Which tells the better story for a game?

[twesterm]

wfz said:

Smeags said:
I'd go for the latter. I've never been a huge fan of cut scenes in a game, and I always appreciate it when a developer implements the story or important information in the actual game as you're playing it. Audio Diaries in Bioshock, Scannable objects in Metroid Prime... these are great examples of creative storytelling.

Speaking of images on walls telling stories, Sonic & Knuckles is another great example:

 

Win!

 

Since when does Lambda represent decaying life? I never heard that before now... is it just the meaning in Half-Life?

 

Considering I haven't played Half-Life, that image really doesn't do much for me. Your second image is a better example I think, but I don't look at it and think it's telling much of a story. Maybe if it was a real crack instead of just an artificial one, I would think of it as a better story.

 

I'm going with the video for these particular examples.

 

Really?  Man, I get so much just looking at that crack.

• What occurred to make it happen (assuming I don't know what it is, I wish I could have found a picture of it filled in since that would be even more interesting).
• Why are the people walking over it like nothing?
• Is it a normal occurance?
• If if isn't why hasn't it been repaired (again, assuming I don't know why it's there)
• If it was placed there in purpose, why?
• where does it lead if I follow it?
• how deep does it go?

With the Half-Life 2 picture, you get things like:

• You see the impact you made on the world in the previous game
• someone cares enough to go out of their way in a dangerous place to place that there.  You inspired that.
• It's a pretty strong symbol in the game
• There must be something of use nearby

So yeah, it should be obvious that I like little clues in the environment like that to tell my stories rather than large elaborate cut scenes.