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Forums - Gaming - Jaffe: Cinematic narrative focus is a “bad idea, waste of resources”

amp316 said:
d21lewis said:
amp316 said:
He's right.

If I want a great story, I'll read a book. If I want a crappy story, I'll watch a movie. If I want a crappier story, I'll watch television. If I want an even crappier story, I'll play a cinematic video game.

What if you want to feel like you're part of the story?

I walk outside and live my own story.


I gotta admit, I didn't expect that answer.  You've inspired me, amp316.  From this point on, no more experiencing epic space battles and swinging from rooftops through the eyes of a video game character.  No more solving raiding tombs and exploring haunted mansions from the comfort of my couch.  No, from this day forward, d21lewis will live his adventures!  Huzzah!!

 

*d21lewis walked outside and was attacked by a bear.  He was never seen again.*



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d21lewis said:
amp316 said:
d21lewis said:
amp316 said:
He's right.

If I want a great story, I'll read a book. If I want a crappy story, I'll watch a movie. If I want a crappier story, I'll watch television. If I want an even crappier story, I'll play a cinematic video game.

What if you want to feel like you're part of the story?

I walk outside and live my own story.


I gotta admit, I didn't expect that answer.  You've inspired me, amp316.  From this point on, no more experiencing epic space battles and swinging from rooftops through the eyes of a video game character.  No more solving raiding tombs and exploring haunted mansions from the comfort of my couch.  No, from this day forward, d21lewis will live his adventures!  Huzzah!!

 

*d21lewis walked outside and was attacked by a bear.  He was never seen again.*


Oh no.  What have I done?



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kowenicki said:

This article is where I am at.

That echoes my feelings on the matter as well. I'm not necessarily opposed to cinematic games in principle, but when so many do it so badly, yet somehow get praised for their brilliance, I'm left wondering just what all the fuss is about.

I've seen multiple bad movies on the Syfy Channel that feature many similarities to these 'great' video game stories.



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Agree with him, I do. /YodaSpeak



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kowenicki said:
Munkeh111 said:
kowenicki said:
Lafiel said:
kowenicki said:
I think this guy is a dick...

but he is on the right track here.

The pretentiousness of parts the gaming industry and some of its followers are becoming tiresome and a little embarrassing at times.

indeed, just like the pretentiousness of parts of the gamer community is becomming tiresome and a little embarrassing - I mean, come on, gamers talking about video game/hardware sales ? don't make me laugh

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

I dont disagree with anything you are saying here, but some of the stuff I have read over the last 12 months about story telling in games is over the top. 

I dont think the opening sequence of COD4, which I agree was good, was about story telliing, it was about good directing, similarly with Uncharted they arent particularly good stories, just good scripts and good good voice acting.

Well they need to experiment to find the right balance, and I agree some have gone overboard, but it is the right direction for gaming

I do agree that they aren't actually telling that great stories, but the whole point is that you are drawn in, so in the future so much more could be done



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DAMN RIGHT

Fuck having to solve a bunch of Sudoku puzzles before I can turn a page in my trash novel



WHERE IS MY KORORINPA 3

AdventWolf said:
He doesn't knock on developers for making cinematic games, but only when the story takes over the gameplay. But he does come off a little aggressive lol.


This. There's definitely a place for cinematic and story driven-games. I myself have no problem playing a few.  Some of them simply focus too much on the theatrics and the devs leave gameplay fairly bland, if not down right crappy. I agree with Jaffe on this.



4 ≈ One

He is 100% right.

Cinematic storytelling needs to die immediately and is killing gaming.