SilverBullets000 said:
OT: I'm actually really forgiving when it comes to cutscene incompetence and weapon loadouts. Actual stupidity, however, is usually what agrivates the hell out of me. I'm going to say that Other M's cutscene with Ridley was an example of cutscene stupidity due to previous games and the fact that Samus had been slaughtering monsters left and right, but froze up on that one creature. Not because it was bigger or more powerful than the others (or even past Ridleys) mind you, but because...a manga said she would? Ugh.
I know I'm probably inviting the wrath of the Escapist by defending Other M, but fuck it. I really don't think that scene is the monumental fuck up everyone says it is. People assume that because Samus had already killed Ridley, she should be totally 'over it' when that's not how PTSD works at all.
You can read an article
here where a games journalist specifically talked to a war veteran suffering from PTSD, and a professional who deals with psychological issues, about post-traumatic stress syndrome, and Other M in particular. They brought up the Ridley scene you mention. The response from the vet and the psychiatrist?
Q: I?d like you to watch the following video from a recent Videogame called ?Metroid: Other M?.
(Clip was shown)
The context of the video is that Samus, the woman in the red and orange armor, has fought and seemingly defeated the creature (Ridley) in the video on two past occasions and assumed he was dead. Her confrontations with Ridley all stem from it killing her family when she was a small child. As we see in the video, Samus appears to be horrified to see Ridley after years of assuming he was dead, and simply freezes. What are your thoughts on the video?
Koehne: That is very much so how PTSD works.... you daze out of it for long stretches and your brain seems to freeze and do its own thing or render you basically useless...
Dr. Grohol: Mental disorders like PTSD are recognized disorders of brain and behavior that have decades worth of research and are based upon thousands of peer-reviewed studies. It is no different than having a disease like diabetes or Parkinson's.
Q: This scene has caused a row amongst the gaming community. Some feel she has PTSD, and others say that she should be able to ?get over it? as she has fought him before and won. Can one simply ?get over? something if it causes PTSD?
Koehne: A story answers this for my point of view. I watched a man burn to death and pulled guard on his body so we could retrieve the remains and not let the insurgents disgrace the fallen soldier by dragging his body around the streets. To this day I have a problem with barbecues which used to be one of my favorite things to do.... I still do BBQ every now and then.... but things have changed!!
Dr. Grohol: If someone experience a trauma at an early age, such as having someone kill their family, then something like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is indeed a possible reaction. One does not simply "get over" a mental disorder because these are not choices we make in the first place. Who would consciously choose to be depressed, or to have PTSD? It's an absurd argument.
Q: How realistic would a situation like the above be, or being a work of fiction, was it handled incorrectly?
Koehne: That is a great depiction of PTSD... and just to think soldiers have to deal with that in real life fights...
Dr. Grohol: Someone who was in a situation where they had something to trigger a flashback, as what appears to occur in the video, could very possibly react in a similar manner -- frozen in place, being unable to act or react for a time. Flashbacks themselves can be traumatizing, and different people will experience and react to them differently. The reaction of the character in the video was consistent with the way some people might react to meeting -- once again -- a murderer they thought they had previously killed.
So yeah... I for one don't have any problem with that scene. If a vet suffering from PTSD himself and a qualified psychiatrist say it's a good representation of mental trauma, I'll happily go with that over the rantings of an online fanbase.
OT: Mass Effect 3 was a pretty bad offender. Kai-Leng was only able to get away with being a douchebag because Shepard was replaced in cutscenes by an incompetent loser who couldn't shoot straight.
