. Gordon's choices really are our own, so we feel brought into the story by, well... ourselves.
ReplyDeleteMass Effect is pretty similar, although way more sophisticated in the narrative. Shepard is the player, so if the player makes the same choices that they would as an actual person, then the effect of those choices will hit closer to home. It's why you, 3N3MY, and myself as well, elicited high emotional responses, especially for a videogame.
In a similar way, there are some pretty awful games out there that try to bring the player in, but ultimately fail. The big one that comes to my mind is Fable.
ReplyDeleteI loved Fable. It was a great adventure style game, not to heavy on the RPG stuff, fairly decent combat, and an interesting take on the story. Something I think Fable totally failed in was it's moral decision making. When you quantify morality and turn it into a measurable, playable element, it ceases to become a moral choice and more of a resource. When someone plays Fable, they really play the end - do I want to have an angelic halo or devil horns at the end of the game?
Now, someone could play Mass Effect like that, but it would require a great deal more homework. Most of the (big) choices don't have a clear moral outcome like Fable's did. (Do you want to help, or kill the farmer?)
FFVII hit me first when Aeris is killed by Sephiroth. It was so shocking because she was supposed to be a main character. They don't die!
ReplyDelete