Comments on: Games For 2008: Space Siege

By: Thomas Lawrence

Thomas Lawrence — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 08:15:15 +0000

Agreed with all the people tired of binary moral dilemmas.

Here’s how you make a game about moral choice, ok? You make complicated situations in which a number of different people want mutually incompatible things, and then you put the player in a position to decide the outcome, and then once the choice is made, you show the results – and then YOU DON’T JUDGE THE RESULTS.

Seriously, by popping up (+1 EVil POINTS!) after the choice you negate practically all the work you put into making the choice interesting.

By: SenatorPalpatine

SenatorPalpatine — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 06:37:52 +0000

I think the game may well be cool, but the guy who talked annoyed me, especially with his “OMG DELL IS TEH BEST” at the end. You make the games, not sell the computers. Whatever though, we’ll see how htis game turns out.

By: Yhancik

Yhancik — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 22:56:30 +0000

I’m not yet totally convinced… and I can’t put the finger on what disturbs me, aside from what some people already said about the cyborg way being regarded as “bad”.

I think, in some, way that I don’t easily consider the “loss of humanity” as problematic, because I’ve played and enjoyed tons of games where the character had no (need for/signs of) humanity. And the humanity is in me anyway, you can’t take it away.
I believe it can be done, but it would need to go deeper than a binary choice. I’m just afraid that this whole “moral dilemmas” is a kind of new trend.

“Now with 50% more moral dilemmas”

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:27:37 +0000

I actually loved the first dungeon seige. It’s was suitably indulgently generic, but refined. Who on earth decided to make a movie of it though?

If this matches the first DS in terms of sheer playability and prettiness (for it’s time), I’ll enjoy it. If it’s closer to the second, I wont bother. Maybe it just wasn’t pretty enough..

Actually I think the reason I didn’t like DS2 was that at the start I didn’t get to start as Farmboy or Farmgirl. I really liked how absurd it was that I’d start by picking up are rake, then end by saving the kingdom. DS1 should have been a dry parody. I guess it was really.

I recall DS1 being famous for having virtually no load screens. You literally hacked and slashed your way from the farm to the castle. That was great. Definitely the big hassle was the inventory, every now and then I’d have to leave small armories on the side of the road.

By: Kieron Gillen

Kieron Gillen — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:10:18 +0000

If it’s only a spot, it’s not me.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 13:30:09 +0000

All I can see is Kierons bald spot.

By: derFeef

derFeef — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 09:55:39 +0000

I liked shadowgrounds, maybe this could be good too. I think I´ll miss the party members from dungeon siege. At least I digg the scifi plot more.

By: Optimaximal

Optimaximal — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 09:31:52 +0000

Why do either of them (the endings) need to be intrinsically good or bad? A good situation would be to have the player interpret his actions and the responses he gets.

Go the cybernetic route and the game’s significantly easier, only the main character is branded an outcast by humanity, but finds resolve with other modified humans on another planet or something.

Stay human and the game is harder, but he might access easier quests that wouldn’t have been handed too him if he had a robotic face. He can also go home…

By: Phil

Phil — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 09:24:46 +0000

If popular culture has taught us anything its that cyborgs inevitably loose their humanity, go kill crazy, are finally redeemed by the power of love and sacrifice themselves in the final act – it’s the way it got to be. For the purposes of this arguement I am classifying the first Terminator/robocop/the millon dollar man/etc as ‘tin-men’ rather than cyborgs.

By: Krupo

Krupo — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 09:22:02 +0000

btw @ Flint – the non-cyborg path involves upgrading your robo-mule with features instead of you, so you totally do get your human cake and get to eat your robo cake too, from what I’ve read earlier.

By: Krupo

Krupo — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 09:20:29 +0000

Bwa-ha-ha – did anyone see the Dell ad at the end of part 2, where they ‘legally guarantee’ that all Space Siege features will work on the Dell XPS systems? That amuses me.

By: King Awesome

King Awesome — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 08:54:53 +0000

Also why is everyone automatically assuming that not taking the cyborgian upgrades is the good ending?
For instance, taking the assumption that robotic upgrades do somehow make you lose the loosely defined concept of humanity, surely it is more selfless and good to subsume yourself into the role a more powerful protector. The selfish and more evil player would hold onto his own hummanity in order to protect himself and thereby damn the people he could have saved with those robotic upgrades.

What a jerk.

then of course there is the assumption that if I have a robotic arm I am somehow now less ‘human’ (Obviously not in a biological sense) that seems a trifle high handed towards those war vetrans who have found new life from replacing lost body parts with prosthetics, and those who have had their hearts supported by pace makers.

I’d like to see you all proven wrong and the good ending being the upgraded robotic path (why not a morality helper microchip that encourages you towards the good decision with shots of adrenaline?). Meanwhile the selfish player who ignores upgrades hoping for a payoff at the end is rewarded with a death toll of all the people he could have saved.