So I was playing some more Dishonored and noticed something annoying: the ai is cheating. I’ll explain how in a moment, but let me first say how that effects me (and probably others).

Primarily, I’d say, the problem is it breaks immersion. The game is basically breaking the established rules, and the rules are the laws of that universe. Couldn’t happen in real life (rules can be broken but not natural laws — e.g. an army can’t materialize out of thin air just to make reality more challenging to someone.) But it’s not that it feels unfair like it would if a human cheats in some game your playing, but more that the game is revealing that it is player-centric, i.e. that the game world doesn’t exist as its own entity but as something to entertain you. Ultimately that is what it is of course, but (paradoxically?) it’s a lot more entertaining and interesting when it doesn’t seem and feel that way.

This cheating also adds a tiny bit of hopelessness. Even if you play perfectly it’ll still get you if the developers want and there’s nothing you can do about it, and you don’t know when it will happen again. It’s like playing chess with someone who’s occasionally allowed to make an illegal move. How would you strategize with that element thrown into the game?

I say tiny bit because I trust the developers won’t overuse this trick, at least not as blatantly as was the case this time.

So let me describe what happened.

I cleared out one level of a big area and started to go up one level using the stairs, sneaking as to not be discovered. Then I heard a shout behind me, turned around a saw two guards coming at me. Where the heck did they come from? Guess I missed clearing out a room or something. I reloaded (possibly after a chase and a fight) to the moment right before taking to the stairs. This time I waited to see where they would come from. I waited and waited, no one came. Okay, so I’ve come upon a triggering event that isn’t triggered when I just stood waiting.

This is not the cheating, but let me add that triggered events too break immersion to some extent, they too feel gamey. That’s a topic for another day though, but the reason is very similar to why cheating breaks immersion.

Okay, so I needed to trigger the event, I went up the stairs once more, but this time I walked backwards so that I could look in the direction of the expected guards, and at a certain point I hit the trigger and two guards appeared out of thin air in the middle of the stairs. I was like… really?

I get that they’re trying to create some excitement, but preferably they should do that while staying within the laid down rules, and I don’t think that includes creating guards out of thin air right behind you.

This is tiny example of cheating (and triggering) and one that by itself doesn’t matter much (which may even be just a bug), but it’s a good example of something bigger, the immersion-breaking effect of “gamey” tricks that make the world feel inauthentic. 

This is a topic I will write a lot more about.

I’ve now played Dishonored for a bunch of hours, and I like it a lot. It’s seemed okay right away, certainly polished, competent and with elements I like (RPG, sneaking etc) but I wasn’t enthralled, but I know it sometimes takes a while for me to get into a game. Indeed, I got into it. I think getting more fluent with the game mechanics is an important part of it.

If there’s a single game I’d compare it to it’s Deus Ex: Human Revolutions. If there are two games, I’d say Thief and Deus Ex. Thief for the environment and Deus Ex for the rest, and they all three have some things in common like sneaking (though Dishonored requires less sneaking than the others, if that’s not your style, and Thief the most). The upgrades in Dishonored are primarily supernatural unlike Deus Ex (which is technological), but they sometimes achieve the same thing, e.g. see enemies through walls.

Why not Bioshock instead of Deus Ex? Well, in some ways it feels somewhat more like Bioshock, a certain darkness if you will, and the high-tech environment in Deus Ex had a unique feel to it not shared by the others, but the environmental layout is a lot more similar to Deus Ex, with bigger more open areas and a lot more options how to solve problems, not the least the sneaking. Bioshock doesn’t have that option, it’s often just a corridor shooter, though a really good one with many cool options when it comes to combat.

I’ll be back with more on this game.

Finally got to play Half-Life 2 from having had The Orange Box for a long time. Verdict? I don’t really like it, but I don’t regret playing it. Of course, I already knew shooters, esp. the corridor kind, aren’t my thing, but being such a esteemed modern classic I still expected to enjoy it bit more, if nothing else the story, and to be motivated enough to finish it.

It’s not that it’s bad for what it is, for all I know it could be the best of its kind, I just don’t particularly like the kind of thing it is, which is basically a story-driven corridor shooter with some environmental puzzles thrown in. The story didn’t engage me (it was lighter than expected, though I played less than five hours — but I did check the end, among other things, on youtube), didn’t care much for the characters (might have changed in time), nor the puzzles. The music was used pretty effectively sometimes, and I did enjoy the early courtyard scene with the tall ass building in the distance, it had a sense of place, alienness and realism to it, and in fact the beginning in general, before and slightly into the escape, was okay.

I believe this was the nail in the coffin when it comes to traditional corridor shooters for me, I’d need some really good reason to ever buy one again, though I still have a few in my possession that I will at least try (including the first Resistance), and will likely download free offerings on PSN+.

Still played it for hours, including the beginning of episode 1 to get to use the gravity gun a little. Woe is me, right? Not exactly, I’m glad I tried it and gave it a chance; it’s a modern classic and should be part of one’s gaming education IMO.

On to the next game which I think will be Dishonored (with all DLCs).