The music intensifies as all other sound becomes a damp whisper. A single gunshot is fired and a beloved character slowly falls to the ground while their comrades yell out in shock. What an emotional scene! Or at least, it would be if it weren’t for the fact that the character in question already received about a thousand bullet wounds earlier in a gameplay segment.

This is a problem that plagues many gaming narratives. Story is often governed by a very different set of rules than gameplay, resulting in some very awkward and even comical moments in what should be distressing scenes. Because of the interactive nature of games, it’s difficult to avoid these pitfalls. Yet, some games manage to handle it a cut above the rest.

Permanent character death by player action is one way to drive the point home. Of course, not all games can support this variable approach to storytelling, but the ones that do have proved quite effective.

Consider the suicide mission found in Mass Effect 2. Every party member’s life hangs in the balance. A single wrong decision on your part means you have to watch them die. To make things even more panic-inducing, that means you won’t just miss them in the final portion of the game, but also its save-importing sequel, Mass Effect 3. The fact that it can happen to anybody and that it’s your own fault gives it a sense of weight not commonly found in the medium.

But permanent death (or “permadeath“) is controversial. Even Fire Emblem, a series known for its consistent use of this idea for over 20 years finally added the option to turn it off for the first time ever in its Japan-only remake of the series’ Super Famicom debut last year. This decision was not made lightly, however, as an Iwata Asks column revealed it involved four months of heated debate between Nintendo and Intelligent Systems.

Giving the option to remove the feature may have made the game more accessible to beginners, but there’s a reason project manager Masahiro Higuchi stated, “…this would make the game cease to be Fire Emblem.” It’s about more than losing a playable character and a few lines of disposable dialogue.

My own experience in 2005′s Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance showed me that permadeath can change the entire tone of a mission. By keeping Jill (a defected soldier from the enemy side) alive, you’ll eventually come in contact with an enemy general named Shiharam who just so happens to be Jill’s father. Had Jill not been alive and kicking, I wouldn’t have witnessed her emotional turmoil at the situation or the danger of her father convincing her to rejoin the opposing army (yes, that can actually happen if you’re not careful). So the death of Jill, or any Fire Emblem character for that matter, carries not only the weight of losing their personality and strategic advantages, but also potentially missing out on a far more personal context to certain scenarios.

I’m not saying that scripted deaths are never the answer. In fact, the threat of character death by player action can actually enhance the effect of a scripted death. It may sound crazy, but stay with me.

I don’t think I’ve ever felt as down after a scripted death as I have after one featured in SEGA’s tactical gem, Valkyria Chronicles. Don’t worry, I won’t spoil the details. VC’s handling of death was so effective because of the way the game trained my brain beforehand through the aforementioned use of permadeath.

Much like Fire Emblem, every single one of your soldiers in Valkyria Chronicles is a unique character with their own personality, appearance, abilities, and backstory rather than the empty shells you’ll often find in games like Final Fantasy Tactics. As you use a character, their bio will gradually fill in allowing you to get to know them. And to really tug at your heart strings, the game makes excellent use of its visual style if a character dies. With their last breath they say their final words as the watercolor is removed from the scene, leaving only the pencil sketch of their now lifeless body behind.

It’s enough to make you want to save every last soldier in your squad. This teaches you two things: Death is a constant danger and by playing well you can keep all your troops from dying. But the latter is a total lie. At some point the game will remind you that this is a war and not everybody is coming home. This reminder comes in the form of a scripted death that turns your former feeling of control into a sense of powerlessness.

The fragile mortality of your soldiers up to this point makes the scripted event feel all to real. The only difference is that this time, like many things in life, it can’t be prevented. It was at this point I had to stop playing for the night. I needed some time.

Another powerful portrayal of death is found in letting the player control a character’s final moments. While probably not the first game to do it, the earliest example of this I can recall is Final Fantasy VII‘s PSP prequel, Crisis Core. By having the player actually interact with a completely hopeless situation, it portrayed death in a far more effective way than any cutscene could have hoped to. Since then, I’ve still only played a small handful of games that used this method including Naruto SUNS 2 and Halo: Reach (though neither executed it nearly as well).

Games have the ability to approach death in ways that simply aren’t possibly in other mediums. While the examples that take full advantage of this are few and far between, it’s my sincere hope that this will be something that helps set gaming’s narrative capabilities apart in the years to come.

On a very special episode of “Barrel Roll! A Video Game Podcast”, we are joined by special guest Randall Johnson… er.. Smith… Portman… Guy. You know, from the JPAG.

In What We’ve Been Playing, Randall kicks us off with “Battlefield: 1943″ and also super nerdy D&D talk. We talk about the second episode of “Tales of Monkey Island”, Jonah is in the Beta of “Champions Online”, while Jesse talks “Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance” with a focus on the games’ story and has also finally finished “Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time”. Brittany gives her thoughts on “Tomb Raider: Underworld” while Wesley reports on the iPhone game “Hysteria Project”, the original “Half life” and the XBLA hit “Shadow complex”. We also all give our takes on the “Batman: Arkham Asylum” Demo.

In the news there is once again plenty of Capcom related stories, as Jesse gathers the bulk of our show notes. Also, we discuss the World of Warcraft expansion: Cataclysm, the PS3 Slim, the fantastic looking 3D Dot Game Heroes, and much more.

In Let’s Talk About Stuff, we discuss our plans for the upcoming Penny Arcade Expo (PAX to it’s homies) and which panels we are looking forward to checking out this year.

All this plus the usual hijinks on the latest Barrel Roll Podcast.

Download

iTunes - (don’t forget to vote for us!)

RSS

Show Links:
Outro Music – “Fortuna (Star Fox)” by The OneUps

The JPAG Show
InsulinFunk.net
Metroid Metal

"A Real American Worldwide Peace Keeping Organization... Hero."

On a very special twenty-seventh episode of Barrel Roll, we are once again joined by our good pal, Wesley Johnson. He has braved Wizard World Chicago and the new G.I. Joe movie and lived to tell us about them on the show.

These show notes will be a little briefer than usual, as my frustration with trying to get the Champions Online Beta mounts.

In what we’ve been playing, Jonah and Wes discuss “Splosion Man” and “Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition” while Jesse talks about “Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance”, “Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time”, and the very Castlevania-esque “Koumajou Densetsu: Scarlet Symphony” demo.

In news, we talk about Capcom’s new triple pack which includes “Dead Rising”, “Lost Planet: Colonies Edition”, and “Devil May Cry 4″ for only $40 on the Xbox 360. Capcom’s plans to team up with Nintendo on the promotion of Monster Hunter 3 and much more.

Also, hi-jinks.

Download

iTunes

RSS

Show Links:
Outro Music – “Fortuna (Star Fox)” by The OneUps
Koumajou Densetsu: Scarlet Symphony (PC Demo)
InsulinFunk.net

"Do you got your tickets?"

Well, do you?

We don’t got time to bleed, nor does pain hurt when we are once again visited by our good friend, Wesley “InsulinFunk” Johnson. He has been playing “1 VS 100″ on XBLA, trying to finish “Shadow of the Colossus” for our upcoming special episode, Simon the Sorcerer and Ghostbusters.

Jesse has given in and picked up yet another Fire Emblem (which is why the song in the break is so strange), as well as “The Legendary Starfy”. Jonah has been playing “Peggle Dual Shot” and “Battlefield Heroes”, while Brittany has started the new Fallout 3 DLC, “Point Lookout”, and “Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2″.

In the news we cover Mass Effect 2 info, the possibility of a Wii Kingdom Hearts, no LAN support in Starcraft II, possible backwards compatibility returning to the PS3, and much more.

So get your tickets ready and head over to The Gun Show. Also, GET YOURSELF TO MARS!

Download

iTunes

RSS

Show Links:
List of Capcom Games coming to PSN
Simon the Sorcerer

"A Dramatic Recreation of Golfin' for Brains"

On a very special twentieth episode of Barrel Roll, A Video Game Podcast, we are joined by special guest Dalibor “Dali” Dimovski, co-founder of Sidequesting.com to talk about video games and video game related topics.

First and foremost is what we’ve been playing, which ranges from Sega’s new Wii title “Let’s Tap” and “Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance”, to a comparison of the Wii and 360 versions of “Tiger Woods 10″. Which version wins out? The one that is most fun! Also Rhythm Heaven and Mega Man Star Force 3 demos have been played by Jesse.

We are proud to have the new Kirby Krackle single “Ring Capacity” to play for you in the break. For details on how to get your copy of this awesome new song about Green Lantern by the World’s First Comic Book Rock Band, go to their site.

The news is dominated by crazy talk. Nintendo’s Demo Play, Final Fantasy Tactics coming to the PSN, the possibility of a “Day of the Tentacle” sequel and much more.

In everybody’s favorite segment, “Let’s Talk About Stuff”, we have a rousing discussion of Prototype VS InFamous VS Red Faction: Guerrilla. Lucas has played all three and gives us the low down on all three of these groovy hip new open world games.

Download

RSS

iTunes