All the Virtual World's a Stage...

A while ago I read this article (WARNING! SPOILERS IN THE ARTICLE!!!). It's about a critics reasoning behind the score that she gave to The Last of Us. In the article, she discusses the topic of choice, and how it was taken away from her in that moment. Though, I think that she's wrong to complain about that.

Characters in video games are just that: characters. They have motives, thoughts, feelings, and actions that they perform based on their CHARACTER. The way that this reviewer tried to act in that last scene, contradicted the character of Joel. Joel is not a good person. He kills anyone, or anything that stands in his way. Kind of a Joseph Stalin approach to life. In that last scene, player has to fight through a battalion of soldiers before they can make it to Ellie. The game really doesn't make stealth or pacifism an option here, as there are just too many guards. After making your way through all of them, not stopping until every single one is dead, you finally end up in the OR where Ellie is sedated lying on the operating table. One of the surgeons grabs a scalpel in an act of defense to stop Joel from taking Ellie, the hope for all mankind. This reviewer tried to go around it, while I on the other hand, straight up shot the guy like Indiana Jones in The Raiders of The Lost Ark. After all of the things that Joel had done up until that point, do you think that he would just walk on by someone who was a threat, and who stood in his way?

I feel like to try and do something that is out of character in a video game kind of breaks the immersion of the game. I like to play in a different way than most others. I used to be in theater, and let me tell you, being on stage is the most euphoric experience that you ever will have. To me, video games with story and character are kind of similar to a play. The writers of the game put so much into the game to create this world and the characters that inhabit it. I feel it kind of insults the writers when players roll around and screw with the world during what is supposed to be a dramatic, or story moment.

That's just my thoughts on it. Perhaps I'm overreacting, but I feel like when one of the characters is trying to talk to the player, and the player is trying to see if they can glitch to an area where they're not supposed to be, it kind of  breaks the moment. How do you feel about this?

Games need to be quotable.

He doesn't like you.

I'm sorry

I don't like you either. You best watch yourself! I have the death sentence on twelve different systems!

I'll be careful.

You'll be dead!


Quotes are what movies memorable. Some quotes are so memorable that some interactions with our friends are just quotes from movies.I think that video games are getting to the point where they have the potential to be as quotable as movies.

There are quotes from video games that are pretty popular, but they're all one-liners and exist in a popular fashion that is congruent with internet memes. They aren't that clever, or as fun to quote. They're just kind of there, and they're kind of ridiculous. They're more punchlines than interactions between the characters.

All your base are belong to us.

I've got balls of steel.

Though, some games have fantastic dialogue. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, The Mass Effect Series, Borderlands 2, and Red Dead Redemption are games that are well written, have clever dialogue, amazing characters, and great interaction between said characters. Uncharted 2 is my favorite game to quote. It's because the characters interact in a way that is unlike any other game that I've seen come before it. The characters are so well voice acted and captured that they transcend the video game and become human. They may exist in crazy-impossible situations, but retain their human element that make them great characters. Uncharted 2 has great characters that play off each other, and the thing is, a couple of the characters are female. The thing with female characters, is that writers need to write them as humans, and not from their perspective of women, but that's a post for another time.

Mass Effect has some really well written dialogue, though it's all kind of hit or miss. There wasn't any particular line that I remember exactly. I remember the dialogue painting the picture of the characters and their history and cultures, but there wasn't any kind of exchange that I just, remember.

Have you ever gone to a movie and remembered some really awesome line, or scene that was just the dialogue or the clever quips that were said during some scene? In The Avengers movie there was a quick dialogue between Black Widow and Hawkeye,

"Just like Budapest!" said Black Widow as she squeezes off a few rounds from her pistol.

"You and I remember Budapest very differently" as Hawkeye lets loose another arrow into the face of a Chitari warrior.

There's a lot going on in this scene. Part of it is Joss Whedon and his ability to create characters that leave a lasting impression and bring with them their presence and color wherever they go. Another thing is that when watching movies we tend to think about the things that are said and the things that we see. Whereas with video games, we focus on the gameplay.

Video games are not famous for their writing and dialogue. Games are known for how they play. If a game plays well, it's good. Likewise, if a movie is well written it succeeds as the box office. That may not always be the case, but movies that are well written tend to get a good amount of recognition.

I feel that games need to be more quotable because it would make it more easy to talk about. Whenever I hear two gamers discussing video games, it's always critical. They analyze every aspect of the game, including the writing and characters. There's no real discussion, or geeking out, about the characters of the story. It's all about the game, how it plays, the enemy AI, the bossfights, the quality of this or that. If there is any discussion about what the player experienced, it's always an awkward, clunky, description of playstyle and stats. "I love Bioshock! That game is so great! I remember this one time when I was playing: I shocked a bad guy with the electric plasmid so I could stun him, Then I lined up my crosshairs and pulled off a sweet headshot." Why was he attacking the bad guy? Why was the bad guy attacking him? What's going on in Bioshock? Where does it take place? Who are the characters? What are their motivations? What's the point?

"I love Star Wars! It's a fantastic movie about an average kid who finds his destiny as a Jedi. Jedi are like space knights! Did I mention that this movie takes place in outer space? Well, it totally does, and it's awesome! There's this huge empire that's trying to take over the galaxy, but there's the rebels who are fighting back because the empire is really bad. The Jedi were wiped out by the empire, and they're trying to regain their foothold in the galaxy and restore peace because that's what they do. Luke is the main character, and joins up with the rebels to fight the empire and rescue the princess who's been captured by the empire and holds some major important information about the Death Star, a huge space station that's the size of a moon!"

There's so much more enthusiasm about movies, books, or even television shows than there are with video games. So, maybe it's not that video games need to be more quotable, so much as they need to be better written, and we as gamers just need to be more enthusiastic about the games we play rather than be so analytical. Video games are an art, and we can totally geek out about them if we want to. It's ok. Not everyone has to be a critic.