Time to Visit Yokosuka - Game Invaders: The Theory and Understanding of Computer Games - page 128

• Interrupted PSASs with diverse outcomes (QTEs).
• Hiding PSASs in the old warehouse district.
There is even a game in the amusement arcade where we can practice our rapid
response skills for QTEs.
We can see that PSAS, miniature cut scenes and cut scenes proper play an
important role in the gameplay of Shenmue. Now we will think more about Shenmue
as a story.
INTERACTIVE STORYTELLING?
In Shenmue, narrative is at the very heart of the basic units of gameplay as we have
clearly demonstrated in the previous sections of this chapter. Agency is rewarded
with narrative fragments. Multiple acts of agency are rewarded with the buildup of
more and more of these fragments all of which in their own way contribute to the
narrative potential of the game. Unlike typical shoot -' em - ups and sneak -' em - ups ,
narrative components are not simply used to frame individual levels or major subsec-
tions of levels. Narrative components are integrated into the game through the
exercise of agency.
One of the consequences of this interplay of agency rewarded by narrative frag-
ments is that the game can use extended cut scenes to introduce more substantial
narrative material without interrupting the fl ow of the game. We are simply getting
a bigger reward. Cut scenes can also be introduced for other reasons than agency.
The ambiguity of the meaning of the red A in the game space is part of Shenmue.
Although it always indicates an opportunity to exercise agency, the reward for exer-
cising that agency is not predictable. It is also an unrealism— a specifi cally designed
infi delity. The red A attractors offer interesting possibilities, which help to establish
narrative potential.
The streets and byways of Dobuita, for instance, offer a spatial maze, in much
the same way as does a traditional s hoot -' em - up , but the true conceptual labyrinth
(Murray, 1997) of Shenmue is a social one. There is an entangled web or rhizome
of social interconnections that we have to uncover in order to progress and make
sense of the quest Ryo has embarked on. There are a number or benefi cial routes
through this social maze and a subset of the opportunities offered by the red A act
as way-fi nders, which only become apparent through social interaction. At any
moment we are offered a number of potential red As, constant and multifarious
choice points.
Narrative potential arises from the juxtaposition of POs, the basic units of
agency. In Shenmue we are constantly confronted by choice points. We are almost
overwhelmed by choices and spend a lot of time in the beginning knocking on doors
and talking to everyone before we realize that our interactions need to be more
structured. The only people worth talking to once we have gotten going in the game
are the people whose names we are given as maybe having something useful to say
to us.