: You know, I've been thinking for a while about the relationship between the
: player and Durandal in Rubicon. Maybe I'm picking up on the wrong things
: here, but in general it seems to me that Durandal's more and more
: regarding us as an actual friend as opposed to just a tool that he uses to
: do his bidding (as in say, M2).
It's interesting to read your thoughts on this. M2 was my introduction to the whole game, and I always felt that Durandal had a push-pull relationship with the player. Sure, we were a pawn, just like Tycho keeps reminding us. At times, though, I remember thinking there was a friend of sorts behind all the terminal texts...or maybe I'm just romanticizing the idea of romping around a deserted world looking for lost artifacts.
I've just started the Salinger plank in RX, and oddly enough feel like the player is entirely a tool at this point. Durandal's got us here, leaving the entire cast and crew of the Chimera to be decimated by the Pfhor. Even if the player is fast enough on Hairy Legs, what proof do we have that the Chimera isn't overrun anyway? (forgive me if I'm forgetting something from the end screen of the original Rubicon, haven't played it in years). If the Carroway plotline is to be seen as simultaneous to the events on the Salinger, then isn't the player a bit of a rat for leaving everyone behind? Although...how many of us ever really tried to keep the BoBs alive? ;)
: Not as far as an equal, but at least something more substantial than just a grunt with a big gun, : playful teasing aside (like when he introduces us to the Dangi Maser). On our
: part, I wonder if Durandal thinks that the player actually willingly
: travels with him, that the decision to stay with him is one done by
: choice.
This is something I've pondered ever since reading the last line of the end screen on M:Inf, the part about the player being equated with destiny. I could be going off on a tangent here, but the player (us) does willingly follow Durandal (the game) wherever he/it goes. In that sense, the player/Durandal relationship might be more of a symbiosis, and therefore given to bouts of attraction and repulsion.
