Jun 27th '08, 04:47
Hmm. I haven't seen the real Saw movies (just parodies thereof). I see some similarities, but isn't Jigsaw an out-and-out antagonist, who wants his victims to die? That may be appropriate for this terminal, but not Durandal in general.
As for the emotion, and motivation, it's quite a balancing act. Durandal should either be melancholic, angry, or jealous, because he's rampant. Yet he should also be sarcastic and smug, because that's what comes through in many terminals. And on a third hand, he could be emotionless, being an artificial intelligence. Trying to throw all of these in a one minute monologue would probably make him come off as schizophrenic, which might actually please other viewers who think of Durandal as just plain crazy.
I went for specific sentences being sarcastic, and a melancholic demeanor in general, and I've heard both that he's too happy to be melancholic, and that he's not smug enough. So one thing I conclude from this project is that, the process of converting the written word into an animated performance that's spoken and acted out requires enough interpretation that it may disagree with other people's interpretations, even if the script is identical. It's not unlike a director's vision in making a film out of a novel. Of course, I'd like to please everyone, but it just doesn't seem possible in this case. That realization gives me a certain degree of freedom, by recognizing that going with my own interpretation is the best I or anyone can do.
I suppose the litmus test, then, is: if Marathon: Durandal or a similar Marathon remake game came out, with all the terminals done this way, would you the Marathon fans accept terminals done this way? Would it leave a bad taste in your mouth that the performance just wasn't right, or would you admire the game for its willingness to do terminals in a fresh way that requires interpretation by the game developers?
P.S. beware that Pfhorsome's second link uses javascript in a way you may find annoying.