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Dallinor on 13 October 2009
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Mazty said:
Killergran said:

I believe you have missed the point entirely. The problem here is the difference between the character and the player. If the characters action on screen does not coincide with what the player wants to be doing immersion flies out the window. In Half-Life the player never loses control. All the actions and inactions of the character is the result of the player. There is never any distance between the character and the player.

The world around the player is limited, yes. It will always be, no matter how 'open' it is, there are always boundaries. No matter how well NPC's react to you they will always be scripted. You can always find ways to behave that are not tolerated or recognised by the game. The question is how tight to make the restrictions given the experience you want to produce.

In giving the player complete control over the character you set a different tone. It is no longer a character moving around in the world. It's YOU, moving around.There is never any break with this. You act like you want to, within the possibilities of the game. Never are you forced to watch your character doing something that you would not do.

I find Portal is the perfect example of this type of storytelling. Because it has no NPC's, the character has no reason to speak and the road is supposed to be completely linear anyways. It even gives you the illusion of free will wihtin this setting.

I'll keep this simple:

The only difference between say HL2 and Killzone 2 (ignoring the gameplay) is that in HL2 the main charater says nothing, and there are no 3rd person perspective cut scenes. That is it.

Killzone 2 has moments where you fully lose control of your character (being pulled up a wall) or your point of view is moved away (to look at a passing tank.) Half Life 2 never does this. Much like real life, if you're not looking in a certain direction, you can miss something amazing happening for a split second. While trapped in the teleportation device near the start of the game for example, you can simply stare at the floor if you want and miss the entire spectacle.

The same 'up to the player' game design exists when the player encounters puzzles. Unlike other FPS games where a particular weapon is presented to the player to achieve a specific task and the NPC's continue to shout and rant until you do, HL2 offers very little in the way of obvious clues or suggestions from NPC's how to pass by the next puzzle/barrier. This forces the player to carefully study his surroundings and apply logic to the situation, further engrossing him in the scene.

HL2 is also played, for the most part, at the speed at which you decide to progress. There's no on-the-rails moments or grenade spamming if you decide to hang back and not push forward. While it might not offer full freedom to the player, it's less restricting then most FPS in this regard. Especially taking into consideration the large sections of exploration and lulls in the fighting.

As for making a connection with the character, if he's mute it's hard to either hate or love him. You simply accept that he exists and that because he doesn't speak, he must be judged, therefore, by his actions alone. Which are yours to control.

The scripted reactions to your behaviour like "come along gordon" if you're lagging behind or "gordon stop that!" if you break something or hit them, further lend credit to the overall idea that your personality is shining through Gordon. You are Gordon.