190
rate

Spawn Kill Editorial: I WILL Play Heavy Rain More Than Once

September 02, 2009 in Blog comments 16

Heavy Rain creator David Cage has commanded gamers to only play his game once. In this editorial, Spawn Kill writer CuatroChihuahuas argues why he's wrong.

The same holds true for games as well. Even with a game that is very realistic, it is still a game, and part of the reason we play games is to have different experiences. The fact that Heavy Rain gives us this opportunity is all the more reason to play through more than once. After all, isn’t that the true allure of the (as yet) unrealized interactive movie, or the “choose-your-own-ending” books? The fact that you can watch it or read it several times and never have the same experience twice is what makes them so entertaining.
rrquinta via spawnkill.com »
Favourite this article Add source
| More
Report!
News story attached to:

Comments

Register as a member to subscribe comments.
  • 0
    Daweii Sep 2, 09
    Thing is he didn't actually say that. He said playing it more than once will kill the virgin magic of the story. This is actually him stating the obvious to a gaming generation that can be very dimwitted. Yes this game can be played more than once but regardless of all the twists promised the end will reveal the identity of the "Origami Killer" and that will ruin the magic (on further playthroughs). You can still play it again just like you can enjoy the same detective thriller book or movie over and over, but it never feels the same as when you read/saw it the first time guessing who the killer is. Understand?
    • 2
      Darknet Sep 2, 09
      You won't feel the same experience the multiple times before. That applies to everything: movies, books, video games. He has to deal with it.
    • 0
      rrquinta Sep 2, 09
      But who's to say that the Oragami killer's identity doesn't change every time you play, depending on the choices you make or the mistakes that happen along the way? If you get the same ending every play through, then in my opinion, the team has failed in doing what they claim to be doing, as your decisions don't really affect the outcome.
      • 0
        Daweii Sep 2, 09
        Yes it does as the killer will be unveiled at somepoint in the story regardless. The ending can change, as what the killer does to your character can change based on your choices. Their aim was to create a twisting and intwining storyarc that will change as you move through but is still a strict narative that takes you from A to B like a book or movie. It's a complex thing to do as each outcome from scene to scene has to be written for and contemplated so that if we do it we change the story arc. This game is a massive project and obviously there is a start and end but how you get there is really up to you and maybe, just maybe your choices will effect how your story arc ends. This story is what you make it..
        • 0
          rrquinta Sep 2, 09
          But the whole point, supposedly, of the game is to explore the idea of non-linearity, that you don't have to go from A to B to make story. Everyone starts at A, but some may end up at C, F, X, or whatever. I'm also certainly not intending to underplay the massive amount of work involved to create something of this magnitude. In fact, I argue that playing through only once in some ways downplays that intense effort. It's like going to the Louvre and only looking at the Mona Lisa. It's a great piece of art, but you're missing out on a lot. Yes, the story is what you make it, and that is the biggest selling point of the game thus far. But why can't you "make" a different story through multiple playthroughs?
        • 0
          Daweii Sep 3, 09
          Generally making multiple story paths for multiple playthroughs waters down the quality of each. I mean All in all this is one epic and grand story on the same scale as a good Oscar winning movie or a good book. When you start writing enough content to allow for say 6 good Oscar winning movies or 6 good books they will start to lag and lack quality. I mean this one story is long enough encompasing like 2,000 pages or something insane like that. This is a story that allows the user lots of chance to change and even on other playthroughs they won't get the same scenes twice, but it would be very difficult to do what you are saying... The gamer may end up at C, F or X like you said that is possible through the way the game is made, but key unveilings will still happen as this is still a conventional story it just may happen different depending on the choice you made 3, 6 hell even 32 hours in the past depending on how long this game really is.
  • 3
    Darknet Sep 2, 09
    I will play it more than once. Asking a gamer to spend $60 on a game, which can have different paths and multiple endings, and play it once? You don't know gamers.
  • 0
    Seeker X Sep 2, 09
    You know, reading David's comment again, he MIGHT have been talking about not reloading saves so to avoid bad consequences. The bad wording might have been attributed due to him being French and probably said the wrong words.
    • 0
      Darknet Sep 2, 09
      LOL, I was thinking that may be the case as well. Hell, it wouldn't surprise me to another blog entry with David tell people what he really meant.
    • 0
      Miss Razz Sep 3, 09
      It sounded like he didn't mind people reloading saves to avoid bad concequences, but didn't want gamers replaying the (entire?) game all over again. That's how I interpreted it anyway. Unless he just had a really crappy translator. XP

      quote
      "I’m fine with [people reloading saves to avoid bad endings], but the right way to enjoy Heavy Rain is really to make one thing because it’s going to be your story."
      • 0
        Seeker X Sep 3, 09
        That's how EVERYONE understood it. Of course he could mean exactly what he said; which is why I said "Might".
  • 0
    Taker4ever Sep 2, 09
    Like Darknet said, this applies to every story-telling medium. You can't beat that first playthrough.

    Heck, I only played through MGS3 once, and I still consider that one of the best games of the last generation. The story and action were fantastic, but the terrible control scheme put me off another full playthrough.
    • 0
      rrquinta Sep 2, 09
      While that is a valid point, a good story should be, in many ways, even better the second or third time you read it. In fact, in traditional writing, that is often deemed the sign of a truly good piece of literature (or film). And that is for something static. My argument here is that they are claiming to create something truly dynamic, in which the story is not fixed, thus opening the possibilities of multiple stories via various playthroughs in the same way that reading through Hopscotch in various ways will give you a different book each time. Because this game seems to be very narrative focused, I'm speaking strictly about the narrative and not gameplay. I completely agree with you, Taker4ever, that some games ruin your desire to replay them due to poor gameplay, even if the story was great.
      • 0
        Daweii Sep 3, 09
        Thats the thing this game does have quite a few story arcs. You have the story for Madison Paige, Scott Shelby, Norman Jayden and Ethan Marr which are all different but they all flow and are part of a bigger story arc following the unplayable Origami Killer. This allows many opportunities to change something as we do not know how this game story will play out. That NPC you let die in a robbery could have been the one to save your life at the end of the game. We aren't to know so that choice could ultimately seal your fate.

        The same goes for the characters, you could play as Madison Paige and her story arc due to a decision where you have an argument in a car and she is forced to walk home, on the way she gets raped or something and spirals into depression and this will then change the story arc to something more sinister. Her story could then end with her commiting suicide which will impact the rest of the story because, I guess at some point all these characters are going to meet through their search for this killer.

        This is what I have been trying to say maybe not very well, but yes there is a start and yes the finish is finding the Origami Killer but getting there goes through twists and turns and those turns change the story's end. It's complex but this game isn't taking story lightly and thats why it's hard for me to explain it.
        • 0
          rrquinta Sep 3, 09
          All the more reason to play through more than once, if you enjoyed it the first time through. I've never suggested it is taking the story lightly, and I'm looking forward to it, especially if achieves with narrative what it is aiming for.
  • 0
    Existence Sep 3, 09
    What a rebel.

This news story is archived and is closed to comments now.