I'm specifically talking about nonviolent-options in video games that give you the choice between both. This specific nonviolent option is always, always lacking. Undertale is the exception in this trend, in that the mechanical weight, the "fun" part, is in the nonviolent option.
Counterpoint: Metal Gear, in which nonviolence is the optimal line of play outside of boss battles (and sometimes other climactic encounters). Or basically any stealth game that is actually a stealth game, rather than a half-assed action game with attached stealth mechanics. Undertale's execution is certainly effective and novel, and nothing I say here is meant to detract from its quality, but I think some of its attention is being generated from its indie status and endearing aesthetic. It's nowhere near Bastion levels of overexposed, but it's definitely not the only game to provide a meaningful distinction between violent and nonviolent options.
Even Dishonored had a crack at this, in fact. We're talking about Undertale because it executed on its premise effectively, though, rather than it being a unique example of being provided this option.
Most of this discussion is going over my head since i don't play stealth games, but i want to say that Undertale's nonviolence system resonated strongly with me because it forces you to *understand* the monsters, as characters, rather than merely avoid them.
In any case, violence is usually misunderstood by game designers and developers as much as anyone else. Few games include, for instance, simple psychological impact -- how often to opponents run once you've killed a few of their comrades? Actual combat in numbers relies upon the psychological impact of defeat, so more opponents can be defeated by flight or surrender. Additionally, very few games understand the distinction between winning combat and killing an opponent; in a clean martial execution of strategy and technique, one wins before an opponent is killed, as that is the moment when one can threaten their opponent without being under threat themselves.
This has always bugged me somewhat. i remember Skyrim had the former, kind of, but it nearly always seemed to result in the enemy turning around and attacking again once you dropped your guard.
In any case, violence is usually misunderstood by game designers and developers as much as anyone else. Few games include, for instance, simple psychological impact -- how often to opponents run once you've killed a few of their comrades? Actual combat in numbers relies upon the psychological impact of defeat, so more opponents can be defeated by flight or surrender. Additionally, very few games understand the distinction between winning combat and killing an opponent; in a clean martial execution of strategy and technique, one wins before an opponent is killed, as that is the moment when one can threaten their opponent without being under threat themselves.
This has always bugged me somewhat. i remember Skyrim had the former, kind of, but it nearly always seemed to result in the enemy turning around and attacking again once you dropped your guard.
I know a lot of D&D-based games like Baldur's Gate and even Avernum would trigger Fear on the stragglers if you gave a good enough beatdown. But inevitably it'd just shake off after a turn or two. Which really sucks for Avernum given how often you were attacked by people who weren't really evil at all.
i've also wondered about games where enemies surrender when you kill their allies (in Skyrim this again was invariably a prelude to them sneak-attacking you)
or what about enemies rushing you in a blind fury because you killed their allies? wouldn't that make some sense?
kind of apples to oranges but the first Halo game (and maybe the 2nd?) had Grunts run away if you killed their commanding officer unless certain other conditions were met.
Mind you, this was Halo, so generally you killed them anyway.
Trails in the Sky had a boss fight where a high-ranking Duke attacks you with three guards and spends the whole fight buffing the crap out of them. The "correct" way to win is to leave the Duke unharmed because beating the hell out of him would be a bit rash even for Estelle (however well deserved), and he surrenders once alone.
This is not totally accurate because 1) I almost always wear the baseball cap and 2) so far I have only really played as a boy inkling, but it is still pretty neat.
Are you guys autists? Making a petition for acknowledge that Cave Story copied Undertale will won't work, your autists. Please, delete this petition. It'll won't work anyway. lol
I beat the last boss in Gurumin. Deeply unsatisfying.
First phase is a dodge-fest whose difficulty comes entirely from the bad camera. The lightning phase is almost impossible because the camera sits so low you have no way to gauge a bolt's depth on the already tiny platform.
Second phase is a 10-minute game of keep away with a dude that has regenerating armor, a fucking billion HP, and all but one of his attacks is trivial to dodge (the other one, of course, is homing laser spam that's pretty much impossible to dodge).
I'm definitely not going to be trying the harder difficulties. Nearly all the difficulty has been fighting the game itself instead of the game's actors. I'm not sitting through that shit when getting fucked over by the camera or Parin deciding to spend a second and a half flourishing the drill in the middle of a combo costs half my HP instead of 5-10.
Dammit Falcom, you're usually really good about this stuff. What happened? And whoever the bloody hell decided low, close-up camera angles were ever a good idea in a platformer with bottomless pits needs to be fired and never let back in to the industry.
I beat the last boss in Gurumin. Deeply unsatisfying.
First phase is a dodge-fest whose difficulty comes entirely from the bad camera. The lightning phase is almost impossible because the camera sits so low you have no way to gauge a bolt's depth on the already tiny platform.
Second phase is a 10-minute game of keep away with a dude that has regenerating armor, a fucking billion HP, and all but one of his attacks is trivial to dodge (the other one, of course, is homing laser spam that's pretty much impossible to dodge).
I'm definitely not going to be trying the harder difficulties. Nearly all the difficulty has been fighting the game itself instead of the game's actors. I'm not sitting through that shit when getting fucked over by the camera or Parin deciding to spend a second and a half flourishing the drill in the middle of a combo costs half my HP instead of 5-10.
Dammit Falcom, you're usually really good about this stuff. What happened? And whoever the bloody hell decided low, close-up camera angles were ever a good idea in a platformer with bottomless pits needs to be fired and never let back in to the industry.
I think I found the most of the game to be OK but the bonus boss to be the true super-awesome highlight of the game.
I want to play an atmospheric first person game (it need not be an FPS but it could be), preferably one old enough that I wouldn't feel bad torrenting it.
I want to play an atmospheric first person game (it need not be an FPS but it could be), preferably one old enough that I wouldn't feel bad torrenting it.
Like I'm not even sure if I've found any puzzles yet, and I know I haven't solved anything.
I read a book that I think is about the area I'm in? And it had a bunch of pictures with constellations drawn above them, so I copied them down in a notebook.
Comments
This has always bugged me somewhat. i remember Skyrim had the former, kind of, but it nearly always seemed to result in the enemy turning around and attacking again once you dropped your guard.
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Like how the civil war was supposed to be much, much more fleshed out than it was
or what about enemies rushing you in a blind fury because you killed their allies? wouldn't that make some sense?
Actually, it does it a couple of times.
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
This is not totally accurate because 1) I almost always wear the baseball cap and 2) so far I have only really played as a boy inkling, but it is still pretty neat.
https://www.change.org/p/make-cave-story-acknowledge-that-it-copied-undertale/c
I never played Splatoon but consider this my design
It has left a bad taste in mouth which is a shame because the game needed a lot going for it in its (deliberately) slow opening
Dammit, I need to clear space on my phone for this and Pocket Mortys soon.
i wanted to get it but heard there were issues with it crashing or something.