Why games fail at storytelling

[famousringo]

Reasonable said:

famousringo said:
I agree with most of the article, except where he praises Half-life 2's story. As far as I'm concerned, the game had no story. And I found the idea of a mute physicist didn't work very well.

I'm also disappointed that he didn't mention any games with branching dialogue paths, like Fallout 1 & 2, Deus Ex, or any Bioware game since Baldur's Gate 2. These are the games which have really nailed interactive storytelling, or at least come the closest.

Depends what you mean by story.  I think it has plenty but of a certain type.  For example when you arrive the setting, visuals, mood and surroudning dialogue tell you all you need to know very effectivbely about where you are... from spycams snaping your picture to casual sadism from the combien guards to the waste paper blowing across the platform... then you step out, your ears full of a public annoucement justifying why humanity has essentially been neutered... see the combine tower before you, and know where you must eventually go right from the start of the game (no cutscenes, just simple, solid narrative exposition told through careful design and dialogue).

 

Yes, it's an exaggeration when I say it had no story. And I don't actually feel that it impaired the game in any way, since I'm not one of those who feel that a game needs a story to drive it. And you're right, the game did project an excellent atmosphere.

But I also felt like a lot of those cutscenes were a waste of time. Characters talking at me or around me, but never to me because I don't actually have a personality or the power of speech. Just shut up and point me to the next hazard I need to navigate already.

I wish I could put my finger on why the Silent Hero schtick seems to work fine for me when I play Metroid Prime 3 or Twilight Princess but bugs me in Half-life. Maybe it's because Link and Samus at least get a little non-verbal expression which Freeman was never allowed.