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DTG on 16 November 2008
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twesterm said:
DTG said:
disolitude said:
DTG said:
Narrative is one of the if not THE most important aspect of any media format or genre. Movies without any even borderline decent narrative never make it to the big screen and neither should a game with bad narrative. Also, this thread wasn't about best fps ever but best game ever period, which simply cannot be true as any game with good graphics, good gameplay plus great narrative would be better than any other game missing one of those aspects completely.

 

 I disagree...

Tetris and Supar Mario Bros are still listed as the best games aver made and they had nothing to do with narrative. Actually most o the top 10 games of all times had horrible narrative (if any).

 

 

 

Most of those lists are based purely on nostalgia. The problem with that assertment is that if say SMB released as the exact same game but on top had a compelling and deep narrative to pair along with it wouldd invariably be a better game than it is thought of as today. Having great narrative only adds to the quality of the quality is already there to begin with.

 

Why?  your standard platformer needs absolutely no story as long as the platformer aspect is fun.

Lets look at a very recent game: Left 4 Dead.

How much does narrative mean in that game?  I've had a blast with just the demo and I know nothing of the narrative other than for some odd reason the 4 survivors are immune.  Nothing special.

So why am I having a blast?  Because the game is fun.

They may just throw on a complex and intriguing but there really is no point.  I don't play a game like L4D for the story, I play it so I can kill zombies with friends and that is why the game is fun.  Adding a story to that isn't going to make that any more fun.

Narrative is important in games that need it, but to say that narrative is the most important thing in every game is just silly and ignorant.

-edit-

Also, it would be fair to say that a game like SMB is only loved due to nostalgia if there were no recent SMB games.  NSMB and Super Mario Galaxy beg to differ.

And something interesting to note-- compare how well NSMB and SMG did to Super Paper Mario.

 

 

The issue here is that gamers have a sort of delusional concept that games are purely meant for "fun". The reason I say that this is delusion because you don't see cinephiles or avid book lovers refering to their medium as merely a fun passtime. Many off them take it very seriously as an artistic exploration or source of knowledge while gamers seem to have no higher motivation to play game than just to have "fun". Having a great narrative in games is essential to raise the medium above it's percieved status as an immature "toy" to a status as a valid form of art and source of individual knowledge and growth. This has been accepted among movies and book for a long time now, but gamers can't seem to  let go of their concepts of games as being nothing more than "fun". Do you (they) mean to apply that games should never strive to achieve something more meaningful than being a source of mindless fun?