Question of the Day, March 12, 2010

[The Escapist Staff]

Question of the Day, March 12, 2010



Some games are jam-packed with journal entries, books, diaries, and databases. Does all of that effort make the game better, or is it just a waste?

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[Katherine Kerensky]

It can make the game more interesting for me.
It adds more to the story. Gives it a better background.
Gives it more of a life-like feel.
So I read them... makes it better.

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

I do if i'm really involved in the story. If the story bores me i won't read in depth.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Most of the time. Unless they are boring as hell.

Audio logs: All the time. Especially the ones in Halo: ODST, Bioshock, and Dead Space.

For reading:

I'll read the universe ones, like on culture of Dwarves/Asari/etc. but not the tech ones or long poems. I read them all in FF13, because they're very short, though.

That said, my favorite in-game lore of ALL TIME is...

"The Real Barenziah", Elder Scrolls.

http://www.imperial-library.info/dfbooks/b101_complete_barenziah.shtml

In Dragon Age...too long and too frequent, so I stopped reading the giant poems, and just read the rest.

 

[GundamSentinel]

Most of the time I do. But after a while it can get tedious. Reading everything in Dragon Age? Yeah right, for the first 3 hours maybe.

 

[TheNamlessGuy]

DELETED

 

[TheFacelessOne]

Well, I would listen to the ones in Bioshock...if I wasn't afraid that something was going to take out my guts and use it as a scarf for the winter.

But I suppose. Unless you have to read fourteen pages.

Errrrrggghh

 

[Abedeus]

Only in Mass Effect 2.

 

[ssgt splatter]

Only if it's interesting.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

In Dragon Age...too long and too frequent, so I stopped reading the giant poems, and just read the rest.

Most of the time I do. But after a while it can get tedious. Reading everything in Dragon Age? Yeah right, for the first 3 hours maybe.

Am I the only person who read every single thing I could in that game and loved it all?

Nope. Someone else did.

Just not us.

 

[Xaryn Mar]

Of course I do. It made Fallout 3 much more immersive for instance.

 

[Sosa Star]

I just started FFXIII last night and have been reading every little scrap of text they've dumped in my log. Don't know how long I'll keep it up but the story stuff and background info is really interesting. so I'll likely keep coming back everytime that Data Log symbol flashes.

 

[AvsJoe]

Only if I'm interested. For instance I didn't read the diary entries from Kingdom Hearts but I was all about those spheres from FFX.

 

[Trivun]

[small]Usually, yes. To be honest, since I usually get the bus home from the city centre I'll crack it out and read the instruction manual and extras while I'm on the bus. I love it when the developers make an effort to include extra information not seen in the game, or tie the content in with the characters and story itself (e.g. the Halo Wars manual that has various little in-character notes apparently from Professor Anders, or the emails from Lucy in the Assassin's Creed 2 manual).[/small]

EDIT: Just realised that the poll was talking about in-game stuff, like the books in Oblivion. Also, yes, I do, provided it's something that interests me. Helps me to get a wider look at the world that we're playing in, and it really expands the universe and makes it somewhat more accessible .

 

[Kollega]

Only if they're good. Thankfully, they are good most of times.

 

[thepopeofatheism]

I read every single codex entry in Mass Effect. I only read the new ones in Mass Effect 2.

 

[axle 19]

I will usually read it. Most games that have it usually have a fantastic story which the codex entries add on to. As long as it isnt a crappy story to begin with I read them.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

I guess no, since it says "read". If it is something like in BioShock or FEAR (phones) where they are audio, then I try to find every one, but if it actually requires reading, I usually skip it unless it is something important (like how to unlock something or where to go).