Why does game storytelling have such low standards? [MGS4, HL2, etc.]

[johnappseed84]

I know what you're trying to do here in downplaying some of the best stories in gaming, but really I think this problem exists in almost all media.

Do the most recent blockbuster movies have great storylines? Avatar the movie that made the most movie of any film? I think it has some deeper social themes but really it's story is quite cookie cutter imo. Clash of the Titans? I think it can be credited with keeping the old Greek myths alive for younger people today, but I would say it's not exactly the best that stories can be. A Nightmare on Elm Street?

The best made for tv movies being made these days are probably the ones on the Syfy Channel, but most of at best are only B in story quality.

Novels are there any novels that are considered classics or best sellers today that aren't as controlled and linear or even more so than a game like FFXIII in their progression? Are books like The Stand or most fantasy epics where the very few characters you are introduced to in the first few pages and that wind up being the ones destined to save the world in the end of the book really more believable than what we see in most games?

I just don't think there are that many truely unique stories out there in any entertainment media and that most of the ones considered to be good due hold their own with the best in other media.

I think judging good storytelling is just a very subjective thing. One thing I like about the way stories are told in the best rpg series like Final Fantasy and even in Metal Gear is that many times in movies I think they're too short to give you the emotional depth you can get from reading a novel and novels don't have all the bells and whistles and pretty characters you find in movies or rpgs, so games like rpgs walk a line between solving the problems of the brevity of movies while giving you something to enjoy looking at unlike books.