Can a game get too realistic?

[classicgamer5]

that was the quickest shower I've ever seen Looks cool but If you have to do any of that more than once, it would get old.

[nickfil]

Why don't games start focusing on realism where it counts like maybe making a shooter where your character isn't the frigging Terminator. Now THAT would be innovation.

yeah.... i kinda like being the terminator.

As for heavy rain, i have no idea why this isn't just a movie. I don't know where the game is in this thing. I'll probably wait until there are stacks in a gamestop for 15 bucks. This can't have any replay value and I'm sure many people are going to buy it due to the hype and be disappointed.

[nate]

can you walk into traffic ? or jump out a window ?
the main character has a kid I think...can you slap the kid ?

[AARST]

He has two kids and you eventually get a scene where you have to choose with which kid you want to play and give attention to... When tragedy strikes, that decision will be fatal.

[Original_Name]

Listen, listen, listen...

This is done in order to establish normalcy - the game intends to make a radical departure from this normalcy later in the game. This might seem unorthodox, but you're SUPPOSED to be bored so that it will have a greater impact when you suddenly are no longer bored. The valuable thing about playing a story over merely watching one is that these actions and their personal effect on the audience have a greater impact because they are, in fact, the player's actions. The fact that a video game is capable of creating a desired effect more capably than a film is capable of doing is a true testament to the medium's potential - even if that effect is to make someone bored. If you see someone getting up in the morning and brushing his teeth, showering, et cetera, it's not so unbearably boring because you, as an audience member, are a passive party in the ordeal. Now, the act of SIMULATING boring activity is different, because you are a very active party - recreating activities (brushing your teeth, showering, et cetera) that you have already done in real life in recent memory (hopefully) means the recreation of said activities is far more boring (because it is also monotonous).

And I'm sure many people are rolling their eyes at this, but the aim of this is to prove that not only can a video game utilize standards of cinema, but it can deeply enhance them. In this game, the emotions behind the relative boredom of the plot's set-up proceeded by the ensuing action should be more exaggerated than in a normal film. The hope is that because the player is active in the game's proceedings as opposed to passive, it will not only enhance physical involvement, but emotional involvement as well.

Let me use a piece from a different genre in order to explain the value of exaggerated extremes. This is a song by Refused called Taanhauser/Derive from the album The Shape of Punk to Come. Refused was a band who worked very openly by juxtaposing extremes - in this song they open a classical piece which transitions very rapidly into a hardcore song - their intention is to utilize two pieces which, while very different, compliment eachother. For a moment, let's use an analogy - imagine that the volume of this song is relative to the excitement of Heavy Rain. The volume of Taanhauser/Derive starts soft and suddenly shifts to loud which emphasizes said loudness and creates a more dynamic experience. It follows that Heavy Rain will achieve a similar effect by starting out boring and transitioning to something far more exciting.



For another brilliant instance of sharp juxtaposition in a tasteful manner:



And now, as is often necessary, a defense of Shenmue.

Shenmue's intention is to be highly realistic in order to directly simulate living life. Here's the thing about Shenmue, though - the life it stimulates is A.) streamlined and B.) far more interesting than your life will ever be, lest you've kicked easily over a thousand peoples' asses on an epic quest to find your father's murderer. The other thing is this: by putting you in the position to live Ryo's life, it increases the remorse you feel when you realize (or, as I should say, IF you realize - most gamers weren't keen/involved enough to reflect on the game's message) that you're leading Ryo ever closer to essentially becoming what he hates simply because that is human nature. When Xiuying Hong attempts to bring Ryo to the revalation that his seeking revenge on Lan Di, the man who killed his father is effectually turning him into Lan Di because Lan Di also killed Ryo's father out of revenge, it has a profound effect on the player who has been leading his avatar up to this point. In fact, this should have a stronger effect on the audience than a movie would because they personally led Ryo to this sorry state - and worse, they keep going - because they want to see what happens to poor Ryo!

Shenmue is conceptually very similar to Hamlet in that you have a character who becomes obsessed with revenge much to his detriment. In Shenmue, however, the true guts of that matter are even more exposed than in Hamelet. In Hamlet, the protagonist sees his father's ghost (this can be taken as literal or hallucinatory depending on the reader's discretion) who tells him to seek revenge on the one who has slain him - this blind ambition to reciporocate his father's murder drives Hamlet insane and leads to his demise. In Shenmue, Ryo's tragic flaw is even more pronounced than Prince Hamlet's. There is no ghost of Iwao who comes to Ryo and tells him to seek revenge - quite the opposite! Iwao tells Ryo to keep friends, those he loves, close to him. And what does he do? He shoves his friends and his loved ones to the side in order to become his own enemy - the exact thing his father did not wish for him to do -- he has responsibilities, and the tools to forge a happy life in Yokosuka which he ignores in order to follow this blind ambition. In Yokosuka he has this friends, work, and even that fine-ass bitch Nozomi! He proceeds to not appreciate these things, but rather to bluntly use them in order to serve his own purposes. Worse yet, everyone worries about him, but he doesn't pay them any mind - he breaks at least three promises to mind his own well-being over the course of the game.

The fact that players continue to proceed with this activity in spite of the pain which they are causing Ryo exposes an Oedipus complex - the inability to cease our questioning and curiosity in spite of our own well-being.

The realism of the game is primarily done in order to suck us into this world - by subjecting to both the exciting and mundane in a manner which mirrors life, it makes the exciting experiences all the more dynamic. It actually does feel like living life at times, but the fact that said life is far more exciting than average life only enhances that mechanic of the experience. From an emotional standpoint, the realism puts into perspective our nature to proceed with the ultimate destruction of our protagonist. We see that Ryo can live a satisfying, complete life by just staying in town, talking to friends, working a job, and even goofing around with some hobbies like collecting toys and playing video games - but we destroy that out of A.) our inability to be satisfied with what we have B.) the sometimes blinding power of our emotions or curiosity.

Shenmue recreates the tragedy of getting good advice and not taking it... with kung-fu shits and giggles.

[Niode]

This is a song by Refused called Taanhauser/Derive from the album The Shape of Punk to Come.

The Shape of Punk to Come should be on everybody's 'to listen' list. Regardless of whether you dislike hardcore/punk music or not. This is an awesome album from start to finish and really should be experienced. A modern classic if you will.

Sorry for de-rail. That is all.

[nickfil]

This is a song by Refused called Taanhauser/Derive from the album The Shape of Punk to Come.

The Shape of Punk to Come should be on everybody's 'to listen' list. Regardless of whether you dislike hardcore/punk music or not. This is an awesome album from start to finish and really should be experienced. A modern classic if you will.

Sorry for de-rail. That is all.

yes.

[classicgamer5]

This can't have any replay value and I'm sure many people are going to buy it due to the hype and be disappointed.

It can play out multiple ways and has different endings like some RPGs (ex: Mass Effect). Every action you or choice you make affects the outcome. It should have alot of replay value then.

[nickfil]

This can't have any replay value and I'm sure many people are going to buy it due to the hype and be disappointed.

It can play out multiple ways and has different endings like some RPGs (ex: Mass Effect). Every action you or choice you make affects the outcome. It should have alot of replay value then.

yeah... I'm banking on at least 50% of the people who buy it only playing it through once at the most before a trade it in. Then probably another 30% playing it twice before trade in.

[classicgamer5]

This can't have any replay value and I'm sure many people are going to buy it due to the hype and be disappointed.

It can play out multiple ways and has different endings like some RPGs (ex: Mass Effect). Every action you or choice you make affects the outcome. It should have alot of replay value then.

yeah... I'm banking on at least 50% of the people who buy it only playing it through once at the most before a trade it in. Then probably another 30% playing it twice before trade in.

Probably true, but I will play through it a few times to get the different endings.