- Story-specific gameplay, which is about features that are very story-related, but it's not optional and impacts the gameplay heavily. One example is Planescape: Torment's main character, the Nameless One, an 'immortal' which loses his identity and memory every times he dies. When the player(in control of Nameless One) dies, he doesn't lose the game, but he re-awakens with his entire memory removed. What better way to

Obsidian Entertainment (or Bioware Jr. as I like to think of them) couldn't surpass a plate of dogpoo. KotOR2 is firm proof of this. It was like they fired all the writers and hired retarded monkeys with plungers to script a clone of KotOR1 which would work in a world without KotOR1, but playing through an entire game with the "Haven't I done this before? Haven't I met you before?" feeling is lame.

I suppose that depends on whether you consider Kojima a visionary game designer/artist or not. Those who do would agree that his long and complex methods of storytelling are ingenius and integral to what he is trying to achieve. Those who consider his storytelling bad would obviously be upset, but I think the huge fanbase of the franchise and huge fanbase of MGS2 alone validates him as more than a terrible writer. There have been numerous essays written on his games, if you read them perhaps it will help you see the depth his games actually have. Many non hardcore fans of the series mistake his storytelling as simply being for entertainment value yet taking itself too seriously, but in actuality there is an enormous amount of research, meaning and depth that goes into giving his plots a layered message.

I respect that many may disagree with that, but nonetheless it doesn't invalidate my and others opinions about him being a brilliant writer.

And, for the record, the gamepro (which sucks) editor said that ninety minutes "sounds like an exaggeration" and that he doesn't remember any scenes being 90 minutes. But the very fact that he can't say for sure, after playing through the game twice, is very telling.

"I played the game twice and I'm not sure, but I don't think any cut scenes where 90 minutes," to paraphrase. Very encouraging. Why don't you know -- did you skip them? Did you fall asleep? How can you not know after playing twice?

It's quite pathetic when developers adher to the demands of fans. We've seen it happen with MGS3 where Kojima listened to complaining players and compromised the story to make it more accomodating for the public. A true artist doesn't compromise his vision regardless of what anyone around him says because if he does it will no longer be true to his original creative intentions. Fan service is what destroys any artistic ambition in games.

You haven't played Planescape, have you? It does explain immortality, it's implications, and goes into depth for it; only the developers tried to show it naturally, and not convoluted (which is what MGS2 was like). In the beginning it is explained roughly (or rather, naturally) the immortality of the Nameless One. the player then will experience death, rebirth, loss of identity, immortality; and he will see the impact of the Nameless One's past, who he was, what he did, the evidences he left. The sporadic gain of memories from past lifes will leave the player wondering more about him, without ever having his questions fully answered.

Planescape: Torment is a masterpiece.

Kotor 2 is widely recognized as having a much better story, characters and interaction than Kotor 1. The first 75% of the game is much superior than Kotor 1. The last 25% weren't good (except that last talk with Kreia) because of time constraints: Obsidian only had 12 months to make the game!

But a much better example of Obsidian's superiority is Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer, which has THE best narrative in an RPG since Planescape: Torment.

Mass Effect did not have to tie up multiple unanswered story arcs from 3 previous games, not to mention the entire back story is written in a novel and the game LEFT questions unanswered. The only difference is the choice of becoming either a good guy or a badass good guy.

Never played Oblivion

And SoTC's story is whatever the player assumes since there's no contrete information other than "kill monsters to save girl".

Kotor 2 is widely recognized as having a much better story, characters and interaction than Kotor 1. The first 75% of the game is much superior than Kotor 1. The last 25% weren't good (except that last talk with Kreia) because of time constraints: Obsidian only had 12 months to make the game!

But a much better example of Obsidian's superiority is Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer, which has THE best narrative in an RPG since Planescape: Torment.

You haven't played Planescape, have you? It does explain immortality, it's implications, and goes into depth for it; only the developers tried to show it naturally, and not convoluted (which is what MGS2 was like). In the beginning it is explained roughly (or rather, naturally) the immortality of the Nameless One. the player then will experience death, rebirth, loss of identity, immortality; and he will see the impact of the Nameless One's past, who he was, what he did, the evidences he left. The sporadic gain of memories from past lifes will leave the player wondering more about him, without ever having his questions fully answered.

Yes I have played the game, but your point about it explaining immortality through the gameplay sequence of death and rebirth was false.The game actually explained immortality through pages and pages of vast dialogue. It baffles me that you would even mention Planescape as a game that has compact storytelling presented through its gameplay when it has the largest script ever written for a video game.  

==> so basically, since MGS is an epic action game, with less PEACEFULL text/dialogue, story can"t be explained using text/dialogue.

That is why it rely on cutscene where u can easly mix action and storytelling 

???

Maybe he could just not leave gaping holes in his story eh?

And yeah, putting in a 90 minute cut scene because you can't think of gameplay is not good design. Someone else had it right when they said they should just make a movie.

Also, there is nothing wrong with cut scenes. There is something wrong with a cut scene that lasts an hour and a half.