She never died, so long as I didn't go AWOL. She's every bit Gordon's
equal, though it's hard to shake the feeling that she's a fetishized dream girl.
Not only does she strike up a quasi-romantic relationship with a man who never
speaks (and in my case has a penchant for jumping on NBA 2K18 MT people's heads), but she'll
shoot enemies heading towards him.By contrast, the player needn't reciprocate
the favor since she's not likely to die. She's useful for distracting enemies,
and I genuinely wanted to help her.
By aiding the player and being a likable character, Alyx is a fantastic AI
partner and her presence makes the shootouts at NBA 2K17 MT more emotionally charged.Opting for
a more archetypal approach, Ico's fairy tale fantasy makes its female lead
incredibly helpless. The player controls Ico, a small boy who partners up with
an otherworldly teenage girl, Yorda, to escape a castle.Yorda is incredibly
defenseless and possibly blind. She can't make it very far without Ico and she
certainly can't fend off the shadow
set on kidnapping her. She can open specific magically sealed doors though,
so Ico needs her just as much as she needs him.Much like Knight's Contract, the
playable character is invincible (unless he falls from a ledge), but his
companion is not. In some ways, she hampers the player. During battle, Ico must
protect her by thwacking enemies with a stick -- something that goes on for too
long and is arguably the game's low point. Her presence succeeds when it forces
the characters to separate, lending
sense of dread to the proceedings. I hated leaving Yorda alone, and the knot
in my stomach tightened with every step I took further away from her.There's a
fine line between feeling annoyed and uneasy, but Yorda's presence leaned
towards the latter as I knew I couldn't be there for her all the time. It also
helped that she had no health meter. As long as I could get to nba18mt her before my
foes dragged her through a portal in the ground she'd be safe with no damage
dealt or lasting repercussions for my negligence.
