“When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature.” Ernest Hemingway
(Hmm... picture from IGN)
Why is it that I can remember more about an animate glove from a N64 game that came out in 1998 then I can about Marcus Fenix? Don’t get me wrong, I like the Gears franchise, played all three games and paid close attention but I honestly can not tell you one really distinguishing characteristic about him. His father was important... and he is sorta of dating that girl whose name begins with an A, ummm Anya, I think. My personal problem with that series is that while the world they have created is quite fascinating, the lead does not get me emotionally invested at all in his story. “He’s a badass” is fast losing flavor as the go-to option for a character trait. Long after you forget you’ve played a game, or every twist of the story is lost in the deep recesses of your memory, guess what you will remember? The characters that made the game interesting, the ones who you cared about, that you wanted to kill or protect, to spend the night with or punch in the face. To elicit a GENUINE EMOTIONAL RESPONSE from you, the player.
It’s not enough to like a character, you have be invested in that character, they have to so many sides to them that they will surprise you and make you want to dig further into their past, their families, their wants and needs. While this is by no means required for every NPC or player character in every game the core cast needs to fulfill these requirements or else the story will lose a lot of its punch. How can I care about the giant robot that kidnapped my girlfriend if I know more about comboing then her? Let me end the post with this, who of the following do you remember the most? Please leave a comment with your answer.
Jason Brody
Vaas Montenegro
Hoyt Volker
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