One critical thing which makes any video game stand out from other artforms are failure states. Whether this is a standard death thanks to a depleted health bar or being locked out of a major part of a story, they are ultimately an integral part of what makes the medium appealing outside from film or television. There are more than a few developers who fully embrace this too – to the point of adding some truly bizarre endings to any play session.
I figured that Mass Effect 2 one would be on there, and I remember that death in Indigo Prophecy, it was such a dick move because if you take the alcohol before the drugs, Lucas doesn't mention you can't take the pills, then if you take the pills he mentions that you shouldn't take them with alcohol AS HE TAKES THEM. At the point he says not to, you can't turn back, you just have to watch the death scene.
ReplyDeleteThough it is right at the beginning of a chapter, so restarting doesn't use up much time.
Honestly every single one of these could have been filled with game-overs from Sierra games, almost all of which would come from the King's Quest series, like in King's Quest 3, you picked up the wings of a fly? GAME OVER.
Not to mention Alone in the Dark, most of that game you have to read books to get the backstory of the game, but you read the yellow book? GAME OVER. Your main goal is to leave, but you opened the front door? GAME OVER.
Personally I kind of liked the fact the death in Indigo Prophecy came with no warning, as it was a fact I knew previously but I wasn't thinking about it during the game. It helped pay attention, though the game's plot going to hell halfway through didn't help.
DeleteI'll admit, I was mostly sticking to titles I had a personal experience playing here or had done some prior research into. Given there's about five or six other good examples which have been mentioned since the list went up, i'll probably need to write another one in the future. Thank you for the suggestions.