Audio Logs are terrible.

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I like them, especially in Arkham Asylum/City , but then I'm the sort of person who likes text heavy rpgs and stuff

I think how good they are depends heavily on the writing.

 

[Jimmy T. Malice]

I think Dishonored was bad about this, what with the 'spy master' villain keeping incriminating evidence that would get himself executed just lying around.

It was hardly lying around; it was in a locked safe. But yeah, there's no reason for him to record it in the first place.

 

[Detroit]

Wearing blinders must be pretty comfortable.

Did you post in the right thread? I don't see the relevance.

Haha, how very fitting of you to say that.

 

[Bestival]

I honestly never was too bothered about audio logs, mostly they don't even register with me, good or bad.
One game where they did was Vampire: Bloodlines. Grout rambling on about his vampirism is great, and those recordings made his mansion one of my favorites in the game.

 

[Treblaine]

Wearing blinders must be pretty comfortable.

Did you post in the right thread? I don't see the relevance.

Haha, how very fitting of you to say that.

Explain yourself!

What does me questioning a design element to do with me wearing blinders? How am I even figuratively not taking a wider view of things?

That's two low-content posts in a row with zero discussion value.

 

[Treblaine]

I liked the audio logs in Doom 3

One thing you can appreciate right away is that they are well acted... but they don't fit.

Doom 3 is supposed to be an atmospheric game and you get these calm relaxed tones of cost-benefit reports that jars with the "tech-hell" theme. And while the story of a device running without power and consuming someone's arm is dramatic, the drama is sucked out by the inherent mode of the delivery.

This could have been uncovered with much greater significance, it could be an element of the gameplay how some machines are "possessed" and a gameplay element is where you have to reach inside one of these machines to get a special item needed to progress. But as far as I'm aware that doesn't happen.

 

[G-Force]

Looks like your main issue is with the execution of audio logs as opposed to their existence.

If you look at it on a big picture, many games are straying away from having flashbacks and traditional cut scenes as they break the flow of gameplay. Having a dialogue scene or a flashback takes control away from the player while an audio log allows them to continue gameplay at their own pace or simply skip it. You reference the codec system as a great example of information being given but you have to recognize the huge flaws it carried.

1. Long breaks in gameplay with the player being a passive entity
2. It literally "froze time" where snake and the NPC could have a lengthy conversation about a boss's weak points all before a sniper's bullet can reach you.

If you're gonna play the logic card then audio logs make way more sense than codec conversations

 

[Treblaine]

Looks like your main issue is with the execution of audio logs as opposed to their existence.

Yes, but "I don't have a problem with audio logs but feel they are poorly applied" doesn't make for a very snappy thread title.

You need to grab them in the first 10 characters.

Also, I feel Audio Logs have been used to such the extent of cliche that it's vary safe to categorically avoid the idea of using "logs" at all for exposition.

If you look at it on a big picture, many games are straying away from having flashbacks and traditional cut scenes as they break the flow of gameplay. Having a dialogue scene or a flashback takes control away from the player while an audio log allows them to continue gameplay at their own pace or simply skip it. You reference the codec system as a great example of information being given but you have to recognize the huge flaws it carried.

1. Long breaks in gameplay with the player being a passive entity
2. It literally "froze time" where snake and the NPC could have a lengthy conversation about a boss's weak points all before a sniper's bullet can reach you.

If you're gonna play the logic card then audio logs make way more sense than codec conversations

I very much agree that cutscenes break gameplay. Even though gameplay must be broken, especially very long games where it's impractical to play through in one sitting.

Having a dialogue scene... takes control away from the player

My idea is to have the player work as an external observer/listener to the dialogue that is used as exposition. So they are in control of their character to keep listening or stop listening. And a certain level of autonomy should be allowed, we can't be too reliant on the silent protagonist though I see how useful a mute (can't speak) or stoic (doesn't want to speak) character can be.

The point I was making with Codec was it's high standard and method of presentation, not all aspects of the Codec.

I don't want codec simply to be copied whole, but there was a reason - that in MGS - that the Radio paused the gameplay and the positive aspects of Codec can be taken without needing the pausing gameplay aspect.

I see the problem with codec how there is a disconnect between the world being frozen or not. They are speaking to you as if the outside world isn't frozen yet the boss you are fighting is frozen.

Directly communicating with another character like over a radio, even if it's just a once sided conversation, that should be live. However what could be paused is IN your inventory, you select the radio, select who you want to call and with what topic (if any) but for the conversation to begin you have to leave the pause-state of the inventory and either rung, fight or hide.

One aspect of the Codec as opposed to the Radio in Bioshock is contextually activated dialogue. Example being how you could do something, equip something or be somewhere and call a certain person to get them to say something unique. But it was a bit random.

This could be expanded where the player character to give some indication of curiosity when they do something, that's the cue that going into radio there will be the option to make a new call. But you don't have to. It's your choice.

It's quite simple. You look at a sign that says "Landmines" and you can in your Radio item-page you have the option to ask your "weapons expert" character or "local knowledge" character about Landmines, or you could call them just in general for an update.

The radio in Bioshock was a bit too Spartan, there was no way to call them about anything and they'd only ever call you on very set pathways.

 

[PainInTheAssInternet]

I think that audio logs are best suited for an environment that demands exploration or a hostile one. The one I'm most familiar with is AVP 2010, and the logs in that one were very well-acted and added to the atmosphere. I'd even go as far to say that the game would have been far more interesting if you were experiencing the story depicted in those audio logs, being a civilian on-site desperately trying to survive this environment where your friends have been killed by your employers or one of two excessively hostile alien organisms that you have never known existed.

But back on point with the audio logs, I think that AVP could have used them far more effectively (rather than being one of very few shining points) if it was a game based around exploration. It would make much more sense if you were going through the environment and trying to understand it. You come across all these documents and logs while going though the labs and personal quarters of those who have disappeared. That way, there is a context for the logs rather than being scattered around in nonsensical locations such as the middle of a hallway for the sake of easy discovery.

For example of a good audio log in a bad context, there was a very touching and personal log in AVP 2010 describing a husband and father dealing with the fact that he had failed to save his wife from a facehugger. It painfully describes how when he cut it, it melted her face in front of him, killing her and there was nothing he could do to stop it, eventually driving him to insanity and suicide. It was driven and delivered with real conviction, but it was at the bottom of a set of stairs in the middle of nowhere that lead to nothing useful. It makes no sense as to why or how it was there so there is a disconnect that is not the actor's or log's fault. If you found it in the private quarters of a family, where it had been evident that there was a struggle or the abrupt end to a normal day, then it would have really meant something. Imagine if you found it in their bedroom, peaceful for all but an acid burn on their pure white linen bed.

As for alternate methods such as bugging and listening in, Splinter Cell comes painfully close but only takes full advantage of it on two occasions over the course of 6 games. You'd think a game based around technological espionage would involve more bugging and such.