Storyline In Video Games.
Scythe
Join Date: 2002-01-25 Member: 46NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, Constellation, Reinforced - Silver
Join Date: 2002-01-25 Member: 46NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, Constellation, Reinforced - Silver
<div class="IPBDescription">Just an excuse for gore?</div> I love good storylines in games. A good story will keep me playing the game right to the end.
Most of my friends however, really couldn't care less. My beloved Girlfriend for example, tried to play Half-Life on my recommendation, but she quit out half-way though the train ride at the start because she couldn't kill anything. Likewise for another friend of mine, he was too impatient to sit and listen to what the scientists were saying to each other. In too much of a rush to go off and kill something to take in the building suspense.
Yet another friend asked me what happened with the administrator (g-man) at the end of Half-Life. I scoffed at him and told him to play it though to find out. He said he didn’t want to know that much. I’ve informed another mate that at the end of HL1, you’re given a special code unique to your hardware config and cd-key that you need to play HL2. He’s up to the blast pit so far. Tehehe.
Is storytelling totally irrelevant to most of today's gamers? Entire cultures are built on stories!
--Scythe--
Most of my friends however, really couldn't care less. My beloved Girlfriend for example, tried to play Half-Life on my recommendation, but she quit out half-way though the train ride at the start because she couldn't kill anything. Likewise for another friend of mine, he was too impatient to sit and listen to what the scientists were saying to each other. In too much of a rush to go off and kill something to take in the building suspense.
Yet another friend asked me what happened with the administrator (g-man) at the end of Half-Life. I scoffed at him and told him to play it though to find out. He said he didn’t want to know that much. I’ve informed another mate that at the end of HL1, you’re given a special code unique to your hardware config and cd-key that you need to play HL2. He’s up to the blast pit so far. Tehehe.
Is storytelling totally irrelevant to most of today's gamers? Entire cultures are built on stories!
--Scythe--
Comments
The people that dont need a storyline are the guys who show up in the stats "proving" gaming turns us into sadistic killers ^^
EDIT: Though I do occasionally load up Legacy Doom 2 or UT2003 for some plotless bloodthirsty killing.
--Scythe--
At the risk of pointing out the obvious, NS is a killing game, rather than a storyline game. So, you're saying that we're all psychos? <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
There's also a difference between background story and intrinsic story. Half-Life or Baldur's Gate have an intrinsic storyline that you follow through the game, whereas NS does not. NS has a background story that adds flavour to the game, but it's not really part of the gameplay.
Note that I am not saying this makes NS a bad game, it's just not a story-based game.
The only exception so far is SOF2. I like being able to mutilate people <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
On that note, social experience in a multiplayer game, and story/atmosphere in a singleplayer game, are the only factors that allow me to spend a large amount of time playing. If I want indescriminant violence I just load up doom on nightmare and play for a minute or so. It will never hold my attention.
Most enjoyable game of late is definately Metroid Prime - the storyline played a major part and the game shone because of it. So I still say they play an important role.
You can only mindlessly kill for so long before it gets boring! Needs to be a reason or purpose to keep you interested.
However I'm also a RPG buff, so I got into the NS storyline.... and to be honest.. I've not played UT since. NS apeases ALL of that.... and more... plus... I know when I kill a skulk, there's a guy on the other end going, "Awww, not again! I hate the respawn time!" That to me is satasfying. So it reading the stories for each of the maps... *caged has a really interesting story plot, althought I don't like the "ending." hehe*
neways.. I'd say NS has it all.... just add some half dressed women (like orriginal UT), and it'd be the favorite game of anyone I know!
Quake 3 Arena. Did they even <u>try</u> to make a story for that?
I believe video games are not very effective as a story telling device. Since they're doomed to be interactive, you can't have characters that are more powerful than your player. You're limited to tell heroic stories from the POV of the hero, and that gets boring real fast.
IMHO the artistic potential of video games lies only in multiplayer roleplaying/virtual worlds. <i>Creating</i> the story instead of following predetermined paths. Of course nobody has found a way to really do that yet, hack&slay ? la Everquest yields more profit among a teenage audience.
Story is extremely important to me, but action and looks are as well. Games I've loved have included Half-Life, Max Payne, Oni, Wind Waker, and more for that precise reason. Those combine enjoyable action (I'd go so far as to say that the action in Oni and in Max Payne: Kung Fu Edition are near perfect) and compelling storylines. Deus Ex of course gets a nod as well, but I've always put a "but" on it - in that its graphics leave a great deal to be desired. A story by itself can't do everything.
Another class of games I find absolutely amazing are those like GTA3, Morrowind, and Wind Waker (again). This is because while the story (in the case of GTA3 anyway) may not be top-notch, the world you are in is so unbelievably interactive that you can almost create your own story (in Morrowind, you pretty much can).
So yeah, I like stories. But the best games are those that blend excellent gameplay *and* story. I think Wind Waker may take the cake in that respect... and I am barely into that game. I can't wait to really dig in.
Recent games I've played with good storylines are Return To Castle Woflenstein (Its not just all Nazi killing there is some narrative that is rather good) Resident Evil (While people may have issues with controls and other bits the background story is so well thought out) System Shock 2 (Very clever storyline) Max Payne (Double Crossing, violence and Italian gangsters! Almost movie like) Operation Flashpoint was also very good at providing a storyline that unfolded during missions.
I haven't played SysShock2 all the way though yet, too damn freaky. I got up to the cargo deck or something and got sick of walking around to find keys. Keep in mind this was three years ago.
Operation Flashpoint also had a very interesting storyline and great gameplay. I loved that part when you were shot down in your chopper and had to navigate your way back home using the stars as a guide. Bloody fun and realistic to boot.
Though not all storylines are a good thing... Have a look at the game called "The Creed" it had a very involving plot, but it's really terrible. You've gotta play it to see what I mean. I picked it up in a bargin-bin at cash-converters some years ago for two dollars, I probably should've taken that as a warning.
--Scythe--
But as time wore on, I lost that feeling. It just became nothing more than a search for kills, and when things went bad ie kept getting headshotted, I got really fed up really quick.
In natural selection, it sometimes gets to that "im sick of this crap" stage, but it takes a lot longer, and then when I do go on an ns "diet", I recharge heaps quicker, and I believe this is entirely due to the fact that I can sorta roleplay.
On another note, roleplay - DO NOT BE FOOLED. Some people use alcohol to escape lifes problems, some people use drugs, others use comfort food, but roleplay is the "hardest" stuff available. You get yourself truly immersed in a good multiplayer game, while maintaining the roleplay, and all lifes problems fade so damn quick.....
rave ended
It's really a question of maturing taste. The 'older' the FPS-genre gets, the more of the big successes (Deus Ex, Mafia, Max Payne) are story-driven. Problem right now is that the moments in which the story is unfolded mean a break for the players - you can't really do anything during the trainride, for example.
Once the old 'mission'-structure (action - storyinterlude - action) is broken, I'm sure stories will take a far bigger place in gaming as they do right now.
Oh yea, and ninjas.. you gotta love ninjas *runs off to play Tenchu*
Its shamefull. Disrespecting stories like that.
I think Max Payne is the perfect example of this, except it has one flaw. There's too much storytelling, it makes it very minimally replayable (in my opinion). As good an experience it was when i played it through, i don't want to sit through all that story again. I've heard it before.
I personally think more open ended games are the way to go. Take FFVII for example, you can be at any stage through the game and then can just bugger off somewhere and do your own thing. And when you feel like it, get back to the story. As with Morrowind and the later GTA games.
Thinking now, it's this that makes the "perfect game". Games like Half-Life, Max Payne, and so on, are way too linear. I don't like being told where to go. While they are good stories and great action games, being pushed in the right direction all the time you kinda stop thinking you're playing the game, just being forced to follow a series of pre-determined events.
I think for the reasons above, this is why FFVII is my favourite game. In my opinion it has the perfect storyline, a great combat system. And you can go and do what you want <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
I do tend to ramble don't i.
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HL2 solved this problem like Deus Ex. There are multiple ways through levels and more than one way to complete tasks.
Good games with a real story: Half-Life (duh!), Deus Ex, Homeworld, Warcraft 3, No One Lives Forever 1 & 2, Mafia (story takes center stage in this one), Freelancer (It had a story, you just had to look for it), Battecruiser 3000AD (for the ultra-super-duper anal retentive!), and Max Payne.
And muds where you're forced to roleplay...ugh, can we say "fake"?
Good games with a real story: Half-Life (duh!), Deus Ex, Homeworld, Warcraft 3, No One Lives Forever 1 & 2, Mafia (story takes center stage in this one), Freelancer (It had a story, you just had to look for it), Battecruiser 3000AD (for the ultra-super-duper anal retentive!), and Max Payne. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Doom had a story. The game was just to primative to tell it. Doom 3 should have a more noticable story
For instance, Theif and Theif 2 were, probably, the best games I ever played, because the whole hammer bit? That was just cool! Not to mention the fact that except for *possibly* splinter cell (and only because of the graphics and acrobatics) was the best stealth game ever. I can't wait for Theif 3.
I Loved Deus Ex as well. It's the best story I've ever heard in a video game. The augmentation system was great, and the path system was cool, but the thing that relly kept me till the end of the game was the story. I mean, who diddn't want to know what happened to Helios/JC/The world?