The Inconsistent Harmony: 5 Examples of Ludonarrative Dissonance in Video Games - Article
by Issa Maki , posted on 21 June 2022 / 16,557 Views
I finally have a proper designation akin to what I've always referred to internally as 'the line that must be crossed' or 'The Line', for short – ludonarrative dissonance – the separation from a video game's story in relation to its gameplay. Why isn't PETA all up in Mario's grill for jumping on turtles and killing fish, or charging Samus Aran with the extinction of the Metroid species? Ever notice how fire has that habit of making bosses in Resident Evil stronger? Read on my friend, for I endeavor to imbue you with the ability to engage in basic queries concerning the concept, including: 'Does ludonarrative dissonance have any relevance in my everyday life?', 'Can I see your identification a second time?', and the far-too common 'Will you stay away from me, please?'
It's difficult to pinpoint the origins of this inconsistency between what we're told versus what we experience. I'm reminded of analogues from television, such as the blatantly theatrical nature of professional wrestling or the 1980s Transformers cartoon. Why would Decepticon leader Megatron turn into a gun, then choose to be wielded by Starscream – by far his most treacherous and untrustworthy subordinate? And how can he shrink? When we turn the focus to video games, Mortal Kombat comes to mind: while the adults were busy creating the E.S.R.B. (which is no stranger to incongruity), we were in the living room laughing as characters exploded into piles containing superfluous amounts of limbs and ribcages – an obvious graphical limitation meant to heighten the carnage. So, in honor of these bizarre gray areas many of us have called home, here are my five favorite examples of ludonarrative dissonance in video games.
The Fourth-Wall Crisis – The Matrix: Path of Neo
A forgotten grandchild of the movie series, Path of Neo came too late in the franchises' lifespan to register on the radars of many. Though clunky and rough around the edges by today's standards, those who took the plunge were treated to the game Enter The Matrix should have been. Featuring an alternate 'What If?' version of the trilogy's general story, Path of Neo contains one of the most infamous instances of ludonarrative dissonance; not for its inconsistency, but ironically for its desire to be more consistent as a game.
Recognizing that the ending of The Matrix Revolutions wouldn't work as a serviceable finale for a video game, the Wachowskis came up with a solution: change it! In a cut scene taking place within the Construct, the Wachowskis (in pixelated stick figure form) load into the program and simply explain the situation: adherence to the established story line would be anti-climactic, unrewarding, and disrespectful from a player's perspective. Their solution? A massive fusion of Smith clones and pieces of debris into a giant 'MegaSmith' for some 'Hulk versus Galactus action'! I won't spoil the outcome (and you wouldn't believe me if I told you), but anyone curious should head on over to YouTube.
At the very least, watch the introduction for Lana's incisive rant concerning the deeper meaning behind the movie's original ending; it explains the overall themes of the sequels more clearly in 18 seconds than $300,000,000 worth of film footage ever did.
Drake the Mass Murderer – Uncharted
I think of Uncharted as a 'light' or 'low stakes' style of fiction. Similar to movies like National Treasure, The Mummy, or Ocean's Eleven, bad things happen to the protagonists in Uncharted, but it never feels permanent and very rarely does it seem like the cast is truly in jeopardy. Standing in stark contrast to this, however, is the body count of the opposing forces that can be measured in battalions.
According to my PS4 version of Drake's Fortune, Nathan has killed approximately 3,987 enemy combatants. Now, I've beaten the game a few times, but there are also four other games to consider and three of those had multiplayer modes. Nathan Drake isn't some likeable, amiable 'dude' – he's a homicidal maniac! What's even scarier is that A Thief's End includes a trophy called 'Ludonarrative Dissonance' for killing 1,000 people; one I unlocked over six years ago, despite claiming to have been introduced to the term only recently! Why did I miss it? Because I was too busy busting caps!
Disturbingly, this example is where ludonarrative dissonance starts to manifest itself in the real world. Uncharted is a Teen-rated video game series, to which I pose a question: in a country that's had over 250 mass shootings in 2022 alone, does it make any sense to reward players (especially minors) for killing people? Because we should all be settling our differences via cuisine-based competitions, using theme ingredients that complement the regional styles of our specific disciplines.
The Invisible Girl – The Last of Us
A conscious response to Uncharted's cavalier attitude towards the value of human life, Naughty Dog demonstrated its maturity as a developer by making a small but very crucial gameplay decision that would have a profound impact on The Last of Us. It ruins some of the illusion, but it's out of respect to the player, emphasizing the fact that this is ultimately a game, not a movie.
During combat, NPC allies like Ellie are essentially immune to enemy detection while Joel is in stealth mode. On the one hand, this looks completely ridiculous when your friends stand up next to soldiers or infected with no acknowledgment from those actively searching for them. But if you've ever played Uncharted and had Sully or Elena blow your cover (only to be rubbed out in two shots), dying because it wasn't your fault loses its novelty real fast. More than that, once Ellie becomes an active participant during encounters, her pseudo-invisibility appears to augment her prowess, getting the drop on enemies she probably shouldn't have had an advantage on.
It must have killed Naughty Dog to injure the immersion of the narrative by making this choice, but after a Brutal playthrough of Drake's Fortune and being roughly 80% through Grounded in The Last of Us, I just have to say: thank you (but pretend I said it in Klingon).
The False Saviors – Xenosaga: Episode I – Der Wille zur Macht
One of my favorite examples of ludonarrative dissonance comes from a game very near and dear to my heart. I have yet to see a greater disparity in a character's power level between the cut scenes they're in versus their actual utility than in Xenosaga.
Without delving into the lore, battle android KOS-MOS is humanity's last hope against an alien threat called the Gnosis, while her understated counterpart chaos serves an equally vital purpose. Their powers are biblical in origin and cosmic in scope; when chaos is introduced, he effortlessly disintegrates a Gnosis by simply touching it (with a gloved hand, no less). Some time later, KOS-MOS demonstrates an inherent ability to absorb thousands of Gnosis in the blink of an eye. Unfortunately, they haven't heard of a 'tier list' before, because in-game neither place highly in the overall rankings.
Two major keys for success in Xenosaga: Episode I are physical attacks that hit multiple enemies and having a high speed value. Of the two, chaos fares the best; his speed is decent, he has good support abilities, and has a leg up against Gnosis (the primary enemy type). However, his ether-based damage is outmoded about halfway through the game, keeping him from placing any higher than middle of the pack.
KOS-MOS flat out sucks. Alongside the second lowest base speed, she also boasts a weak Ether (Mana) pool, lacks multi-hitting physical attacks, is unable to pilot a mech or equip bathing suits (missing an experience bonus), and has an underwhelming skill tree. If she's not the worst character in Episode I, she's a deadlock for the second to last. There's much about KOS-MOS' design that eludes me, but it's the garter belt that gets me every time: would mankind's savior truly dress so naughty? Because I like to think that she would.
The Protagonist-Approved Pandemic – Resident Evil
Let's be honest, it's not hard to poke holes in the narrative balloon of Resident Evil. Chief acolyte of the 'fire makes things stronger' motif, I've always been curious as to who (or what) is taking the bodies away when you leave a room and then come back. But in the Resident Evil games I've played, almost none of the main characters actually succumb to the pandemics that break out over the course of the series, even those that became legitimately afflicted; it's usually a matter of shaking the First-Aid Spray (or whatever it is they're doing with those herbs), and that's all it takes.
With the possible exception of Steve Burton (whose cast billing is questionable), exposure seems to be selective and of surprisingly minimal concern to everyone. For an airborne pathogen that also spreads through fluid transmission, the severity of these outbreaks isn't nearly as respected in the lore as it should be, and it could have set up some intriguing story opportunities.
Look at Jill Valentine: having been vaccinated against the T-Virus mere hours before the nuclear destruction of Raccoon City (taking the cure with it), Jill is the only person in the world legitimately immune to the virus' effects. This could have set up a whole thread where she works as this 'disposable' soldier sent into viral hotspots, where her combat abilities (she technically defeated a Nemesis-class Tyrant) make her the operative with the lowest probability of failure and highest chance of success. Maybe it's not as good of an idea as ignoring the character in mainline games for over decade, but what do I know? Capcom likes to look at the big picture.
So the next time you play Knights of the Old Republic and travel from Dantooine to Korriban while still retaining your 30-second buff, don't think too hard about it. I've been trying to figure out the overarching story behind BurgerTime since I was a boy and I still get hung up on how Mr. Egg can possibly have legs to walk, when you need to grow beyond the boundaries of an egg in order to achieve having legs. One of the problems with harmony is that once you have a degree of continuity, you expect to find it everywhere only to discover it doesn't exist anywhere. How can freshwater be among my cheapest utilities, when it's the most precious natural resource on the planet? Is everyone going to start liking Johnny Depp again? Remember when The Last Jedi was the greatest film of all time, and anyone who didn't like the direction it took the story in was a fanboy troll? I have friends who (now) actively deny ever having liked that movie, and it hasn't even been five years! As someone who specializes in tacos, I don't have the answers but I can give you some food for thought.
At times we must embrace the absurd, because a game is just a game and sometimes you have to leave it at that. Life isn't a game, but can make about as much sense as one. As scary as it is to think about, our disconnections with reality might be the main thing tethering us to it. Find answers where you can, because the farther questions get away from you, the harder it is to stay consistent.
Strive to walk a path, but prepare to endure the maze.
More Articles
Hey, don't dunk on Nate. It's him or them, so they have to go. He wouldn't kill if he could avoid it. Sometimes you can, by sneaking past enemies.
I tried to sneak around enemies in the first Uncharted once by tight-roping a ledge that turned out to not be coded all the way to the wall. Nathan fell into a sky blue abyss that was impossible to escape from without resetting. My lesson: the devs didn't want Nathan sneaking past enemies. They wanted those people killed. ;)
Man, I still remember how shocked I was at the first example. As a huge Matrix fan (then and now) Path of Neo was, while flawed in some parts, the perfect movie-to-game experience and the fact that the Wachowskis themselves introduced the biggest deviation in the plot just to make the game cooler is just brilliant. Nevermind a remake but a remaster or heck, a PORT of Path of Neo for modern consoles would be badass.
My biggest gripe with Burger Time is "Who would want to eat a burger that was made by the chef stomping on each ingredient?"
"During combat, NPC allies like Ellie are essentially immune to enemy detection while Joel is in stealth mode. On the one hand, this looks completely ridiculous when your friends stand up next to soldiers or infected with no acknowledgment from those actively searching for them."
This is also done in Cyberpunk 2077, much to me finding it funny. Characters would clearly be in line of sight or even because of wonky pathing just take an odd path to follow you meaning they even basically bumped into the enemy, you remained hidden of course.
Hopefully yhey address that in the remake
I think #5 is an example of the anthropic principle. You're not playing someone out of a random sample, you're playing someone who can biologically survive the virus from the start.
Personally, the excess cannon fodder in shooters is what has always irked me. I wish we could have fewer but stronger enemies instead of endlessly mowing down tons of them.
Essay Pro