yeah write

Couldn't agree more. I was so disappointed with Dishonored, especially because the writer of one of my favorite books worked on it. Games, as you alluded to, are still working on that "show, don't tell" thing. Dishonored builds a really cool world, but delivers so much of its plot and background to you through straight info dumps, blasted right at your mute character's face. Those info dumps, plus the fact that my primary means of interaction (wrecking dudes with awesome magical powers) was discouraged if I wanted to be a "good" assassin, combined to really bum me out. I eventually ended up treating it as a puzzle game--ignoring all story and moral consequence in favor of using the cool powers in inventive ways. On topic, I agree that the recorded stuff works in military and scientific settings. Diary entries or hacked emails (like in Deus Ex) are also okay. Back in 2009 I was a newspaper reporter. I carried this little digital recorder at all times. It was useful for recording interviews (with consent) and making quick audio notes (usually in the car) whenever a story idea or source possibility popped in my head. I think because my occupation pushed me into that habit, I have a hard time swallowing the idea that every other Jim and Jane NOT reporting the news would do it. Especially important people--as in Infinite's case--recording some of their most important and well-guarded secrets.

I wrote a blog about this a few months ago. Here are a couple game mechanics/game tropes I'd like to see die: The Unlock Wave You’re traveling with an AI companion through a dangerous enemy-infested territory and you come across a locked door. Your companion has the skill/tech to unlock said door, but it’s going to take at least five minutes to open it. While you wait for the unlock, waves of enemies will pour from every dark corner and it’s up to you to stop them from blasting your companion. Amazingly, your companion will usually finish the laborious task of unlocking the door at the exact same moment the last enemy dies. Solution: Binary Domain and the Killzone game on Vita put a less obvious spin on this by making the door open before the enemies were all dead. When the door finally popped, your companions would yell for you to get in, as enemies continued to flood the screen. It felt more like a narrow escape--firing my machine gun through the slowly closing slit of the elevator doors in Binary Domain for example--rather than a contrived fight zone. Runner up to this one is the turret sequence (feels like shooters are just a string of tropes now right?). If there's a turret blocking your way, and you have to fight to clear it out. Chances are you'll have to man it to shoot the guys that come after you (bonus if your companion is unlocking a door while you do it), or you'll have to shoot it while someone drives the military vehicle the turret is attached to. Bleh. Dear Diary I don’t know about you, but if I was stuck on a derelict spaceship or caught in an undersea utopia gone wrong, the last thing I would do is write a diary or record an audio log. I’d be more concerned with getting the heck out of there. Same goes for writing a message in my own blood on the wall. I feel like, if you're suffering from a traumatic wound, you'd want to keep as much blood IN you as possible. Solution: I don't really have one. They were still novel with the original Bioshock, but by the time Infinite came around, I was less than enthused about their contrived inclusion. Especially since the quality of them was so varied--some were just there for neat lore-building, others were pretty essential to understanding character motivations. Like the OP's Search & Loot, it just feels weird scouring a world for little knick knacks and audio diaries when there are more urgent matters at hand.

People gave David Cage a lot of shit for talking about how the power of next-gen will let us do things we couldn't before, saying that we don't need super HD graphics for a good story, but I think that's only partly true. A lot of people in this thread have cited the excellent subtlety in the Last of Us. Yes, that game is expertly written, but it also does something video games have struggled with for years--it lets the images tell the story too. Whenever I go to SCBWI conferences, I hear that same lesson pounded into new children's book writers: leave room for the illustrations. It's the same in games. Remember when Metal Gear Solid came out? We all thought it was this huge achievement in cinematic gaming, and it sort of was. Few other games (at the time) had in-depth fully-voiced stories with long dramatic in-engine cutscenes. Back then, Kojima's ham-fisted writing wasn't as noticeable, because it carried the story. There was little room for subtlety in those blocky, non-emotive faces. Now, it's a little more annoying, because we have the graphic fidelity to imply meaning. And instead, Kojima spells out every centimeter of story. That's where many modern video games struggle. The Last of Us uses subtle looks, shoulder shrugs (body language!), lighting, and more to imply meaning. Doing all that takes a lot of work, but the pay off is huge. I think people mistakenly refer to that game as cinematic, but it's not, it's just closer to how real humans interact. We leave things unsaid, we imply meanings, we misuse words. While you can still get that subtlety from a Fallout 3 style talking head close-up, it's more difficult--takes more work on the part of the writer. Instead it's easier to just go, "screw it, let's just have this guy say, 'I'M ANGRY!' that will get the message across." I would love to see more games with subtle writing. Stories that leave a little more on the table are inherently more interesting (though you can go in the opposite direction and leave out too much, then call it "mysterious." It's a hard line to walk). I rounded up some good subtle examples just for funsies. These are from AAA games, which to me is more surprising, because with all the bombast associated with them, you'd think subtlety would be lost. Look how flustered the crew is in this clip. The writing, voice acting and character animation work together to sell the scene. There's another scene in that game where the pig guy and Monkey exchange looks about the girl, suggesting a potential romance. In the past a game script writer might have thrown lines in. This writer obviously trusted the animators and voice actors, and probably wrote in something like, "Pig guy motions with his head to girl, gives Monkey a wink. Monkey rolls his eyes in mock exasperation, but considers the idea. Could this relationship be more than what it seems?" Ubisoft consistently creates excellent cinematics packed with subtlety. is a joy to watch. Look at his body language, the way he talks, the way it seems like he obviously knows more than Edward without ever stating it explicitly. There's one scene I couldn't find that has Edward on a pier talking to James, who is on his ship. As the ship sails away, James walks forward on the ship to stay face to face with Edward. Eventually he runs out of ship and sails away, cutting off their conversation. That could have easily been a scene of two people just chatting on a pier, standing and waving their arms. I appreciate that they went above and beyond for it, just to illustrate once again, James Kidd has something up his sleeve, and is not at all flustered by Edward's destructive swagger. And finally, the opening cinematic to the upcoming The Last of Us DLC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsAvKMEIOTI Not much to add there--Naughty Dog has this stuff down. The trepidation on Ellie's face, the air of uneasiness you feel between these two, it's all communicated beautifully through the images, words, lighting and acting. Sorry for the mega post. I just really love when games go the extra mile. I feel like some people are so quick to write off AAA games, when there are obviously people working on those mega teams that really care about subtlety, and I'm glad they do.

Hey folks, I'm Austin. I'm a writer-illustrator from Charlotte. Sometimes Gamespot.com pays me to review video games, and most of the time it's as fun as it sounds. I just discovered Idle Thumbs about a month ago and I haven't stopped listening since. I'm a big fan of discussing games beyond "Is Halo better than Call of Duty!?" I write about games on my personal blog www.austindlight.com/blog two to three times a week. Sometimes I copy posts over to the GiantBomb forums, but it's always a gamble whether I'll see real discussion, or system warring trolls. I'm hoping I can see more lively discussion here. Also, Idle Thumbs seems to be the only gaming related site that isn't blocked by my employer! Hooray!