Why games fail at storytelling

[misterd]

Paul_Warren said:

I think all the games in my three favorite series: MGS, RE, and FF all excell at storytelling.
I would even put Kojima's best right up there with the best of such widely acclaimed graphic novelists as Frank Miller.

I do think Japanese games tend to have better stories than American games because of the way that education works in both countries. The Japanese education program seems to create better all-around students; while in the West, there is much more emphasis upon increasing students ability to do well in one particular area once their strongest points are discovered and this could have quite a bit to do with the quality of storytelling in Western games whose storylines at best only tend to rise to the level of Sci-Fi channel Saturday night movies because the ones with the know how to create computer games aren't English lit majors while the ones writing the best novels -- Stephen King -- don't have that much experience with programming computers.

 

       The best stories in Western games that I've seen during this generation are Ratchet and Clank Future, Uncharted, and Heavenly Sword.

Did you even read the article? His point, and its a good one, is that MGS, RE and FF (and their ilk) don't tell the story through the game, but through cut scenes. He's drawing a line between "FVII" the video game, in which you do things that matter, and "FFVII" the movie, in which you lose control over your character and story. The game has no effect on the story, and the story only adds context to the game.

I would say BioWare has been brilliant at being able to tell stories within the game. In fact, I just finished replaying Baldur's Gate I, and am in the middle of BGII. Your actions have actual consequences that are not predetermined. You may progress as hero or villain, or something in between. Most quests have multiple outcomes. NPCs can be influenced and guided by you in the game. Cut scenes are rare (and usually used to show something outside you character's POV). This has been true of every BW game I've ever played, and they all excel in telling story without breaking the illusion of player control over the story.