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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Story is automatically a good thing?

I would far rather have story be the focus than graphics. I want to know why I'm doing what I'm doing.



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Well I mostly agree with you Bod. Generally most story lines in games do little for me or slow me down. Even though are stories in games I've enjoyed, it's very possible I would of liked those same stories in another medium. So I certainly agree a game being heavy story doesn't automatically make it better, in fact so many current games are up thier own ass with thier storylines, I tend to think it'll probably make it worse.

I think a lot of the problem is in presentation. Even if you have a "good" storyline it's typically disconnected from the actual gameplay and restricted to cut-scenes or listening/reading things littered across the enviroment. The story could be dramatic and tragic, while the actual gameplay could be mindless fun. It's often two seperate experiences. If you can work

I find the whole "cinematic" gaming trend rather annoying as well. I don't think games will ever be accepted as an artform by the masses by (poorly) imitating movies. Like HappySqurriel said, I also think most game writing is sub-Hollywood shlock, yet cinematic games often present there stories in movie form.

I do think if you can mostly weave your story telling elements into the actual gameplay, then even weaker stories can enchance the experience. Take F.E.A.R. for example. It's story isn't anything special, and if you were to try and make that into a movie or whatever, it'd probably suck hard. But the game is very light on traditional cutscenes, and a lot of it's cinematic elements happen as you play. The first time you fight the Armored soldier. You're constantly hearing it coming and it finally starts smashing through a metal door making inhuman noises all while you're in control. I think a lot of other games would just cut-scene something like that, but in F.E.A.R. it's all while you're still playing and if you're like me, you'll probably start shooting. Actually setting up moments in the actual game to get reactions as opposed to showing clips helped enchanced the actual experience even if F.E.A.R. plays out like a cliched horror movie. It was a cliched horror movie you were in.

 Not saying F.E.A.R. is the end all model of how games just work the cinematic angles, but I do think it was a good small step. 



Bodhesatva said:

I've noticed many reviews recently which have trumpeted the significance of storyline, and have implied -- if not outright explicated -- that story is, in essence, always a good thing. A little bit like graphics: better graphics is always a plus.

Frankly, this irks me, because I almost uniformly hate story-driven gaming; I have a strong dislike for traditional RPGs, and I find stories -- even better ones, as with Bioshock -- uniformly tedious and infantile in games. More specifically, I don't think an interactive medium is built for strong storytelling.

 

Does anyone else feel this way? Or have something to add? Does anyone here feel that storytelling is automatically a good thing, and if so, can you explain why?


No offense, but you are looking in the wrong places, because jRPGs are not the best indicative of story quality. Yes, Stories have been decreasing in quality in the last few years(there is no denying it), mainly due to:

- Decline of PC gaming, since PC gaming always had a more mature audience. Less focus on PC gaming means less games with mature stories and story-centric games.

- Decline of Story-centric games (aka. Adventure games). Adventures such as Monkey Island series have become rarer after around year 2000 and developers started making more and more console games and less PC games, in fear of piracy.

Ultimately, if you are a gamer that wants mature stories of amazing quality, then start playing PC games. This year we had an amazing number of PC games with quality stories and writing:

- Sam & Max: Season 1, comeback of the comedic duo. Really fun, ol' lucas arts quality.

- The Witcher (wRPG), possibly RPGOTY, if Mass Effect doesn't live up the hype, and has a great story with a good translated writing. It also had AAA reviews: PC jeux 9/10, X6 6/6, Joystick 9/10, IGN 8.5/10, Gamespot 8.5/10 - average 90%.

- Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer, NWN2's expansion which has the Best RPG Story of the last 6 years and completely destroying any JRPG's story, and almost touching Planescape: Torment and Baldur's Gate 2 in quality. I'm not exagerating.

- Culpa Innata. Never played it, but I heard good things about the story.

 

outlawauron said:
Depends on the game and the person playing it. I agree with Montana on most points. I adore a good story, but as you can see it isn't nessacary. If people can be content with the story in Kingdom Hearts. Good for them.

Depends on the genre: Platformers and Action games usually don't need a story, and FPS don't need to focus on their Singleplayer campaign(unless they're SP-only, like Bioshock). But in Adventure Games the story is 50% of the entire game, they're very story-centric.

 



johnlucas said:

Read Sean Malstrom's Theory of Cycles and you will know why this belief exists. In fact it explains ALL of people's beliefs on what "games" should be and why they believe it to be this way.

Theory of Cycles

http://thewiikly.zogdog.com/article.php?article=3&ed=1

John Lucas


Thank you johnlucas.  That was a great read.  I highly recommend it to everybody in this thread!

 

 

Regarding the topic: stories can be good and they can be bad.  Either way they are completely unnecessary.  A plot would be a hindrance to a game like Tetris or Ikaruga which are based on flawless controls. Other games have a shell of a story like Super Mario Bros. 3 or X-Com, just enough plot to get you goomba-stomping or alien-blasting, but too much plot would slow those games down when you're already itching to stomp some goombas or blast some aliens.  Other games suck me in with epic stories like FF6.  I guess I swing both ways.

But like graphics, the best story in the world can't save a game that controls like shit.  Be careful everybody.  There are some really horrible games out there.  Don't let shiny graphics or great stories fool you!



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