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Oct 13th, 2006 at 20:27:44 - Façade (PC) |
Today I became "Amy" for the purposes of finding out if there were any behavioral differences in Trip and Grace based on the player's gender. As far as I can tell, there really aren't any differences to be found. The first time I compliment Grace, I'm still hitting on her and despite Trip's recent affair, he still kicks me out if I put the moves on him while Grace is out of the room. This is a little disappointing, but not really unexpected. I guess I've come to accept that the game really only provides a minimal amount of leeway in changing the course of the story. My best outcomes in the story, that is, when the couple hasn't called it quits by the time I'm escorted out, have been by accident - I try to confuse the couple by giving them responses to their questions that don't really make sense, and in turn, they apparently end up more uncomfortable with me than with their spouse.
In my most recent outing with the couple, I noticed that I could pretty much pin down the point in the conversation where nothing I say will make a difference anymore. Once the two start yelling at each other - like the "this is bullshit" conversation - the game is pretty much over, unless Grace starts asking you inane, vague questions and you respond with simple, contradictory answers. Then the pair might just get fed up with you and switch over to the "we're okay, everything's okay" line of dialog and Trip seems to physically push you out the door. I've yet to be able to get Grace to kick me out, so I'm assuming it's not possible or at least as rare as actually keeping the couple's marriage intact for the duration of the scene. In any case, I leave the game with about the same feeling I had after my first run-through: it's an interesting idea and a more entertaining alternative to the traditional AI demonstrations, but it is a far cry from being able to hold any resemblance of a true conversation with the player, even if you know the right keywords and have played the game several times through.
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Oct 12th, 2006 at 17:54:48 - Façade (PC) |
My struggle to keep Trip and Grace's marriage from falling apart, again, continued today with futility and frustration. I noticed that once the couple's conversation gets to a certain point in the dialog, they stop listening completely, no matter what you say - from "My, my, this is a beautiful rug," to "Grace, run away with me to the island of Guam and live with me in my hut along the ocean. We can sip margaritas and reminisce about how stupid Trip sounds when he talks to his Magic 8-Ball." I also noticed that bringing up kids or pets will get you yelled at by the ice queen known as Grace. In fact, the only time I haven't witnessed the couple's official breakup is when I've been forcibly ejected from the room by Trip. My most successful venture thus far has been when Grace asked me whether everything I had said was supposed to "mean something", to which I quickly explained that it didn't. Then the pair exchanged the phrase "we're fine" about 10 times before Trip pointed at the elevator button like I couldn't take a hint. I know he made drinks for the three of us, and I ended up taking them all and drinking them as soon as he put them on the counter, but they were obviously too busy arguing about "feelings" to shut up and pound a few down. I would have gladly amused them with my witty banter, making them realize that life isn't so bad after all and maybe that second honeymoon to Italy is worth a third try. But no, apparently their guest, who Trip decided to grace (I promise I didn't plan that pun, no seriously) with one of the longest and most boring answering machine messages of all time, is invisible and unimportant enough to suggest that maybe if they just pretend like I'm not here (except, of course, when Grace says something astounding like "Okay John, yes or no, doesn't Trip smell like rancid gym shorts?"), I'll just go away. I've played the game 12 times now, not once having the situation end on a positive note. Maybe I need to be a female character - I guess I'll give that a shot later.
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Oct 10th, 2006 at 14:40:28 - Façade (PC) |
To say that Façade is rough around the edges would be an understatement, but the game's concept is intriguing. Much of the time, games involve simulating something that is, for one reason or another, relatively uncommon in the human experience. The objective of Façade, witnessing and trying to prevent the end of a friend's marriage, may fall into that category, but the idea of open-ended dialog with two other people is not uncommon at all. Why is it then, that when the player is presented with trying to support a dialog between characters that doesn't end in catastrophe, the game proves so difficult. Part of the blame lies in Trip and Grace's ability to respond to any prompting as though the player is speaking in Swahili or is a meek grade-school child. Trip and Grace seem to completely undermine any attempt of the player to actually enter into a conversation. That seems to be the game's biggest flaw. We're trying to manipulate a social encounter away from disaster with our only tools being simple dialog and our hands, and the couple we must interact with are interpreting dialog as though they might have heard one word in each of the player's sentences without any regard to context. If Grace says, "This room just doesn't work," and I respond with "I think it works fine", Grace is likely to respond with some form of "Lets not talk about my work" or "Haven't we discussed that subject already?". And Grace's rant in regards to what she's learned about the player through his or her dialog sounds incredibly static even compared to her half-comprehension of anything else the player says.
In browsing the game's forums, much of the game's appeal is typing ridiculous statements and seeing how the couple responds, or doesn't respond for that matter. One person went on and on about how he was dying from cancer to Grace and Trip, and they didn't even attempt to recognize what the player was saying. They simply continued through their endless bickering about one thing or another even as the player tried to interrupt the conversation over and over again. It's my opinion that in order for a game like this to actually be successful, not to mention fun to play, the pair's ability to interpret and respond needs to be greatly improved. I hate to go on and on about the game's flaws considering how it was written and by whom, but based on my first three run-thrus of the game, the game resembles audience participation in a stage show more than a group of people carrying on a conversation. Time to go back and see if I can make the subject of a conversation me, rather than one of them or anything in the room. I doubt I'll succeed.
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