Fire emblem can pull it off o.k.

I haven't finished the article yet, but my favorite part so far is the caption under the picture of MGS4.



"Above: Does playing badly mean that Snake is actually a rubbish secret agent?"

Opinions are like asses: Everyone has them and some are preferred over others. I'll just leave it at that. I don't need anybody telling me what makes a game good. =]

The thing is when I play a game with a story or read a book or watch a movie, I want to lose myself in the story like I said in my post. I want to relax and be moved by a story that involves not me about those fictional characters. I know that there could be games where the player's actions have a real impact on the game but I wouldn't really like it personally. I'm already stressed in some games when they make you take a minor decision that will effect the rest of the game. For example, in the first Kindgom Hearts, they ask you random questions that will determine the level of difficulty for the rest of the game.

After playing Metal Gear Solid 4 I'm absolutely convinced I don't want to play through another game with that many cinematic cut scenes ever again.

Makes me wonder how much time or development could of went towards making more areas or better controls or more game play than making all those cut scenes.

It's my opinion that you do! 

Good point actually.  The bottom line is that everyone has their own desires/goals when playing videogames and while these sometimes match there are plenty of differences too.  Therefore people's view of stories within games, and whether they are even needed or not, will vary greatly.

You're true to your namesake.

I imagine the reason this was written is because the author was bored and wanted to get some feathers riled up. I mean, if you enjoy a game, shouldn't that be enough? If you don't, that's fine. No need to announce an opinion like it's more important than other people's.

I think you, along with many others in this thread, are misinterpreting the intent of the author here. It's not to say that the story of these games are bad and that it should have been done better. It's more of a realization that the stories told in electronic games today simply isn't as powerful as stories told in other media such as books, movies, tv-series, role-playing games, theater pieces, radio-shows... 

This I feel is a fact. Electronic games are (with the current techniques) the worst possible medium for telling a story. There are very few games out there that can tell a story that will affect you other than on a very superficial level, if at all. The reason for the article, I assume, is to bring this problem to light as well as discuss its roots and possible solutions.

If you think about it, it seems kinda funny. Gaming should have a huge advantage over non-interactive media, simply because it allows the player to take an active part in the story. This is used to great advantage in role playing games. But when it comes to gaming, the supposed advantage becomes a huge drawback instead. The fact that games are interactive means that the traditional ways of storytelling looses their power. 

Do we need good storytelling for games to be great? No.
Do storytelling decide how much we enjoy them? No.
Does this change the fact that storytelling in games sucks compared to non-interactive media? No.

I want a healthy discussion about how to improve the power of storytelling in games.

The single greatest moment in video game storytelling is the ending sequence of Shadow of the Colossus, after beating Number Sixteen.

Just thought I'd throw that out there, because it's related to the concept of the player defining the character and the narrative.

Yeh, I agree that storytelling can be imroved and I think it will just happen in time as games evolve. Books and movies seem to be a bit more advanced in that they convey various themes that in the end demonstrate the author, directors point. But can games do the same thing with themes and symbolism, etc that books and movies do? Books use a huge amount of techniques to convey a message, just analyse a shakespeare play and you'll know what I mean. Movies have the power of editing moving pictures to tell a story as well as camera positioning, lighting, etc. It seems that video games are the next step up from movies in that you can control the protagonist, but what techniques do game directors use to convey a message?

Another reason games are harder to tell stories is that the age quicker than books and movies. Books can stay timeless because the story is conveyed through the words,movies gradually show their age through the quality of the picture, but games, after only a couple of years, start to look old. It's another dilemma games face. When you play them at the time they might seem great, but give them a few years and they probably will play crap. Play golden eye again, some people might like it, but the majority probably won't, it's just too old in many ways, like it's gameplay for example.