Prototype's Story Holes
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
- Start date
This is what happens when you don't trust your audience, or when you blame them for your failings. If you create an anti-hero that's just too unrelatable, or too unlikeable, it's because you wrote them poorly. You didn't create a character, you created a caricature.
If you want to create a character that people experience the way you intended, write the character better not just harder. Instead, these folks did the polar opposite (write a goody-goody) and turned an ostensibly "grey" character flat-out evil to really drive home the point.
If you want to build a taller building, make it taller. Don't make it the same height, but chop the old ones down a bit and hope the public doesn't notice.
If you want to create a character that people experience the way you intended, write the character better not just harder. Instead, these folks did the polar opposite (write a goody-goody) and turned an ostensibly "grey" character flat-out evil to really drive home the point.
If you want to build a taller building, make it taller. Don't make it the same height, but chop the old ones down a bit and hope the public doesn't notice.
I hate it when even the viewer's assertions of what the plot twist will be are too smart for the game/movie/thing in question. HEY. I'M LIKE, AN OUTSIDER WHO JUST PAID $60 FOR THIS. I SHOULD NOT BE ABLE TO HAVE MORE COHERENT AND INTERESTING IDEAS THAN THE PEOPLE WHO GOT PAID $6000 TO MAKE THIS.
"Put me on the team, coach, I'm ready"? More like, get out of the way coach, you're fired, I'm taking over, and replacing you all with Eric Wolpaw.
"Put me on the team, coach, I'm ready"? More like, get out of the way coach, you're fired, I'm taking over, and replacing you all with Eric Wolpaw.
I have to admit, yep that seems like a much more interesting game and makes the gameplay make more sense too.
If they were to commit to that they'd probably need to change the eating mechanic up a bit. Heller should do it differently because Heller would be conflicted about it. Maybe he begins to suffer the same sort of schizophrenia.
Your story shouldn't be a twist reveal though, it should be something you slowly understand more and more of through the game so you really know whats going on before the final battle
But if the ending just isn't as clever or sense fitting as you expected, in fact there just isn't a twist or a special ending, it feels like the film failed you, the brain power you spent watching it was wasted.
If they were to commit to that they'd probably need to change the eating mechanic up a bit. Heller should do it differently because Heller would be conflicted about it. Maybe he begins to suffer the same sort of schizophrenia.
Your story shouldn't be a twist reveal though, it should be something you slowly understand more and more of through the game so you really know whats going on before the final battle
It's always the worst thing that can happen. If you try to guess the end and it's different than you expected, then it feels good, it's a bit of a surprise the film beat you, if you guess the ending then at least you can feel smug.Andy of Comix Inc said:
But if the ending just isn't as clever or sense fitting as you expected, in fact there just isn't a twist or a special ending, it feels like the film failed you, the brain power you spent watching it was wasted.
I wish there was a sufficient reason why the stories in AAA games are so poor, bland, and uninteresting. I bet there are plenty of talented people who'd love to use their skill at writing, and I bet there's a bunch of talented people with that skill on these game development teams. It's a shame none of it seems to make its way into the product.
Yeah, it sucks when people build a game up so much in their minds there's no way to possibly compete.TheBobmus said:
It's also why games as a personal narrative experience are still a long way off....
Ahhh, I was waiting for someone to bring accusations of racism into this, even if in brief. Not sure if it was intended as a joke or not here, given that the tone of the overall article is serious. :/
That said, I think the relatively low review scores is because Prototype was a fundementally flawed product, scoring an 8 in many cases. Gamestop gave it an 8.5, and the user base gave it around a 7 or 8 on Gamefaqs.
If you consider that Prototype 2 was "more of the same", and on top of that didn't have the same kind of twist holding down the storyline, you can see how it lost a couple of points, simply by being a rehash without notable improvement of the problems of the previous game, and by all accounts what amounts to weaker writing.
That said what we need is a crossover between two currently mediocre game franchises in hopes of reviving them both. Find some way to have Aya Brea from "Parasite Eve" go up against the surviving virus from Prototype, it's kind of what she does. For some reason Prototype always made me think of PE anyway.... of course it's doubtful this crossover will ever happen, but it would be fun if it did....
That said, I think the relatively low review scores is because Prototype was a fundementally flawed product, scoring an 8 in many cases. Gamestop gave it an 8.5, and the user base gave it around a 7 or 8 on Gamefaqs.
If you consider that Prototype 2 was "more of the same", and on top of that didn't have the same kind of twist holding down the storyline, you can see how it lost a couple of points, simply by being a rehash without notable improvement of the problems of the previous game, and by all accounts what amounts to weaker writing.
That said what we need is a crossover between two currently mediocre game franchises in hopes of reviving them both. Find some way to have Aya Brea from "Parasite Eve" go up against the surviving virus from Prototype, it's kind of what she does. For some reason Prototype always made me think of PE anyway.... of course it's doubtful this crossover will ever happen, but it would be fun if it did....
Huh. Admittedly, I was a fairly big fan of Prototype 2, even compared to the original (especially gameplay-wise, as I felt it was tightened up considerably in the second one), but I have to admit that the points Yahtzee brought up do make a lot of sense. And I actually remembered the 'big twist' about Mercer near the end of the first game, but now that it's mentioned in this context, it is kind of odd that they didn't bring it up again in the second one. Unless, of course, it was as Yahtzee said: they didn't put a lot of thought into the plot, and focused more on the sandbox/killing action.
That said, what Yahtzee brought up has actually been done before... specifically in the manga/anime series Inu Yasha, and its primary villain. So something like that in a game like Prototype would've been pretty kickass.
That said, what Yahtzee brought up has actually been done before... specifically in the manga/anime series Inu Yasha, and its primary villain. So something like that in a game like Prototype would've been pretty kickass.
Ostensibly, they're pretty similar, which is what led to the 'contest' Yahtzee proposed back during his review of the first Prototype game... which the designers actually went and did.GZGoten said:
That said, having played/watched all four games (and having finally finished my second evil/Hard playthrough of the first inFamous game for my Platnium just last week, as it happens), I'd have to say inFamous is *somewhat* the better series, both in plot and playability. Cole McGrath's arguably a stronger character than both Alex and James as well.
Still, if you liked inFamous 1 and 2, no reason not to give Prototype a shot. I personally think of it as inFamous' more goth brother, really.
Just thought you should know that, in case you didn't catch it, everything Yahtzee said is based on his own speculation of certain plot inconsistencies. The prototype games are an interesting concept but horribly written. The issue is compounded when you look at Proto 1 and Proto 2 as one entity (a series) and see that the writers essentially forgot what they started in 1.GZGoten said:
They are fun games, but I would recommend them as budget titles. You can pick up the first for cheap or on 2nd hand... I'd wait for a bit for the 2nd to drop in price though.
That's a pretty good analogy.Shannon Spencer Fox said:
Whaaaa? I loved Parasite Eve. Especially PE2.Therumancer said:That said what we need is a crossover between two currently mediocre game franchises in hopes of reviving them both. Find some way to have Aya Brea from "Parasite Eve" go up against the surviving virus from Prototype, it's kind of what she does. For some reason Prototype always made me think of PE anyway.... of course it's doubtful this crossover will ever happen, but it would be fun if it did....
Wasn't there a PE3 that came out on PSP recently that no one played because no one give a shit about PSP?
Infamous is more fast pased TPS and prototype is more of a Spiderman game hack and slasher . The only thing in common is that theyr both sandboxes .GZGoten said:
Personaly I prefer infamous and if you liked it you should try The Saboteur no matter what YZ said .
Huh. What's this 'DNF script' and 2nd-person perspective horror game you're referring to? I don't recall those... although, arguably, the second one's been done before, if you want to get *super*-technical.Raiyan 1.0 said:
http://homeoftheunderdogs.net/game.php?id=792(Unless you meant a current, and arguably *good* game... ^_^)