Comments on: Fixing “No Russian”

By: Nels Anderson

Nels Anderson — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:19:26 +0000

I'm not sure about the former suggestion (as in I'm genuinely not sure, not being skeptical), but completely agree with the latter. I suggested the same myself. I think I might well be adopting "Makarov's Bullet" as a term for all constructs of that nature. I mean, we've got Chekov's Gun, so why not?

By: Tom Insam

Tom Insam — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:16:57 +0000

The other problem with that way of ending the level is that it could reasonably be applied at _any_ point. Take the previous game. The last sequence played as the Marine is totally pointless, because _whatever_ you do, you get nuked. So you could just truncate the entire marine campaign at the first death of that player without meaningfully impacting the overall story at all.

This is someone else’s point, but I can’t remember where from, so I’m taking it. This isn’t your story. Infinity Ward are telling _their_ story, and you have to play along with it. If you don’t die in the way that their story has you die, then you failed, and have to try again.

For some reason I’m flashing on that bit in Monkey Island 2 where you can die by being dissolved in acid. Then it cuts back to Guybrush, and you’re reminded that the whole thing is actually a flashback. So.. er.. ok, he made that bit up. Here’s what _really_ happened..

By: James Wheare

James Wheare — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:08:36 +0000

That bit in Deus Ex really annoyed me. And for the same reason Tom A’s solution does. It leaves a section of the game unplayable within the current mission flow. i.e. without playing through again or using the mission select.

I hadn’t considered Makraov’s magic bullet a particularly jarring occurence, and I don’t think barring gameplay is a worthwhile tradeoff.

What annoys me most about this mission is that I’m still left confused as to Shepherd’s motives for sending Allen in in the first place. Was it just supposed to be the first step in a wider series of undercover missions, purely to gain Makarov’s trust? What about Makarov? had he always planned to blame the massacre on the Americans and Sheperd gave him the opprtunity on a plate by sending in an undercover agent? Or, in light of later betrayals, was this Shepherd’s plan all along?

The confusion is only compounded by the whole “No Russian” thing. It spoils the genuine shock of being uncovered at the end, which feels more like the second shoe dropping. “Aha” in place of “What the?”

So in addition to your suggestions, the mission needs a little reframing. Keep the ambiguous tone of Shepherd’s intro voiceover and remove the jarring flashing arrows that only diminish the gravity of the final scene.

By: Phl

Phl — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:41:37 +0000

Marakov’s magic bullet even works if you have run away down the corridor and hidden in an alcove. Zomg hax!

By: Tom Insam

Tom Insam — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:35:46 +0000

I’m reminded of that bit in Deus Ex, when you’re trying to rescue your brother. You can save or leave him, of course, and this changes the later plot/missions a little. But (and it’s been a while, so I’m hazy on the details here) it also included your narrative trick. There were further objectives to follow once you’d done it, culminating in a pretty much one-sided firefight against Gunther and dozens of extras that I’ve never got past, but none of that mattered, because if you got killed at any point after meeting your brother, you’d then wake up in jail. You could keep going for a while, but you’d die eventually.

Am I mis-remembering? My deus ex is in a shipping container with the rest of my life, so it’s hard to check…