kowenicki said:
I dont think you know what pretentiousness means... Numbers are cold hard facts that can be analysed and discussed, there is nothing pretentious about discussing them. The artistic and story telling aspects of gaming is subjective and ethereal... which can easily descend in to a discussion full of prentiousness and with a hint of the emporers new clothes. Nice try but you arent equipped for the debate pal. |
Just because some people are pretentious, doesn't mean that having storytelling in games is a bad thing. (also, pretentiousness is much more rife in music and film)
The fact is that games have a much greater potential for storytelling than films. By putting you in control, you care about the character a lot more, so the stakes are much higher. But there are 2 ways of doing it, either by giving the player choice, or not
With choice, it is very clear how games are FAR superior. Just look at Mass Effect, my I care about my Shepherd much more than Captain Kirk, because I am the one who has saved the galaxy, and just think about Heavy Rain. The way that your character can die really draws you in, and makes you care about what you are doing so much more. But of course, this has to be done right. There need to actually be effects of your chocies, which is one of minor gripes with Skyrim. You can make decisions, but generally they only seem to effect whether or not you get a nice mace or something, not much more in most cases
On the other hand, a lack of choice can still be a better experience than films. If you actually look at the story of Uncharted it is mostly rubbish, but the way that the game is made, with great graphics, great sounds and the generally fun gameplay make you care about Drake and ignore all the little stupid points. As for the Arkham City handkuffing (is that how you spell it?), I haven't actually played that game, so a better thing to talk about is Gears 3. Gears had been criticised for lack of story, and I do think that they went too far with too many sections where you had to walk really slowly, which weren't actually that interesting.
But just think about CoD 4, and the very first section. That immediately drew you in, and that game showed how you deliever an immersive experience, shame its sequels didn't do such a good job of that...
But anyway, I feel most games haven't really got it right yet, so with more time, we can get better stories in games. I feel there is a place for more gameplay driven games, but a cinematic experience can still be good, and will only get better. Why can't we have both, going back to just gameplay would definitely be step in the wrong direction, just think how far we have come
http://kotaku.com/5883736/depressing+ass-heavy-rain-makes-for-some-good-stand+up-comedy
