Second MGS4 review in -score 92 "story too complex"

[jalsonmi]

billy07 said:

darthdevidem01 said:
@billy07

to me that added innovation & a new view to the storyline.....its about time games had such stories in them

Yes, it was a complete midfuck but in a brilliant way. It was surreal in the way all of the main characters gathered together at the end of the game, giving their various perspectives on everything that happened up until that point. And trying to piece the truth together from everything said was rewarding when you finally understoof everything. It also served as a great moment where after focusing purely on the storyline in the rest of the game there was an hour focusing on the themes.

 

rocketpig said:

 

You might think that is great, but most people will disagree that grinding the story to a halt and rambling on for an hour is a good thing. It fails on pretty much every level of quality storytelling. It might appeal to you personally but to most people, it's pretentious and counterintuitive to how a good storyteller would work a philosophy into a plot.

Who defines good storytelling? Also, it depends on whether you consider MGS a story first or a philosophical journey first. I think the storyline is there simply to frame Kojima's messages and philosophy and not the other way around making the philosophy integral to MGS. As such it should be explained in-depthly, because simply touching upon like Deus Ex did doesn't accomplish a goal of being a truly enlightening experience. The storyline is simply there to make the experience more entertaining and easier to digest.

 

Sorry, under any definition, good storytelling is not stopping and ramming philosophy down people's throat. That's not even good philosophical storytelling. Good philosophical storytelling interweaves it deas throughout, usbtely leting them come to the surface. MGS2 simply has characters say something about philosophy. (And how it's story beign so twisty and ridiculous makes it postmodern I have no idea. I think too many people actually have no idea what postmodern really means but thrw around that word anyway) It's similar to The Matrix--philospohy for dummies. Telling you exactly how this philosophy fits into this story, while dumbing down the philosophy as much as hunamly possible. You want to read real, good, philospohical writing, read Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson. Or good postmodern writing: Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon.

Hell, the only video game I've seen that can lay claim to being subtley philospohical is Shadow of the Colossus. It's almost a Shintoist parable. And of course it did it through the simplist story possible, which is usually the best way to get a point accross.

MGS2 may have been a great game, but the story was ridiculous and the philosophy tacked on in the worst way possible. Having a great story is not the same as having a whole lot of story.