First of all, personal evaluation: I think Neil 2 can be regarded as a model of narrative games, a representative of qualitative changes caused by quantitative changes in technological progress, and a representative of important differences between games and other media.
The premise of this evaluation is that I think the purpose of Neil 2' s production is to tell a story that a producer wants to express with the existing mature game-related production technology and to make players think in a breakthrough way. I think Neil 2 has achieved this goal very well, which is why there is the above evaluation. What I want to discuss next is all about this goal.
First of all, Neil 2 has a good script. The advantage of this script is that it has delicate content in all directions at the same time. Including characters with strong personalities, plot lines with strong conflicts interwoven by large and small, background setting that seems to be second to none but actually solid, and multi-angle discussion on the essence of wisdom. Moreover, these complex contents are integrated together in an orderly way. The main line is used to create strong emotional conflicts and generate strong sense of substitution and empathy. The branch line is used to enrich the sense of substitution and cause thinking. At the end, the main line and branch line bring the feelings and thinking of the players to precipitate and detonate, and multiple themes are sublimated. The main line is good enough to hold up the skeleton of the game, and there are many branches, but each one is carefully designed and won't usurp the host's role. The background setting is slightly mysterious but it does have enough information and profundity.
But just one such script is not enough to be a good game. Because all kinds of techniques are needed to present the story, most games will have some technical problems. For example, most 3A productions are too complicated to use too complicated scripts, and complicated and exquisite scripts can only appear in RPG or AVG. Neil 2 not only has an excellent script, but also has almost no serious problems in the production technology.
The hard technology is mainly the expressive ability of 3d games. After the 3d era, the production technology accumulated by Japanese factories in the 2d era failed to transform into 3d advantages in time, so it was surpassed by European and American games in 3d expressiveness for a long time. However, with the maturity and lower threshold of 3d modeling, rendering and animation technology in recent years, and the accumulation of experience of employees, the unique delicate expressive force of Japanese factories is finally no longer bound by the previously stretched 3d technical level. Neil 2, as a 3d game, gives full play to the expressive force that 3d games should have. Whether it is the fineness of character models, the adjustment level of character animation modules or the construction of seamless scenes, it has properly achieved the performance purpose. At this point, the most intuitive ones are probably the protagonists 2B and 9S. The models, movements and sounds of these two characters are perfectly combined, and they are highly integrated, from the modeling design of the characters, the smiles in the movements to the emotional and tone expression of dubbing. This must be the result of careful polishing in the production process. This level of character expression ability is probably impossible for the Japanese production team ten years ago. This kind of picture performance is convincing enough for me to immerse myself in it, and I feel that it is a vivid and vivid world, and I will not play or spit in the process of playing because of the rough modeling or mapping, or the jitter and interpenetration of character animation caused by insufficient technical level. It is true that the character model and character animation in Neil 2 are not wronged when compared with many games with more advanced technology. There is no complicated physical hair system, the mapping is relatively simple, and there is not much complicated interaction between characters and the environment. However, for the performance purpose of this game, this is enough at present. Using more advanced technology may be icing on the cake, but it may lead to problems in the game production process and cycle. Neil 2 is a good example of how expressive the game can be by using more popular and mature technologies, and how to make a work down to earth.
Secondly, the soft technology, or the adjustment and polishing level of the director's level and details. I think Neil simply exists as a textbook. This should be divided into several aspects.
The core of director's means is audio-visual language, and Neil 2 is very careful in this respect. Almost all audio-visual in the game are carefully designed, and all details are polished around the purpose of how to immerse people in the game. My main feeling in visual aspect is the use of lens, which is probably the least easily perceived by the audience among several commonly used directing techniques, because it is essentially equivalent to replacing the audience's eyes, and the audience will not realize what changes their eyes will bring to their experience if they are controlled by others. Give a few examples in the next interview. In Neil 2, the character controlled by the player will receive wireless communication many times, which is also wireless communication, and there are many different performances in the game. If the player was in a state of free exploration at that time and the content of communication was not urgent, the lens would not be adjusted, which would not disturb the experience rhythm of the player. If it is an important plot node, the camera will be pushed closer to the characters to reflect the importance of information and the attention of the game characters. In some cases, the movement speed of the characters will be forced to change, and they can't run but walk slowly. There is also a part of the lens control is placed on the scene display. Neil 2' s game scene is not gorgeous, but with the elegant and simple ui, it has a unique atmosphere. The color scheme of this game does not use too high saturation, which may not be cool enough for people who like red and green, but it has a self-consistent theme beauty. It fits well with the background setting of the game itself. But how to show such a scene to the players in a beautiful form is a great test for the producers. Because composition is an important factor that affects whether a picture looks good or not, but in 3d games, the angle of view is freely controlled by the player, so many times the composition can't be completely mastered by the producer, and even the beautiful scene can't present enough beauty if the viewing angle is not good. But Neil 2 made a lot of efforts to avoid this. For example, when the system automatically adjusts the angle of view, it will try to lift the angle of view up, display as many distant views as possible, and create a sense of space and hierarchy. In fact, this is not conducive to the player's exploration and fighting, because it will make the player unable to see the road under his feet and the nearby enemy items clearly. Once the player enters the battle, the angle of view will be lowered again, reducing the difficulty for the player to manually adjust the angle of view. At the same time, convenient functions such as automatic pick-up and item location display are added later, so that players can pay more attention to the appreciation environment without spending too much energy on exploration. In the design of the scene, the game also gives full consideration to how to display it conveniently. For example, at the entrance of the rebel camp, the ruins of a building come out as a slope+waterfall, and then a shallow pool. On the whole, it is a very three-dimensional and layered scene. But as an open-world game, how can we ensure that players can see this scene from the right angle every time they come here? The method used by the producer is to enclose the scene with buildings, and only two roads are designed to come in, so that no matter which road the player comes from, the composition that the player sees is basically controllable. Some game techniques may be very advanced, and the artists are also very powerful, but after playing, they will think that the picture is very good, but they can't have a deep impression on a specific scene, probably because they didn't pay attention to how to show the players the most beautiful side of the scene.
the listening aspect is music and sound effects. Neil 2' s music itself is really great, and the atmosphere of the scene, the battle and the plot is obvious, but I have nothing to say. I am deeply touched by Neil 2' s technical handling of BGM. BGM in Neil 2 will transition seamlessly between different versions according to the situation. Typical examples are that the concert will become an eight-bit version when hacking games, the music box version of the rebel camp music, and the special handling of music by opening the system menu. These treatments give feedback to the player's operation while the music rhythm is not damaged, which obviously brings great improvement to the expressive force of the game. I can't help but think about why I haven't seen such detailed treatment in previous games. Is it unexpected or is it technically difficult?
Serious reminder and strong suggestion: If you want to experience the greatest touch brought by this game, don't touch any information related to this game except the previous game.
First of all, personal evaluation: I think Neil 2 can be regarded as a model of narrative games, a representative of the qualitative change caused by the quantitative change of technological progress, and a representative of the important difference between games and other media.
The premise of this evaluation is that I think the purpose of Neil 2' s production is to tell a story that a producer wants to express with the existing mature game-related production technology and to make players think in a breakthrough way. I think Neil 2 has achieved this goal very well, which is why there is the above evaluation. What I want to discuss next is all about this goal.
First of all, Neil 2 has a good script. The advantage of this script is that it has delicate content in all directions at the same time. Including characters with strong personalities, plot lines with strong conflicts interwoven by large and small, background setting that seems to be second to none but actually solid, and multi-angle discussion on the essence of wisdom. Moreover, these complex contents are integrated together in an orderly way. The main line is used to create strong emotional conflicts and generate strong sense of substitution and empathy. The branch line is used to enrich the sense of substitution and cause thinking. At the end, the main line and branch line bring the feelings and thinking of the players to precipitate and detonate, and multiple themes are sublimated. The main line is good enough to hold up the skeleton of the game, and there are many branches, but each one is carefully designed and won't usurp the host's role. The background setting is slightly mysterious but it does have enough information and profundity.
But just one such script is not enough to be a good game. Because all kinds of techniques are needed to present the story, most games will have some technical problems. For example, most 3A productions are too complicated to use too complicated scripts, and complicated and exquisite scripts can only appear in RPG or AVG. Neil 2 not only has an excellent script, but also has almost no serious problems in the production technology.
The hard technology is mainly the expressive ability of 3d games. After the 3d era, the production technology accumulated by Japanese factories in the 2d era failed to transform into 3d advantages in time, so it was surpassed by European and American games in 3d expressiveness for a long time. However, with the maturity and lower threshold of 3d modeling, rendering and animation technology in recent years, and the accumulation of experience of employees, the unique delicate expressive force of Japanese factories is finally no longer bound by the previously stretched 3d technical level. Neil 2, as a 3d game, gives full play to the expressive force that 3d games should have. Whether it is the fineness of character models, the adjustment level of character animation modules or the construction of seamless scenes, it has properly achieved the performance purpose. At this point, the most intuitive ones are probably the protagonists 2B and 9S. The models, movements and sounds of these two characters are perfectly combined, and they are highly integrated, from the modeling design of the characters, the smiles in the movements to the emotional and tone expression of dubbing. This must be the result of careful polishing in the production process. This level of character expression ability is probably impossible for the Japanese production team ten years ago. This kind of picture performance is convincing enough for me to immerse myself in it, and I feel that it is a vivid and vivid world, and I will not play or spit in the process of playing because of the rough modeling or mapping, or the jitter and interpenetration of character animation caused by insufficient technical level. It is true that the character model and character animation in Neil 2 are not wronged when compared with many games with more advanced technology. There is no complicated physical hair system, the mapping is relatively simple, and there is not much complicated interaction between characters and the environment. However, for the performance purpose of this game, this is enough at present. Using more advanced technology may be icing on the cake, but it may lead to problems in the game production process and cycle. Neil 2 is a good example of how expressive the game can be by using more popular and mature technologies, and how to make a work down to earth.
Secondly, the soft technology, or the adjustment and polishing level of the director's level and details. I think Neil simply exists as a textbook. This should be divided into several aspects.
The core of director's means is audio-visual language, and Neil 2 is very careful in this respect. Almost all audio-visual in the game are carefully designed, and all details are polished around the purpose of how to immerse people in the game. My main feeling in visual aspect is the use of lens, which is probably the least easily perceived by the audience among several commonly used directing techniques, because it is essentially equivalent to replacing the audience's eyes, and the audience will not realize what changes their eyes will bring to their experience if they are controlled by others. Give a few examples in the next interview. In Neil 2, the character controlled by the player will receive wireless communication many times, which is also wireless communication, and there are many different performances in the game. If the player was in a state of free exploration at that time and the content of communication was not urgent, the lens would not be adjusted, which would not disturb the experience rhythm of the player. If it is an important plot node, the camera will be pushed closer to the characters to reflect the importance of information and the attention of the game characters. In some cases, the movement speed of the characters will be forced to change, and they can't run but walk slowly. There is also a part of the lens control is placed on the scene display. Neil 2' s game scene is not gorgeous, but with the elegant and simple ui, it has a unique atmosphere. The color scheme of this game does not use too high saturation, which may not be cool enough for people who like red and green, but it has a self-consistent theme beauty. It fits well with the background setting of the game itself. But how to show such a scene to the players in a beautiful form is a great test for the producers. Because composition is an important factor that affects whether a picture looks good or not, but in 3d games, the angle of view is freely controlled by the player, so many times the composition can't be completely mastered by the producer, and even the beautiful scene can't present enough beauty if the viewing angle is not good. But Neil 2 made a lot of efforts to avoid this. For example, when the system automatically adjusts the angle of view, it will try to lift the angle of view up, display as many distant views as possible, and create a sense of space and hierarchy. In fact, this is not conducive to the player's exploration and fighting, because it will make the player unable to see the road under his feet and the nearby enemy items clearly. Once the player enters the battle, the angle of view will be lowered again, reducing the difficulty for the player to manually adjust the angle of view. At the same time, convenient functions such as automatic picking and object position display are added in the later stage.