Comments on Above 49: Instancing Emotion

Oh, absolutely. We agree. I'm just saying it...

2009-10-29T09:28:22.983-07:00

Oh, absolutely. We agree. I'm just saying it's possible.

@S Yeah, I appreciate that. And that has definitel...

2009-10-29T09:12:13.470-07:00

@S Yeah, I appreciate that. And that has definitely been the experience some people have had.

It still feels like a "don't look at the man behind the curtain" thing though. The story is GTA4 is cogent, as long as you play in a very certain way (a way that's more or less the exact opposite what most people want out of GTA4). But should the player deviate, the game will continue on, unaware.

The problem really stems from the player only have semi-agency over Niko's actions. During gameplay, Niko is whomever they want him to be. During the cutscenes, Niko is a very specific character that Rockstar has created. There isn't necessarily any harmony between those two characters. The more traditional RPGs you mention have player characters that start more or less tabula rasa, and the reason for that is it helps diminish that kind of disharmony.

I identify with the GTA problem. I loved the stor...

2009-10-27T10:31:29.479-07:00

I identify with the GTA problem. I loved the story, and I loved the gameplay, and I would be hard pressed to look a person in the eye and tell them that I didn't enjoy my experience playing through the game as a whole. But I difficulty reconciling Niko's character (which I loved) with the sociopathic free-roaming in which he so readily engages.

In mumbling defense of the Rockstar folks, I might argue that the actual plot missions of the game managed to stay more or less reflective of the intended narrative arc (troubled and volatile ex-criminal is roped back into a life of ruthless... you know... stuff). That being the case, it could be said that while it's possible for the player to start gunning people down, running over strangers, etc., these actions are not necessarily expected of said player. It then becomes an argument of role-playing. The player CHOOSES to inspire all this havoc (or conversely, to obey traffic laws). It's sort of like Sim City 2000. Am I SUPPOSED to invite hurricanes to devastate my shoreline? No. Might I anyway? Yeah. Maybe.

The counter-argument to that is plain, I realize. GTA IV is no KOTOR, Fable, Deus Ex, Mass Effect, etc. There seems to be no plot-driven ramification to dicking around. We're in agreement. It's a problem, and it nagged me while I played the game through. I'm just playing Devil's Advocate.