Game Musings: You don't need to play a game to judge only its story.

[Doobie_wop]

A lot of your argument is based around comparing video games to movies, but then you don't add in all the advantages that game's have over movies when offering an interactive experience. 

Your also relying on what you've read or watched about the game. Game's are meant to be played, so no matter what your argument is, your view point will always be one of a over the shoulder viewer.

'That's another thing. From what I've heard, the main story barely explains anything, and almost all the exposition, the stuff that lets you know about the world and the characters, is in text you have to unlock.

That was a major turn off for me, and just bad storytelling. And it's another thing I shouldn't have to play the game to know is bad storytelling. There is a big difference between exposition and backstory.'

You have no experience with the game, so I don't blame you for not knowing that the game isn't based on a linear storey, but one that changes depending on the character involved. I think it's an intelligent and realistic design that I don't know what happen's on one side of town if I'm playing with a character on the other side of town. If I allow all the character's to live, then I will get a fuller and more robust story, if all but one character dies, then it's understandable that what ever would have happened to those dead character's would stay a secret because no one would know what would happen to a dead character.

The game isn't playing out like a movie, it's playing out like a 'Choose your own Adventure' book. If you wanted to know everything about the game, then you can replay it as many times as you want and cause different scenarios to occur, this will allow you to fill more gap's that you found in the first play through. Stop comparing a game to a movie or a normal novel, because it's not what it is. Game's are much more flexible in what they can do and how they can interact with you, this is something that limit's other form's of media.