Susan O’Connor, who helped pen the stories in BioShock, Far Cry 2, and the latest Tomb Raider along with Rhianna Pratchett, isn't happy with the state of game storytelling. She doesn't condemn video game stories themselves, but rather the overall process through which those stories are written. She sees storytelling in games being as dominated by teams that care more about compiling code—and she's tired of it.
In an interview with The Gameological Society, O’Connor pointed out how the creative process for video games is different from other forms of media.
“For me, I always want to focus on the entertainment side of it,” O’ Connor said. “This is supposed to make people feel something. It’s supposed to be fun, or be scary. But when I look at conversations that creatives are having, like in television or film or theater or freaking mimes, everyone else, the conversations they’re having are totally different.
“If you were to say, ‘Books are a great way to go inside a character’s mind for pages and pages, and movies are a great place to see larger-than-life movie stars and phenomenal explosions that are 40-feet tall,’ games are a really kinetic medium. The story is what the player does.”
She has a point. Books and movies rely on well-developed plots because that’s all they have. Movies might add amazing special effects to distract you from a poor script, but games are interactive. Whether you’re taking out an enemy base, scavenging an abandoned cave, or opening inter-dimensional portals, you are busy doing something. Sometimes, there’s not enough time or priority to inject enough plot to tell you why you’re doing said thing.
O’Connor went on to admit that she was tired of writing stories for video games and wanted to move on to other areas of entertainment.
“I don’t want to put up with this s$*& anymore,” she said. “I’m grateful for the success I’ve had, but I’m never going to be able to do work that can come anywhere close to the kind of emotional impact that stories in other media have, at least not in the next five to 10 years. I love stories, and I just happened to fall into games. I’ve learned who I am as a writer, and I think my talents and skills are much better used in other places."
This combination of mods for Grand Theft Auto IV makes the game look more or less like last December's Far Cry 3, and this machinima shared by RyderPL completes, or at least continues, the illusion.
It's… well, let's say the motion capture in Far Cry 3 is a touch above what GTA IV's game engine is capable of. Still, it's interesting to see one game running in another game like this. Vaas looks so… shiny.
If you've been playing big-budget action video games over the last couple of years, you've probably noticed a few trends. The graphics have gotten better. The animations have become more lifelike. The explosions have gotten more explosive.
And more recently, amid all those improvements, has come a trend that's even more earth-shattering and important: Video games have discovered the bow and arrow.
Call it the "bowification" of video games. Far Cry 3. Crysis 3. Assassin's Creed III. Tomb Raider. In just the past six months, we've had four high profile games include a bow and arrow as a primary weapon. In an impressive bit of reverse evolution, it seems video games have finally discovered the bow and arrow, decades after they discovered the assault rifle.
All this goes along with pop culture's more general bow-obsession, with Katniss Everdeen using her archery chops to survive The Hunger Games and Brave's Merida besting each of her suitors in an archery contest, Robin Hood-style. Way to be current, video games!
A few notes: First of all, cossbows don't count. Sorry, Dishonored! I'm going to focus on four games that are pretty recent, as they represent the current height of video game bow-and-arrow design. So, I've left off games like Turok, Wii Sports Resort, and any of the Zelda games. I've also left off a few games where the bows don't really have a mechanical component to them—my bow and arrow in Guild Wars 2 operates pretty much like a gun; same thing with Diablo III or Torchlight II. I am including Skyrim, because that game is interesting and its iteration on the Elder Scrolls' bow and arrow design is cool. If there are other video game bows you think are worthy of recognition, I hope you'll mention them in the comments.
Here we go, ranked from last to first:
#5: Assassin's Creed III
How it works: Aim and fire with the Y/Triangle button.
How you cancel a shot: Press B/O.
How you aim: You select a target using the aiming feature, then Connor does the rest for you.
One hit? One kill with most humans, but not with animals.
Better than a gun? No, not in this case. The Assassin's Creed III bow is silent, which is good for taking out guards quietly, but in general it's inferior to the game's pistols, particularly the moment you've been spotted. Aiming and firing simply takes too long to be effective.
Upgrades: None to speak of.
Fakest thing you can do: The more I think about it, the more I think that Assassin's Creed III's bow might be the most realistic of all the video game bows on this list. Which unfortunately seems to have contributed to it being in last place.
Greatest moment: There's something to be said for hunting from the treetops in Assassin's Creed III, and the bow always felt at home in the woods.
John Rambo says: "Your worst nightmare."
Overall Opinion: The bow in Assassin's Creed III just doesn't feel very good to fire. The auto-aiming is strange and doesn't allow you to track a moving target, and as I've noted before, pressing "Y" (or triangle) to aim a weapon feels a bit like standing on your tiptoes to reach something in a high cupboard. There's a lack of satisfying impact, as well.
#4: Crysis 3
How it works: Zoom with the left trigger, pull the string back with the right. Release to fire.
How you cancel a shot: Click the right thumbstick.
How you aim: You don't actually aim along the arrow, but rather using crosshairs on your HUD combined with a green line indicating the arrow's trajectory.
One hit? One kill, provided you've got your draw-strength up for the bigger baddies.
Better than a gun? Without question. It's so much better than a gun, in fact, that it makes the guns totally pointless and throws off the balance of the game.
Upgrades: Your bow comes outfitted with all manner of special arrows, so they don't really qualify as "upgrades." But Prophet's bow can fire regular arrows, explosive arrows, thermite-tipped arrows that explode on a delay, and arrows that deliver a deadly electric shock.
Greatest moment: The sound design on the Crysis 3 bow makes up for its odd feel—the tension of the arrow combined with the thunk of impact makes it clear that this thing is really a deadly future-weapon in the guise of a bow and arrow.
Fakest thing you can do: At first I was going to say that having your arrows designed so that they'd show up on your heads-up display for gathering was unrealistic, but actually, that's exactly the sort of thing that some military weapons-designer would probably do.
John Rambo Says: "I could have killed 'em all, I could've killed you. In town you're the law, out here it's me. "
Overall Opinion: Prophet's bow in Crysis 3 is sort of a "bow in name only." Sure, it looks like a tricked-out compound bow. Yes, it fires arrows. But it's so powerful and futuristic that it's almost entirely removed from the more primal appeal of the weapon itself. Furthermore, because the bow can be fired while cloaked, it throws off the precarious balance struck by the first two Crysis games and makes Prophet overpowered.
#3: Skyrim
How it works: Aim with the right trigger, release to fire. Hit the left trigger to toggle slow-mo, if you have the ability. As a demonstration, check out this TOTALLY SICK VIDEO I just shot today. I was going to grab a screenshot to show how the bow works, but I happened to fire this arrow and... yesssss.
My first thought was "I can't believe no one saw that." Then I checked the corner and saw that I'd accidentally hit the record button and captured the whole thing using Fraps. Victory! So, I thought I'd share it here. (And okay, maybe it's not actually that hard to do—it does kind of look like the bird relocated so that my arrow would hit it. But I felt pretty proud, so. Anyway.)
How you cancel a shot: Press X, a welcome addition to the Elder Scrolls series, as in the past you'd have to fire into the ground and then pick up your arrow.
How you aim: Right along the arrow, with a zoom-in if you've purchased the required perk.
One hit? Rarely one kill, unless you're up against a weak enemy or you're firing from stealth.
Better than a gun? There are no guns in Skyrim, though video game marketers seem fond of suggesting that there are several other games that satisfy that particular fan desire…
Upgrades: The most important upgrade is the ability to slow down time while aiming, which is a boon for those who play this game with a controller, in particular. However, thanks to the game's crafting system, you can upgrade your bow in all manner of other deadly ways. My Daedric bow shoots lightning arrows, for example.
Greatest moment: Picking off an entire roomful of bandits without alerting a single one. The "bang!" sound of a successful sneak attack is never less that satisfying, and it's only heightened by the goofy way the ragdoll physics can take over once they go flying. It's also fun to peg a dragon in midair with an arrow, partly because it's such a difficult trick to pull off. Unless you're me, as evidenced by that amazing video I've already talked about too much.
Fakest thing you can do: You can upgrade your bow so that it fires lightning and traps souls! God, how unrealistic.
John Rambo says: "It's in the blood! It's natural! Peace? That's an accident!"
Overall Opinion: While Skyrim's combat is generally not on par with the other games on this list, I actually like the bow and arrow a lot. It never quite has the stopping power I'd like it to when I've got a troll charging at me head-on, but when sneaking, there are few weapons in the Skyrim universe as deadly and satisfying.
#2: Far Cry 3
How it works: You aim with the left trigger and pull the string back with the right trigger.
How you cancel a shot: There isn't a consistent way, unfortunately. You can switch arrow-types if you've got an additional arrow assigned to the D-pad, but that's an unsteady workaround at best. I have memories of being able to inconsistently cancel pulled arrows, but haven't been able to recreate that in my game. If there's a way, I'm not sure what it is. Meaning that I wind up shooting my arrows into the ground and grabbing them. You got so much right, Far Cry 3!
Update: Since enough of you guys pointed out that in theory it's totally easy to cancel a shot, I thought I'd give it an even more thorough test. Looks like this issue is only on PC, or even just my PC, and it's inconsistent. I'm able to get "R" on the keyboard to cancel the shot every time, but "X" on the controller is inconsistent at best. Often it won't work at all. So, good on you for the most part, Far Cry 3—the issue isn't with your design but appears to be with your PC controller setup. Your bow is still pretty cool, though.
How you aim: You can get either a red-dot sight or a more advanced hunter's sight, which accounts for drop-off. I never quite mastered the way aiming works, but I did always use the hunter's sight, even though it was more difficult to see what was going on.
One hit? One kill.
Better than a gun? Not really. The bow is arguably better for silent takedowns, but it's hard to top a powerful silenced assault rifle or sniper rifle, particularly if you've unlocked the later weapons in the game. That said, it's certainly cooler than a gun, and holds its own.
Upgrades: You could eventually either make fire-arrows or explosive arrows. The explosive arrows were oddly underpowered, and often it took more than one to blow up a vehicle or kill a guy.
Greatest moment: Hunting actual animals, actually. Some of the most enjoyable side-missions in Far Cry 3 were the advanced bow hunts, where you'd be tasked with taking down a deadly jungle beast using only the bow and regular arrows. Usually it involved finding a good vantage point and hitting shots from far enough away that the tiger/leopard in question wouldn't be able to find you. But these sequences effectively captured the thrill of creeping through the underbrush, bow in hand.
Fakest thing you can do: Make an explosive-tipped arrow out of a hand grenade while under duress in the wild. Look, I get that Jason Brody has become something of a badass while on this adventure, but.
John Rambo says: "You know what you are... what you're made of. War is in your blood. Don't fight it. You didn't kill for your country. You killed for yourself."
Overall opinion: The bow in Far Cry 3 is a cool, empowering weapon, and easily the game's defining mode of dealing destruction. While silenced sniper rifles can generally get the same job done from a longer range, the bow itself was my weapon of choice for the majority of the game, particularly when hunting.
#1: Tomb Raider
How it works: Aim with the left trigger, pull back the string with the right trigger.
How you cancel a shot: Let go of the left trigger. Okay, hold on. This is the only game on this list to adopt this method of canceling a shot, and it deserves mention, because it's great. Initially, I was uncomfortable canceling shots this way, but only because it felt so unfamiliar. As it turns out, this is a very natural, subtly brilliant way of doing things. It's a much more accurate amalgamation of what you'd actually do if you decided you didn't want to shoot an arrow. You'd release the string.
How you aim: Down the arrow using a crosshair.
One hit? One kill, as long as you're sneaking or can score a headshot. In combat, it depends.
Better than a gun? Absolutely. The bow is a silent killer, has a ton of non-combat uses, and is wicked powerful and accurate over long distances.
Upgrades: By the end of Tomb Raider, Lara's bow has become something of a swiss army knife. It can fire regular, flaming, and explosive arrows, sure. It can also fire a rope that can manipulate objects in the environment and even attach to cliff-sides and set up ziplines. Coupled with her automated rope-retractor, she can demolish large chunks of wood and access new areas. She also uses her arrows as a makeshift melee weapon, and to skin animals after hunting. After a couple of days on the island, Lara's bow is no longer the sad little wooden thing she pulled off the corpse at the start; it's a wicked-looking high-tech compound bow with a counterweight and nasty arrows.
Greatest moment: There's a sequence near the middle of the game where Lara enters a large wooded area at night. It's full of guards. The first time I played this bit, I was able to creep through the woods, silently picking off guard after guard until none were left standing. It was probably my favorite sequence in the entire game—Lara Croft as deadly predator, dealing death with a bow and arrow.
Fakest thing you can do: While I value the utility, I'm not at all convinced that a bow could fire a rope-arrow into a cliff face firmly enough to let me peg that rope and climb across a chasm.
John Rambo says: "When you're pushed, killing's as easy as breathing."
Overall Opinion: Turns out there's a reason that Lara's bow has been featured so prominently in Tomb Raider's promotional materials—the weapon feels inextricably tied to Lara in the new game, and between the two of them, they can overcome almost any obstacle. The bow has a marvelous feeling of physicality to it, including how Lara can only pull the string back for so long before her aim starts to shake. The decision to give players the ability to hit "up" and flick Lara's lighter, igniting the arrow, was inspired. I found it telling that in the game, I used Lara's bow whenever possible, even when it wasn't the most powerful option, unless I was getting rushed by enemies on either side. Even then, whipping out a machine gun or shotgun just felt wrong somehow.
So, Tomb Raider wins it by a neck. Far Cry 3 put up a good fight, but while that game does have some very fun bow-hunting, the bow itself doesn't match Lara Croft's weapon in all its upgraded glory. My Skyrim bow is all well and good, but falls short in heated combat. Crysis 3's bow is barely a bow at all, really—more of an overpowered killing device—that may be to some players' taste, but it isn't to mine. And Assassin's Creed III's bow, like so many other things about that game, is better in concept than in execution.
Congrats, Lara. Take a bow. You are currently the video game archer to beat. At least until it turns out there's an awesome bow and arrow in BioShock Infinite or The Last of Us. Which, given the industry's current bow-happy state, wouldn't surprise me in the least.
How would this joke go? It's like Far Cry 3 but with magic? It's like Skyrim but with Skyrim? It's like Skyrim with guns, but without guns? Lord, I don't even know.
Regardless, check out this "Tropical Skyrim" mod by Soolie—which, like the name suggests, rehauls the climate in Skyrim into a tropical paradise. Actually, with this, you can have jungle, deserts, beaches, bamboo forests, volcanic areas—and each of these comes with new animals and new weather. New monsters too!
Specific details:
New Areas:
The tundra area has been converted into a desert with small amounts of vegitation. I have Also added sandstorms to this area.
The costal areas have been given new life, they now feature warm sands and shady palms.
The pine forest has been changed into a dense jungle. Featuring giant palms + many more types of foliage.
The snowy areas of skyrim have been changed quite a lot. After much thought I decided to change them into a grassy environment with a few aspen trees which ended up looking like the area in Oblivion around Skingrad. I have changed the snow shader which puts snow on the top of objects into a grass/moss shader, which puts grass/moss on them.
The aspen forest has been converted into a dense bamboo forest.
The Reach has also been converted into a jungle, however it has darker textures and slighly less dense trees.
The marsh area is still a marsh, only now it has brown muddy water, cattails, and jungle foliage.
I have retextured the glaciers to turn them into huge cliffs.
The volcanic tundra has been transformed into a firey wasteland with darker rocks, very small patches of lava oozing from the ground and small fires dotting the landscape
Weather/Lighting/Environment changes:
Each of the new areas has also been given new sets of weather and lighting setups (imagespace modifiers). These new lighting/weather setups give the game a real hot and humid feel. The new setups also feature stronger (and better) bloom than vanilla skyrim. Personaly i think this suits the climate however, alot of people dislike it, so i have included an optional less bloom version for those who want it.
Animals/Monsters:
The creatures that live in skyrim aren't really what you would expect to see in a tropical climate. So i have replaced them. :)
You will now meet the following creatures in your travels:
Ubisoft have revealed their plans for upcoming Far Cry 3 updates. Changes will include a new difficulty mode, extended custom map features and, most interestingly, the option to reset all of the game's Outposts. Available after completing the game and capturing all Outposts, the reset option will let the pirates move back in, causing each one to become hostile again. It's not quite as elegant a solution as the PCG podcast's Eternal Twist DLC idea, but is still a welcome extension to Far Cry 3's best bit.
Also incoming is the harder Master difficulty setting. According to the game's community manager, "Seasoned veterans will find themselves challenged by more aggressive wildlife, tougher pirates, and more deadly privateers. Your skills as a master of the Rook Islands will be tested."
Finally, changes are incoming to multiplayer, too. Specifically to how you find custom maps. A new rating system will let you give feedback to user-rated battlegrounds, including an overall rating as well as specific ways in which you think a map could be improved. Map authors will also be able to beta test maps, allowing them to spectate while testers fight it out.
About a month ago, I started playing Far Cry 3 with this excellent mod compilation, which re-imagined the game as a sort of "New Game Plus" sort of deal. One of the best features was that after taking an outpost, I'd have the opportunity to leave it for the pirates, which keep the map "hostile," and therefore a lot more interesting.
It seems that the folks at Ubisoft are paying attention to what modders have been up to, as the latest official update to the game adds the ability to reset outposts. From the update notes:
A big part of Far Cry 3's single player experience is taking over the outposts manned by Vaas's pirates and Hoyt's privateers. These outposts, when taken, offer a safe place to resupply as well as a base of operations when exploring new parts of the Rook Islands.
Taking over an outpost as a player also presents a fun challenge; everything from how to approach the outpost to what weapons and tactics to use. Hence, a lot of community members have requested to be able to ‘reset' the outposts, so that they can be taken-over again.
Here is how it works:
• After conquering all the outposts and completing the game, the player can reset the outposts by selecting "Reset Outposts" in the gameplay options menu.
• Doing this will reset and make all Outposts hostile again. All incomplete side missions and quests will become hidden. In order to finish the incomplete side missions, you will have to retake the outposts again.
Very cool. It's a bit different from how it works in the mod, in that you have to take all the outposts before resetting them, but that's actually kind of cool, in that it gives you a tangible goal to shoot for. Combined with the new "Master" difficulty, the reset outposts should make taking the Rook Islands twice no small feat.
Of course, a new update for the game means that I'll have to re-download my no-minimap mod yet again, but hey, I'll live. It'd be nice to see more developers following Ubisoft's example here, taking their cues from modders and implementing free improvements months after a game has been released.
I am in tears. I'm shedding actual tears here. Actual tears of laughter. Bear in mind that I'm Scottish and this is how I speak when I go home and I don't have to worry about people understanding what I say. Underneath this genuinely incisive review is some of the best Scottish patter I've heard in years. I'm pissing myself just thinking about it. You have to watch this but, be warned, it's not exactly… PC.
Translators note: ‘shite tickets' = toilet paper (yes, this is NSFW)
Amazing. Make sure you stay tuned until the end, for Scottish rewrites of some major songs from gaming history. My favourite is the Sonic rewrite that includes the lyrics "Sonic the Hedgehog, he's a fucking hedgehog".
(It's also a pretty good review.)
Luke's Note: If you're having trouble understanding the thick accent, turn YouTube's automatic subtitles on. You still won't be able to understand it, as they don't get anywhere near it, but at least you'll be laughing at something.
Mark Serrels is the EIC for Kotaku Australia. You can follow him on Twitter!
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: calling all Tapirs, please be on guard. Ubi have revised their yearly profit estimates up to somewhere between 90 and 100 million Euros after better-than-expected sales late last year, and are going to need a much bigger wallet.
Gamasutra report that Assassin's Creed 3 shifted 12 million copies in the meatspace and online which is 70% more than AssCreed: Revelations managed. Far Cry 3 sold 4.5 million. A "much higher-than-expected performance," which means "fans certainly won't have to wait four more years for the next Far Cry."
The next Assassin's Creed was also briefly mentioned. It'll apparently take place in a fresh setting and star a new hero. So much for Connor, then. Requiescat in pace, brusque angry hatchet-dude. I will remember you always, apart from your face and everything you said and did.
That's all the info for now, but there's still time to honour Haiku Friday with a brief but moving summation of all our hopes and dreams for Far Cry 4.
Jason Brody-bot, Turns dinosaurs into bags, Stabby stabby stab.
Sure, Jason Brody is also featured here—he's the protagonist of Far Cry 3—but who cares? He's riding in the back anyway.
This bizarre video by insanegaz proves that the main characters from Far Cry 3 can be just as cool outside an island paradise as they are inside of it. Well, not Jason. He just kind of falls over at some point and them mysteriously, another one appears to take his place. Creepy.
Go away, Jason. I want to play a game as Vaas. Open world game like Grand Theft Auto or, yes, Far Cry 3 would do. Blissful soundtrack optional.
The Creator's Project series of videos continues, this time touching on the world of Far Cry 3. Specifically, they explore how a we've got the story—Jason Brody has to save his friends—and we've got the island's allure and beauty calling out like a siren. Both are intended; the video goes into why.
The effect is that the player doesn't have much guiding them toward the story—why should you care about people you don't really know? And in this way, Jason's inevitable decision to go out and enjoy the island is not only intended, but accounted for. No weirdness around what the story dictates versus what a player actually does.
Unless, of course, you played like I did, ignoring the island and sticking to the story. In which case this all kind of falls apart.
If you've been playing big-budget action video games over the last couple of years, you've probably noticed a few trends. The graphics have gotten better. The animations have become more lifelike. The explosions have gotten more explosive.
