oh tell me more about your Italy trip, Trip...

Sep 16, 2013 by

so, in the hour I had to play around with Facade, I tried out three strategies: Touch and provoke my hosts as frequently as possible. Because when do I get to act on these sociopathic urges in real life? Honestly try to invest serious effort with a tragically mismatched couple. As other players may have pointed out, trying to steer conversation into a new direction is usually met with the kind of “uhhs” and “hehes” that dissolve so many real life conversations(that much had a certain pang of truth to it..).  A common criticism seems to point out the lack of meaningful dialogue possible between the player and the hosts, but I guess a sneaky justification for the flat AI is this: Grace and Trip are simply not all that interested in what you have to say....

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Response to Facade

Sep 16, 2013 by

Facade is a game that I had encountered a few years ago. I don’t believe I’ve ever played it but I did read other people’s reviews of it (most of which were mocking or frustrated) and watched a few playthroughs of people on Youtube trying to get the characters to do various ridiculous things. By the time we got to it in this class though, I’d forgotten most of my knowledge about the game and it wasn’t until I saw a picture of the characters that I remembered anything about it. Considering the year it came out, I can see why this game was though of as kind of a groundbreaker. The characters really do respond to the player’s words and actions if the words were carefully chosen and the sheer number of possible...

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Thoughts on Facade

Sep 16, 2013 by

Façade is an interesting game in so far as it allows one to experiment with different approaches while trying to tackle the relationship problems of Grace and Trip. One need only patience and tact to accomplish this. I spent most of my time either agreeing with one or the other and typing lots of simple messages, things like: “you need to talk it through”, or “I am your friend!”, or trying to convince Trip that there’s no need to be trippin’. I thought it was rather funny how Grace tells Trip that she knows he’s been frequenting that bar on the corner, he acts like its something to be ashamed of, or when she drops the bomb about her having continued to paint in secret, next she’ll tell us that she’s also been taking dance lessons behind Trip’s back, these are...

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A Novel A.I. Game Too Premature –...

Sep 16, 2013 by

Upon first hearing about facade, I was romanticized by the idea of revisiting a favourite childhood book genre. Promises of a “choose your own plot” story, coupled by the digital age’s gaming angle spiked my interest radar. I resolved to leave this nugget of homework for last of all, as beginning with it might leave me ensnared an unwilling to look at biology’s dull intro chapters. When I could finally play facade, I discovered the epitome and embodiment of tragedy. Ironically it was found not in the tragic plot but rather in the experience of the game itself. The first playthrough dashed most of my hopes. My notebook was poised and dated, ready to record all my responses, though Facade was drastically different. It felt like watching a movie that slowly morphed into the...

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Façade

Sep 16, 2013 by

Façade: This game can really get you. You think you can control the game since you are the player and you get to talk to the characters but the truth is there is no WINNING in this game. You can act like a real friend, you can listen to their complaints, you can be apologetic, you can say no to all their negative questions but at the end, either you will get kicked out of their flat, or one of them will leave, leaving you behind. Every time I play this game, it leaves me with a sick stomach. Despite the comic-like graphics, it is voiced by real people, so it seems real. Few issues between Trip and Grace are revealed through their conversations: 1. Grace does not like her family but Trip keeps planning family...

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Greetings!

Sep 16, 2013 by

I’m Cynthia Mo and this will be my third year at Cap. At first, I thought that this course would be kind of dull and I only took it to keep my writing skills from deteriorating and to hopefully boost my GPA. Boy, was I ever glad to find that it will be very much the opposite. I’m not much of a gamer mostly due to a lack of disposable cash, but I lurk around tumblr in my spare time so I sometimes encounter reactions and opinions about popular games. I like reading (books, webcomics, manga included), listening to music, and being lazy. I don’t like loud noises, the stupidly winding route my bus takes to get to Cap, and things that scare me. Aaand, that’s kinda of it for my introduction....

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