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When I made that closing comment above, it was in reference to all the people that moan and complain about being censored when they say or do something they know full well is going to be inflammatory and offensive. Whether it stuff like this, someone pulling a Don Imus, or some politician getting themselves in hot water, or just flat out some of the people I've seen here or elsewhere trying to advocate "absolute free speech; they are usually in truth advocating freedom from consequence and being called out on their B.S. Hence while so often in discussions similiar to this, that side of it pulls out the First Ammedment even though 90% of the time they aren't talking about a situation in which the it actually applies; government suppression of speech. They are often just grasping at any excuse they can pull find to not be called racists, sexists, bigots or some other variation of asshole."
Yeah and bear in mind, considering the typical subject matter and characters in GTA, I'm not sure if you're supposed to want to live in the world's Rockstar creates. Well at least in the pockets of those cities Rockstar let's us explore. GTA wouldn't be GTA if it were all just Brentwood and Orange Co. The grime is part of what makes Liberty City and will make Los Santos work. The criminal underworld isn't all mansions and caged tigers.
I never said her wanting to destroy time for the sake of power wasn't selfish. I just said it was selfishness I could endorse. Remember, you're doing a series on villians here. For the most part, even when the motives are understandable they are going to take to unlikable means to acheive their goals.
Maybe it's because I fnd both Rinoa and Squall profoundingly annoying, but her jonesing for that solder-boy doesn't inspire my inner Chris Rock to say "I'm not saying she should have done it, but I understand." This isn't a misunderstanding of her motives according to the theory. I' was reading up on this theory ten years ago and I like it applied to the game. I just don't think that theory makes her any more likeable.
Maybe you find that romantic. but selfish and having no regard for the lives and existence of almost everyone else that's existed is still evil to me. I don't care if that's for money, power, romance, or trying to save baby pandas. I consider evil some combination of a dangerous disregard for others either through hatred of others an extreme selfishness. I think Rinoa/Ulimecia qualifies in spades."
That said, that chick is evil. If for no other reason I can at least get behind all of the destruction and destroy timelines and history in the name of power. Presumeably in one's reality, there's only on universe and it's history to conquey and dominate. Doing it in the name of chasing a romance novel moments? You just take a weekend to go to down on a bottle of Bicardi, a tub of ice cream and move on the next one. Naw, that's just selfishness I can't endorse. That's not just evil, that's insulting to anything that's ever existied in that world. :)
@Layton The S.I.D. thing is totally new to me. Thanks for sharing that on"
I'm always for revisiting a game for more discussion as Rob says. If there's anything I've not cared for it's how quickly games fall out of regular discourse after release because of the preview heavy nature games coverage has always seemed. Heck for as horrendously overrated as I felt Heavy Rain and Alan Wake, I'm not so great it was a good thing that nearly a month or so after the reviews hit, some people seemed to forget they ever came out unti; year end award discussion hit in December last year. Whicb surprised me considering how much critics talked up their siginificance leading to and at release. Sure it's a good excuse to revisit patches and what issues may have been fixed, but frankly I think it's healthy every once in a while just to let a game simmer for a few months and revisit our initial reactions and reassess our in the moment thoughts of them for a multitude of reasons."
"There is room for talky and room for silent. There is room for cutscenes and room for environmental storytelling. Stop talking about what is a more pure form of storytelling for a game and start talking about what works best for each individual game."
Advocating using all of the tools in the toolbox doesn't mean throwing some of the truly unique new things. It just means using what's most effective for the purposes of what the storyteller is trying to do. Silent protagonists, and audio logs and one's own personal desire not to have some dissonace from the controlled avatar just don't cut it in in particular games or in particular situations. Dissonance isn't inherently bad and one is not to like all things about every protagonist. There'a huge leap between individually not relating to everything about a character or work and it being objectively bad that a lot of people can't wrap their heads around as, speaking very cynically, many people are mentally incapable of accepting an audience larger and more diverse than their individual person.
And I were to somehow warp myself into the mind of someone that actually somehow feels they are embodying the character of a silent character and somehow more immersed, what happens if a game requires me to do something I don't want to do? Wouldn't it be in theory be more off-putting to have a character do something I wouldn't want to when it is an empty shell for me to assume myself in rather than an established character for which it might make sense? Setting aside the people that objected to it for moral reasons beyond how it was delivered, wouldn't "No Russian" in Modern Warfare 2 have gone down just a little easier for some if the player avatar had an established personality and voice that had fully-accepted what had to be done or was pulled out of the first person camera for a cut-scene? By most accounts I read, going through it in the very style only games can offer was one of the reasons people resented Infinity Ward for that scene. For as much crap critics gave Infinity Ward for using a cheap "out" allowing the scene to be skipped, an out seemed exactly what many people wanted. I wouldn't have changed "No Russian" at all but then I don't have it in my head that I am somehow my character and need to be 100% in sync with it at all times
I understand there's a almost an obligatory self-servingness to the gamer audience that maybe sports audiences are the only remotely close comparison to because of the shared desires of winning, but the change in nature of the medium doesn't throw out thousands of years of history and I assure history shows me most stories would never be told because what I would do would end them early in the first act. Frankly, Hemmingway, Steinbeck, Kubrick nor any other storyteller could care less about telling my story or any other random person's story anyway; they were teling their character's story. I don't see that somehow changing with video games nor needing to change. Even with RPGs I play giving the illusion of player choice I'm never not aware I'm still operating within the confines of the story of a Bioware or Obsidian character.
The solution to better storytelling is not to use one technique mostly for the misguided purposes of just using the technology and another sparingly because it's roots are from elsewhere. It's to use everythng a storyteller does use with purpose. This false dichotomy of storytelling styles and what benefits the industry more that goes on is nothing more than personal preference masquerading as inarguable truth. What benefits the industry is good, profitable games and, where applicable, good stories to enhance them. And I don't care how a good story is delivered to me so long as it's a good one."
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Yet the writers I've met when covering events such as SXSW or GDC Online have been more than generous with time, advice, and yeah encouragement. I'm fairly certain most people aren't necessarily going to be that open, but that's any business. But you gravitate toward to people that actually show an sincere interest in seeing you grow and do well. I don't expect anything of any of those relationships but I value anything I learn from them.
The rejection letters, yeah, that gets weighty after a while. I don't care how much of a front anyone puts up about it here or anywhere else, nobody can hit continual roadblocks for something they want and not get frustrated. That said, sometimes you have to just keep at it. Hell, the last pitch I had get picked up felt like it happened somewhat by accident. I happened across a random press release from my old university of some local devs speaking, tossed a pitch out to Gamasutra thinking maybe it'd be something to fill content for an afternoon not really expecting anything of it. For Gamasutra it didn't, but I also on a 'what the hell' whim cc'd the thing to Game Developer Magazine and I've an article in this month's magazine I wasn't expecting anyone to run.
Would I love to do this full-time and not crunch numbers in a consulting office? Yes. But I also can't stay out of a hospital more than three months at a time. I've enough issues staying healthy enough to do my day job, let alone this at all on the side. We all have our obstacles and something in the way. But here's the thing that keeps me from getting too jaded. When I hadn't written anything for 6 month relearning to walk, some industry heavyweights were warm and more than welcoming at lunch to have this local guy with none of their credentials and background sit and speak the business with them. When I was living in a Salvation Army shelter, Richard Garriott gave me an hour of his time after the screening of his documentary. I might be the luckiest guy in the world for the opportunities I've been allotted if not for some of the circumstances in which I had them.
No matter how low I've spot I've been, when I've just kept trying, something has always opened up. I don't know if it'll ever be a career for me. Maybe it isn't. But whenever I've been able to show up, there's always been a seat at the table for me. Maybe this is me taking my rare dip into idealism, but I'd like to think that's just in part because I continue to make the effort to show up at the table."