Briareos H on 27/3/2012 at 10:02
I said "does its best", and in that respect doesn't do it worse than the original Deus Ex which I'm replaying atm.
Thirith on 27/3/2012 at 10:06
IMO Human Revolution does best when it comes to characterisation, which is largely well done and surprisingly subtle. The overall plot is okay but no great shakes, and the storytelling isn't amazing - it's competent, but not more than that. Still, in terms of characterisation the game deserves to be praised on the whole.
catbarf on 28/3/2012 at 02:54
Quote Posted by Thirith
IMO
Human Revolution does best when it comes to characterisation, which is largely well done and surprisingly subtle. The overall plot is okay but no great shakes, and the storytelling isn't amazing - it's competent, but not more than that. Still, in terms of characterisation the game deserves to be praised on the whole.
Having just finished it, I'm kind of curious as to what you mean. Sarif and Jensen both seemed pretty bland to me, and most of the other characters were minor and didn't have enough screen time to really get to know them.
Thirith on 28/3/2012 at 05:26
Jensen I agree on, but I don't expect a choose-your-own-adventure to be a masterpiece of characterisation. (J.C. Denton wasn't either.) Sarif has lots of little details that make him more rounded: he's arrogant in some ways, giddy like a child about the tech he's developing in others, for instance. In most games he'd have one or two traits, but here he's actually fairly well developed, with different characteristics interacting depending on what choices you make when talking to him.
june gloom on 28/3/2012 at 08:08
One thing about DXHR is that a lot of the subtle characterization comes from the environments. Jensen's apartment (which itself is total Blade Runner material, which on top of everything else says a few extra things about Jensen if you understand the visual reference,) Sarif's office, that sort of thing; if Taggart doesn't really feel as rounded out as his opposite, Sarif, it's only because you never really see him in his natural environment.
I wish games these days had more of that level of detail.
Thirith on 28/3/2012 at 08:52
Good point, dethtoll. What struck me about Human Revolution was that the characterisation was *subtle* - more often than not, writing in games is in your face, and characterisation doubly so. (A flaw that is definitely not unique to games, by the way.)
CCCToad on 28/3/2012 at 10:29
Quote Posted by Briareos H
A shallower, shorter and more malleable story allows for a better narrative to be spinned around it. And in the end, because of the structure of the medium, we gamers will rather judge on the "how it's told" than the "what is told". The "story" BAFTA category should be renamed.
I actually agree. Calling it "storytelling", would convey a lot more. After all, how much does a "good" story count for if the person communicating that story completely fails to convey it well?
Papy on 28/3/2012 at 10:54
Quote Posted by Thirith
Sarif has lots of little details that make him more rounded: he's arrogant in some ways, giddy like a child about the tech he's developing in others, for instance. In most games he'd have one or two traits, but here he's actually fairly well developed, with different characteristics interacting depending on what choices you make when talking to him.
But why is he like that? And what are the consequences of his traits on the story? To me, no matter how many details you can find about them, all characters seemed arbitrary and pointless. I never felt they were a part of a big picture. I never felt there was any significant interactions between them.
I'd like to know... Did you felt any emotions for those detailed characters?
Thirith on 28/3/2012 at 11:01
Quote Posted by Papy
But why is he like that? And what are the consequences of his traits on the story? To me, no matter how many details you can find about them, all characters seemed arbitrary and pointless. I never felt they were a part of a big picture. I never felt there was any significant interactions between them.
I'd like to know... Did you felt any emotions for those detailed characters?
Nope, unless you count interest as an emotion. I was interested in the characters - and frankly, I'm glad that they didn't tie every single character trait into the plot. That, if anything, would have felt artificial. Characters such as Serif felt like they actually had an existence outside my interaction with them.
I didn't feel more of an emotional connection to any of the characters in the original
Deus Ex, truth to tell.
catbarf on 28/3/2012 at 14:28
A lot of it is voice acting, I think. Jensen just seems to growl all the time, and Sarif's voice acting was obnoxious. The character I ended up caring about most was Malik, because I went through her sidequest in Hengsha and that characterized her a little better.
