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Forums - General Discussion - Video games vs. Films

Khuutra on 22 April 2010
mirgro said:
Khuutra said:

This seems needlessly reductive, especially when it's based on the necessarily narrow band of your own experience.

I have played far more games than I have seen movies, and even with said limited experience in movies it is painfully apparent that video games are completely outmatched.

 

@commonman

We're comparing the best here from each group. Because I can tell you even Scary Movie 4 was better than games like GoW when it came to story.

God of War isn't the best that the medium has to offer - that's what I was referring to when I said "necessarily narrow band of your own experience". I'm talking about in games, not in movies.

The question is abotu story rather than narrative, so I will of cours acquiesce that games as a medium have a long way to go, but ther are some games that I think compare favorably even with very, very good movies.



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mirgro on 22 April 2010
Khuutra said:
mirgro said:
Khuutra said:

This seems needlessly reductive, especially when it's based on the necessarily narrow band of your own experience.

I have played far more games than I have seen movies, and even with said limited experience in movies it is painfully apparent that video games are completely outmatched.

 

@commonman

We're comparing the best here from each group. Because I can tell you even Scary Movie 4 was better than games like GoW when it came to story.

God of War isn't the best that the medium has to offer - that's what I was referring to when I said "necessarily narrow band of your own experience". I'm talking about in games, not in movies.

The question is abotu story rather than narrative, so I will of cours acquiesce that games as a medium have a long way to go, but ther are some games that I think compare favorably even with very, very good movies.

I gave God of War as an example of utterly shit story, not a best of. Sorry if that wasn't clear enough. I have tried to touch upon most major games in the past 20+ years, and I have yet to see anything that is close to the better movies. Maybe the mediocre movies, but then again that's why they were mediocre movies.



Khuutra on 22 April 2010
mirgro said:
Khuutra said:

God of War isn't the best that the medium has to offer - that's what I was referring to when I said "necessarily narrow band of your own experience". I'm talking about in games, not in movies.

The question is abotu story rather than narrative, so I will of cours acquiesce that games as a medium have a long way to go, but ther are some games that I think compare favorably even with very, very good movies.

I gave God of War as an example of utterly shit story, not a best of. Sorry if that wasn't clear enough. I have tried to touch upon most major games in the past 20+ years, and I have yet to see anything that is close to the better movies. Maybe the mediocre movies, but then again that's why they were mediocre movies.

In terms of eliciting emotion? I'm tempted to make a recommendation, but you know the trouble with recommending games: takes time and effort to play them.



mirgro on 22 April 2010
Khuutra said:
mirgro said:
Khuutra said:

God of War isn't the best that the medium has to offer - that's what I was referring to when I said "necessarily narrow band of your own experience". I'm talking about in games, not in movies.

The question is abotu story rather than narrative, so I will of cours acquiesce that games as a medium have a long way to go, but ther are some games that I think compare favorably even with very, very good movies.

I gave God of War as an example of utterly shit story, not a best of. Sorry if that wasn't clear enough. I have tried to touch upon most major games in the past 20+ years, and I have yet to see anything that is close to the better movies. Maybe the mediocre movies, but then again that's why they were mediocre movies.

In terms of eliciting emotion? I'm tempted to make a recommendation, but you know the trouble with recommending games: takes time and effort to play them.

I'll have plenty of time in a month or so.



Khuutra on 22 April 2010
mirgro said:
Khuutra said:
mirgro said:

I gave God of War as an example of utterly shit story, not a best of. Sorry if that wasn't clear enough. I have tried to touch upon most major games in the past 20+ years, and I have yet to see anything that is close to the better movies. Maybe the mediocre movies, but then again that's why they were mediocre movies.

In terms of eliciting emotion? I'm tempted to make a recommendation, but you know the trouble with recommending games: takes time and effort to play them.

I'll have plenty of time in a month or so.

Fine. Three games, and these three individually have had the biggest emotional impact on me; taken together, there's nothing else in the medium that compares to them. If you aren't touched by them, then I will acquiesce to your point and agree that no game out there is going to touch you. I'm making this recommendation with the assumption that you played ICO and Shadow of the Colossus (especially ICO), and that you don't mind emulation where necessary:

EarthBound Zero (NES)

EarthBound (SNES)

Mother 3 (GBA) + Fan Translation

That's it. Those are the three that I consider the pinnacle of storytelling in the medium.



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CommonMan on 22 April 2010
mirgro said:
Khuutra said:
mirgro said:
CommonMan said:
Hmmm. . . maybe the stories won't be as "good" or whatever, but if you allow them to, the stories can have just as great of an emotional impact on you. IMO of course.

Not even close, there hasn't been a single game where the emotion is somehow different than "oh cool" or "that sucks." There hasn't even been a fraction of emotion in games as there has been in movies liek Requiem for a Dream.

This seems needlessly reductive, especially when it's based on the necessarily narrow band of your own experience.

I have played far more games than I have seen movies, and even with said limited experience in movies it is painfully apparent that video games are completely outmatched.

 

@commonman

We're comparing the best here from each group. Because I can tell you even Scary Movie 4 was better than games like GoW when it came to story.

Actually no, the OP said "Can games have better stories than movies?", while I agree that the best movies will be better than the best games at this, I would say that there are plenty of good games that have better stories than bad or even middlingly okay movies. This fits the criteria of the OP. You have added another parameter, best vs. best.



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mirgro on 22 April 2010
Khuutra said:
mirgro said:
Khuutra said:
mirgro said:

I gave God of War as an example of utterly shit story, not a best of. Sorry if that wasn't clear enough. I have tried to touch upon most major games in the past 20+ years, and I have yet to see anything that is close to the better movies. Maybe the mediocre movies, but then again that's why they were mediocre movies.

In terms of eliciting emotion? I'm tempted to make a recommendation, but you know the trouble with recommending games: takes time and effort to play them.

I'll have plenty of time in a month or so.

Fine. Three games, and these three individually have had the biggest emotional impact on me; taken together, there's nothing else in the medium that compares to them. If you aren't touched by them, then I will acquiesce to your point and agree that no game out there is going to touch you. I'm making this recommendation with the assumption that you played ICO and Shadow of the Colossus (especially ICO), and that you don't mind emulation where necessary:

EarthBound Zero (NES)

EarthBound (SNES)

Mother 3 (GBA) + Fan Translation

That's it. Those are the three that I consider the pinnacle of storytelling in the medium.

I have been meaning to play those for a while now, never got around to doing it despite all the good things I've heard. But really, they have to compete with things like seeing Jennifer Connelly having naked lesbian sex, and being completely revulsed by it. It's gonna be hard to do.



Khuutra on 22 April 2010
mirgro said:
Khuutra said:

Fine. Three games, and these three individually have had the biggest emotional impact on me; taken together, there's nothing else in the medium that compares to them. If you aren't touched by them, then I will acquiesce to your point and agree that no game out there is going to touch you. I'm making this recommendation with the assumption that you played ICO and Shadow of the Colossus (especially ICO), and that you don't mind emulation where necessary:

EarthBound Zero (NES)

EarthBound (SNES)

Mother 3 (GBA) + Fan Translation

That's it. Those are the three that I consider the pinnacle of storytelling in the medium.

I have been meaning to play those for a while now, never got around to doing it despite all the good things I've heard. But really, they have to compete with things like seeing Jennifer Connelly having naked lesbian sex, and being completely revulsed by it. It's gonna be hard to do.

No, they don't. They just have to compare to something more pedestrian - this isn't best vs. best, just abotu whether or not video games can compare to movies at all.

No game or movie ever affected me more than Mother 3, though. That game is a soul-killer.



Lolcislaw on 22 April 2010

Not a chance, Movies will always be superior. Stories in Games while improving still tend to be extremely basic.

I actually cant get myself to enjoy Oblivion (even tho RPG's are my favourite genre) because story and characters are so boring and bland, it hurts. Yet it is one of the most acclaimed games this generation.



Garnett on 22 April 2010

No and heres the reason why...

I dont give 2 shits about any made up character who fights dragons or single handly takes down an entire division of troops.

The only game i came close enough to care about was ME2.



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