The Weird Atmosphere of Twelve Minutes and Road 96
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- Опубліковано 29 вер 2021
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Review code for Road 96 provided by publisher PR.
I've been playing Twelve Minutes and Road 96 lately, and both are incredibly odd. Road 96's stilted, robotic voice acting left me genuinely surprised it wasn't hastily stitched together by some AI, which should have left it in the dust of Twelve Minutes' Hollywood vocal talents of Willem Dafoe, James McAvoy and Daisy Ridley. But for some reason, I found the chaotic, less coherent atmosphere of Road 96 more compelling than 12 Minutes' rigidly trying to control everything as a director of a Hollywood film might. In this review/analysis/critique, let's talk about why atmosphere in games is such a different beast than in other media, and why nailing it is more complicated than you might think.
#twelveminutes #road96
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Intro text animation by Isaac Holland - / drazgames - Ігри
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The fact 12 minutes lets you flush the watch down the toilet but doesn't let you tell Willem DeFoe that you did that if he asks for it is a tragedy.
I just wish you could tell Willem Defoe that he did a great job in Spider-Man and you thought The Last Temptation of Christ was underrated.
You can actually do that! Once the wife is unconscious, let the cop handcuff you and tell him you know where the watch is. The husband will even laugh about it!
@@facaelectrica Huh, didn't know that. Saw one guy on the route where he helps the cop cover up the wife's murder, but he got to the point where the "cop" asked for the watch and all he could say was that he knew where it was. There didn't seem to be a way to explain that he'd flushed it at that point.
Hello mister!
I am Stan's voice actor from Road 96 ("Wrong answer, friendo. I'm holding a shotgun!"). It's quite interesting you felt like the voice acting was robotic. When I voiced Stan, I didn't feel like I was delivering some kind of text-to-speech personally. I was a lot invested in that character and had a lot of fun playing him but it's fine if someone else felt it differently. However I really liked how you described the game's atmosphere: it is chaotic, like an actual road trip in the middle of a dystopic country would likely be. We all come from different backgrounds and have different opinions on anything but thanks for bringing your opinion on R96.
I thought you and the rest of the VAs did a pretty solid job all around.
Yeah I thought the text to speech comment was kind of snobby. Like, yeah, those are really people speaking. Obviously.
Play some anime games if you want real clunky deliveries
I work in video games and I've heard dozens of hours of text to speech, and I can assure you nothing about your delivery was reminiscent of software generated voices. I don't know what he was talking about to be honest.
the voice acting in road 96 is extraordinary! you and your colleageus did a great job making the game and its story really vivid.
I have no clue how he could misunderstand the voice acting as generated. Really, when he described the game like that in the beginning I was so confused.
Road 96 was a gem. The music, the art style, the voice acting and the eay the story unfolds is extremely engaging.
I played 12 minutes with my closest buddies and literally our first loop had us kill our wife by messing with a light switch. It was kinda hard for us to take the story seriously after for the entire game
Yeah, it's like the game attempts to give you flexibility in what you can do, but reaaaally doesn't want you to actually use it. If you stray off the intended path even slightly, then your character turns into the goofiest sociopath imaginable, immediately - long before the ridiculously daft twist kinda proves that fact, completely robbing it of what little impact it was supposed to have.
@@WritingOnGames seriously , out of curiosity i killed my own wife in the first loop which made me so confused about what the game is actually about
@@lukky6648 it's called trial and error my guy which is ok in a time loop game
God, I'd love to hear your opinion on Kentucky Route Zero. That game is nothing but atmosphere, and the lack of voice acting just makes it all the more haunting.
Really adored that game. Impossible for me to cover effectively (especially after Noah Caldwell-Gervais' incredible piece on it) but I kinda love that I don't know I could find the words to do it justice. Powerful.
wait it didnt have voice acting??
i couldve sworn it does
maybe my mind filled in the voices....
oh god...
@@stonecat676 i feel that some games are just so atmospheric and perfect that it bends your memory i felt the sams way for pyre like i can swear on my life it had voice acting but it didn't only small noises when they talked
Now that I think about it, the absurdity of some lines in road 96 really helps to make it feel like a surreal roadtrip out of a dystopian country. A lot of the lines that Zoe and John say feel actually real. Like, a person would say those to you. Even though it's unintentional, that really helps you get attached to their characters more because through all the craziness, it feels like you're not alone in that journey
Don't know about 12 minutes, but I totally disagree with you about Road 96. I just loved it. It was a really funny, warm, human story. The writing was so good.
Completely agree I love how the story unfolds the longer you play it!
Wrong answer, Hambo! I’m holdin’ a shotgun!
Uh, this is a Super Supper
@@WritingOnGames THE PIGGY BANK! PUT DA MONEY IN DA PIGGY BANK!
Don't want to throw a wrench in your thought process, but since you mentioned it a couple of times, just want to let you know that the budget for Road 96 was MUCH higher than the one for Twelve Minutes.
Then why did it suck so bad
@@breezy5797 That's up to you to reply since it's subjective.
The corniness of these recent ad transitions are the real procedurally generated content XD
Speaking of producerally generated content...
I agree, the biggest problem of 12 Minutes comes from the fact that its story seems too be fit more for a movie than a videogame. In fact, I bet that it could be adapted to be a movie script quite easily, while it suffers for being a videogame script because the game can't possibly adapt to all the possible player choices and still maintain the internal coherence it needs for its story beats.
I feel like it probably started as an idea for a film. That would explain how they initially got celebrities attached to it. Then it just evolved into a video game.
When you think about it, one of the most prominent ways a film creates its atmosphere is in how it handles the passage of time. Is it slow, languid? Or are the cuts breathlessly fast? As soon as you put the controller in someone's hands, that key aspect of cinematic world-building goes out the window - a game's designer/developer no longer has complete control over time. And from that point, there's only so much you can really achieve from just putting Hollywood voice talent in your game. There's so much more that needs to be considered and addressed.
@@WritingOnGames Exactly! Videogames writing has its own strengths, weaknesses and challenges; ignoring them will not do the medium any favors. In my opinion, we should stop having inferiority complexes, and especially stop trying to reach out for recognition by movie critics as if we need to elevate the intrinsic worth of videogames as a medium (Ebert didn't like videogames, fine, we know): the result, as in the case of 12 Minutes, is most likely jarring, and "not as good as".
@@jamesbrincefield9879 That's just false on so many levels. How they got celebrities isn't a mystery, they're actors, it's their jobs. There's this whole industry of people from casting directors to agents, auditions... And Annapurna started producing movies before games, so that helps too.
As for 12 Minutes, it was always supposed to be a game, and anyone who completed the game knows this wouldn't work as a movie. Even if it being a game means the player can decide to do random stuff that no game can ever 100% predict. It wasn't even supposed to have voice acting before Annapurna picked it up. And it's really not hard to find this information about the game.
@@WritingOnGames How do you address people refusing to play their part when playing the game though?
Always brightens my day when this channel posts. Thanks, H
i felt both games, they really got me hooked instantly, partially because of the voice acting. usually i don't care about the story of videogames but these 2 really got me invested in the story
Recently found your channel brother, and I’ve been watching your videos non-stop. They’re all amazingly done and thought out, and I especially resonated with your experience with dark souls. Never stop man, you’re seriously talented. Love your content, keep it up boss!!
5:25 LMAO
Perfect example of videogame absurdity
Babe?
wow, this is a really interesting and clever comparison of these games. really cool how you can say something so worthwhile about the nature of video games just from playing two completely unrelated games. great work
Road 96 was the first time I experienced the uncanny valley of world building.
I always look forward to your videos. What a good morning ^_^
Guess who made dessert, let me know when you’re in the mood.
"sure it wouldn't work as a film"
David Lynch has entered the chat
Come for the analysis…
Stay for the segues!!!!!! Top notch as always
12 minutes was about 11 minutes to long but i wouldn't have found this channel without it 😎👍
He's back and he brings gifts
Thanks for the vid
thnx for upload luv
Great video. Good job calling out the trend of casting hollywood actors and as an attempt to seem more "legitemate". It's such a stupid trend, as if games weren't already artistically as valuable as movies.
It's not trying to be legitimate, it's marketing. It helps sell the game. 12 Minutes got *a lot* of press because of those few days of recording, and a lot of people still aren't aware that the game exists. The same game with "normal" voice acting would have just flown under the radar of most people.
I really despise the trend. Good up and coming, and even established VAs were already trying to keep themselves employed now they have to compete more heavily with Hollywood stars. I usually won't buy a game that has all these "big names".
And the budget goes to VAs, in this case, leaving very little funding for the rest of the game and is often not a whole, satisfying experience.
Watching this vid 1yr, 5 months after you released it. I'm surprised that way back then you thought A.I.-generated lines (voicing) was so popular. It seems like it's only gotten really well known in the last 3-5 months ever since chatGpt has come out and all that.
Anyway, 1st time watching a video by you. Great job. I'll have to see more by you
Having a Hollywood cast doesn't mean they spent millions on a few days of recording. 12 Minutes critical reception is mainly based on "they spent that much on voice acting for that", even though people have no idea how much they spent. What it proves though, is that they spent a lot more on marketing, and it probably worked.
Also, thinking a relatively small budget game like Road 96 could have the same technology as WD Legion.. what. That's a thing that actually costs a lot of money.
> Having a Hollywood cast doesn't mean they spent millions on a few days of recording.
Why would a holywood actor agree to work for pay significantly less that what they're offered to star in a film?
@@DarthBiomech The "few days" was the important part. Movies take months. There's also press tours, marketing, etc. Here they sat in a studio for probably less than a week.
Actors also chose their projects, and won't ask for the same amount depending on what it is. Some Hollywood actors still play in indie movies, and they definitely don't get the same amount they get while doing blockbusters. Sometimes for doing an interesting project they'll accept the lower pay.
Just because someone you like on youtube said "they spent all that money on hollywood actors" (without knowing how much they actually spent btw) doesn't mean those actors cost millions.
ohhhh yeah!!!
Mmm it's so good.
B A B E ?
I think you're missing a very important component about the inherent nature of player performance in games. If you're going to actively be asking over and over again the wife to talk to you so you can play the "Babe" line, of course it's going to be silly, but the same can be said about many other games where you're put in a bigger control of the action. For example, in many games where the player is let control of the character even when another character is talking to them, you could be walking non-stop to a wall and you could argue the same. Player performance is powerful because it can lead to these kinds of scenarios. You could either buy into the fiction, and, say, let your version of the character only ask once for her wife, or you could intepret that person that doesn't stop telling her "Babe". I at least always try to play in a way that's plausible within the world, I like to get into the character's shoes and make it my own in an ironical way.
My point is that *unless* you completely buy into Twelve Minutes' very rigid idea of its own fiction, its atmosphere completely falls apart. I just found that Road 96 was an example of a game being able and flexible enough to respond to that absurdity, in a way that didn't detract from the bigger picture.
Flush all your possessions down the toilet the second you enter the flat then call the police to tell them the day's looping while facing a wall in the same room as your wife? Your character turns into the goofiest alien imaginable (long before the daft twist, robbing it of what little impact it could possibly have to begin with).
You do something similar in Road 96? Hell, you're already in a weird world filled with weird people, so the technology running underneath it all at least attempts to respond to that and creates its own story to reflect that. As I say in the video, Road 96 is far from a perfect game (some might not even call it particularly great) but its structure at least lines up more with the potential storytelling strengths of games, rather than the surprisingly rigid, cinematic style of Twelve Minutes.
@@WritingOnGames Isn't that a very general 'issue' with serious games, that player freedom can turn any atmosphere kinda ridiculous? The Last of Us, Half Life, Dark Souls, if you chose to waste your inventory, then spin in a circle for 5 minutes and finally go hug the next best enemy NPC, you will look daft. None gamers who watch their gamer friends/family play, have a way of pointing out that even regular gameplay can seem weird.
I also don't think 12 Minutes falls apart unless you buy into it. Rather the other way around. A character trapped in a time loop, clearly desperate to find a way to make it stop is exactly the scenario in which weird and at times goofy behaviour actually makes sense. In that scenario the first loop is the weakest as the loop itself is not yet established. And I think the game has very robust systems at picking you up wherever you first wander off to, incentivising the dinner and dialog, guiding you for a couple minutes. Finally the cop shows up and you are more or less streamlined into the 2nd loop with the clear goal to mess with the structure.
I think I'm missing something, and maybe it's because I was unaware of the marketing and pedigree of the voice acting here. I played the game and these three people were just three voices to me. Three very well delivered voices that in my oppinion manged to adapt to what I did or said very well. Sure, within the constraints of a tightly scripted 12 minute loop. But repetition and experimentation within repetition is why I played the game.
I get that repetition can be annoying.
I get that finding the right path or combination of events to progress can be annyoing.
I get that stupid lines like "Babe" and the dead-wife-dessert-line are wonky.
I get that all of this can feel like a grind to finally get to a conclusion.
All of these are criticisms I have of a game that I consider to be a mediocre experience. And you kinda made these points. But you threw these weird other points in there, like how this is the fault of the prestige or your player actions.
yeah, weird episode for me, did not connect at all :/
@@ruolbu i think it's kinda like - imagine if 12 minutes was a visual novel instead of a video game like it was - def the story wouldn't become immediately goofy with how you can do weird stuff like flush stuff down the toilet. But yee if ur gonna give the controller to the player, you need to be prepared for some goofyness - like ex Hitman - that game works.
@@CompSomAnichi Really not sure what point you're trying to make. How exactly would the switch from top-down-free-movement to talking-heads-visual-novel affect the story? Right now I don't see what you're getting at.
@@ruolbu the top down isn't the problem, it's the free movement. You'd minimize the people not taking the story dseriously or getting taken out coz of stuff like eating cake while the cop and the wife are revealing the truth.
was gonna play 12 minutes since it's on game pass but fuck playing a point-and-click with an analogue stick. good to know it's not some masterpiece, i'll check it out eventually.
James MacAvoy is the voice of Morpheus in the Sandman audio drama and he’s done a fantastic job. It didn’t surprise me that he’s the kinda actor that can project the same presence in that medium.
12 minutes’ fatal flaw is the same as many other games that try too hard to be super deep. They’re really just pretentious (ex: anything by David Cage)
My reaction to road 96: so it's like the player is autistic then.
No seriously, when I heard the guy say welcome to paradise! I immediately assumed it was sarcasm based on context clues. I mean, if I were joking around I'd behave the same way. It's hard for me to get a read on people, especially if I don't know the rules for the social situation.
Oh boy 12 minutes.
Want to know the unifying constant between wannabe prestige movie video games? I mean ALL of them. All the ones that go "now they'll take us seriously!"
They would be shitty pretentious movies too.
There was a good concept here. Family living a normal life, guy from the wife's past breaks in demanding something valuable because of his sick kid, and you're stuck in a time loop.
Then they called the bastard baby a monster and the key to it all being Dahlia on the baby onesie. That's when I knew they had their head waaay up their own ass.
Whoever churned out 12 minutes basically wanted to buy their way into prestige, and were too lazy to make it a quality product fit for silver screen or consol.
OUTER WILDS FOREVER !!
One of the problems game studios encounter when they hire big stars for their projects is that the budget is rarely enough to pay for more than one take of the script. So you write what you think you need, record ultra expensive lines, put them in your game... and oops, it sounds dumb. Now what? Can't call back Daisy Ridley for another $50K recording session. You're literally out of money. You can't even hire an extra programmer or designer to help patch up the rough edges.
And on top of that your audience largely doesn't care about the big stars attached to the game. Honest to god, before this video I didn't even know 12 Minutes had famous actors doing the VO. In all the discourse I've seen surrounding the game since release, it's never even come up once.
Calling Twelve Minutes daft is p forgiving imo, so much money spent on williem defoe and they didn't think that maybe the game's story wasn't really that great when you look closely
"So much money"? How much though?
@@Fachewachewa At least half a mill
@@db5094 LOL
@@Fachewachewa hey man, it was a guess
I had no idea these were two different games until you said so. They look identical. I thought the top-down portion was just one of the scenarios in Road 96.
It seems like that'll become the "average" look for 3D indie games.
Count the polygons
if you like this style of atmosphere, you should try S.T.A.L.K.E.R, you won't regret it.
Hm i thought your next one would be hot wheels
I didn't ask for review code for that game. Might cover it at some point now it's out, who knows!
Oh i see:) just thought that it’d be your kinda game
Babe? 👁👄👁
12 Minutes is like a Mr Bean sociopath simulator. Awful, awful game.
Hollywood sucks already, so forcing that part of the film industry into a field where they have no experience or idea what they're actually contributing to just can't ever be good.
Let them figure out how to make engaging movies consistently first, alright?
Early.
Babe?
Babe?
Babe?