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Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 29 May 2009 Posts: 6010

Is there a rhyme or reason to it? Do we do it just for the entertainment value, or simply to enjoy the story that is held within. Others may even go out for the adventure without having to leave their home. What is yours?

My own:

Music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqSkAU70zVo&list=FLn2x65VZ9XhTFScjv137_-g&feature=mh_lolz

Art
The story
Friends
Entertainment
Enjoyment

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 05 Jan 2009 Posts: 4287

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSsOenUEcgc

That is all.

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 22 Dec 2008 Posts: 2173

((Here's something I Journaled over at FurAffinity.

Some game introductions I enjoyed.

Okay, since a couple of you said it would be worth hearing my weirdness about some game introductions, here you go. Now, these are game introductions. So… pretty much the stuff that happens before you actually start the game. These are in no particular order, and are just games I really liked the intros for. Now, these games run from PC, to Play Station, to Nintendo… so… nothing on the Genesis, but… you can't have everything. So… without further rambling, as I rarely do "ado"s… here goes.

1) Divi-Dead by CsWare/Himeya Soft. I like horror games, and horror stuff. And the intro to Divi-Dead is a pretty schweet blend of music, fast-frames, and mood. Nothing motion-wise about it, but it does the music part of an intro very well. In fact, I enjoyed the intro music so much, I later bought the "Platina Selection" CD from Csware Records.

2) Alone in the Dark / Koudelka. As in the previous example, I like horror games. Infograms many years ago made a game called "Alone in the Dark", based off of H. P. Lovecraft mythos. It was made back in the day where you had to have some sort of game-code to open the game. It could be a cipher in the instruction manuals, some weird code-disk, or something else. They were primitive efforts at preventing copyright infringement.

Anyway, the intro to Alone in the Dark is really neat, in my opinion. You watch as your character enters the Victorian-era house of your friend who recently committed suicide. If you read the instruction book, you get the opinion that you feel there was something amiss about the suicide. So you go to investigate. And… the house is quiet. Creepily, mood-setting-ly quiet. So quiet that you miss several of the clues the game gives you about dangers surrounding the house. And let me tell you, there are several dangers. So, I remember the intro because it set the pace of the horror game right away. This wasn't a frantic-action-survival horror… it was a slow-burn, puzzle/mystery solving horror.

Koudelka is similar to this in the fact you watch as your gypsy-like heroine, slowly rides her horse across the country side to the abandoned estate. It isn't fully quiet, as there is a soft, Gaelic, sans-instruments, song being sung in the background. I'm a sucker for sans-instruments, stuff.

3) Batman: Arkham Asylum. Batman is a game where you play the intro. I like how the design team envisioned Gotham City and Arkham. I like how it puts you at the end of one event, and just seamlessly blends you into the delivering-Joker to Arkham. And I also like the fact that the sign outside Arkham says "Warning: Hitchhikers May Be Escaping Inmates". I like how if you actually look around instead of just following the rails, you can see stuff happening at the Asylum "out-of-frame". So, it's a good pull into the whole Batman-ness of Batman.

4) Fallout. War. War never changes. I grew up in the 80s - 90s, so, while I understand and know about the whole Cyberpunk/Shadowrun sorts of things… I like my futures post-nuclear apocalyptic. And, hence, enter Fallout. The intro to Fallout, the weird future-car-tech advertisement on the 1950s-esq TV, surrounded by 1950s music, all the while panning back over a destroyed apartment is just awesome. And then there's the big, famous, line. War. War never changes. And, the second, just as cool scripting. "Life in the Vault's about to change."

5) MechWarrior: Mercenaries. Up to this point, my gaming group never really understood what mercenaries were. We just kinda thought of them as the "army" without realizing that mercenaries are sell-swords… with all the negative aspects as well as the Hollywood glamorized aspects. Anyway, enter MechWarrior: Mercenaries.

The intro is that you're on a raid mission on a hostile planet. You've recovered the item you're group is trying to steal. And, while trying to haul ass to the dropship in the hot LZ, your mercenary commander gets hit. You can hear her scream obscenities to the dropship pilot telling him to wait, while he pretty much just closes the door and ignores her. The end of the scene is the pilot telling you, "Hey, kid. Think of it this way. You get to keep all the money." The action part of the intro was okay, but… the scripting of the pilots lines, and the voice actor nailed it. You're a mercenary. You don't get paid enough to die. But… if your co-workers die during the fight, that's more money for you. So… I liked how the intro de-glamorized mercenaries for me. And… why I remember it so much.

6) Valkyrie Profile. If you don't know, I'm a huge, Huge, HUGE fan of Valkyrie Profile. To me, it is the absolute, number 1 game. Of all time. Anyway, the intro to Valkyrie Profile is a wickedly sweet little anime short, introducing you to the world, some of the characters, the awesome music, and generally getting you excited for the game. And… then there's the hidden intro.

Considerably more somber in mood, The real intro to Valkyrie Profile has you witness the young girl Platina and her childhood friend Lucian run away from home, because Lucian is trying to save Platina from her parents. I find it gut wrenching, especially since the end of the real intro leads into the anime intro. It's a very clever clue that gives the players the idea that maybe all isn't what it seems at first… and maybe you should do more digging then Odin wants you to.

7) Super Metroid. "The last Metroid is in captivity." I like the opening quote… and then the opening scene where you go through the ransacked, darkened, lab wondering what happened. It's short, simple, and highly effective.

8 ) Half-life / System Shock 2. Both of these intros were, for me, some of the first intros where you played the intro. In Half-life, the game intro was you riding the monorail to work, and getting to see the entire Black Mesa compound. For System Shock 2, the intro was a tutorial in a virtual reality chamber, then your three picked assignments, and then… onto the game proper. So… I enjoyed both of these, as, at the time, the fact you were part of the intro scenes was a new idea. And I think both of them pulled it off really well. Half-life's "Going-to-work" scenario made the jarring events at the beginning of the game stand out that much more. For System Shock 2, getting to "pick your poison" in terms of career path and initial tours of duty was kinda nifty.

9) Rhapsody, A Musical Adventure. The biggest reason I like the intro to this turn-based strategy-RPG, is the fact that it's a musical. Atlus and Nippon Ichi tend to bring over more esoteric/fringe games, that, in turn, tend to get more of a cult following. Anyway, Rhapsody's intro is just this cute, sweet, and overly romantic musical number. And, I have to give them props. While not the best singer, the voice actress did her best to keep the song in the same adorable way.

So… there you have it. Some of my favorite game introductions. ))

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 20 Oct 2009 Posts: 12351

One of the reasons I play video games... sometimes characters are just so badass that only a game can fully express their awesomeness.

Couple of my favourite cinematics from the DMC series to better explain my reasoning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65s3dMKzMqc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQrdL5wMIHE

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 29 May 2009 Posts: 6010

I think this scene in DMC4 was pretty sweet showing off the Red Queen's strength.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hh5kKBi5Yo

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 20 Oct 2009 Posts: 12351

Yes, the Red Queen was an... interesting blade. Though, I'm personally more partial to Ifrit, myself. I hope that the new DMC will shed a little more light on the history between Dante and Vergil this time around. We know from DMC 3 that they fought side by side at some point.

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 29 May 2009 Posts: 6010

I honestly thought at one point that they were the same person.

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 20 Oct 2009 Posts: 12351

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 05 Jan 2009 Posts: 4287

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 20 Oct 2009 Posts: 12351

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 29 May 2009 Posts: 6010

Either possibility is a viable since there is no direct reference. Unless of course there is a book of the series.

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 20 Oct 2009 Posts: 12351

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 29 May 2009 Posts: 6010

Err, well the Halo books have always been on the money, and Bungie kind of failed Reach by having the Pillar of Autumn on the planet when the whole attack took place.

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 20 Oct 2009 Posts: 12351

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 29 May 2009 Posts: 6010

The video game: Halo Reach is the only exception. The movies books, and the other games have been spot on.

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 20 Oct 2009 Posts: 12351

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 29 May 2009 Posts: 6010

You are right about the stories in most games