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| 3 JAN 2006 at 3:41am |
| Deleted User | In the past few week, I've played through Return to Mysterious Island as well as the first Syberia game, both of which have revealed to me an alarming trend in adventure game design.
No, I'm not talking about Kate Walker's appallingly slow walking pace as she trudges across screens which are entirely empty, save for hotspots which merely elicit a hair-pulling "No need to go down there" in our heroine's dulcet tones. No, I'm not talking about the fact that, over the course of the game, I spent more time watching Kate climb flights of stairs than expending any intellectual effort on the game's puzzles. I'm not talking about the voluminous inventory of Return to Mysterious Island, and the difficulty of managing it properly. No, I'm talking about the treatment of the pipe organ. Both games reveal both a stereotyped and biased view of the King of instruments, and a fundamental ignorance of the instrument itself.
Take RTMI, for example. What instrument does the neurotic, megalomaniacal Captain Nemo play? Why, the organ, of course. Not only has he somehow installed an organ on his submarine, but he has managed to surmount several fundamental engineering problems in doing so. Rather than being mounted on a windchest, individual groups of pipes are mounted haphazardly on ducts which curl out from the organ at strange angles. This looks pretty, but it makes no sense; it would be difficult enough to hook up the wiring for such an organ with modern technology, let alone in the NINETEENTH CENTURY. And then, to top it all off, the organ is placed in a room with a carpet, completely ruining the acoustics of the room! No organ lover would install an instrument in a room with a carpet.
Meanwhile, in Syberia, the even more megalomaniacal factory owner is also a devotee of the organ; of course, if he had any real understanding of music, he would realize that an automaton is grossly inadequate to produce a truly musical performance on the pipe organ. He might also have realized that the flat, parallel pedalboard he installed on the organ might have been all right in the late eighteenth century, but it would completely prevent his automaton from developing a legato pedal technique! Furthermore, his statement that he's built "one of the most impressive organs ever created!!!!!!!one" is a laugh. An instrument that was one of the most impressive ever created would be much larger than the one in Syberia; not only would it be too tall to fit under the roof of the factory, but it would have more than the two manuals and measly handful of stops you see when Kate goes to look at the console. And when you finally hear this marvellous organ, its sound is nothing special; it could just as well have been an average church organ. Finally, the factory owner calls his automaton a "pianist", which no organ lover would ever do; the organ might have a keyboard, but its complexity is in many waysfar greater than that of the piano; in fact, pianists are renowned for their ability to play the organ badly. Honestly, didn't the game designers hire a copy editor? How could anyone include such ghastly mistakes?
All in all, these two games are symptomatic of a general trend of spreading misinformation about the organ as an instrument and about organ players. Not all organ players are megalomaniacs! I urge you all to write letters to these game developers, and any more who perpetuate this dreadful stereotype, urging them to repent immediately!
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| 3 JAN 2006 at 4:04am |
AndromusGuild Master
Posts : 5538
Joined: 6 NOV 2002
Status : Offline | I guessed this was going to be about the unicursor. Turned out to be even more interesting, though.
Eh, don't let Syberia's mislabelling get you down -- it happened elsewhere. Early in the game you are lectured that automatons are NEVER called robots. But a little later a character in Validilene calls an automaton a robot. I think Kate calls her on it, but the character acts puzzled and doesn't seem to know the difference!
Music abuse abounds in adventures when you think about it. Gabriel Knight 1: I love the game, but the MIDI mangling of "When the Saints Go Marching In" was almost unbearable.
Golden Gate has a "Pop Goes the Weasel" puzzle with the wrong notes.
And there's Andrew Plotkin's scoffing at Alida's giant guitar, which I found hilarious:
"The game notes that the guitar's strings are 252 meters long. This is approximately 400 times the typical scale length of a guitar. Now, we all know that the frequency of a vibrating string is 1/2 * sqrt(S / LM), where S is the tension, L is the length, and M is the total mass of the string. So, you take a typical guitar string, scale it up by a factor of 400... the mass goes up by 400 cubed, of course... keep the tension constant... multiply... ah, I see this guitar plays seventeen octaves below middle C. The damn strings ought to be wobbling back and forth once every five minutes. Utterly inaudible, even if you're a blue whale.
But when the thing is plucked -- in the game -- you can hear it. It's maybe an octave lower than a normal guitar. So obviously they've cranked up the tension by, let's see... a factor of six billion.
I look forward to the sequel, in which a string snaps, and the resulting explosion vaporizes New Zealand."
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| 3 JAN 2006 at 4:38pm |
Pastor DisasterJourneyman
Posts : 1056
Joined: 14 DEC 2004
Status : Online | [smiley=laughing.gif] [smiley=laughing.gif]
FF, your little rant only served to verify one of two suspicions I've had for a while regarding organists: they are all evil geniuses egomaniacally plotting to take over the world!
The other is that the only tune they know how to play is the opening bars to the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.
[smiley=laughing.gif] [smiley=laughing.gif]
Dyslexics wonder why there isn't a word that means the same thing as "cinnamon."
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| 3 JAN 2006 at 5:29pm |
The Terror of the Wolf part 3Schattenjger
Posts : 2391
Joined: 11 OCT 2002
Status : Online | It's because they're evil.
See, ever since the mid-90s, before you can join the Guild Of Evil Fictional Characters (GEFC), you have to learn how to play Toccata and Fugue in D Minor on the organ. If you can't, the union won't offer you their membership card, and you're delegated to the lowly level of 'Amature Villain'.
[url=http://www.justadventure.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1136331866/0#0]GAMES FOR TRADE!![/url]
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| 3 JAN 2006 at 8:15pm |
SirDaveGuild Master
Posts : 4941
Joined: 17 OCT 2002
Location: US
Status : Offline | Seems to me there are other problems also: Take the major prejudice against other instruments- when did you last see a violin, cello, clarinet, piccolo, trumpet, or French Horn in an adventure game? What's with that?
The future ain't what it used to be!
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| 3 JAN 2006 at 9:46pm |
Terry PenrodGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 6693
Joined: 16 OCT 2004
Location: US, Texas
Status : Offline | .
Originally Posted By SirDave (3 JAN 2006 8:15pm)
Seems to me there are other problems also: Take the major prejudice against other instruments- when did you last see a violin, cello, clarinet, piccolo, trumpet, or French Horn in an adventure game? What's with that?
Well, April Ryan played a flute (briefly) in The Longest Journey and there have been Horny French Maids in a number of games - does that count?
Cheers, Terry
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| 3 JAN 2006 at 9:56pm |
| Deleted User | Wousers, FickFack.
That IS a problem, Bubbah
[img]http://www.davidtannenberg.com/Tannenberg%20Photo%20Folder/Old%20Salem%20-%20c1860.jpg[/img]
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| 3 JAN 2006 at 11:01pm |
| Deleted User | Originally Posted By SirDave (3 JAN 2006 8:15pm)
Seems to me there are other problems also: Take the major prejudice against other instruments- when did you last see a violin, cello, clarinet, piccolo, trumpet, or French Horn in an adventure game? What's with that?
And don't get me started on the theremin and Ondes Martenot. Everyone wants spooky electronic sounds for their horror movies and adventure games, but no-one appreciates these noble instruments on their own merits. When was the last time you saw an adventure game hero or heroine buy tickets for a theremin or Ondes Martenot recital? Huh? Huh?
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| 3 JAN 2006 at 11:33pm |
Pastor DisasterJourneyman
Posts : 1056
Joined: 14 DEC 2004
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Fickfack (3 JAN 2006 11:01pm)
And don't get me started on the theremin and Ondes Martenot. Everyone wants spooky electronic sounds for their horror movies and adventure games, but no-one appreciates these noble instruments on their own merits. When was the last time you saw an adventure game hero or heroine buy tickets for a theremin or Ondes Martenot recital? Huh? Huh?
My doctor has me on theremin for back pain. Didn't Ondes Martenot play goalie for the Toronto Maple Leafs?
Dyslexics wonder why there isn't a word that means the same thing as "cinnamon."
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| 4 JAN 2006 at 12:19pm |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
Posts : 16540
Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | now that I've stopped laughing...
Fickfack, my home town has a terrificly big cathedral organ. I've sat enthralled in very uncomfortable wooden chairs listening to a recital. Pure magic.
Here's the blowing chamber. Looks like an industrial site to me.
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| 4 JAN 2006 at 2:08pm |
snowtimeJourneyman
Posts : 1014
Joined: 28 JUN 2005
Status : Online | Originally Posted By SirDave (3 JAN 2006 8:15pm)
Seems to me there are other problems also: Take the major prejudice against other instruments- when did you last see a violin, cello, clarinet, piccolo, trumpet, or French Horn in an adventure game? What's with that?
I do know a game with a violin along with a wertmizer, a gederaglini, a frobophone, a popperkeg, a nambino, a miano and a fleezle.
How much more variety do you want?
*
I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.
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| 4 JAN 2006 at 7:18pm |
SusanGuild Master
Posts : 5485
Joined: 13 OCT 2002
Location: 0
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By SirDave (3 JAN 2006 8:15pm)
Seems to me there are other problems also: Take the major prejudice against other instruments- when did you last see a violin, cello, clarinet, [highlight]piccolo[/highlight], trumpet, or French Horn in an adventure game? What's with that?
FOR-GET IT! Not until artists can draw somebody playing a flute and piccolo the CORRECT way! You hold it over to the RIGHT side, people!
Now, it's obvious from playing the KQ series that the Royal Family is musically gifted. And Prince Alexander in KQ6 & Queen Valanice in KQ7 show everybody how flute & piccolo playing is supposed done.
April Ryan had more of a primitive flute, but given that Arcadia was drastically different from Stark, one can see why. I can't remember what it sounds like, otherwise I'd be tempted to label it as a recorder.
I miss my Bubba: 1986 - 2006.
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| 5 JAN 2006 at 6:13pm |
jalexSchattenjger
Posts : 2503
Joined: 5 MAR 2003
Status : Offline | I see your point but these to me are just things that might stop a game from being a perfect game but they are not things that stop a game from being fun to play. If a deveeloper looked into all these details would he have the time to put into the other parts of the game? I love realizm in a game but if that was all a game had I don't think it would be fun to play.
I thought these two games were very good even with the faults you mentioned. There are many others with more faults than these and a lot of them are things that stop the game from being fun to play and make the whole experiance nothing but hard work.
The point you made about realizm is a very important part of adventure games and probably one of the main reasons I play them though. When I see games that get too far away from it I don't enjoy them as well. This is also one of the reasons I don't like games that don't use a mouse for contol of all the doors, drawers and puzzles and things you have to manipulate in the games. Realizm is very important in my book and if we get too far away from it then all we have is a watered down shooter with nothing ro shoot.
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| 5 JAN 2006 at 11:29pm |
AndromusGuild Master
Posts : 5538
Joined: 6 NOV 2002
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Caroline, Supreme Goddess (4 JAN 2006 12:19pm)
now that I've stopped laughing...
Fickfack, my home town has a terrificly big cathedral organ. I've sat enthralled in very uncomfortable wooden chairs listening to a recital. Pure magic.
Here's the blowing chamber. Looks like an industrial site to me.
Great Scott! It looks like something out of Myst. [smiley=shocked.gif]
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| 6 JAN 2006 at 1:30am |
mszvPrivate Detective
Posts : 751
Joined: 12 OCT 2002
Status : Online | Wow - who knew!
That is so funny.
Now I'll be on organ alert!
Regards, mszv
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| 6 JAN 2006 at 2:41am |
| Deleted User | Originally Posted By Andromus (5 JAN 2006 11:28pm)
Originally Posted By Caroline, Supreme Goddess (4 JAN 2006 12:19pm)
Fickfack, my home town has a terrificly big cathedral organ. I've sat enthralled in very uncomfortable wooden chairs listening to a recital. Pure magic.
Here's the blowing chamber. Looks like an industrial site to me.
Great Scott! It looks like something out of Myst. [smiley=shocked.gif]
Amazing, isn't it? As far as I know, there's no instrument in Canada that can compare to that, although some come close. The big cathedral organs in England are really something special.
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| 6 JAN 2006 at 7:20pm |
CrapstormJourneyman
Posts : 829
Joined: 18 FEB 2004
Status : Online | I don't know. I've been told I have pretty impressive organ.
THANK YOU! DRIVE SAFELY!
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| 6 JAN 2006 at 9:19pm |
RevliskciPrivate Detective
Posts : 724
Joined: 9 NOV 2002
Status : Offline | Bah! You think a 200 metre guitar is impressive? Easily beaten by an organ piece that goes on for 693 years:
Organizers of the world's longest and slowest concert sounded a new chord Thursday, more than four years after the performance first began.
The John Cage Organ Project began performing the experimental U.S. composer's piece Organ2/ASLSP (or As SLow aS Possible) on Sept. 5, 2001 [ch8212] which would have been Cage's 89th birthday. The piece is being performed in the abandoned Buchardi church in the German city of Halberstadt, about 60 kilometres southeast of Hannover. The recital is scheduled to last until 2639.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/national/2006/01/05/cage-concert-longest.html
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