Rogue Keeper on 13/6/2006 at 08:41
Recently I played Cradle for the second time and found myself "fascinated" by level of detail which Null has put into it. He said in a PC Gamer interview (I linked this before, but just in case: (
http://gillen.cream.org/thecradle.pdf) ) he did some honest research on mental ilnesses and their medical treatments in the past and it's really apparent from the notes you read in the level and overall concept of the Cradle Asylum. Good job, Null.
However.
What got my special attention were models of the patients, specifically their movements. I bet it was Null who got the idea to animate them like broken puppets, even though I'm not sure whether he did the models and coded their movements himself. Their movements are jerky, their heads and hands are shaking. So after I played the Cradle last time, I did some small research myself and it seems to me their movements are suggesting Catatonic Schizophrenia. That's really just my laical guess, but the catatonic form of Schizophrenia is characteristic by abnormal body movements and stupor, which is a consequence of patient's audial hallucinations telling him to do these things (standing/sitting in odd positions for prolonged periods and so)
However.
My second laical guess is that these movements have more neurological origin and they might be a consequence of radical therapical procedures (they used electroshock therapy and the "experimental warmth therapy").
Or it might be a consequence of frontal lobotomy. The doctors mention that they are learning by screwing up lobotomies, so if they "accidentally" damage parts of the brain which are controlling motoric functions, this might be a result.
It seems to me unlikely their movements would be caused by exactly the same diagnosis. There are about 4 basic (catatonic, disorganized, paranoid, residual) types of schizophrenia, but their symptoms vary from case to case and there are also undifferentiated cases. Schizophrenics of all types create about 1 percent of population. If we accept the fact that Cradle has concentrated the biggest lunatics of the Thief world, I think it would be statistically impossible for all 9 patients (only the worst psychosis cases anyway) to have exactly the same diagnosis with exactly the same symptoms of disrupted movement. Patients who can't control their movements (the less streams of their thoughts) can hardly organize and perform an efficient uprising.
It is obvious to me that Null has mixed various unrelated symptoms of different psychoses to create the most scary impression possible. It's well working indeed, but I think if an experienced psychiatrist played the Cradle, he would eventually find several misconceptions.
However.
There always could be some supernatural explanation. The patients we see in the Cradle are basically corpses reanimated by Cradle's will. Is it possible that the Cradle itself animates them so...
Case solved?
I'd like to hear your opinions on this. If there is somebody who has deeper insight into various types of mental ilnesses, the better.
OrbWeaver on 13/6/2006 at 08:48
I always assumed that the shaking was a reference to the electroshock therapy they received during their "treatment", rather than a reflection of the nature of their illness itself.
~s:a:n:i:t:y~ on 13/6/2006 at 08:59
IMO they move like zombies and that does it. In my imagination, all reanimated zombies would move like that rather than those at Abysmal Gale, so it never was actually a question of a disease type to me...
ercles on 13/6/2006 at 09:54
To be frankly honest I just thought my game was bugging out a bit and screwing up the animation. But if I had to speculate I would say that the animations were chosen almost purely because they are unnatural and pretty creepy which is sort of feel that they were trying to get from the patients.
Rogue Keeper on 13/6/2006 at 10:33
Quote Posted by ercles
To be frankly honest I just thought my game was bugging out a bit and screwing up the animation.
LOL, I think some gamers tend to be a bit paranoid about bugs... ;)
DarkElf_Mairead on 13/6/2006 at 10:42
It would be any one of those, depending on the patient maybe. I always wondered, what's the deal with the cages on their heads and hands? I figured it's to stop them from hurting others or themselves but it seems a little radical, especially the head ones.
Rogue Keeper on 13/6/2006 at 10:49
Right... I like OrbWeaver's suggestion about electroshock therapy though. Maybe the Cradle has remembered their suffering on the electric chair and decided to animate their bodies this way.
Though it would be interesting to elaborate on each patient's history and diagnosis deeper. Good idea for a fan fiction?
ercles on 13/6/2006 at 10:55
Watch out you guys don't read too deeply into a small part of the game. The extrapolated fiction in that article supplied at the start is even a bit far fetched i reckon
Rogue Keeper on 13/6/2006 at 11:05
But fans actually like to think deeply about their favourite games, movies, paintings, music... That's ART. ;)
Gestalt on 13/6/2006 at 12:38
I'd assumed it was a result of the electroshock treatments as well.
I finished The Cradle with something like one percent more than the minimum amount of loot required. I knew where a bunch of the remaining stuff was, but there was no way I was going to go back for it.
