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All responses Most smiled responses
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A strong game ending is such a rare delight, but when one does actually work you damn well know it. Here are some:
Thief: Deadly Shadows
Planescape: Torment (surprise, surprise)
Max Payne
Cryostasis
Portal
Half-Life: Blue Shift (it was so rewarding to finally escape Black mesa, and I don't recall [though may be wrong] there being a terrible boss. But damn the original HL engine looks bad now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scAGlzLYPDU).
And some bad ones:
Bioshock
Knights of the Old Republic 2
Half-Life 2 Ep1
GTA: Ballad of Gay Tony (only just played this, liked the characters but the ending was damp - are all GTA's like that?)
Mario Galaxy (really, you want me to play the whole damn thing through again? As Luigi?!) -
asked by ThePotatoFish
Thanks!
I suspect Philip just would have been relieved to find anyone alive in that bloody place. Amabel had her idiosyncrasies that might make her a slightly annoying partner - that constant silver lining she finds in the face horror - but they're both good people in so far as they're both rational people, so I think they would have gotten along. -
Given I wasn't around for the first half of the 80s and mostly just dribbling for the latter I don't have many options in that direction!
During the 00s the most memorable stuff has been around the growth and my discovery of the indie / art game scene. I don't recall the first modern indie I played, but certainly Darwinia (2005) was a big gut wrench for me. I know I have a lot of respect for a game when I feel that twinge in my stomach which says "Shit, I should have done that!". That game established so many things for me: that you could make something beautiful with a tiny budget and system requirements; that video games had grown up to the point where they could be intelligently self-referential; and that the PC is awesome because it enabled these things.
Other essentials would include Vampire: Bloodlines (2004) for being one of the best written RPGs of all time, and for the Malkavian character; Max Payne (2001) for being noire and slow mo, and about killing things with someone other than a space marine; Giants: Citizen Kabuto (2000) for being hugely funny as well as huge. Then there's all the fantastic indie stuff that's too voluminous to mention: Molleindustria, 2D Boy, Jonathan Blow, That Game Company, Cactus, Gregory Weir etc etc.
For breakfast I didn't have a cold roast beef sandwich from the huge meal I cooked for my 10 warehouse mates last night. I DID have an expensive coffee in the very cool 'Department of Coffee and Social Affairs' in central London with James Wallis of exciting social gaming start up Hyperlife: http://www.hypergame.co.uk/ -
I can't say I'm 100% sure on the distinction here between action and thrill. Certainly I believe that games can promote horror more effectively than any other medium on the basis that immersion in and not just observation of that kind of atmosphere makes a big difference. I also think it's true that - as I'm sure anyone who's familiar with the Penumbra games will already know - many horror genre games somewhat miss the point by relying on cheap scares and overpowered weapons.
Does this raise key questions about our medium's future? More than anything I suppose it indicates that current consumer trends are towards big, explosive experiences; but then that's no great revelation. As long as there are games pursuing all the avenues available to the best of their ability I think our industry is in relatively safe hands. -
I'm afraid I haven't, but I'll add it to my list.
I actually avoided the anniversary edition that came out a few years because it was published by Lexicon Entertainment, who happened to be the guys who screwed Frictional Games on the Penumbra: Overture retail royalties, so I didn't particularly fancy further lining their pockets. -
Ha, actually I meant self-referential in so far as it was a formpsring question proposing I should be answering questions on formspring. Wish I'd written it myself now!
I'm going to take memorable literally here and, rather than reel off the usual poster boys, actually think about the games whose story I remember the most.
Thief: The Dark Project (1998) - This is the first time I remember liking the writing in a game that wasn't either an RPG or an adventure. Think about other first person offerings of the time and you're thinking Unreal, Goldeneye, Quake II... Thief was funny, sad, well acted and set in an inventive and atmospheric fantasy world. These are things we rarely enjoy today, let alone in the burgeoning era of the deathmatch.
Dune (1992) - There are RPGs like Fallout (1997), Planescape (1999) and (most prominent in my memory) Baldur's Gate which introduced me to interactive story telling, but Dune was the first game that gave me a sense of the unique power of interactive narrative and roleplay. It wasn't a super exciting story, it wasn't beautiful, and it's not one of those games that gets everyone a bit wistful. It was kind of a cross between the traditional point & click and the RTS genre the game went on to inspire. What was clever was that using some basic core mechanics (going places and talking to people) Cryo managed to insert a lot of bespoke narrative content: you used the same mechanics to set up spice harvesting, to resolve a family dispute, to invade an enemy border or to fall in love. Namely, going places and talking to people. The crucial point is that this allowed you to truly emobody the character and to maintain a sense of freedom within the world without abandoning the script entirely. This is a way of understanding interactive narrative games still haven't mastered today.
Instead of a third I'll go for some honourable mentions. Baldur's Gate 1998 (it basically invented the modern, character-driven RPG); Chip n' Dale Rescue Rangers 1990 (I only played it once but it was a NES game with simultaneous co-op. SIMULTANEOUS CO-OP! I was six years old when I worked out the potential for that); Freespace 1998 and Wing Commander: Prophecy 1997 (Hey, you can add story to genres that usually don't bother and make them better?!); Zelda: Ocarina of Time 1998 (Probably the first really big RPG I ever played, and therefore the first consistent and exciting fictional world I explored, even though the writing sucked).
Having written this it strikes me just how many of my favourite ever games came out around 1998. Either it was some kind of golden age where video games were first realising they could have good stories; or it was when I got my first PC and therefore got to play exciting, challenging games for the first time in my life. -
Ah, a self-referential first question, I like it!
I suspect the right answer is that Formspring - as a service devoted to this stuff - will encourage more and thoughtful questions and provides a neat format and holding pattern for the answers.
Truth is I'm experimenting. If it sucks and everyone hates it I'll move on.
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Tom Jubert’s Bio
Tom Jubert is a freelance narrative designer best known for his work on the Penumbra series. His next release will be Driver: San Francisco.
