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From: buzzard@world.std.com (Sean T Barrett)
Subject: Re: Quick reactions to games [spoilers for Photopia]
Message-ID: <GB26Lp.B5r@world.std.com>
Date: Sat, 31 Mar 2001 11:01:01 GMT
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David Thornley <thornley@visi.com> wrote:
>Do so.  There is no such thing as a typical Cadre game, any more than
>a typical Plotkin game.  The stuff that seems to bother you most
>about Photopia is generally not there in his other games.

On the other hand, there are elements that are typical of Cadre, and
if those elements are the things that irk you, it could be a problem.
The one I am most aware of is that Cadre often does things which (to
me) ruin mimesis/immersion.  Shrapnel with 'restart'; Photopia with
its reduced "interactivity"; 9:05 in hindsight; PacMan by
its focus on communicating a *different* experience from the
original. I imagine people will disagree, but even Varicella
forced me away from the character, both by constant implication
that the character had knowledge I did not (the 'master plan'),
the need to reload and retry due to time constraints, and perhaps
just from the clearly-drawn character whose mindset I couldn't
get into.

SeanB
I may have posted this before; if so I apologize for beating a dead horse.
