Thoughts - Building Consistency and DLC, Fallout: New Vegas

This article explores the various narrative links contained in Fallout: New Vegas and its' three DLC: Dead Money, Honest Hearts and Old World Blues. As these links have been implemented with verisimilitude in mind, certain spoilers about all three DLC, as well as the upcoming Lonesome Road DLC, cannot be avoided - read at your own risk.

Disclaimer: As this post discusses how DLC can (with a bit of forward planning) help build consistency and thematic cohesion in the game world, several examples are brought. Day-1 DLC, such as "Prisoner of Stone" (Dragon Age: Origins) or the "Gun Sonata Pack" (Bulletstorm) should not be considered as true DLC as their purpose is to serve as an incentive to steer buyers away from used game markets (since said DLC are one-use codes). Such content is usually (if not always) developed concurrent to the main game; therefore analysis towards narrative expansion is rendered inconsequential.

One of Ulysses' markings in Old
World Blues, these are common...

Concerning DLC, the vast majority of released meta-content (consisting of narrative expansions, such as additional quests, plot lines etcetera) is usually disconnected, or at least remote, from the main world's plot and narrative - a good example would be Mass Effect 2's "Kasumi - Stolen Memory"; while the DLC provides an interesting narrative, it is largely unconnected to the main plot.

Fallout: New Vegas and its' DLC, however, follow a (relatively) unexplored method of interactivity between the main game and subsequent released content: while the DLC's themselves are mostly self-contained stories, effort has been made to "tie in" their characters, story arcs and (in some cases) lore to each other, as well as to the main game.

Though their function is, thus far
unexplained (though speculated).

A good example is the character of Christine, first appearing in Dead Money; through various dialogue paths, the player learns that Christine is possibly a romantic acquaintance of Veronica Santangelo's, a party member from the main game and has ties to Father Elijah (Dead Money's main antagonist) who, via Veronica's various conversations, is revealed to have been instrumental to both characters' story lines.

What is even more surprising, however, is that Christine is also referenced in Old World Blues, where she was captured and experimented upon (thus the scarring the player character notices when she's first introduced), while hunting down Father Elijah; it is heavily hinted that the events in Big MT result in Elijah's eventual discovery of Sierra Madre (as again, several mentions are made - mostly via environmental cues - about Big MT's involvement in designing and equipping Sierra Madre).

Christine, first shown in Dead Money
is revealed to have visited Big MT.

This unusual approach is taken to its' extremes with the character of Ulysses; the mysterious Courier mentioned in the main game as the original courier in charge of the Platinum Chip, therefore instrumental in the player character's involvement with the events of New Vegas. Ulysses is hinted at having a grudge against the player character, a concept (presumably) resolved in the final New Vegas DLC, Lonesome Road.

Several mentions are made across all DLC, as well as at certain points in the original game, that combine into an overarching story line leading into Lonesome Road; both Christine and Dog (Dead Money) reference Ulysses in the DLC's ending slideshow, Joshua Graham (Honest Hearts) makes a passing remark during his first encounter with the player and finally, Old World Blues contains several environmental props, dialogue and audio-only cues hinting at his involvement with Big MT. and the Christine/Elijah conflict.

The Think Tank has some cryptic
info regarding Ulysses.

While using such foreshadowing techniques is not unheard of in games (good examples include the Citadel Keepers in Mass Effect and the FFVII "Holy" materia), it is a rare example of advance planning and good storytelling that DLC can not only expand, but also tie in with the existing narrative, in a display more commonly found in comic books (see continuity).

Ultimately, using said techniques serves as an example that with proper forward planning, the narrative can transcend its' static nature and gain a more believable and quasi-dynamic feel; this, in result, helps the player immerse themselves into the game world, thus enhancing their experience considerably.


Resources
========
* Fallout: New Vegas Wiki Page

* Old World Blues Wiki Page
* Honest Hearts Wiki Page
* Dead Money Wiki Page
* Ulysses (profile) Wiki Page

* Fallout: New Vegas Official Page

Thoughts - Expressions and Immersion

In my (gaming) conversations, I'll often carry on about immersion for hours, usually lamenting the lack thereof in modern games; in their quest for absolute visual fidelity, designers often rush past this small, but crucial part of game creation. Ultimately, this leads to a product that is visually pleasing, but will hurl the player out of the experience at every turn.

Stock-still characters with nary
expression nor emotion...

As an example, the recent Mass Effect games are a very good indicator of the priorities studios often set for themselves: in particular, Mass Effect 2 and the dialogue system. For the most part, the protagonist has one-on-one conversations with the various characters that populate the game worlds. This is where the first immersion rule is broken: the characters stand stock-still, never breaking eye contact with the player's avatar, droning their lines nearly devoid of emotion or (even worse) with voice inflections barely-or-not-at-all matching their animation.

...in quite a few places, as it turns out!

This is becoming increasingly common, as production studios grow and various aspects of development grow apart and more distanced from one another (in this case, voice acting and character animations). Worse, budget restraints often force artists to produce a few stock animations (calm face, angry face, happy face and a few variants thereof), so as to cut down on production time and, therefore, costs. This most often results in the aforementioned problem, with in-game avatars not quite matching their spoken dialogue.

L.A. Noire might be one of the first
games to "do it right"...

However, there are some conversations where Mass Effect 2 does make an effort to liven up; dialogue with Aria T'Loak at Omega's Afterlife Club springs to mind - here both characters converse in a more animated manner, often with gestures and subtle camera angles changing on a line-for-line basis. It is in parts like these that the game manages to convey a feeling of immersion, by fleshing out characters so they behave in a more believable manner, thus helping the audience (the player, in this case) suspend their disbelief and immerse themselves into the experience.

...if the PR releases are to be believed.

While there are no easy remedies to this problem, some companies have begun to invest in technologies that will, eventually, overcome the issue by giving far more advanced animation options to studios; Team Bondi/ Rockstar Games' L.A. Noire is such an example, using DepthAnalysis' MotionScan technique to more accurately convey character emotions via their in-game animations. It only remains to see how accurate this new technology is, though judging by PR material released, it's shaping up to be quite impressive.


Resources
=======

* Mass Effect 2 Official Site

* Aria T'Loak Conversation (YouTube Clip - Might contain spoilers)

* L.A. Noire Official Site

* L.A. Noire Trailer (YouTube Clip)