Why More Games Should Look to Secret of Evermore

[John Funk]

Why More Games Should Look to Secret of Evermore

Plenty of games give players pets to accompany them, assist them in adventure, or to help them in a fight - but few games foster the genuine emotional attachment between man and companion that exists in real life... except Secret of Evermore.

If you've ever played a Pokemon game, you'll probably be familiar with how much the series tries to portray humans and the little critters they train as lifelong companions, friends for life, pals through thick-and-thin. While it might work well for Ash and Pikachu (now on their twelfth movie [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/93307-Twelfth-Pokemon-Movie-Sets-Guinness-Records]), it never really comes across in the game. Oh sure, maybe you'd feel bad when you box your long-loyal Luxray for a more-useful Weavile, but those feelings soon fade and it isn't like your Luxray'll ever run away from home.

It's the same with almost every game. To a WoW Hunter, a pet might as well be just another skill you have to watch out for. In Chrono Trigger, you can have as many cats as you want, but they'll only just be there for the digitized mewls. Maybe they're window dressing, maybe they're useful, but the one thing that games just can't seem to capture about the relationship between master and pet is the emotional bond - the reason that a dog bounds to the window wagging its tail when it sees its boy coming home from school.

One game that manages to get it right, argues Austin Price in this week's issue of The Escapist, is Secret of Evermore:

[blockquote]In one particularly striking scene that suggests the real world legends of dogs that travel vast distances in search of their master, the boy crosses an entire desert on a vague rumor pointing to his friend. During his journey the game intermittently cuts to his dog, who is trying to escape a palace in order to reunite with his friend. Though a larger plot develops around this scene, the game devotes more time to the juxtaposition between the boy and his dog as they each make sacrifices to rejoin one another.[/blockquote]

In fact, Price wonders, the fact that a game made during the Super Nintendo era could so accurately capture the emotional ties between pet and human (regardless of where else it fell short of the mark) - why haven't more games since followed in its footsteps?

Read Digging Up An Old Bone [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_211/6287-Digging-Up-An-Old-Bone] in Issue 211 of The Escapist.

(Image [http://www.flickr.com/photos/parkbench/2527916623/])

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[wolfy098]

ummmm
you do understand JUST how difficult that is

 

[Woem]

The developers probably came to the conclusion that male gamers were more fond of running after a beautiful female human companion than after a male canine companion. And that they make for better box art.

 

[Baby Tea]

The developers probably came to the conclusion that male gamers were more fond about running after a beautiful human female companion than after a male canine companion. And that they make for better box art.

I suppose that would be true for the young, horny crowd, but certainly not everyone (Not that I'm not young, but I'm just not horny). I find it hard to think of a game where the main character's pet was something to be fond of.
I can remember being fond of my familiar in Baldur's Gate 2, but that was because if it died, I would lose 1 point of constitution permanently. That's bad news. The same went for Neverwinter Nights, though there you only got hurt a little bit if the familiar died, so it wasn't as big a deal.

Come to think of it, I can't think of any game where I felt attached to a pet. I can think of plenty where I felt attached to characters (The aforementioned Baldur's Gate saga, for example), but pets? Nope.

Which is kind of sad, really. I'm certainly a pet person (I loved my old dog, and love my current one), so what's the deal? Even Fable 2's dog wasn't a heart-string puller. At the end...

Spoiler: Hidden for those who haven't played to the end...

I didn't blink twice about not choosing the dog. I chose the other people. I wasn't attached to my in-game wife, or my in-game kids, since a few flexes in town would net me a new wife and, shortly afterward, new kids. And the dog? All he did was alert me to treasure, but I had tons of treasure already. I was falling ass-backwards in money. So what's the appeal?

I'll have to look into this game to see if they can pull it off. Otherwise, I'm not sure it can be done.
For me, anyways.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

Really, the dog just took the place of a normal companion.

I find it odd to have Pokemon listed as a pet game. The game always came off to me as more a look at slavery.

 

[Jeronus]

I played this game and Secret of Evermore focuses on the relationship between the boy and his dog the same way a regular game might focus on a boy/girl relationship. It is a great game if you have the chance check it out. The male lead is basically a movie fanboy who compares things in game to movies he seen and he comes off as kind of a goof most of the time but the game has fun. The game also starts with him and his dog leaving a movie. How or why the movie theatre let a dog inside to watch a movie with a young boy is a mystery to me? The dog also plays a role in game sniffing out buried items and attacking enemies. The game gives the dog talents that make him useful in all situations. The dog is also interesting because he changes breed during the game. Each time you travel to a new world your dog changes his look to a different breed. It makes him an interesting plot point and another reason to find out where you are and what is going on. I recommend everyone play this game.

 

[Avatar Roku]

I felt that this was actually sort of achieved with Dogmeat in the Fallout games, especially Fallout 3 (because that's the only one I've played). I felt incredibly attached to Dogmeat as a partner. And yes, I know there was an article to this effect.

 

[Ganthrinor]

My fondness for Pets and supporting characters is directly relative to the AI of the character. If my dog is constantly getting stuck on terrain or jumping into the line of fire, I'm not going to like it. I liked Secrect of Evermore, but I never got very attached to the dog, myself. I always got the impression that the kid loved his dog because he was a social outcast with no friends.

To make a gamer attached to in-game pets, they need several basic things just for startes.

Make them smart. Getting stuck on terrain, jumping in to the line of fire or blocking hallways is a good way to send players into a blind rage that generally leaves pets or non-critical henchmen a bloody paste on the walls and floor.

Make them useful. A pet should be more than a one-trick pony, no matter how uber that trick is. Dogmeat falls into possibly the most useful pet in a videogame, though he suffers from the "getting in the way" syndrome.

 

[Dragoon785]

I did like this game, and I still do, but the one thing that bothered me especially after playing Secret of Mana was that another player couldn't be the dog. It was a single player game. Thinking about it in the perspective of companionship with man and dog, it possibly could have removed me from this unique experience. If it were a person, they definitely would have made it two players.

Good music, love that title theme.

Heh, in my opinion, a lot of games on the Super Nintendo did a great job of capturing emotional bonds in general.

 

[Brotherofwill]

Shadow of the Colossus did a pretty good job on potraying your horse like your emotional friend, and anyway Last Guardian is pretty much destined to become a milestone if this is your criteria.

You might as well have called this "Why More Games Should Look Forward to Last Guardian", we all know of the potential here.

 

[midpipps]

Personally I think Agro from Shadow of Colossus was my most emotionally attached pet in game. I have not played Secret of Evermore but if it can pull those same kind of emotions as Shadow then I really need to look it up.

I think why Shadow got me so emotionally attached to Agro was he was really your only friend in the game he was there in your triumphs and in your hours of need. Somehow they gave the horse emotion without actually making him seem corny or turning him human.

Anyone who has played both shadow and Secret I would love to hear your thoughts on how well they compare in emotional attachment to your pet.

 

[Soxafloppin]

SOTC, when agro falls.

I rest my case.

 

[ratix2]

I felt that this was actually sort of achieved with Dogmeat in the Fallout games, especially Fallout 3 (because that's the only one I've played). I felt incredibly attached to Dogmeat as a partner. And yes, I know there was an article to this effect.

that was the only fallout game dogmeat (or any non-human/mutant companion for that matter) was in. fallout (if i remember correctly) had a total of 4 or 5 recrutatible companions, while fallout 2 didnt have many more.

anyway, secret of evermore did a better job of pet attachment than most other games have done it (as mentioned fable 2 being a prime example), but i think its more of a complaint on character development in games in general. i can count on one hand the number of games that have had human characters that were even slightly believable, that being said if developers cant make human characters whom one can become attached to how the hell can they expect to do it with animals?

 

[Therumancer]

Dear Mr. Can'tFakeTheFunk


I'm not entirely sure if the problem with "pet empathy" in video games is a problem with the game industry or with you. Don't be offended, but I suspect the problem is with you. Either you have become too old and jaded in your emotions, or perhaps you simply pick the wrong games to play if that is what your looking for. Pokemon for example is a horrendously bad example for someone looking toward games that highlight a relationship between master and pet.

I'd point a finger at a rather unique survival horror title called "Rule Of Rose" for an example of what your talking about. To me at least that is probably the best relationship between master and dog done in video games, especially when you get to the end of the game and more or less figure out what was going on. All I can say is wow... just wow.

There have been others of course though none that were that good. "Haunting Ground" comes to mind, and then of course there is Fable II, though I must admit that the pet in that game needed some work, the final scene involving the dog and the desician you have to make involiving it hit a lot of people fairly hard irregardless of what they say. I was there for some of the initial discussions on that one when the game was brand new.

Then, while it's arguably a bad example, there is Dogmeat. Dogmeat in Fallout is sort of a Phenomena in of himself. Oh sure he lacks a lot of the antics/writing of other pets, but consider that people who play Fallout 3 were immediatly screaming "where is Dogmeat" since he was hidden in the Scrapyard, and then once they have him they go to crazy lengths to protect the little furball, ranging from keeping him in their house (semi-defeating the purpose) or installing one of the ever-popular "put Dogmeat in God Mode" mods (PC version) so they can keep him around. I wouldn't be surprised if the most popular use for the PC cheat console is actually to respawn Dogmeat when he glitches out hunting items.

My point is that I think the relationship between master and pet has been captured pretty well in video games, albeit not in many RPGS based around capturing pets largely because there is typically such a huge bestiary that your constantly swapping them out, and objectives that require you to switch things up as opposed to keeping your favorite pet handy. Plus in a game like say Pokemon they really don't do much except fight for you when you pop them out of balls. They generally don't walk around with you like in some of the other games mentioned above.

Generally speaking I think you don't see more of it because the games that really made an effort were not smash successes (except maybe Fable II if you look purely at sales, but that is the weakest example of the ones I listed above I think).

At any rate, anyone who is looking for a relationship between pet and master should probably check out Rule Of Rose. Not only is it a very unique and atmospheric game that deserves more attention, but it should give you pretty much everything your looking for and perhaps more. This is simply a personal opinion though.

Now, all we need is an equivilent for cat people.

 

[edgeofblade]

See, I had no connection to my dog in SoE due to a poorly chosen name for him. Somehow my young mind thought "Big Dude" was a good name for a dog.

Off-topic, I also remember SoE being one buggy screwup. I could only beat the final boss because of a glitch that rendered me impervious to damage. Also, lookup the game save breaking error about landing the flying ship in the corner of the map.

 

[Avatar Roku]

I felt that this was actually sort of achieved with Dogmeat in the Fallout games, especially Fallout 3 (because that's the only one I've played). I felt incredibly attached to Dogmeat as a partner. And yes, I know there was an article to this effect.

that was the only fallout game dogmeat (or any non-human/mutant companion for that matter) was in. fallout (if i remember correctly) had a total of 4 or 5 recrutatible companions, while fallout 2 didnt have many more.

Actually, he was in all three. [http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Dogmeat]

 

[Eric the Orange]

Dear Mr. Can'tFakeTheFunk

This is a news article to link to an escapist article. If you really want to make a thought out response you should aim it twords Mr.Price.

here
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/6.126288

 

[Therumancer]

Dear Mr. Can'tFakeTheFunk

This is a news article to link to an escapist article. If you really want to make a thought out response you should aim it twords Mr.Price.

here
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/6.126288

Aha! Thanks. I was a bit confused there when it seemed the writer was using the name "Cantfakethefunk" and I was thinking "wow, that sounds... professional".

But then again consider I'm probably the last remaining fan of Evil Scorpia so .

It has been cut and pasted to the correct location, with the name edited.

 

[ccesarano]

See, I had no connection to my dog in SoE due to a poorly chosen name for him. Somehow my young mind thought "Big Dude" was a good name for a dog.

Off-topic, I also remember SoE being one buggy screwup. I could only beat the final boss because of a glitch that rendered me impervious to damage. Also, lookup the game save breaking error about landing the flying ship in the corner of the map.

It was buggy, sure, but a lot of games had such issues at the time. Though I never had this issue with the final boss you seemed to have. Secret of Evermore remains as one of my favorite games to this day.

When it comes to pet companions, Fable 2 and Secret of Evermore do hit the top. EarthBound is another major one, as the dog is a rather useful assistant at the game's beginning. Too bad it doesn't last too long.

I kind of agree on Poke`mon not creating a pet/master relationship. I enjoyed Monster Rancher as a series a lot simply because there seemed to be an important level of interaction there, whereas Poke`mon was just fight after fight. Then again, considering the different styles of the games, it is no surprise either.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Shadow of the Colossus did a pretty good job on potraying your horse like your emotional friend, and anyway Last Guardian is pretty much destined to become a milestone if this is your criteria.

You might as well have called this "Why More Games Should Look Forward to Last Guardian", we all know of the potential here.

You mean the potential for that baby gryphon to DIE?

We all know it's going to happen.