TWD and David Cage

[short_stack]

I saw this post from a different forum and i just had to post it here

I was thinking about how much more connected and emotionally involved I was with The Walking Dead than with Heavy Rain.

David Cage has made his project to show that you can have deeper emotional connections with game characters. But in spite of him loudly touting himself as a pioneer of this kind of storytelling, along comes The Walking Dead and quietly completely surpasses him. I was thinking about what that was. And to me, the answer is this: Simply better writing.

I cared way more about Clementine than the kids in Heavy Rain. I cared way more about Lee than I did about Ethan Mars. And this just goes to show that you can invent all sorts of fancy facial capture systems and inventive new gameplay, but if you can't write characters to properly connect to, it doesn't matter much. I'm interested to see if Cage can respond with Beyond - 2 Souls, but for now I'm looking forward to The Walking Dead Season 2.

Its true, there a lot of "pioneers" out there claiming a lot of stuff when it comes to storytelling but non of them have delivered, the same way TTG has.
Do you guys think TTG should step into the realm of bigger games, like Mass Effect than just point and click?

[CarScar]

It's true, Heavy Rain's characters were it's weakest point. Take Jason for example, am I seriously suppose to be sad about his death? The kid was so frickin' annoying and stupid, it doesn't help that the scene was riddled with ridiculousness either with lines like "uhh, the red one! The red one!" or "JAY-SON!!! Jay-son? JAY-SON!?!" Only character I liked was Shelby, despite how silly his plan was.

Meanwhile TTG's Walking Dead's highest point is the characters. Clementine, for example, was actually not that cliche, super annoying, and stupid kid that I've seen in so many films, TV shows, and games.

[anonymau5]

Originally Posted by CarScar

It's true, Heavy Rain's characters were it's weakest point. Take Jason for example, am I seriously suppose to be sad about his death? The kid was so frickin' annoying and stupid, it doesn't help that the scene was riddled with ridiculousness either with lines like "uhh, the red one! The red one!" or "JAY-SON!!! Jay-son? JAY-SON!?!" Only character I liked was Shelby, despite how silly his plan was.

Meanwhile TTG's Walking Dead's highest point is the characters. Clementine, for example, was actually not that cliche, super annoying, and stupid kid that I've seen in so many films, TV shows, and games.

You didn't like NAHMAN JAYDEN?!

[Saracenar]

Originally Posted by anonymau5

You didn't like NAHMAN JAYDEN?!

Nahman Jayden; Eff Bee Eye!

He was awesome.

In relation to the OP, I agree that Heavy Rain didn't do as much to connect me to the characters, especially the children. I'd put that down to the voice acting, and the amount of time we spent with them.

The kids sounded pretty terrible. And we didn't get to spend much time with them. Melissa Hutchinson did such a great job with Clem, and we spent almost the whole game with her.

Heavy Rain offered a different kind of game with some cool themes, mechanics and characters, and it showcased the beginning of some pretty powerful technology. It wasn't as emotionally engaging as The Walking Dead, but I still found it very enjoyable and have played it many times.

SPOILER FOR HEAVY RAIN

I wish Norman actually had a good ending. He was my favourite character, and its too bad that he has to end game either fired and depressed, insane or dead.

[CarScar]

Originally Posted by anonymau5

You didn't like NAHMAN JAYDEN?!

I don't know... his magic glasses just kind of ruined him for me a bit. Didn't help that his voice sounded eerily familiar to a younger Tommy Wiseau from The Room, too me at least. He was also a little bit of a Gary Stu.

Still, he was definitely my second least hated character at least.

[Saracenar]

Originally Posted by CarScar

I don't know... his magic glasses just kind of ruined him for me a bit. Didn't help that his voice sounded eerily familiar to a younger Tommy Wiseau from The Room, too me at least. He was also a little bit of a Gary Stu.

Still, he was definitely my second least hated character at least.

The glasses were cool (in my opinion)! He could be an utter failure if you wanted to play him that way.

[MsLox]

Originally Posted by CarScar

"JAY-SON!!! Jay-son? JAY-SON!?!"

A good example of another reason why TWD surpassed Heavy Rain - voice acting. Remember Lee trying to find Clementine in the house and repeating her name? It certainly didn't sound so forced and continuous. He contributed to the intensity of the scene rather than just being an audio file.

[Xebioz]

Still prefer Heavy Rain to be honest as the player is so much more integrated into the story and what the player does actually matters in a greater sense than changing one line of dialogue. I just really think that TWD did not deliver at all in that department and as such it went from my favorite of the two in the first episodes of the game, to become number two or even three by the end of it.

[Shatilov]

Both games had their effect on me. But TWD had sucked me in to its universe.

[JabbaDaHuttX7]

Haven't played Heavy Rain myself, but I did see some video clips of it and I think, at least as far as gameplay is concerned, Telltale would only benefit from taking a look at the game. Failure being an option and all those additional interactions with the environment could make for a more engrossing video game.

[Are You Sewious]

Heavy Rain had French people doing the voices! Think how stupid some of the accents were. E.g. the most annoying was when you see Shelby's brother die as young boy; my god, the casting director didn't think it out well@