I’m glad a thread like this has popped up because I’ve been thinking about this a fair amount over the past month or so, especially in relation to Shenmue. I remember quite recently in particular constantly getting on at Ryo through my playing the game about how his communication was less than stellar.
But then, I had my own things happen and suddenly I got it. You do almost fall into a default state of very short answers. Everybody is constantly trying to make sure that you’re doing okay and you’ve got all of these different tasks to accomplish while people are just kind of...getting involved and giving you advice and you appreciate the good intentions and everything but at the same time you have a feeling of “Can everyone just let me get on with what I’m trying to do?” now granted, my tasks weren’t avenging a death. But I suppose you can read into it metaphorically if you really wanted to.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m still not 100% on board with the concept of this being completely intentional. But I guess one of the good things about games like these is that when there’s so much room for your mind to explore different possibilities, you can kind of read into the blank slate how you like.
Still, it’s made me look at the game in a new light and sometimes a change in your own circumstances can do that. And y’know what, maybe from now on I’ll go a little easier on Ryo and his lack of social grace. He’s going through quite a bit.
