It turns out that it isn't the characters that generate the biggest emotional response, but rather the interactions with the environment-- the puzzles. Majewski speculates that "When interacting with objects, the player is acting on his own so the feeling of responsibility is much greater." For this game, at least, it would seem that the story doesn't drive immersion as much as the gameplay, which is a pretty interesting hypothesis. We'd like to see the same kind of experiment done for a Final Fantasy game.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-25-2007 @ 6:33PM
Nushio said...
I played through HD, and found the characters really involving. Its much like reading a book or novel.
The added puzzles are very interesting, and since the game is made by the same team that brought us Trace Memory, I expected no less.
Reply
7-25-2007 @ 11:36PM
Obiter said...
"An interesting hypothesis"???
Come on. How many times in the last 10 years have you seen someone post to a board "its all about the gameplay"???
Any designer worth their salt knows that no amount of graphics, story, or other fatuous rococo accouterment is anything other than window dressing when compared to gameplay.
Reply
7-26-2007 @ 12:23AM
Steve Paradis said...
Chapter One? Of course it's the gameplay--you're trying to psych out the system of the game and the mechanics of interaction with the environment. You also don't meet (rather than encounter) many people. It's in the following chapters that you are drawn into the individual stories of the characters and the plotting of the mystery. I found the characterizations to be as well done as any PC adventure game and superior to nearly all I've played. It's your approach to each character that gets you through the game, not merely guessing some numbers to unlock a keypad.
Reply
7-26-2007 @ 8:00AM
Shannon said...
Not only do I think the hypothesis isn't terribly interesting (as previous commenters have said, is this news?) but I think this so-called "study" is bogus--based on one person (his girlfriend) playing through one chapter? I'm sorry but that cannot even be considered a legitimate qualitative study.
Reply
7-26-2007 @ 8:45AM
Kade Storm said...
Okay, I am going to laugh my entrails out over the fact that you guys are actually assigning terms to like hypothesis to a so-called study that involved a net sample of-wait for it--ONE INDIVIDUAL; the guy's spouse!
I too would like to disagree with this hypothesis, and would gladly emulate the same experiment with my friend and predict a contrary outcome in my introduction. "Wii iz deh prfessnal researcherz!"
Reply
7-26-2007 @ 11:21AM
ssuk said...
Nushio: yes, CiNG are awesome. Did prefer the EUR ver of 'Trace Memory', as Another Code was a straight translation of the Japanese game without the localisation... Which was bloody awful in Trace Memory. (I own both Jap and Eur vers of Another Code, but have played Trace Memory through once)
Reply
7-26-2007 @ 6:18PM
OhJustSomeRandomGuy said...
I think the reason they only mapped one chapter is because after that, the game asked her to recall everything she'd just done, and then she shut it off and never touched it again.
In addition, how is he "mapping" her emotions? I mean, obviously there's going to be a change of emotion when you make the transition from, "Why is the dialogue for this game so horrid?" to "this is one of the dumbest 'puzzle' I've ever had to 'solve'".
Game bashing aside, this is entirely worthless as a "study". This is better as a thought exercise. If you're going to spend time on videotaping something like this, there should be the potential for hilarious results, like those guys who filmed themselves playing Forza and getting progressively more drunk.
Reply