Read a interisting article at gamesradar, the link is http://www.gamesradar.com/f/why-games-fail-at-storytelling/a-20081009144024109077. I totally agree with it, but was wondering what you guys thought about it.

I didn't finish it but from what I did read, This is an article I should of wrote. Instead of Artistic and Abstract pixels with the ability to control them, We're getting games that are trying too hard to be movies. This is why I believe gameplay is the most important thing in a game.

I might get flamed for this, it's fitting that the PS3 and 360 are multimedia machines and the Wii is an actual gaming console.

It's an awesome article, and I found that each point is well made, and that I should agree with everything.

I didn't.

I love the video game story-telling, at least in some games. Or more specifically, I love it either,

- When the main character doesn't say a word, ala Half life, Zelda or Mario, or most of Nintendo's high profile games. 

- When you are essentially just helping the hero out. The plot is set, and your actions change the story slightly, but mainly, your mission is to make him/your team survive. You're playing a movie.

And a few different ones, but these 2 are the ones I prefer.

But really, the main thing is that the game knows how it tells the story.

Very interesting read, thanks for posting.

a decent read and i pretty much agree. cut-scenes are a crutch video games have relied too heavily on.

Games fail at storytelling because they're trying to tell the wrong kinds of stories.

No, really; that's pretty much it. Games are great for telling stories when you take advantage of the things that make games what they are, while not trying to shoehorn in things which highlight what games are not. But when you try to make a game into just another movie, it fails. This is why licensed games tend to fail so badly: they're trying to shoehorn movie plots into games, and this cannot work.

I swear, game companies would make far better story-based games if they sat the dev teams down for mandatory tabletop role-play sessions every week. Strip away the graphics, the complex physics calculations, and even controls as we know them: leave nothing but the pure interactive fiction and a bare set of mechanics that humans can calculate out on the fly. Put people in corresponding roles: developers homebrew the game mechanics, concept designers and scripters write the adventure together, the director GMs, and everyone plays. Then send them back to their desks, keeping what they learned from these sessions in mind, and watch the quality of gaming skyrocket.

I agree with the article its time to re think how to tell a story in games

I agree.

I'll have to add Non Playable Characters as a reason for storytelling failiure though. They can never uphold the illusion of me as a part of the story. They never react well enough.

It's funny how they criticize Metal Gear Solid's story and arfter the article there's a link to "15 Best Game Stories Ever" in the same site and MGS is the first game.
Other than that, I disagree completely with the article, even though I love Portal's story, I also love a complex, even if it's uninteractive story (that's why I play a lot of JRPGs), just the way that I love reading books (and I'm not comparing them, both are different).
I have the belief that to create complex , rich, detailed stories, the ammount of influence the character can make can't be high, because if the story is too branched, it loses its focus and complexity. I'd rather have a Xenosaga-like game (zero interactivity with the story, but it features an amazing, complex, engaging story) that a Fable-like game (a lot of freedom of choices, but the story sucks). At least that's my take

That's the problem right there.  The article says that JRPG's , for the most part, have poor stories and detach yourself often from the character by use of cutscenes, narration bubbles and other devices.  You're playing a game yet a character can make decisions you don't necessarily agree with and you realize you're just 'the pilot of a flight.'

I'm with Zexen. Power to the JRPG fan!!!