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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Nintendo Power interviews Denis

« on: May 31, 2003, 03:22:31 AM »

A great read (as always with Denis Dyack). Like Miyamoto he seems to be one of the few game producers/designers who really know what they're doing and he always has a lot more to say than the usual (and generally very boring) PR-stuff.

[Grey Ninja]

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Nintendo Gaming / Denis Dyack Interview

« on: May 25, 2003, 07:06:56 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Grey Ninja
"Just a word on the story... yes, it wasn't anything deep, but I found that the sum of the pieces was far greater than the whole. It was in the details and the moments in the game that it truly shone.

Who can EVER forget the scene where Sniper Wolf dies?

Well, I thought that this scene was extremely clicheed and cheesy. I didn't like those scenes because the designers usually resorted to "sledgehammer methods" to get their point across: Otacons date of birth, Sniper Wolfs traumatic childhood etc. It was all presented in such an obvious way and without the slightest hint of subtlety it just didn't work for me anymore.
That doesn't mean that I don't like it when game designers try to tackle complex themes in their games (I'm a big fan of Silicon Knights because they do this since Blood Omen - and fairly well too imho). It's just that "doing it" and "doing it right" are two completely different pair of shoes.  

[GoldShadow1]

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Nintendo Gaming / Denis Dyack Interview

« on: May 24, 2003, 08:41:15 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: GoldShadow1
I can't see how Denis thinks the game has THAT great of a story with its long and not terribly subtle speeches on whatever theme it happens to be pursuing...

That surprised me quite a bit too. Imho MGS had great gameplay and the thriller/suspense elements of the story were executed extremely well, but the way it tackled the more serious themes (mainly nuclear weapons and genetic engineering) was very cheesy and even embarassing at some points. It was more like "The Danger of Nuclear Weapons for Grade Schoolers" but definitely not mature storytelling at these points in the game. So hearing such boundless praise from the director of two games which really pushed mature storytelling in games forward (Blood Omen, Eternal Darkness) left me a bit puzzled.