Oh no, they'd have to hire two more actors in addition to all the NPC ones they had already?
I'm not asking for a Mass Effect style dialogue system (though they managed it with two actors), even if it was just some generic "Fuck you, you crazy maniac!" rebuttals, it would add a lot.
3, 4, and BD didn't have the choice of male or female characters too though. Probably part of the reason they didn't go for a voiced character in this one.
Yes, because voicing females is really hard. Just like animating them...
>.>
... or its double the amount of voicing they'd have to do if there was only one option?
CorriganX on Steam and just about everywhere else.
3, 4, and BD didn't have the choice of male or female characters too though. Probably part of the reason they didn't go for a voiced character in this one.
Yes, because voicing females is really hard. Just like animating them...
>.>
... or its double the amount of voicing they'd have to do if there was only one option?
It's a $60 AAA game. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect them to spend a bit of money and hire a pair of voice actors. :razz: It's not like it's unprecedented.
3, 4, and BD didn't have the choice of male or female characters too though. Probably part of the reason they didn't go for a voiced character in this one.
This is probably the reason. Ubisoft could've easily shelled out some money for just two additional voice actors, but I guess it was more important to rent helicopters and fly Joseph Seed lookalikes out to events :rotate:
Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
I'd much rather they not let you make your own character and instead stop having every single quest giver call you Rook or Deputy constantly. I dont care if the characters are male or female, just annoying as fuck to hear "Rook" 18 times when you swing by the prison.
CorriganX on Steam and just about everywhere else.
3, 4, and BD didn't have the choice of male or female characters too though. Probably part of the reason they didn't go for a voiced character in this one.
Yes, because voicing females is really hard. Just like animating them...
>.>
... or its double the amount of voicing they'd have to do if there was only one option?
The NPCs have plenty of lines, and there's over 100 actors credited with the game. Two more shouldn't be that hard.
This wasn't a choice made on practicality, they wanted a voiceless protagonist to make them as blank a slate as possible. I just think it was a bad choice.
3 had a lesson about becomming a monster while fighting monsters.
4 had one about how those opposing tyrants are not always awesome themselves.
2 about imperialism maybe?
It's very easy to slip some sort of message into a game without meaning to.
And it is very easy to slip in a message in a game where better part of an hour is spent listening villains monologue about their righteousness, with no pushback from the protagonist and the story insisting that they were right.
Your actions over the course of the entire game are the pushback. You oppose the cult at every turn, because you know they're wrong. Seed happened to be right about the impending doom, but his methods were very blatantly and obviously wrong and I didn't see anything in the story other than the crazy villains who believed/insisted they were doing the right thing.
I just don't see how anyone could come away from this game thinking the message they're trying to convey is "The badguys were justified, you shouldn't oppose the cult"
That's pushback against actions, not ideology.
And that pushback is proven over and over again to be futile.
Doesn't matter what you do, how you prepare, or where you are.
The moment villains want to kidnap you, they do, and then it's monologue/drugtrip/mindcontrolled to kill your allies time.
You are not, at any point, allowed to point out just how stupid the villains ideologies are.
And finally, if you do not submit, they are proven right.
And as a final fuck you, you are not allowed to shoot Joseph, but are instead dragged to a bunker where you presumably spend as rest of your life as the crazy cultleader monologues at you about how right he is, how wrong i am, and why this all could have been avoided if i had let him go on kidnapping, torturing, and murdering innocent people.
Offhand I can't really think of any games with voice acting that I think have been improved with a silent protagonist.
Mario and Zelda are kind of grandfathered in there, but I didn't feel any more immersed in Half Life because Gordon didn't speak. I didn't feel like I was Gordon Freeman (that's not my name), I just wonder why he doesn't talk to anyone.
Offhand I can't really think of any games with voice acting that I think have been improved with a silent protagonist.
Mario and Zelda are kind of grandfathered in there, but I didn't feel any more immersed in Half Life because Gordon didn't speak. I didn't feel like I was Gordon Freeman (that's not my name), I just wonder why he doesn't talk to anyone.
Fallout 4.
Sure that was also poor writing.
But i really did not like the voiced protagonist, especially with the silly dialogue wheel and mood swings.
Though i guess that's a special case because voiced protagonist removed dialogue, instead of added it.
After the story had progressed a bit I played the entire game thinking why is there no mission about trying to escape the area to get reinforcements. Once you unlock the plane you should have a mission to try making contact with the rest of the world. The mission would have to fail to keep the game going obviously, but for the sake of the story they should have included one.
I feel as though making the character a police officer was a mistake. Even though he's supposedly a rookie (no idea if he just transferred in from somewhere else or not) he should still have training and that training should have included things like "Don't be a damned hero go get backup." Some dude though? Fuck ya go find Hurk and fuck some shit up.
After the story had progressed a bit I played the entire game thinking why is there no mission about trying to escape the area to get reinforcements. Once you unlock the plane you should have a mission to try making contact with the rest of the world. The mission would have to fail to keep the game going obviously, but for the sake of the story they should have included one.
I feel as though making the character a police officer was a mistake. Even though he's supposedly a rookie (no idea if he just transferred in from somewhere else or not) he should still have training and that training should have included things like "Don't be a damned hero go get backup." Some dude though? Fuck ya go find Hurk and fuck some shit up.
That thought crossed my mind as well. Would've been a way better "secret" ending too.
Like it only works once, but when you fly out of bounds and it gives you that warning, if you keep going you should get an ending that's like "Congrats, the cult's trickery didn't fool you!" and you go get lots of help to take down Seed.
It's just one of those things, though. Like in Iron Man 3 when Tony doesn't even try to contact Captain America or Nick Fury
Also, Hurk would prefer to be called Panther, thankyouverymuch.
Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
Offhand I can't really think of any games with voice acting that I think have been improved with a silent protagonist.
Mario and Zelda are kind of grandfathered in there, but I didn't feel any more immersed in Half Life because Gordon didn't speak. I didn't feel like I was Gordon Freeman (that's not my name), I just wonder why he doesn't talk to anyone.
IDK... I prefer the silent protagonist. Especially if it's a game with a create a character or heavy customization.
Most of the times you make your character, and then there's only one track and it just doesn't fit the character that you've created. It's even more jarring if the the game does a create a character as a means of insertion (blank slate nobody/rookie/etc as opposed to say... "The Boss", "Shepard", etc) Having multiple voices with different personalities within them helps—see Saint's Row: The Third—but that's also not cheap.
“I used to draw, hard to admit that I used to draw...”
Offhand I can't really think of any games with voice acting that I think have been improved with a silent protagonist.
Mario and Zelda are kind of grandfathered in there, but I didn't feel any more immersed in Half Life because Gordon didn't speak. I didn't feel like I was Gordon Freeman (that's not my name), I just wonder why he doesn't talk to anyone.
Personally I think it's always an option (as with Isaac in Dead Space), but at the same time, arguments of "But it adds to the mystique of the character! Their personality is that they don't talk!" No, Gordon Freeman doesn't have a personality in his games--he's just surrounded by actual personalities who talk at him and perhaps infer (unconvincingly) that he does.
That being said, I'm not sure how much anger text adds if you've already got various grunts, moans, etc.--something for immersion, certainly, though very little for characters.
Doom is the only recent game with a good silent protagonist. Most of the time it falls entirely flat and makes you think you're just controlling a plank of wood with a gun nailed to the side.
Offhand I can't really think of any games with voice acting that I think have been improved with a silent protagonist.
Mario and Zelda are kind of grandfathered in there, but I didn't feel any more immersed in Half Life because Gordon didn't speak. I didn't feel like I was Gordon Freeman (that's not my name), I just wonder why he doesn't talk to anyone.
Portal 2 made a point of mocking you for not being able to speak early on, it was a pretty clever way to deal with it.
+2
Absurdity MatrixTumbledown GloryOn the OutskirtsRegistered Userregular
Hm. I'd like to see a silent protagonist that chiefly communicates through sending texts and making gestures. There's some characterization and comedy potential right there, especially if the game never explains why this is a thing.
Hm. I'd like to see a silent protagonist that chiefly communicates through sending texts and making gestures. There's some characterization and comedy potential right there, especially if the game never explains why this is a thing.
Chrono Trigger did that. (though no cell phones since it was the 90s)
Zettai Hero Project(PSP/Vita) did that as well, but they also played a long game where one of the endings involves a character noticing they've never heard the protagonist speak, followed by collective stunned silence as the same realization dawns on the rest of the cast at this mention.
Honestly the silent protagonist for me is only a small aspect of the games many splendid narrative problems
I felt like the campaign did very little to take advantage of the open world gameplay, and ultimately that was my biggest issue overall with the game. The campaign missions felt extremely restrictive (some worse than others) in a way that means the open world felt separate to the narrative. This plagues the genre of open world games but is probably the most pronounced in far cry.
Also the ending
was just super fucking unsatisfying from a gameplay perspective too. Like I wouldnt have minded a stupid unearned dark ending if the last mission was a kickass epic thrillride that capitalised on the best aspects of far crys gameplay (explosive violent/open approach chaos). But instead they insisted on this "restrained" and "muted" vibe. And while that could have worked form a storytelling perspective with better writing, it still would have felt super unsatisfying to actually play.
Far Cry is endlessly praised for its gameplay and openness, and yet they insist on narratives that actively curtail that. Theyre left having to play coy and be kind of self-indulgent about the restrictions of the storytelling structure, which they themselves have imposed, and nobody seems to like.
The game tries to reframe these limitations by arguing for "undercutting expectations" narratively, ie, by having a violently over the top game end with you being unable to violently kill the final antagonist who has spent the entire game wracking up reasons he deserves a violent death. But it just isnt earned thematically. The frustration mainly results in frustrating gameplay-story tension. Im used to unsatisfying storytelling games by now, but when it compromises the gameplay, and makes the game "feel" unsatisfying to play and complete, then its not doing its job or getting out of the way so to speak.
The constant loss of control reads less like a commentary on player control and how games shape and indulge player expectations (which honestly has been done to death by now), and more just comes across as lazy and odd. Youre teleported like a dozen times to a lone monologuing character, its repetitive and boring no matter how well written the dialogue or engaging the performance. Its just not a natural story telling device, its restrictive and dull and frustrating. And it feels like its frustrating to write for as well. Combined with being able to approach any of the characters at any time, it comes off feeling throwaway and repetitive. Its the worst of both worlds, it doesnt allow for the depth, cohesion and clarity that linear storytelling can bring, and yet frustrates the sense of exploratory freedom a more open freeform narrative a game of its type can have.
Also the humour doesnt work. Like, it actively annoys me. You cant have a super serious main story with super serious antagonists and then have 50% or more of your characters being goofball idiots who spout nonsense and have you do obviously time wasting nothing quests. Each stupid funny quest where you punch cows is time you could be spending making thrilling, engaging quests which support your main narratives themes and intentions.
Its like having slapstick in Schindlers List. Even if the slapstick is funny it brings the whole project down.
I think what i hate the most about the ending, is how many people seem to think that it's somehow deep, and people not understanding it are just stupid and shallow.
But i guess that's my own fault for going into the steam forums.
Which makes me, if not shallow, probably a bit stupid.
You know what people love?! corralling ai and resurrecting them when theyre shot (dont worry, its thematic! its about friendship I think!). Oh and also an enemy that just kind of stands there and gets shot without dying cos hes an illusion or something. Repeatedly. Also lets add some spooky clouds and have it all kind of feel unsatisfying and fuzzy and haphazard. Cos its a dream sequence or whatever!
Prohass on
0
DemonStaceyTTODewback's DaughterIn love with the TaySwayRegistered Userregular
Ending.
Yea I've gotta say the more I think about it "incredibly terrible awful monster of a human gets his way and lives out his dreams unpunished while the player character is doomed to a life of torture despite many hours of witnessing this mans atrocities and building up a resistance against him" is a really unsatisfying way to end a game.
It was just sorta like " Haha! This bad guy gets to keep being awful to more people, you failed and nothing you did matters." ROLL CREDITS!
You know what people love?! corralling ai and resurrecting them when theyre shot (dont worry, its thematic! its about friendship I think!). Oh and also an enemy that just kind of stands there and gets shot without dying cos hes an illusion or something. Repeatedly. Also lets add some spooky clouds and have it all kind of feel unsatisfying and fuzzy and haphazard. Cos its a dream sequence or whatever!
And cars exploding because the villain got shot in the head.
I'm seriously salty about that.
Just, why the fuck do i have to redo the car section if i shoot Joseph?
Why?
WHY?
You know what people love?! corralling ai and resurrecting them when theyre shot (dont worry, its thematic! its about friendship I think!). Oh and also an enemy that just kind of stands there and gets shot without dying cos hes an illusion or something. Repeatedly. Also lets add some spooky clouds and have it all kind of feel unsatisfying and fuzzy and haphazard. Cos its a dream sequence or whatever!
And cars exploding because the villain got shot in the head.
I'm seriously salty about that.
Just, why the fuck do i have to redo the car section if i shoot Joseph?
Why?
WHY?
It's like a final fuck you from the writers.
haha oh man I had no idea about this. Thats wonderfully terrible.
Also the humour doesnt work. Like, it actively annoys me. You cant have a super serious main story with super serious antagonists and then have 50% or more of your characters being goofball idiots who spout nonsense and have you do obviously time wasting nothing quests. Each stupid funny quest where you punch cows is time you could be spending making thrilling, engaging quests which support your main narratives themes and intentions.
Its like having slapstick in Schindlers List. Even if the slapstick is funny it brings the whole project down.
Also the humour doesnt work. Like, it actively annoys me. You cant have a super serious main story with super serious antagonists and then have 50% or more of your characters being goofball idiots who spout nonsense and have you do obviously time wasting nothing quests. Each stupid funny quest where you punch cows is time you could be spending making thrilling, engaging quests which support your main narratives themes and intentions.
Its like having slapstick in Schindlers List. Even if the slapstick is funny it brings the whole project down.
The Testy Festy was pretty fucking funny, though.
In and of themselves, as isolated moments of humour, they can occasionally work. That small chuckle I got from that mission though just doesnt seem worth it to me personally in terms of what sacrifices I have to make mentally to fit it into the rest of the game and still feel immersed and care about the world and characters.
And when theres a good 10 or so quests that are outright jokes, not just humerous but intended as a gag mission, where they explicitly and in a self-referential way say "haha isnt it funny how games are silly and waste your time, I bet you all will be complaining about this on forums!", it starts to weigh my experience down. It just feels a little too easy. The occasional bit of levity is fine, but when your humour is undermining your story its a different issue. If you want your game to be funny, commit to that. You can make a serious narrative that is also funny. You can make humour work for a serious narrative. It can be a valuable asset if you commit to it and really put in the effort to make it work. But its clear theyre just hedging their bets. They arent sure the serious story parts are engaging enough, so they sprinkle in some knock knock jokes to try and value-add. It comes across muddled and unsure.
I also feel like the structure of some of the joke missions are lazy too. Its not just that they have humorous missions or joke characters, its that there are too many of them, and their jokes undermine their efforts elsewhere.
I normally wouldnt care, games can be dumb and I still like them. But I see moments of sporadic quality character development get strangled out by the writers hedging their bets and going for easy jokes. There are better jokes buried in these characters and these missions that would come from more earnest approaches and more risks with the writing and mission structures
Also the humour doesnt work. Like, it actively annoys me. You cant have a super serious main story with super serious antagonists and then have 50% or more of your characters being goofball idiots who spout nonsense and have you do obviously time wasting nothing quests. Each stupid funny quest where you punch cows is time you could be spending making thrilling, engaging quests which support your main narratives themes and intentions.
Its like having slapstick in Schindlers List. Even if the slapstick is funny it brings the whole project down.
The Testy Festy was pretty fucking funny, though.
It really wasn't for me. That was the first time the contrast between the serious nature of the games subject and it's goofiness hit me. It should/could have been funny but it wasn't because I was busy thinking about the cult and all the fucked up shit they were doing. If it had came in a lull it'd have been fine but it was near the beginning in my playthrough.
3, 4, and BD didn't have the choice of male or female characters too though. Probably part of the reason they didn't go for a voiced character in this one.
Yes, because voicing females is really hard. Just like animating them...
>.>
... or its double the amount of voicing they'd have to do if there was only one option?
The NPCs have plenty of lines, and there's over 100 actors credited with the game. Two more shouldn't be that hard.
This wasn't a choice made on practicality, they wanted a voiceless protagonist to make them as blank a slate as possible. I just think it was a bad choice.
Strong Disagree
I HATE the voiced protagonists in Fallout 4. As soon as you tried to make a character that was off kilter, the stupid dopey voices ruined it.
I think thats the difference, in fallout 4 a voiceless character would have been more appropriate because of the roleplaying options, which you could have text responses for. In far cry theres zero reason not to give them a voice, and in fact it actively feels wrong that they dont, because you cant even respond in text, and your character doesnt gesture or do anything, like the Doomguy. And unlike Halflife 2 or something similar, youre largely being talked at directly for long periods one on one, while no other characters are present. Its bizzare and takes the voiceless protagonist trope to a ridiculous breaking point. Its telling that the most interesting moments from Far Cry 5 come when any character interacts with another character. Especially the bad guys, the most interest moments where when the family talked to or about each other.
Fallout characters still spoke in the early games, even if you couldn't hear them.
I don't consider the Fallout protagonists or The Warden in Dragon Age Origins to be voiceless characters, because you can still choose what they say.
Here you're just a mute who doesn't interact with the world in any way except murder.
Even the characters in Borderlands 1/2 would say something.
Bears get really mad when you light them on fire... and when fire-bears attack you, this in turn lights you on fire.
Killed by my own monstrous creation!
Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
+5
DemonStaceyTTODewback's DaughterIn love with the TaySwayRegistered Userregular
edited April 2018
On random fun thing:
Incendiary shells are the greatest weapon against all air vehicles and even armored enemies maybe. After taking the vehicle damage perk and using armor piercing rounds as suggested and firing multiple reloads into vehicles/armored enemies just to take them down(seriously the armor piercing rounds don't make nearly enough difference). I learned that as long as a single incendiary pellet from the shotgun spread makes it through the windshield it will ignite the cockpit and the pilot will just jump the fuck out. Planes and helicopters become hilarious jokes.
That never got old. Watching the flaming pilot just jump to his doom every damn time.
The best was Saints Row 3 having multiple voices available to choose from for your created character. Hell of a lot of extra work for devs but damn did it attach me to my character.
I think Saints Row 2 (on playstation) was the best drivy/shooty open world game i've played yet.
Decent character creator, good clothing customization, fun gameplay and a great story that was sad, funny and horrifying all at the same time.
Saints Row 3 was ok, but i really disliked changes to Shaundi, and death of Gat, and hated almost all new characters except Kinzie and Oleg (Kinzie was my absolute favorite addition to the series).
SR2 for me was the series peak; it had a serious main storyline that was well done - you're the villain, you're not a hero and the story really reflects that. Then you had wacky side missions and activities that were piles of fun. The licensed music wasn't quite as a good as GTA but still had some real gems. I didn't care for the veer straight into being all wacky all the time, and then GTA 5 seemingly copied SR2 so that itch got scratched.
I don't even remember Oleg other than typical Russian accent but Kinzie was okay just because she had that bondage freak or something going on under the radar.
Posts
I'm not asking for a Mass Effect style dialogue system (though they managed it with two actors), even if it was just some generic "Fuck you, you crazy maniac!" rebuttals, it would add a lot.
... or its double the amount of voicing they'd have to do if there was only one option?
CorriganX on Steam and just about everywhere else.
It's a $60 AAA game. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect them to spend a bit of money and hire a pair of voice actors. :razz: It's not like it's unprecedented.
This is probably the reason. Ubisoft could've easily shelled out some money for just two additional voice actors, but I guess it was more important to rent helicopters and fly Joseph Seed lookalikes out to events :rotate:
CorriganX on Steam and just about everywhere else.
The NPCs have plenty of lines, and there's over 100 actors credited with the game. Two more shouldn't be that hard.
This wasn't a choice made on practicality, they wanted a voiceless protagonist to make them as blank a slate as possible. I just think it was a bad choice.
And that pushback is proven over and over again to be futile.
Doesn't matter what you do, how you prepare, or where you are.
The moment villains want to kidnap you, they do, and then it's monologue/drugtrip/mindcontrolled to kill your allies time.
You are not, at any point, allowed to point out just how stupid the villains ideologies are.
And finally, if you do not submit, they are proven right.
And as a final fuck you, you are not allowed to shoot Joseph, but are instead dragged to a bunker where you presumably spend as rest of your life as the crazy cultleader monologues at you about how right he is, how wrong i am, and why this all could have been avoided if i had let him go on kidnapping, torturing, and murdering innocent people.
Mario and Zelda are kind of grandfathered in there, but I didn't feel any more immersed in Half Life because Gordon didn't speak. I didn't feel like I was Gordon Freeman (that's not my name), I just wonder why he doesn't talk to anyone.
Sure that was also poor writing.
But i really did not like the voiced protagonist, especially with the silly dialogue wheel and mood swings.
Though i guess that's a special case because voiced protagonist removed dialogue, instead of added it.
I feel as though making the character a police officer was a mistake. Even though he's supposedly a rookie (no idea if he just transferred in from somewhere else or not) he should still have training and that training should have included things like "Don't be a damned hero go get backup." Some dude though? Fuck ya go find Hurk and fuck some shit up.
That thought crossed my mind as well. Would've been a way better "secret" ending too.
It's just one of those things, though. Like in Iron Man 3 when Tony doesn't even try to contact Captain America or Nick Fury
Also, Hurk would prefer to be called Panther, thankyouverymuch.
IDK... I prefer the silent protagonist. Especially if it's a game with a create a character or heavy customization.
Most of the times you make your character, and then there's only one track and it just doesn't fit the character that you've created. It's even more jarring if the the game does a create a character as a means of insertion (blank slate nobody/rookie/etc as opposed to say... "The Boss", "Shepard", etc) Having multiple voices with different personalities within them helps—see Saint's Row: The Third—but that's also not cheap.
Personally I think it's always an option (as with Isaac in Dead Space), but at the same time, arguments of "But it adds to the mystique of the character! Their personality is that they don't talk!" No, Gordon Freeman doesn't have a personality in his games--he's just surrounded by actual personalities who talk at him and perhaps infer (unconvincingly) that he does.
That being said, I'm not sure how much anger text adds if you've already got various grunts, moans, etc.--something for immersion, certainly, though very little for characters.
Portal 2 made a point of mocking you for not being able to speak early on, it was a pretty clever way to deal with it.
Chrono Trigger did that. (though no cell phones since it was the 90s)
Zettai Hero Project(PSP/Vita) did that as well, but they also played a long game where one of the endings involves a character noticing they've never heard the protagonist speak, followed by collective stunned silence as the same realization dawns on the rest of the cast at this mention.
I felt like the campaign did very little to take advantage of the open world gameplay, and ultimately that was my biggest issue overall with the game. The campaign missions felt extremely restrictive (some worse than others) in a way that means the open world felt separate to the narrative. This plagues the genre of open world games but is probably the most pronounced in far cry.
Also the ending
Far Cry is endlessly praised for its gameplay and openness, and yet they insist on narratives that actively curtail that. Theyre left having to play coy and be kind of self-indulgent about the restrictions of the storytelling structure, which they themselves have imposed, and nobody seems to like.
The game tries to reframe these limitations by arguing for "undercutting expectations" narratively, ie, by having a violently over the top game end with you being unable to violently kill the final antagonist who has spent the entire game wracking up reasons he deserves a violent death. But it just isnt earned thematically. The frustration mainly results in frustrating gameplay-story tension. Im used to unsatisfying storytelling games by now, but when it compromises the gameplay, and makes the game "feel" unsatisfying to play and complete, then its not doing its job or getting out of the way so to speak.
The constant loss of control reads less like a commentary on player control and how games shape and indulge player expectations (which honestly has been done to death by now), and more just comes across as lazy and odd. Youre teleported like a dozen times to a lone monologuing character, its repetitive and boring no matter how well written the dialogue or engaging the performance. Its just not a natural story telling device, its restrictive and dull and frustrating. And it feels like its frustrating to write for as well. Combined with being able to approach any of the characters at any time, it comes off feeling throwaway and repetitive. Its the worst of both worlds, it doesnt allow for the depth, cohesion and clarity that linear storytelling can bring, and yet frustrates the sense of exploratory freedom a more open freeform narrative a game of its type can have.
Also the humour doesnt work. Like, it actively annoys me. You cant have a super serious main story with super serious antagonists and then have 50% or more of your characters being goofball idiots who spout nonsense and have you do obviously time wasting nothing quests. Each stupid funny quest where you punch cows is time you could be spending making thrilling, engaging quests which support your main narratives themes and intentions.
Its like having slapstick in Schindlers List. Even if the slapstick is funny it brings the whole project down.
But i guess that's my own fault for going into the steam forums.
Which makes me, if not shallow, probably a bit stupid.
It was just sorta like " Haha! This bad guy gets to keep being awful to more people, you failed and nothing you did matters." ROLL CREDITS!
I'm seriously salty about that.
Just, why the fuck do i have to redo the car section if i shoot Joseph?
Why?
WHY?
haha oh man I had no idea about this. Thats wonderfully terrible.
The Testy Festy was pretty fucking funny, though.
In and of themselves, as isolated moments of humour, they can occasionally work. That small chuckle I got from that mission though just doesnt seem worth it to me personally in terms of what sacrifices I have to make mentally to fit it into the rest of the game and still feel immersed and care about the world and characters.
And when theres a good 10 or so quests that are outright jokes, not just humerous but intended as a gag mission, where they explicitly and in a self-referential way say "haha isnt it funny how games are silly and waste your time, I bet you all will be complaining about this on forums!", it starts to weigh my experience down. It just feels a little too easy. The occasional bit of levity is fine, but when your humour is undermining your story its a different issue. If you want your game to be funny, commit to that. You can make a serious narrative that is also funny. You can make humour work for a serious narrative. It can be a valuable asset if you commit to it and really put in the effort to make it work. But its clear theyre just hedging their bets. They arent sure the serious story parts are engaging enough, so they sprinkle in some knock knock jokes to try and value-add. It comes across muddled and unsure.
I also feel like the structure of some of the joke missions are lazy too. Its not just that they have humorous missions or joke characters, its that there are too many of them, and their jokes undermine their efforts elsewhere.
I normally wouldnt care, games can be dumb and I still like them. But I see moments of sporadic quality character development get strangled out by the writers hedging their bets and going for easy jokes. There are better jokes buried in these characters and these missions that would come from more earnest approaches and more risks with the writing and mission structures
It really wasn't for me. That was the first time the contrast between the serious nature of the games subject and it's goofiness hit me. It should/could have been funny but it wasn't because I was busy thinking about the cult and all the fucked up shit they were doing. If it had came in a lull it'd have been fine but it was near the beginning in my playthrough.
Strong Disagree
I HATE the voiced protagonists in Fallout 4. As soon as you tried to make a character that was off kilter, the stupid dopey voices ruined it.
I don't consider the Fallout protagonists or The Warden in Dragon Age Origins to be voiceless characters, because you can still choose what they say.
Here you're just a mute who doesn't interact with the world in any way except murder.
Even the characters in Borderlands 1/2 would say something.
Killed by my own monstrous creation!
Incendiary shells are the greatest weapon against all air vehicles and even armored enemies maybe. After taking the vehicle damage perk and using armor piercing rounds as suggested and firing multiple reloads into vehicles/armored enemies just to take them down(seriously the armor piercing rounds don't make nearly enough difference). I learned that as long as a single incendiary pellet from the shotgun spread makes it through the windshield it will ignite the cockpit and the pilot will just jump the fuck out. Planes and helicopters become hilarious jokes.
That never got old. Watching the flaming pilot just jump to his doom every damn time.
Only your Gordon Freeman isn't a one-dimensional vehicle for garnering awkward praise and worship.
Russian ladyboss da bes.
Decent character creator, good clothing customization, fun gameplay and a great story that was sad, funny and horrifying all at the same time.
Saints Row 3 was ok, but i really disliked changes to Shaundi, and death of Gat, and hated almost all new characters except Kinzie and Oleg (Kinzie was my absolute favorite addition to the series).
I don't even remember Oleg other than typical Russian accent but Kinzie was okay just because she had that bondage freak or something going on under the radar.