SpookyXJ said:
Where is the plot? Where is the narative? The story in starcraft as far as I remember was pretty secondary to the game IMO. Its been a long time though I remeber very little about it(as in forgetable) which says a lot as I really enjoyed the gameplay. The first warcraft game I remember having much of a story was 3 and it easily forgetable for me as well. Its kinda difficult for a RTS to tell a compelling narative as it does not fit well into the gameplay. WOW no real story there as far as I saw. Nothing that hooked me and made me say I want to see how the story turns out. Actually I found myself wondering where is the story, whats the goal, whats here to motivate me to keep playing? Plenty of character development but I only spent about 3 months on it before I got tired of the grind and quit. That leaves Diablo 1 & 2 which I consider one of Blizzards best series and a lot of fun but I could not recount the story other that kill stuff collect gear and sell it. The game play in Blizzards titles are memorable to me but not the storys . Compare that to BG 1 and 2 + expansions with the exception of Tales, some of the wonderful modules that sprang from NWN along with Shadows and Hordes(the OC sucked but I still remeber the feeble plot), and Mass Effect. All games that the plot, narative, and its delivery not only sucked me in but stuck with me over the years. All games in the same vein as Fallout 1&2, Betrayal at Krondor, and my personal favorite Planescape: Torment. The narative in these games is much more of a primary focus than yout typical blizzard title. The storys are what make me remember these titles fondly. The gameplay for the most part was pretty fun as well as long as ya like typical AD&D fare. |
It must just be a personal preference for you regarding the stories being told, because the stories are there. Starcraft had all the Terran political upheaval going on with Mengsk using the Zerg to destroy the Confederacy and establish the Terran Dominion, Kerrigan becoming the Brood Queen after her death, the return of the Dark Templars into the Protoss, the secrets of the Xel-Naga.
And Warcraft... man Warcraft's story is HUGE. Especially in WoW. I once saw a really nice writeup of the Warcraft Storyline from Warcraft 1 to WoW (Pre-Expansion), I think on IGN. It was just a summarization and was still a dozen pages long. http://www.wowwiki.com/History_of_Warcraft is just a sampling of the official Warcraft lore. The Warcraft universe is on it's way to joining the Star Wars and Star Trek levels of lore.
Diablo's plot is the simplest of the three, but still a decent story. The hero piercing himself with the soulstone and becoming Diablo was a great twist.
The Baldur's Gate games are better story-wise than Diablo, but I'd still rank Warcraft and Starcraft higher. Mass Effect, I'll agree had a stellar story, it's what saved the game for me since it had some GLARING flaws. Neverwinter Nights, I never could get myself to care about the characters enough to invest myself into the plot.
