Extra Punctuation: Golden Era of PC Gaming
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
- Start date
I remember the chief in Deus Ex: Human Revolution also scolded you for wondering in to the ladies' lavatory.
I was afraid that resurrection of a long-dead franchise would completely miss the point of the original (see: the new XCOM.) It's gratifying to see that they got some things right.
I was afraid that resurrection of a long-dead franchise would completely miss the point of the original (see: the new XCOM.) It's gratifying to see that they got some things right.
I never really dicked around and threw boxes at people too much.
Now, casting fireballs at bookshelves in Oblivion to scatter books everywhere...That I've done.
Now, casting fireballs at bookshelves in Oblivion to scatter books everywhere...That I've done.
As an Unrealscript programmer, I really, really don't think it has as much to do with the tech being inaccessible and unwieldy as it does with game developers and fans alike being shortsighted and ignorant. If anything the tools have improved to the point that anything we could have done in a year back in 2000, we can do in a few weeks now--and much more reliably. Check out Kismet if you don't believe me. This is a very small example, but a door used to take ten minutes of scripting and trial and error with numbers to make work properly in old Quake engine games, now you just link up some nodes and re-position the door visually.
Go back and actually play Deus Ex for a while, and consider just how wildly different its level design is from 99% of all first-person games, Half-Life included. The sad fact is that nobody imitated it, because it's very difficult for designers to wrap their heads around exploration-driven environments. A level designer's job is to impose a sense of structure, and it's hard to understand how to have both structure and freedom at the same time. It CAN be done, and it's not a technical problem at all; it's an organizational problem; an issue of design.
As long as developers continue to see exploration and narrative as being mutually exclusive, that's the problem we're going to have. I would like to point out that this is a state of mind brought on by Half-Life, which is one of the most railroaded and controlled games ever and began the trend of using scripted events, which demand railroading. The games that have good exploration value don't have these (Arkham Asylum, Deus Ex, Crysis 1, inFamous) while games that feel like they need to hold your hand do (Uncharted, FF13, Call of Duty, Crysis 2, Bioshock to a lesser extent). Such games end up depending on the spectacle of their scripted events over design knowhow because actual design knowhow is difficult even for a really fantastic game designer to possess, while spectacle is often a matter of sheer brute force.
Go back and actually play Deus Ex for a while, and consider just how wildly different its level design is from 99% of all first-person games, Half-Life included. The sad fact is that nobody imitated it, because it's very difficult for designers to wrap their heads around exploration-driven environments. A level designer's job is to impose a sense of structure, and it's hard to understand how to have both structure and freedom at the same time. It CAN be done, and it's not a technical problem at all; it's an organizational problem; an issue of design.
As long as developers continue to see exploration and narrative as being mutually exclusive, that's the problem we're going to have. I would like to point out that this is a state of mind brought on by Half-Life, which is one of the most railroaded and controlled games ever and began the trend of using scripted events, which demand railroading. The games that have good exploration value don't have these (Arkham Asylum, Deus Ex, Crysis 1, inFamous) while games that feel like they need to hold your hand do (Uncharted, FF13, Call of Duty, Crysis 2, Bioshock to a lesser extent). Such games end up depending on the spectacle of their scripted events over design knowhow because actual design knowhow is difficult even for a really fantastic game designer to possess, while spectacle is often a matter of sheer brute force.
lol "whos thirsty" thats classic man! XD
If you go into the women's toilet in the beginning of the game before you seek out Pritchard to get your eyes fixed, he'll call you out on that. hehe
If you go into the women's toilet in the beginning of the game before you seek out Pritchard to get your eyes fixed, he'll call you out on that. hehe
Man, I have to get Half life 1-2 one of these days... Do they still hold up? Granted, I'm playing Baldur's Gate 2 for the first time now and have no problems with dated games in general so I imagine they would.
The only time I used the vending machines to kill someone in DE: HR was immediately following this dialogue:
EDIT: damn, ninja'd. In any case, it's the little bits that the developers add to a game that sort of comment on the odd behaviors that a character portrays really add that extra bit of immersion for me.
<youtube=AzD1w4fHg9M>
EDIT: damn, ninja'd. In any case, it's the little bits that the developers add to a game that sort of comment on the odd behaviors that a character portrays really add that extra bit of immersion for me.
Oh boy do I love Human Revolution's "Jenson Safety Dance" (when you take cover and let him change the direction he's facing quickly enough, it looks a bit like a dance if you're not crouched). But this so far as been the funniest video of just general fucking with the game:
Developers should program in more decision-making when you're not aware you're making a decision. In Human Revolution for example,
.
Developers should program in more decision-making when you're not aware you're making a decision. In Human Revolution for example,
a certain approach of getting into the Police Station has consequences much later on
One of the things I hate most about modern games are those artifical, sometimes invisible walls and boundaries that prevent you from going places. So there is this teenie, weenie little step that a 3-year old could climb, but no, I'm unable to jump there because the developers decided it's OFF-LIMITS!!!
If I'm not supposed to go there then place a big rock or tree or actual wall there. Just don't put me in an invisible cage.
Crap like this didn't exist in the golden age of PC gaming.
Yes, I'm looking at you, BioWare! And Call of Duty!
If I'm not supposed to go there then place a big rock or tree or actual wall there. Just don't put me in an invisible cage.
Crap like this didn't exist in the golden age of PC gaming.
Yes, I'm looking at you, BioWare! And Call of Duty!
I always thought the over reliance of cut scenes development rested mainly on Metal Gear Solid's shoulders. Not that I particularly dislike MGS, but to my knowledge that was one of the first. Unless you count that game that came out on the Sega no one remembers. >.>
And also I remember hearing something on the Giantbomb Podcast (I think) about this. Pretty much it came down to someone saying "We've been conditioned to not go off the trail. Because we've learned by now that we'll only be disappointed if we do so." Which I think is true. There has been many times in games like CoD where I just left my squad and went looking for a certain gun. Nothing happened. No game over. They would just fight on until infinity or until I get back and do all the work.
And also I remember hearing something on the Giantbomb Podcast (I think) about this. Pretty much it came down to someone saying "We've been conditioned to not go off the trail. Because we've learned by now that we'll only be disappointed if we do so." Which I think is true. There has been many times in games like CoD where I just left my squad and went looking for a certain gun. Nothing happened. No game over. They would just fight on until infinity or until I get back and do all the work.