how "sucessful" was the storytelling for you? / mini-review

[Videotape]

I really appreciate video games that have stories that aren't complete garbage and treat their audience like fully functioning humans. I also really like it when games take advantage of the uniqueness of video games as a medium for story telling. Trauma did a number of wonderful things, but missed in some others aspects.

As far as what was done well I loved the whole setup for exploring these "dreams". Portraying them as a partially disjoint series of photographs which overlap and distort was very effective for setting up a level that feels like a dream; you cant ever quite remember dreams in full detail and this was a unique way of conveying that. Also it helped to make the game more easily explored than older adventure games which use a simillar mechanic, like myst, by limiting your movement to places where another photo overlaps your current screen.

So all that is mostly atmosphere, aided by excellent sound design. My favorite part about the game was how exploring "dreams" unlocked more clarity in the story, which is a wonderful parallel to real life. The story switches from very specific details of the girl to vague feelings that she has is as had. And, in this way I thought the game conveyed the dream like state that story is told in very well because personally that's how I remember dreams. With a vague notion of how it made me feel and specific details and images from my real life but out of context.

As for the things I didn't like, well the "puzzles" seemed very arbitrary and didn't help to convey theme or story at all. The act of exploring did but the gesture puzzles simply stood out to me as seeming out of place.

enough of my ranting though, I was curious how everyone else liked the storytelling methods

[DrakenLord]

Mostly I did not like it. I recognize that the photo technique and to some extent the music are good, but i didn't get any immersion or any kicks from the story itself.

It lacked flavor. I guess the person and the incidents / memories / dreams are just bland and uninteresting. They need to get a good writer on board or a good psychiatrist or at least dig for a trauma story that is really worth telling about. Something out of the ordinary that would reveal details with each video and add a sens of progression.

[GATEMOTH]

It took me a couple of minutes before I understood that the purpose of this game wasn't to kill a monster with flashing red eyes and a dragon's hoard but to better understand her story :eek:. I especially liked the narration, both the voice and considering the meaning of the words w.r.t. the rest of that aspect. I think the pictures and alternate endings serve to give the player a reason to revisit the area and the words.

Part of what makes this a good storytelling is that it doesn't tell the player what the story is directly but reveals it through fragments that are revealed as the player explores. On the whole, I think this is one of the best storytelling games I've played recently, and it's definitely unique in its style and presentation.
This sort of game could easily be a film without any interaction, but I think being able to explore at one's own pace and having objectives make it better than a film version would have been.

[macroidtoe]

Awful. I "get" unconventional, non-linear storytelling. I understand and enjoy leaving things unsaid and letting the viewer/reader fill in the gaps.

What I can't stand is the sort of silly, introspective, self-absorbed narration that this employs... all this business of taking entirely ordinary feelings/difficulties and wrapping them in this cryptic mystique to make them seem like some kind of grand epic cosmic struggle. "My dog died today" turns into "No one can understand the depths of the well of sorrow in which I have been immersed... We were more than boy and dog: we were comrades in a journey of discovery, pilgrims on the neverending road between birth and death, caught in the dance of Shiva Nataraja." All I could think after each line was "Christ, get over yourself."

But you've got to love how the creators pre-empt any criticism with this line from the description: "It is aimed to be a compact and deep game for a literate and mature audience." So there you have it. If you don't like it, it must be because you're illiterate and immature, not because the creators are pretentious hipster egomaniacs.

[jimmyjakers]

Awful. I "get" unconventional, non-linear storytelling. I understand and enjoy leaving things unsaid and letting the viewer/reader fill in the gaps.

What I can't stand is the sort of silly, introspective, self-absorbed narration that this employs... all this business of taking entirely ordinary feelings/difficulties and wrapping them in this cryptic mystique to make them seem like some kind of grand epic cosmic struggle. "My dog died today" turns into "No one can understand the depths of the well of sorrow in which I have been immersed... We were more than boy and dog: we were comrades in a journey of discovery, pilgrims on the neverending road between birth and death, caught in the dance of Shiva Nataraja." All I could think after each line was "Christ, get over yourself."

But you've got to love how the creators pre-empt any criticism with this line from the description: "It is aimed to be a compact and deep game for a literate and mature audience." So there you have it. If you don't like it, it must be because you're illiterate and immature, not because the creators are pretentious hipster egomaniacs.

I love how anyone who makes anything existential to any degree is immediately labeled a "hipster" nowadays. Stop trying to label everyone and just enjoy it for what it is. I think the quote "It is aimed to be a compact and deep game for a literate and mature audience" is a disclaimer so some CoD playing kiddie doesn't buy it and then rage about the fact that there was no violence or dark imagery.

And I don't get your quote "Get over yourself". This game isn't about the creators. It's just telling a story. Maybe you should learn to appreciate the more intimate side of humanity.

And FYI, the loss of your parents is a bit more intense than your dog dying. I think the dramatic narration in the game was applicable because of the state of mind the focus of the story would be in after such an event.

[Dave Mongoose]

I think it makes sense for the telling of the story to be introverted/'egocentric' because the narrator has suffered a head trauma of some sort - she is inside her own mind trying to piece her thoughts back together, so she focuses very much on herself.

I thought there was some symbolism to the puzzles - solving them represents her mental effort to restore her memories, but also gives a sense that some are lost forever - the ghosts and the drains.