Week 10 - Characters

CHARACTERS!

I love characters. When I read a book, watch TV series or play a game that has a storyline, one of the most important things that keeps me going is a favourite character within the story. I like loveable characters whom I cam empathize with, with likeable character traits. For instance, while it's possible to empathize with Tidus from Final Fantasy X, he whines way too much and is difficult to like. I have to enjoy “being with” the character. This means that, in games, I prefer characters in third-person so that I can see the overall situation around them, watch their expressions and their reactions to different situations, instead of in first-person where I become the character myself.

If there is no loveable character in the story, then I may lose interest. I am currently watching a TV series where there is an amazing character at the start, but then his screen time becomes less and less, and I ended up getting a little… bored with the series! However he has returned and has become more epic than ever.

Normally, if there are more than one protagonists, I would prefer the weaker character, especially if they have suffered some sort of misfortune in the past. As I mentioned above, I like to sympathise with my characters and watch them behave and deal with the world they are in, watch them grow and develop, and see where they end up at the very end. So in storylines, it is those type of characters that feel more human and realistic than the annoying good-at-everything perfect character.

Week 8 - storyline in games

Normally I play games for the storyline, but if I want to experience something fun and exciting, I would probably go for a good beat-’em-up game like Tekken 5 or Mortal Kombat, or a puzzle game like Portal.

Another game I enjoy is Dynasty Warriors. Koei based the Dynasty Warriors series on real historical events, a clever way to tell a great storyline from all the different playable characters’ point of view, and at the same time give players a fun and adventurous way of learning history of the Three Kingdoms in 3rd Century China! My favourite game at the moment is “Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI” by the same company. It is similar to the Dynasty Warrior games, however it is an exciting turn-based strategy game. And of course, being a strategy game, you have complete control over your people and your cities, allowing you to take control of your own events in parallel with the historical events during the game. Now I find this extremely interesting, weird and rather shocking sometimes because it means that I can change history… (in the game only of course)! It’s so strange thinking that had I not executed this one general, he would never have introduced the other general, which would NEVER have led to this famous battle of whatever, or had I released those prisoners AFTER whichever important events, would the historical events after that ever happen? The “storyline” and the way it lets you choose your paths in this game really makes me wonder… History is full of big “WHAT IF”s, and this game really makes me think.

I was pretty shocked when I executed an extremely righteous general (on the enemy side) and kicked the Emperor off the throne to crown myself, thus ending an entire dynasty and starting a new one of my own…















Right, enough fangirling from me…

In general, if the game has a storyline, then it should be strong and engaging, with interesting characters, preferably a loveable one! If I dislike the characters then I probably would not enjoy the storyline as much. I would like the characters to be intelligent and be involved in a complex and intelligent storyline with interesting twists. To me, a great storyline also evokes a lot of emotion to make me feel like I am completely part of it myself. A good example is Final Fantasy VII.