Thoughts on the topic I want to talk about today have been on my mind for a long time. Probably since the days of Bioshock Infinite and The Last of Us (more about them later in the text). Then I noticed that a new trend was starting to appear in the industry – “fatherhood.”. Strong, independent, closer to 40, a man who takes care of another character, usually the protagonist’s partner, who cannot take care of himself. Previously, of course, there were also characters who had to be looked after, but our attachment to them was not always explained by the fact that they were our “surrogate daughters”. Yorda from Ico was just a girl we wanted to help because some strange people from a local cult were following her. Ashley from Resident Evil 4 was the mission "Save the President’s Daughter". Our motivation was to help, because they are weaker and more defenseless, and we, as the protagonist, are stronger.
Emotional attachment to your favorite characters is not a bad thing, as long as these characters are not forced upon us. Well, look, now she doesn’t get bored, and she can distract enemies, and supplies ammo, and they can’t kill her, look how good her partner is. And the game’s protagonist likes him.
Why Ashley was bad in Resident Evil 4? Well, you had to constantly keep an eye on her, cultists were constantly planning to drag her away, you had to hide her and hope that they wouldn’t find her while you cleared the way from the Spanish zombies. Yes, it may have been annoying, but it worked on the idea that, “We promised to return her home to her father, safe and sound.”. The gameplay clearly reflected this idea. She is a defenseless girl who needs our help. And we, as the protagonist, worked for this idea. Same with Yorda, “She’s defenseless, we want to protect her.”. Here is a stick for you, here are enemies who are trying to drag it away, put these two concepts together and act.
All this brings me, finally, to Bioshock Infinite and The Last of Us, which prompted me to this topic. I don’t like partners in these games. But not from the point of view of the plot or how they are written, but from the point of view of gameplay. Let’s look at both games.
Bioshock Infinite: We have our https://kingmakercasino.co.uk/withdrawal/ protagonist, Booker DeWitt, and our partner for the entire game (except for a couple of chapters), Elizabeth. We won’t take the entire plot of this game, because the devil himself will break his leg in it, but we’ll just take the specific idea that the game gives us – “Bring us a girl and the debt will be forgiven.”. Take the character from point A to point B without anything happening to him. The idea is clear to us as always, and now let’s see how it affects the gameplay. Elizabeth helps us get from point A to point B, throwing up first aid kits, ammo, turrets and shelters. Oh, and her enemies can’t harm her. Wat. But we must help her. Take you safe and sound to the treasured point B. So why do they help us, and not vice versa?.
And this is where the problem begins. From the point of view of the plot, we are given to understand that she is a weak girl, not yet accustomed to this evil world. But when the gameplay starts, you can’t believe it anymore. Here she sits calmly in cover, and the enemies don’t even pay attention to her. By this logic, she could have left her tower long ago and boarded the nearest airship to Paris. Yes, this approach eliminates the problem when your partner is constantly being attacked and you need to keep an eye on him and not run into a bullet yourself. A partner is always a double-edged sword. Either the enemies don’t react to him at all, or he needs a constant eye and eye. But I’m still more in favor of the second approach. Because with the first one, you lose some emotional connection with the character about whom you care so much throughout the game in cutscenes, but in the game itself you leave him alone on the battlefield, because nothing will happen to him.
Which approach would be more interesting?? Let the player take care of Elizabeth for the first half of the game, like Ashley in RE4. Saves her from enemies, makes sure she doesn’t die, and is always next to her. And in the second half of the game, when a turning point occurs in her life and she kills a man, cuts off her hair and changes her outfit, she will become a full-fledged partner who can take care of herself (killing enemies with the help of her supernatural powers) and throw a couple of bullets at the protagonist. This will look very harmonious and natural both in terms of plot and gameplay. Consistent and logical character development.
The Last of Us: Phew, in general… um… I don’t consider this the game of the year. She’s good, but nothing more. I paid for it and its expansion pack, completed both on Hard difficulty and didn’t get much of a "wow" effect. And here’s one of the reasons why – Joel and Ellie’s relationship. I have the same problem here, the cutscenes say that Joel becomes attached to Ellie and always tries to protect her. The gameplay shows that Ellie is a strong, independent girl who can take care of herself. Hell, she even carries an entire grown man, whom she still manages to get back to his feet, during the harsh winter while hunting rabbits in the forest with a bow. Wat. Like Bioshock Infinite, it’s the same problem. The plot contradicts the gameplay. Enemies look at Ellie as a beautiful chair, which you can only accidentally bump into. And so when we run to save Ellie at the end of the game, I can’t sympathize with Joel in his intentions. Not only because he’s a selfish asshole, but also because firstly: It was entirely Ellie’s decision, and she, as I said, is a strong independent girl who can take care of herself. And secondly: Because they simply won’t be able to find it in a room with a lot of chairs.
Well, combining The Last of Us and Bioshock Infinite with one theme, I can say that forced paternity in these games looks at least strange. Why in both cases these so-called “fathers” act like natural assholes? One thinks only about himself and does not think about others, the second sold his daughter like that. All these relationships between the characters look like something alien and instilled in us as a rationale for caring. Just like… in Bioshock 2. Where are we Big Daddy, who is genetically instilled with caring for Little Sister and who is simply physically hurt and unpleasant when she is far from us?. And the whole goal of the game is to get to the object of our concern by any means necessary, cutting out hundreds of “people” along the way. Bioshock Infinte seems to have taken the wrong idea from its predecessor. By the way, there is a rather interesting translated article on Bioshock 2 on GeekTimes.
What the future holds for us? As you can see from the logo for this article, God of War. In which the former killer of gods and bloody sociopath Kratos will be given the opportunity to raise his own son (whom he calls BOY in all the videos). I don’t see anything that could go wrong.
God of War was the only game from E3 that interested me the most. I want to see how the developers will play with the theme of how Kratos will raise his son. From all the videos so far it is clear that he has a certain detachment from him. This is understandable, the last marriage he had did not end so well (white skin color for life). He went through a lot during this time. I would like to see how his character has changed during this time and what he learned for himself. I hope that they won’t forget about his son and will give him his due role in the gameplay.
Partners in games are a very complex, but at the same time very interesting game mechanics. You can remember not only Ashley from Resident Evil 4, but also Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, where the developers solved the problem by giving us two characters to control at once. Having solved the problem with constant supervision of your partner (in other words, everything is in your hands, hehe) and with an emotional response from the player. Because of the control from one gamepad, they feel like something complete and inseparable. Therefore, the ending of the game, when one of the brothers dies, is taken very seriously by the player. He loses not just a character, but half of the whole team, which was inextricable throughout the game and one without the other is simply impossible to imagine. And in the last level you feel it very clearly. Something is missing, something important, as if a whole piece has been torn away from you. Beautifully conveyed sense of loss through gameplay.
And finally, I want to talk about the best companion in video games – the Companion Cube from Portal. It’s simple, compact, story-driven, does everything it’s told to do, and can be carried with you everywhere. Yes he might die. But if this happens, you will be given, without any serious consequences, exactly the same brand new cube. And you can’t blame him for failing the level, because only you are responsible for his actions. Well, maybe a physics engine that can set you up. All in all, an ideal partner.
