Which tells the better story for a game?

[rocketpig]

SHMUPGurus said:

rocketpig said:

While I don't think the example used is the greatest, I see where you're going with this. A screen from BioShock or Fallout 3 may have worked a little better.

As for me, I'll take the subtle clues to a backstory over a trite explanation of the happenings any day of the week. Let the viewer figure things out over time and on their own. Movies like A New Hope or Children of Men are perfect examples of how the viewer/player doesn't need longwinded exposition to start enjoying something right off the bat. Things can be slowly unraveled over time and through visual cues instead of lengthy dialogue (Kojima being, by far, the worst offender in the industry when it comes to this idea).

You know, this is why I liked Mass Effect and the Metroid Prime games' stories so much. They don't shove everything in your face at once, and you can decide to know more about a certain race or a certain creature by looking at additional information when you want to (provided in the game that is). Mass Effect's story is simple on the outside, but it gets much deeper when you learn about everything, be it how they use their guns and where the ammo comes from or how they manage warp speed at their current time.

Still, with all that said, the Metal Gear story isn't hard to understand with cutscenes either. Kojima made those cutscenes quite simple, yet they show what needs to be shown. I don't get the many complaints about how he decided to show the story of Solid Snake.

In conclusion? It depends on how you manage your cutscenes that makes them interesting. Otherwise, stick with in-game information.

It's not hard to understand, it's just long-winded and repetitive. In storytelling, a lot of the "magic" comes from that "ah-ha!" moment when you realize a character's motivations, why something happened, or why something is going to happen. Kojima dumps all over that by explaining every little nuance in great detail four or five times during a cutscene.

BTW, I also greatly enjoyed Mass Effect. There's as much (or as little) there as you want. It's a simple, straightforward story that doesn't get in its own way.