283: Breaking the Genre Contract

[DiMono]

And yet anyone who's seen Pan's Labyrinth will know this is, in fact, a historical war drama. Did anyone get a period war movie vibe from that trailer? Half an hour into the film and the audience fidgets in its seat, wanting to enjoy the admittedly high-quality drama, yet devoid of attention as they wait for the promised dark fantasy and world of strange creatures to appear. They never do, and the tangibility of their absence is enough to spoil what would otherwise have been a great movie, had it honored the contract set by its promotion.

How is Pan's Labyrinth spoiled by that? It's made better, as far as I am concerned. Yes, I got the fantasy vibe from the trailer, but was pleasantly surprised that it was far more than just a good looking fantasy epic.

Pan's Labyrinth fell victim to (...)

... and nothing in the many paragraphs you've posted referenced anything I said above. Amazing.

Stop judging movies by their trailer if this "bait and switch" pisses you off.

I never said I was maddened by it, I was just explaining (remarkably accurately, despite the whole "sisters" couching) why trailers sometimes don't match up with the movie.

I stand corrected, you didn't say you were maddened. I assumed some emotional turmoil on your part since you apparently were motivated to grace me with quite a bit of text by quoting me, and that text happens to be entirely unrelated to anything I wrote previously. Your motivations may have been quite different.

Yeah, I kind of meant for your post to be more about providing context for my comments, and obviously failed to mention that. Sorry about that.

 

[Milkman Dan]

And here I thought the article would be about gaming genres, not about trailers, which I hardly ever pay attention to nowadays. Irony?

 

[Xaositect]

*grumble, grumble*

Mass Effect 2 is great, but not an RPG.

*grumble, grumble*

When I play an RPG, I expect certain things. I expect statistics management to be an important part of combat. Mass Effect 2 had a handful of skills with a mere 4 ranks each as it's only real "RPG element". You have minimal weapons choice, and inventory management was totally removed. I loved Mass Effect 1, with it's nice mix of action and RPG, as it was still able to balance itself out as an RPG. Not skilled at shooters? Overheat instead of ammo. Regenerating shields, with regenerating health only available through armor mods.

Mass Effect 2 is a bloody shooter with minimal amounts of team customization and shallow-as-a-toilet combat. And now it looks like they're doing to Dragon Age 2 what they did with Mass Effect 2, trimming too much fat off, and leaving it bare-bones.

Inventory management was a pain in Mass Effect 1, yes, but only because everything you killed dropped something, and you had a relatively low item capacity, with shops few and far between, generally one per world. A little tweaking would have made it an non-issue. Trim the fat, Bioware, don't melt it down to the bone.

I enjoyed Mass Effect 2 for a action-blockbuster that it was, but I hated how damn shallow it was. And how it got PRAISED for dumbing itself down.

Thank god I had Dragon Age...

But the part the really gets me, is that an non-RPG is likely to sweep the "RPG of the Year" awards.

I actually enjoyed Mass Effect 2, as I enjoyed Fable 3, but they are both leaps and bounds away from being RPGs.

I pretty much agree with most of this. Minus thank god for Dragon Age, and enjoying ME2. Id be lying if I said it was painful, but it was just.... meh. The game is an on rails trundle from cover to cover, headshooting enemies once their petty defenses are worn down. Even biotics are now "shot" from behind cover. Gone are the days of waiting for your moment to strike and unleashing a team based biotic whirlwind. In are the days of being a defenceless pussy hiding behind cover picking off enemies one by one until the game deigns to force a "big mans gun" into your hand. (read: the developers were so stupid and focused on making a shooter, instead of upgrading the RPG classes powers, they just force a shooter weapon into your hand and say "use this").

Im really not happy with ME2.

From what I hear, contrary to Biowares bullshit claims that they listen to fans, and want "deeper RPG elements" for ME3, ME3 might be getting even worse. Im now praying the coming weekend reveals a multiplayer shooter SPINOFF, rather than ME3s dying breath for me, and consequently Biowares as well.

 

[Rack]

I found the God of War promo even more deceptive than the Mass Effect one. I mean God of War 1-3 plus Chains of Olympus plotline can be wholly described down to the minutae in three words "Kratos is pissed". Three minutes of action would describe it far better. But then action gamers probably already know about it so the promo is targeting a section that in reality probably won't enjoy the game, but hey, a sale is a sale.

 

[unwesen]

Yeah, I kind of meant for your post to be more about providing context for my comments, and obviously failed to mention that. Sorry about that.

No problems. It was a good read, for what it's worth

 

[Thespian]

That's sorta ridiculous. Pan's Labyrinth was great as a Dark Fantasy, and it had a whole range of weird and twisted creatures. I don't see how it could have disappointed in that respect at all. I mean, it's a basic aspect of a good movie that you shouldn't just throw your best point at people right away. Holding it back builds suspense and anticipation, and introducing the great drama gives depth to the film, instead of just bringing up a gimmick.
Pan's Labyrinth was subtle, unexpected and clever. Honestly, I think everything that was said about it here was kinda unfair, and all I've heard from critics and friends who went to see it is that it was great, dark, twisted, imaginative, and clever.

I know opinions can differ, but it seemed like he was trying to make a point here on something that most people agreed upon, but the criticisms he made all seemed to be strong points.

 

[I.Muir]

Seems illegal

Also the Pan's labyrinth I remember actually was full of dark fantasy creatures and ending with some sort of showdown with a David Bowie kind of guy. No war theme in it whatsoever and this film trailer is trying to get the same audience through really suspicious trickery.

Getting your money back is a good way to react.
ME3 had you get to the very end of the game before failing to deliver, but some consumer watchdog or another did state that doing so had very questionable legality.