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Rainbird on 14 December 2011
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Reasonable said:
Rainbird said:
Reasonable said:

I also wish when a developer wants to try something people wouldn't argue with the same boring all generalities.  They aren't trying to make every game story lead nor is that their goal.  They want their game to be that way and they want to offer better than the medium has historically in that regard.  Is it really necessary to start panicing for all other genres every time there is a focus by a single developer in a single area?

I'd say it's a natural reaction though. People see something they percieve as being overall damaging to the field, and they push against it. More rationality would certainly be welcome, but it's a polarizing subject, so opinions are bound to clash. On top of that, there is actually a small trend of moving towards more... what to call it... focused experiences? Games that restrict the player in favor of either storytelling, spectacle, cinematic flair or some combination of these basically.

TBH I'd say the trend to online is far stronger than the trend to focused storytelling.  In fact I'd say the trend to open world is stronger than that.  Right now I think for a lot of devs, if you look at sales/success of other games, the view would be:

a) best choice for success is hugely successful online game (you know who)

b) second best choice for success is hugely successful open world game (GTA, RDR, Assassin's Creed, Skyrim, etc)

c) third best choice for success is focused narrative (maybe with some online if we can get it)

There's some crossover though. Games like MW3 and BF3 are prime examples of games where the singleplayer campaign exists for the spectacle and doesn't really try to engage the player. So I think it depends on what criteria you use to mark a game as a particular category, but there is definitely a movement towards open world games as well. Even if GTA, RDR and Skyrim are really just continuing their franchises.

I completely agree about your sentiments on The Last Of Us though. If Naughty Dog can take story telling up a notch in quality, then I'm all for it. But if they want to make it a must buy for me, they have to bring the player into the story.