30th March 2005, 1:02 AM
Except that Link becomes a schizo and that expression is completely nullified when you choose the RIGHT option, where he does the exact same thing he would have done if you chose it from the start. The delay really doesn't do much except make Link look insane when he does a complete reversal for no reason.
ABF, I was thinking that nothing would appear on screen, you would just press like.. the direction pad and different expressions would show up on Link's face. They could have a general "mood" assigned to various buttons or something, I dunno. Really, I was just thinking out loud there. In the end, I really want to see cinema scenes done in game where it's possible at all. Sometimes it's not, but I think a lot of the time it is. For example, in Zelda, a visual cue that the button you just pressed did something while playing makes for more fun than a cinema scene.
Hmm, how to make it more clear? Well, I was thinking of how I would make an FPS game an hour ago, and I was thinking about how story information is normally revealed. It's generally done via cut scenes, but now it's also done with conversations done in real time, like during combat. In Metroid, they let you actively scan stuff to glean information. However, I was thinking that to go even further, you would actually reveal information to your eyes by your actions, and would have to actually be keeping an eye on the environment for changes. For example, I was thinking of running through a base set up in some ancient ruins. Let's say I wanted some information about the culture revealed in those ruins. Rather than use a cinema, dialog that happens in real time, or even a scan where the game pauses to present me with a block of text, I was actually thinking of this:
Imagine you are deep inside the ruins, having just emptied a room behind you, cleverly avoiding setting off alarms so you have some time before a squad is sent to investigate. You walk into a hallway, and suddenly you are attacked by two enemies. Nothing major, but something you have to deal with to get through the doorway on the other side. As you are fighting, maybe you are able to notice some worn images on the walls, like when you are hiding behind one for instance. No biggy, nothing all that detailed, you keep fighting. Anyway, as you fight a bunch of dust keeps getting knocked loose from the walls. When you have killed them all, if you had payed attention, you would notice the images seem clearer. The solution? Make a huge racket there to clear up all the dust. After all, you dropped your dusting rag a few rooms back :D. So, you do so and suddenly a massive detailed mural is revealed. Looking at it, you notice the tribes praying to the gods to end some drought, then it shows a massive resavoir of water, then it shows a temple built in the middle of it. Then it shows the temple spread out and outright covering it. Finally, it shows high priests rationing out the water to people. You start thinking about what puzzles may be ahead that could use this info, and you were glad you payed attention to the environment to uncover this. Anyway, problem is all those grenade explosions alerted someone in the next room of your presence, and while you were reading all that, they were running for backup. About the time most people will be done checking it out, they suddenly burst in and it's time to fight again. Anyway, more murals will be all over later in the level continuing the story, like, I dunno, telling how the priests unlocked the water, or why they rationed it, like that was the ONLY water they had, or like some rebellion resulting in a war which resulted in the water being destroyed (they blew up the ocean!) and that's how the whole place got where it was, and you have to pay attention as harder and harder to see clues revealing where this stuff is show up later on in the place. The last one will actually be like a trap if you stick around to check it out, but a nonlethal one, I dunno...
Anyway, that's my idea of how to reveal important info, interactively and through control of the camera and your stuff, rather than cycling through text or watching a cut scene. I'm not against them per say, but honestly I do have a preference for the more interactive method of moving a story along, so I tend to think about ways to get that done a lot...
Oh yes, back to the Link thing, if something absolutely must be done a certain way, then a cinema is the answer. However, if your character can't make any real choice and the "wrong" choice only leads to an infinite loop forcing you to make the "right" choice, with no changes whatsoever, then honestly I'd rather they just didn't even give you the illusion of a choice. Nintendo apparently agreed when designing Wind Waker, hence why where you would have expected from past experience to actually have to say "yes" yourself to the question "do you wish to save your sister", Link just nods his head on his own, since well, that's what the end of it would be anyway, and it's more seamless that way.
ABF, I was thinking that nothing would appear on screen, you would just press like.. the direction pad and different expressions would show up on Link's face. They could have a general "mood" assigned to various buttons or something, I dunno. Really, I was just thinking out loud there. In the end, I really want to see cinema scenes done in game where it's possible at all. Sometimes it's not, but I think a lot of the time it is. For example, in Zelda, a visual cue that the button you just pressed did something while playing makes for more fun than a cinema scene.
Hmm, how to make it more clear? Well, I was thinking of how I would make an FPS game an hour ago, and I was thinking about how story information is normally revealed. It's generally done via cut scenes, but now it's also done with conversations done in real time, like during combat. In Metroid, they let you actively scan stuff to glean information. However, I was thinking that to go even further, you would actually reveal information to your eyes by your actions, and would have to actually be keeping an eye on the environment for changes. For example, I was thinking of running through a base set up in some ancient ruins. Let's say I wanted some information about the culture revealed in those ruins. Rather than use a cinema, dialog that happens in real time, or even a scan where the game pauses to present me with a block of text, I was actually thinking of this:
Imagine you are deep inside the ruins, having just emptied a room behind you, cleverly avoiding setting off alarms so you have some time before a squad is sent to investigate. You walk into a hallway, and suddenly you are attacked by two enemies. Nothing major, but something you have to deal with to get through the doorway on the other side. As you are fighting, maybe you are able to notice some worn images on the walls, like when you are hiding behind one for instance. No biggy, nothing all that detailed, you keep fighting. Anyway, as you fight a bunch of dust keeps getting knocked loose from the walls. When you have killed them all, if you had payed attention, you would notice the images seem clearer. The solution? Make a huge racket there to clear up all the dust. After all, you dropped your dusting rag a few rooms back :D. So, you do so and suddenly a massive detailed mural is revealed. Looking at it, you notice the tribes praying to the gods to end some drought, then it shows a massive resavoir of water, then it shows a temple built in the middle of it. Then it shows the temple spread out and outright covering it. Finally, it shows high priests rationing out the water to people. You start thinking about what puzzles may be ahead that could use this info, and you were glad you payed attention to the environment to uncover this. Anyway, problem is all those grenade explosions alerted someone in the next room of your presence, and while you were reading all that, they were running for backup. About the time most people will be done checking it out, they suddenly burst in and it's time to fight again. Anyway, more murals will be all over later in the level continuing the story, like, I dunno, telling how the priests unlocked the water, or why they rationed it, like that was the ONLY water they had, or like some rebellion resulting in a war which resulted in the water being destroyed (they blew up the ocean!) and that's how the whole place got where it was, and you have to pay attention as harder and harder to see clues revealing where this stuff is show up later on in the place. The last one will actually be like a trap if you stick around to check it out, but a nonlethal one, I dunno...
Anyway, that's my idea of how to reveal important info, interactively and through control of the camera and your stuff, rather than cycling through text or watching a cut scene. I'm not against them per say, but honestly I do have a preference for the more interactive method of moving a story along, so I tend to think about ways to get that done a lot...
Oh yes, back to the Link thing, if something absolutely must be done a certain way, then a cinema is the answer. However, if your character can't make any real choice and the "wrong" choice only leads to an infinite loop forcing you to make the "right" choice, with no changes whatsoever, then honestly I'd rather they just didn't even give you the illusion of a choice. Nintendo apparently agreed when designing Wind Waker, hence why where you would have expected from past experience to actually have to say "yes" yourself to the question "do you wish to save your sister", Link just nods his head on his own, since well, that's what the end of it would be anyway, and it's more seamless that way.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)