Prey | Fictional Empathy
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- Опубликовано: 3 авг 2024
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To celebrate the one year anniversary of the channel, July 1st, I remade my first video, 'Discussing Prey's Metanarrative'. I had zero experience editing, recording audio, or writing these sorts of essays, so needless to say I've improved a lot!
See the original here: • Discussing Prey's Meta...
Prey's ending reveals a subtextual story that lines up perfectly with the real world motivation behind many aspects of the games design. This is a classic example of a metanarrative, and it elevates one of the best games I've ever played just a little bit higher, giving it the artsy edge that so many great games still fail to pull off so subtly.
The music in this video is from the Prey 2017 OST by Mick Gordon and Ben Crossbones
Happy anniversary! 
Игры
![NoCap - Maliboo [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/FUV7E0QyniU/mqdefault.jpg)
You can continue the conversation and play some games with us on the Discord! discord.gg/PVvXESU7WU
Invite machine broke
what do you think I proved when the first thing I did in the game throw myself into the helicopter blades at the start... three times?
discord link broken, the one on about page worked tho!
6:40
"Secondly, he has a russian voice and appearance. Not like any Mitchell I know."
And may I so bold as to ask what that shit was supposed to mean?
Thanks for the GIANT SPOILERS, without spoiler warning you prick!
Just spoiled the entire fucking game in the first seconds, fuck you!
I think you underestimate the number of gamers that purposefully do the moral choice in a game and not the "fun" one. Still great video
Agreed. You would be surprise about the amount of people who get engaged with games and actually reflect on their decisions, based on their experiences.
I can relate. I'm not saying that I never killed a bunch of innocents for the hell of it, but I definitely can't remember doing it. At the very least, if I did, I learned immediately that it wasn't as fun as immersing myself in the game like the dev's intended.
Agreed. I can't promise I'm always the nice guy, and there will be games where I replay on the darker side, but generally I play the main game as a nicer guy. Maybe I'll be a little sneaky, take things I can get away with, or throw a bucket over the head of someone 'deserving' it, but I don't find it hard to just leave the town be without inciting a riot or chaos. It really hurts in games like Skyrim, when an NPC decides to just idiotically jump in front of a fire spell and then get angry at me. I have to reload those kinda saves more often than one where I murdered a town.
Yup. Might just be because I'm a game designer but I always try to play according to the morals/ethics of the player character or my own. Accidents are fine but I do reflect on what I would actually do. It's usual the "bad" runs that make me hesitant. Clean hands in Dishonored was a lot easier for me to do because I'd already actively tried to do that in my previous runs than the high chaos run I did for the achievement. High chaos made me genuinely sick to my stomach at the end...
Yeah I always try to play morally. If a moral system is added I might replay as bad just to see a different ending but it usually is very uncomfortable.
>get locked in freezer by fake mitchel
>reload save back to a checkpoint before you replace the water system part.
>replace it before he mentions it
>listen to his voice line
>watch him punch in the freezer door code
>revert to previous check point
>punch in the code before he can
>listen to his voiceline "ITS LIKE YOU SEE AHEAD OF TIME! THAT MEANS... NO. NOOOOO!!!!"
>he is spooked af and you think this is amazing meta on the devs part
>he runs
>let him live
Wait really? That's so cool I have to try that
@@sugoha_2548 im gonna torrent prey again and record that part when i get to it.
I will also try and find other scripted sequences where I can interrupt the chain of events to see if the devs included other moments where the characters reference your blatant checkpoint scumming as percieved time travel.
@@fluffypinkpandas sure, i'd love to see that
@@fluffypinkpandas why torrent a game you clearly like?
@@Roi985 * does the Need Resources NMS gesture as a Gek *
I played the game under the assumption, that there's a hidden way to safe everyone, so I tried to kill as few as possible. In the End, I hoped to combine the possibilites: Shocking all the Typhoon with Alex' bomb, hopefully revealing all mimics, so the shuttle can be cleared and savely return, then initiate self-destruct to make sure nobody will later come to investigate and get attacked by recovered Typhoon.
My thought was to get everyone off the station after killing the typhon with the shockwave in order to preserve the station as evidence. I had recovered the whistleblower documents and shown Mikhaila her father's recording, and my ideal ending was to use those and the station as evidence against TranStar, Alex, and myself after getting trials started for Talos I's horrendous violations of human rights and scientific ethics. It was really funny hearing Alex congratulate me for seeing his side of things, as he thought I was using the shockwave in order to help him and preserve our work.
If you go all out, on investigating and trying to help others, then there is no reason to blow the station up. Bear with my vague memory of the events here, for I may be wrong. Others can leave, but you have a spare escape pod, remember? Arm the pulse, arm warhead, if pulse doesn't work, use warhead. However the game doesn't want you to arm warhead if you are choosing the pulse or vice versa because having a ready backup plan is bad. It also treats you as if you are sacrificing yourself if shuttle leaves though you still have the pod. Best ending should be - let shuttle leave, arm warhead, prepare pulse, get your ass and your brother to the escape pod, watch if pulse works out. If it doesn't, THEN blow the station and blast off in the pod. Maybe real Morgan did exactly all of that?
the true ending where you beat the giant typhon is the best though because typhon are not man made they WILL find there way to earth eventually we need to know everything we can about them and how to stop them just blowing up the station is like destorying one bee nest in your backyard and thinking another one will never form in your yard again
I thought: "Well if the null wave doesn't work I can always blow the station up. and anyway, if there's some other enemy, I can kill it, like I have every other Typhon on the station."
"just for the challenge"
me, screaming over one dead marine in halo:ha, i wish
Oh my god, yes xD
Returning to the Warthog you left for a couple minutes and seeing the gunner laying next to it in a pudle of his own blood, after you've been driving around the ring for almost an hour be like
"JEFF! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
I restart The Silent Cartographer every time a marine dies. I can finish it on Legendary without losing one. I love those guys
@@mis4vr877 That one marine in The Flood who shoots at you with a pistol if you enter the room and screams at you to stay out? I accidentally shot him on reflex the first time I played the game and was left just standing there looking at his body for about five minutes. I had to, there and then, come to terms that I'd just killed someone over a misunderstanding. I later had the opportunity to go back and listen to him, to understand why he shoots at you, but at the time I had difficulty getting over the fact that I'd just killed an ally.
And don't get me started on playing XCOM. Good lord I do not want those people even hurt.
@@Axquirix yeah, Halo CE really was something elsr
Me: *crying because I picked a rude dialogue option*
I dont want to alarm you but im pretty sure there a mimic in your room 15:46
M-My coffee? It's empty.
@@nobleradical2158 the label on the bottom left is moving xD
@@fuckologic1202 When the combat music plays and you can't see the enemy
*SpongeGar*
@@fuckologic1202 don't worry he's just referencing a line from the game
Cat, as well as all pack hunters, has mirror neurons. Particularly smart cats can recognise themselves too.
A human when hunting rarely hesitates when they see clear shot or opening present itself. And when they do, its rarely out of empathy.
When not in hunting mode most creatures have the capacity for empathy. There are just some creatures who are in hunting mode more than others. I've seen many cats show empathy, so that particular point really irked me.
@Terncote
If cats can compartmentalize like humans can, I'd wager the kinship would halt at the individual friend. IF the friend made a fuss the cat might avoid the friend's species, but that's also assuming a rat cares if it's species dies when it only knows they look the same.
The only time I killed someone in prey was by accidentally opening Dr. Igwe’s pod. I didn’t understand he was inside the thing and so It was too late once he started screaming at me. But I will say I genuinely felt concerned for the fictional characters safety and well-being in this game.
Same. Then i had to look for a save to reload. Goddamnit, i lost like ALOT of progress xD
The ending with the simulation was actually put into the game at the end of development
death of the author,
Art lies in the eye of the beholder.
For it, is irrelevant how important this ending is to the developers. The only thing that counts is the piece itself. And why this one change is so important for me and Leadhead is beautifully displayed in this video
The ending was my favorite part. I love the entire concept of an alien being brainwashed and put into multiple simulations until it gives the results the humans want.
@Sardonicus This would perhaps be true if an author who has placed themselves into a game never changes after that point in their lives.
The author that put themselves into that game is as dead as the author who didn't - because they don't exist anymore, not in the same way they might exist today.
The Byron that wrote his first poem was not the Byron that wrote his last, and both poems hold meaning influenced by him - but not defined by him.
@@sythersight That's completely meaningless. Artwork is a time capsule, who the author became later is irrelevant (unless you're George Lucas.)
@@aolson1111 Thanks for somehow agreeing with me and not at the dame time, I guess?
1:47 A small correction. Mammals in general are typically capable of empathy, even across species. The cat is theoretically able to empathize with the rodent, it's just willing to kill or torment it anyways. Cats are...a bit sadistic sometimes, especially bored ones. Cats have an instinct to hunt things, and a well-fed domestic cat can go a bit nuts since they no longer need to hunt to live. So, when they get the chance, domestic cats will kill prey simply for the joy of hunting and will relish it.
Added to my list of reasons to think cats are evil
@@cailleach8416 cats can't be evil. Orcas and seals also play with their prey. Animals can feel empathy, rage, envy or play with their prey. Majority of their time their actions are driven by instincts and needs though, by need to get something, just like ours. But only humans are capable of calculated evil or evil simply for the sake of it. And thus also of understanding it and resisting acting like that. To be evil, _or rather choosing not to,_ is one of distinguishing qualities of humans.
@@TheArklyte it was a joke, but yes
@@cailleach8416 and it was me blatantly using your joke to vent out my thoughts on the topic:P
@@TheArklyte understandable, have a nice day!
"Just for the challenge"
Me trying to do a high chaos run in dishonored: I'll just....kill....the target... butlikeIwouldntdothatdotheyreallydeservedeathImeanIdonteventhinkthatthecharacterwouldwanttokillthispersonandthisjustmakeseverythingworseandohmygodImkillingthempleasenoIcansolvethiswithoutanydeathlemmejustgobacktothatsaveandsparethisoneguyAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH
Many of the non-lethal elimination methods Dishonored offers are fates worse than death, such as Lady Boyle, whom you can place in the "care" of an obsessed stalker who will probably sexually assault her. But you do you, it's fiction.
@@blarg2429 Thats fair but I was actually thinking of Dishonored 2 when I was writing this. In that game your targets are mostly neutralized without subjecting them to worse than death stuff x3. Saving the crown killer for example.
@@techystar7625 Ah, I see your point.
Yea but in dishonored 2, 99.9% of the people in the street are horrible sadistic monsters according to the heart
true, when i try to go as non-lethal as possible, i still use the heart "just out of curiosity", and then i eventually kill half the population of karnaca because they are all so evil
I guess I'm weird, because I care about the fictional guards. Only shoot if I really have to.
Oh I totally do too, I was just trying to come from the perspective of the typical player
@@Leadhead Yeah, I know :) Good video!
Helmet Hair Same
pfp checks out...
im the weird guy who only plays for the best endings and looks everything up so i just kept grinding the same few areas till i had the skills to break the mind controll before meeting any controlled npcs
High quality content, loved the video man
@country baller psst, hey, nobody cares
That’s that terraria boy!!!
I think the biggest give away that the game isn’t a black and white quiz is the trolley problem at the start.
I knew I was in for something a bit different when that hit
Push the fat man
I feel the need to let you know, I definitely empathize with characters in videogames. I haven't gone on a murder spree in a game since Syndicate Wars on the PS1, in which I felt so very guilty for blowing up civilian buildings.
Maybe I'm a fluke, but there are those of us out there for whom virtual immorality still gives us pause.
That's the thing though, people have varying degrees of empathy... some have none.
Sherrif I have no empathy, I only helped certain people because I had feelings that they would either make things harder for me if I didn’t help them, in the end I made enough morally right choices for Alex to trust me, and that caused the death of he and everyone else because I killed them all at the end.
@@SherrifOfNottingham I feel like I empathize a lot with certain things, and then others I’m desensitized to, like violence but I feel if I saw it irl it would be a different story
With you.
It gives me pause. The factor that matters is the tone of the game, GTA is satire and built for you to just do ridiculous terrible things, hopefully with a guilty pang of self reflection that reminds you that you do have morals. It's essentially black humour, which I think has a place in our processing of morality.
If a game has a serious narrative, an essential part of processing that narrative is taking it seriously in return. If you dont meet it halfway, it can't possibly be as effective. What is the point of a thoughtful story if you don't actually reflect on the decisions you make in that narrative? In a good game the chaotic choices will have their own dramatic weight, and I think it speaks volumes that Prey was so successful at catering to those of both preferences, and even the crowd who just want to use cool powers and kill aliens.
I almost always do the "empathic" playthrough and tell myself I'll be an asshole when I replay and then I never do. I have done a few "grey" playthroughs of New Vegas though. Lots of stealing. Blank check for killing people like Fiends and the Legion. Stuff like that.
Exactly! I beat New Vegas about 5 times and could never bring myself to side with the Legion. My character is always the nicest in the universe unless dealing with rapists and slavers.
@@kseniav586 Lol yeah!
In New Vegas, being a nice guy benefits you. Not a very good example.
I did all the main quests without killing a sentient being, while sandmaning the shit out of the Strip in spare time)0
@@hauuagdbhshg3604 Ok that's a fair point! Which games do you think do the opposite (i.e. being a nice guy is not good for you?)
@@kseniav586 wasteland 2, for example. Every "thank you" you get in one place results in "fuck you" in another. And in many situations being an asshole is more preferable than not (in terms of own well-being), which makes being a good guy more like reward of it's own, not a way to get rewards.
I had a mostly "empathetic" playthrough. Mine was defined by two things not mentioned in this video. The first was a sense of propriety; you play as the boss of the station, it's your possession and your charge. I felt a need to manage the disaster and save as many of my men and as much of the materiel and research as possible. It would have been much more likely I'd just make a bee-line for the escape pod if I were just some guy on the station. The second thing was hope; I never assumed that I would have to destroy the station, I held out hope there would be another way and I was rewarded for it. I would have been far more likely to ignore the other humans if I was sure they'd die in the end anyways. There were a few times I broke from "empathy." One, when I deleted the records of what Morgan had done to that girl's father, mainly because I really could not risk her reaction during the crisis - she might have tried to kill me. Two, I threw a recycler in the murderer's escape pod after playing along to see his story arc, though I say that's just justice. Three: no, I am not going to look for your musical recordings during an alien outbreak on my space station.
Edit: I never considered there might be mimics on the shuttle because they were kind of stupid and easy to spot in the game - honestly I was disappointed by how easy they were to find. Also, in the credits sequence, they wondered if the reason I never installed neuromods was because I identified with humanity, but actually it was the practical concern that if I did find a way to destroy the Typhon, I didn't want to have any Typhon in me so it wouldn't kill me too.
Reading the comments, I've come to realize that the way I empathize with fictional characters isn't the majority state of mind. Many of us here do, yes, but there are a lot of players who don't immerse themselves in gaming narratives, developer made or self made. League of Legends is filled to the brim with people who only see mechanics and designs on the map , not people living in a strange and hostile world.
It's a damn shame so many people overlooked or refused to play this game because it wasn't that cyberpunk bounty hunter Prey 2 made by Human Head Studios
Because this game is boring and unfun and prey 2 was actually a prey sequel and not just using the prey name because Bethesda.
@@Bourikii2992 You kind of uh... proved the commenters point of people hating on Prey just because it isn't Prey 2.
@@Bourikii2992 you proved his point well done. Subjective opinion of boredom and no actual objective criticism.
Maybe stop saying the game is bad when it succeeds in everything it attempts to be.
@@stealthbrawler Nope it's objectively boring. It's bad.
@@Bourikii2992 "objectively boring" quite subjective since many people loved the game. Objectively, prey is an immersive sim that allows multiple choices, environmental interaction, mechanics interacting with one another and various endings while also offering environmental storytelling, a multitude of ways to solve problems and many things that are of worth of exploring that many games haven't had in years before it. Sorry you didn't get your action game. We got a damn good immersive sim in its place. Boo fuckity hoo
It was funny when I heard the robots and Alex telling me how empathetic and kind I was, despite them seeing what I did to Dahl in my playthrough on hard mode...
After knocking him out, I beat him with a wrench, dropped him down stairs, and then ended by piling heavy crates on top of him, and it was satisfying too.
God I loved the music from this game.
yes, mick gordon is a very talented artist
*_Unexpected to see you here, Breadman._*
Plays threw the game 100% empathetic doesn't take a single typhoon mod
Sitll attacks Alex at the end
That's how some people are.
11:20
Hol'up... I've finished this game like 4 times, never knew you could do that
Most shocking revelation in that video!
Another interesting tidbit is that if you take Alex's escape pod (the one in the arboretum) before the no life signs screen you can hear him say "this isn't the one"
Your friend’s an absolute monster. Mans killed the little sisters? I honestly couldn’t bring myself to do it in my run. I kid about the monster thing but geez
Ay more numbers for me
It's a video game, not a simulation of real life
I think the prey world was doomed from the start, assuming the simulation is mostly accurate, then the start confirms that neuromods were already distributed on Earth, so if the matter does have problems, then regardless of any actions on the station, neuromods still exist on Earth to cause the ending seen
What i think is really interesting is the fact that after the first playthrough (considering you got killed at the End) in the second playthrough you only choose to be empathatic so you dont die at the Ende making yoiu someone mimicing empathy just to stay alive
When I played code vein I intentionally went through the effort of the good ending the first time, so that ng+ would be shorter to get other endings, but I just couldn’t bring myself to get the bad endings
5:29 I freed him but then immediately knocked him unconscious and locked him inside the security office with a turret setup to defend him. The game doesn't recognize this of course but it felt like the best thing to do.
This reminds me a lot of Metro Exodus, and how the ending is affected by your actions in game in a very subtle way.
Yep pretty spot on, I remember joining the dark brotherhood in Skyrim at some point and I ended up with a contract to kill Nefi the homeless guy in Ivarstead who was driven mad with grief over the death of his sister. Let's just say I felt terrible after killing the guy that I reloaded so far back from where I joined the dark brotherhood that I lost a bunch of levels, gear and gold to undo what I had done. After that I've never joined the dark brotherhood instead I end up wiping them out of existence so yeah mirror neurons are quite a thing aren't they?
I did that when I made paladin Hardin the had of the Brotherhood of steel in fallout new Vegas and when I couldn’t make peace between the ncr and bos I reloaded and killed hardin
I loved the literal breaking of the fourth wall at the beginning of Prey, it hits different after you play it and realize that now you know what happens both you and Morgan break the fourth wall together on another playthrough
My ethical conundrum when playing this game is that regardless of me knowing it's a simulation, me being compassionate and empathetic means there is a small chance for the bloodshed to stop.
Cats do have mirror neurons. im not joking
Darn, this was good. I just got to add on a sidenote a thing about being kind to people who are going to die anyway. Everyone is going to die, so if you justify being cruel or mean by the reasoning that they are going to die anyway (such as torture before an execution) then that applies to mankind as a whole, both individually and as a species. Everyone is dying anyway, so empathy cannot be ignored on the basis of the impending death argument. If anything, it enforces the obligation for empathy. Because we are going to die, and because that will be traumatic and probably painful, the kindness and joy we experience on the way is made more important. If the end of the road is only horror, then the flowers growing along it become a thing worth holding on to and cherishing.
GREAT video man! Hadn't thought about this before! This just goes to show that Prey is a game that has so many hidden layers to it. A true gem of the immersive sim subgenre! One of the best in my opinion! :)
My favorite game in the past decade without a shadow of a doubt!
@@Leadhead Yeah, agree. I thought it was great and was rather slept on generally.
So untrue. How many people start mean play throughs only to end up picking the nice guy options?
Damn I didnt know the ending had an absolute 4th wall break meta ending as you just playing a game... Damn, I've wanted to see an ending like that for a long time. A potentially good cathartic ending that makes you feel and hope for the peace once you find out the truth, only for it to be a immersive VR simulation inside of a game you're playing. EXCELLENT JOB!
the stalker series makes me regret killing people, its kinda crazy how a game can make you feel empathy towards a bit of code and some voice lines
Kudos for this video. I just played Prey and you made a lot of very valuable points
there is a way of know what is a mimic and what isn't you have a scanner that will detect mimics why do people forget you have thoses
Just like a film, a game has to be one thing to make you empathetic.
Well made.
We can feel when art has been made with passion and care. We respond in kind.
I freaking love your channel and it really makes me realize how little I pay attention to story while I am playing video games. I catch on to the wave tops but I am too distracted by my need to be having fun to focus on what is happening with the story. Awesome video.
So is anyone else interested in the LORE of prey, like how if you check emails and logs you begin to see that January isn't actually focused on saving Earth?
"When you watch something like this"
(Show clip)
Me:.......................................Ow.....
ya know im reminded of replicant tests in blade runner where the examiner asks lots of very uncomfortable and morally compromising questions to determine if the subject is really human or a machine pretending to be human
but Rutger Hauer's portrayal of Roy Batty shows that replicants can be just as kind and empathetic if not more than actual humans. I like to think Deckard is a human as it would be very ironic that he has little regard for replicant life in contrast to Roy who values all life
@@princeali4157 yes indeed, and sequel they made recently called 2049 confirms that deckard is human, but the plot for 2049 got really weird with deckard having a kid with Rachael, and implications of replicants reproducing on their own or with humans
Why is “No Gravity” such a good song
This game was so good. I'm so pissed they it had poor sales. It seems, we won't be getting a sequel because of that
One of the most interesting Prey videos on RUclips. Thanks for your thoughtful, engaging essays, bud
I was blown away when I played Prey, such an incredible game. How it has slipped under the radar of gaming I will never know. A diamond in the rough.
i LOVE this video. the content is perfect and the editing is top tier. thank you for making it.
I love all your videos, but the last few ones, on god, no cap, they're something else
absolutelly great content
6:16 You can also use MindJack to non-lethally free mind controlled humans .
True, but you probably don’t have that this early in the game.
I was playing a psychopath Morgan from the very start but did so in a more realistic way. I only murdered if its the easier way out or if there was no greater benefit to myself from helping someone. Somehow fooled Alex into empathy that way and killed them all
This is why I like the game so much. You put my feelings into words nicely here
"just for the challenge"
me: unable to pick the mean dialouge options cause i'll hurt the npcs feelings
I literally played through ac brotherhood using only my fists to kill as few guards as possible because I felt they were innocent.
I played the game with the mindset that I was going to save the station from the get go.
I tend to make decisions in games the way I would in real life. This typically leads to me making the "good" choice, but not always. I made almost all of the empathetic choices, but did end up killing Aaron Ingram.
For one, he was accused of many crimes and he admits that at least some are true. Some of those crimes were pretty rough. Two, he offered a reward for sparing him which you can very easily get without his help. Three, you could get resources out of him. But four was the big one. I recognized the actor voicing him and mainly know him to play bad guys. No way I could let him live.
Also, you can scan for mimics. Taking the pod in the end should have been fairly safe.
...I usually do sympathize with fictional characters. I got the empathy ending my first try lol.
Great video. Very cool analysis, and very well put together video!
I LOVED this game. Played it through like 3 times. Felt like it was underrated. I think this video shows that there was a lot more to the game than people may have realized at first.
I love the last shot of this video. Beautiful
"we only do non-lethal playthroughs for the challenge"
Um.. I usually play the 'good guy' in most games?
Fantastic as always. I'm a little late to seeing this, but as always, top notch!
Now that you mention it I don't think I ever have saved and gone on a killing spree before in an rpg
4:50 _Allegedly_ his rap sheet.
"I can tell you its name is Steve and go like this"
*brakes the pen
The glass you smashed at the end should've had the subscribe button on it
I like how it's implied that the way the typhon made it to earth not because of Talos. But rather their moon base. After you complete the dlc ur character takes a shuttle home and the last scene reveals there was a mimic on board.
I'm extremely empathetic, to the point I refuse to kill certain people trying to kill me in fiction, for reasons like "I'm a thief, it's their job", or "They have a family, it's the one forcing them to do this that needs to be stopped".
I'm not naive, I know just how much can go wrong from sparing someone with malicious intent. Yet, I want to believe in humanity. That if given mercy, and the right help, things don't need to end in tragedy.
We're all born with potential for great good. Even if we fuck up a lot, even if some people ruin lives, there is *always the chance to stop and redeem ourselves. Atoning for our sins is never too late.*
In space, nobody can hear your addiction.
15:34 perfect transition and a really good video on Prey (2017.). Finished it two days ago after not playing it for half a year and I can't wait to revisit it on PC, alongside the Mooncrash DLC. Great game!
This makes the game more interesting than most explanation I've seen so far. Great choice on narrative perspective!
In a way I think the discussions about this game are way more interesting than the game itself.
As someone who tries to factor in empathy to video-game experiences, there is a fundamental difference between the life-value of a normal NPC and a Bethesda NPC
I'm the complete opposite when it comes this. I feel guilty when I have the chance to make the right choice. I think it is a good exercise in morality in real life to work towards making the right choice in the game world.
Ironically I always play morally. For example, in shooter games if my teammates die I reload a checkpoint and try to save them even though it has no practical advantage.
It feels good to do good, even in a fictional setting, at least for me.
In MGS5 I feel bad when I have to kill someone after interrogating them to not raise any alarms. They are always like "I don't wanna die" or "I told you everything please let me go". When I can I'll just extract them then discharge them from my base if they aren't good enough or leave them weaponless on the ground if no one is around, but if I'm about to be spotted I'll kill them and drag the body away. It also doesn't help when you stab them the game makes a "you did a bad thing" kinda sound.
I really fucking enjoyed Prey, what a masterpiece, your video also increased my respect and gave me goosebumps, cheers mate, well done.
While i do nearly always play as the "good guy", i cant help but wonder if that is:
A) because i genuine empathy for the characters that would be effected by my actions.
B)because i know that that is the canonical story in most games.
C)because i know game designers typically design around a challenge-reward loop where a greater challenge leads to a greater reward later.
unless i can separate out these choices i cant really say if i'm genuinely empathising with the characters or not.
Holy Crap. I am very faint-hearted and thus can't stand to play many of the games you present here. Your videos do a fantastic job by letting me explore their stories, concepts, meanings or design choices without putting the psychological stress of playing on me. Thank you!
My cat could distinguish what was a toy mouse and a real mouse and would never hurt my mice and hamsters. She would let them play around in her fur and run under her paws while calmly watching them. My cat even loved watching my birds and I would take them out each morning and she liked to gently pet them on their head with her nose. I can't say the same for my other cats they will try and play with them the first chance they get and it can turn deadly.
my bi yearly visit to this video is complete. I'm so glad i found this channel
Wow.
Seeing this video having only 1.1k views gives me conniptions™
Amazing video.
Great video, keep it up!
it's not just for the challenge, if I'm playing a game super focused, especially one that humanizes everyone, then I often play with my real empathy
cool vid! obviously you don't have time to fit all of them in the video, but the one that hit me the hardest was choosing whether or not to save the asshole engineer who fucked up all the escape pods who's trapped in the launch tube with the innocent woman.
7:41 "Upon looking in the freezer, it's revealed that Chef Mitchell was only several victims of his."
Chef Mitchell was... a very large man.
This is probably one of my favorite videos, I've watched it many times. Prey is such an incredible game I really wish there was more like it other than Bioshock and Systemshock.
the dishonored games are very similar in spirit to prey. the levels are more linear in nature, and the story in prey is fairly limited, but it's the same game mechanics. you still get to do various choices which have an actual impact on the game.
I kinda wanna play this game now.
Personally, I feel I have too much empathy to people in games, I've play Fallout 3 and New Vegas countless times now, and in FO3 I always do the good rout, and in NV, I can't bring myself to kill the BOS because of how they treated me in FO3 (I've only gotten the yes man ending, and NCR ending)
I mean, if someone is portrayed as the obvious villain, I'll kill them, like raiders, but if they show some common human decency, or have a good reason to be doing what they're doing (Benny honestly thinks the strip is better of without Mr.House, as he tells you how to get the Yes Man ending when he's in Caesars tent) I can't bring myself to kill them.
Also, I've cried at FO3s ending 3 times, and choke up every other time, so if you ever feel like an idiot, just remember this.
If you've played dishonored, it carries in a similar fashion in mechanics. If you haven't, that's another one worth looking into
@@jakass I like doing non lethal playthroughs in dishonored since I don't think Corvo or Emily would want to kill any of the guards since they are just doing their jobs, the targets are another story though
@@piemaniac9410 Most of the times non-lethal elimination of targets felt to be a punishment way worse than death tbh. That's why I liked it. Like bringing an unconcious woman to a rather creepy stalker who assures you that you won't hear from them ever again.
@@okbVinyl Didnt that person end up getting sent to a mine or something similar?
@@piemaniac9410 I always just end up doing one of each. One for the challenge of not killing anything, and one just for the fun fast paced action to remind me these games can do both well. Albeit, the long portions in Prey felt quite a bit longer, but I still enjoyed it
The ending is a simulation, it flickers just like the opening for a split second.
Great video. Recently played and thoroughly enjoyed.
When I play DEUS ex: mankind divided, I typically play stealth nonlethally, but I do switch to guns in emergencies, and when I have serious moral qualms.
For instance, when I found the neon (drugs) manufacturing hideout, I killed everyone there, and destroyed the machines, so that they couldn’t make drugs anymore, and people wouldn’t be hurt by it.
just a small note on the example with the cats:
i think they do know the difference of being alive. I had tw cats who constantly fought until one had a stroke that left it quite severly paralized.
the other started caring for it and keeping it company more, and one day didnt leave her side: that was the say she died.
i think a lot of animals have empathy, they just dont extend it to other species, maybe to their owners, but certainly not their prey (pun actually unintentional, wow).
what an awesome video, why haven't I seen it before!
On my first run, I tryed to save everyone, because even though the game said that I have to destroy the station, I thought there had to be a way to save everyone.
I tryed, but this Ingram guy decided to run inbetween a Phantom and my turret. They said at the end that I killed him ... still got the empathy ending.
I feel like my morality varies in video games cuz one day I'll shoot everybody I see and the next day I'll spend 3 hours making sure nobody dies
Out of all games, one of the only games I've ever played where I genuinely can't bring myself to kill my allies is Just Cause 3. I remember this one time, when I found a car that had a rebel in the gunner seat, and my first thought was "I'm gonna strap some boosters to the back of this, drive it up to a high point, and shoot her off into the distance. So I rigged the booster C4 up, marked a waypoint, and started driving. Only, while I was driving, the rebel started talking. She spoke of how, when she was a little girl, her family had been imprisoned and killed during the brutal takeover of the dictator. She spoke of how, after she watched her brother get executed in front of her, she ran away, and eventually found the rebels. She spoke of how the rebels took her in, trained her, and made her able to fight against the authority which now ruled over the island with an iron fist. And, as I listened to this, I slowed down the car. Before this point, I had only ever seen the AI as dumb lumps of polygons that would respond to me flinging one of their allies in to space with a tether with a "Rico, you are my hero!", and on occasion resort to some truly awful pathfinding. But now, this random rebel who I had fully intended to launch off a cliff had made me entirely rethink this. I actually cared about her. I spun the car around, and drove her back to her base. Any time I saw a rebel past then, I made sure that I didn't accidentally bring any harm to them. When I fought side by side with them in combat, I knew I could take many more shots than they could, so my first priority was making sure they stayed alive. All that had to be done to make me actively want to keep these AI team-mates alive, was to let me just hear that they were a person. I would not lose anything if I killed them, I could probably use them as just expendable firepower, it most likely would have been entertaining to watch the car they were in fly off and explode, but instead, from some voice actor recording a few extra minutes of lines, I started to think of them as a real person. That is something I will always remember.
I played rdr2 for 30hrs without realizing I could daze scum, it definitely made me weigh my actions much more than I did after finding how to save
Always have empathy for the good people in choice games and no matter what happens or who dies you get the good ending, unless you have to go to a certain place at a certain time
Are you sure the biggest difference between them and us is mirror neurons? Because I can think of some more apparent differences.