254: Playing for the Story

[Logan Westbrook]

Playing for the Story

People play games for different reasons. Logan Westbrook tells us why the story is the most important aspect of games for him and how he doesn't care if that means he has to run down the difficulty slider.

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[Sabrestar]

Thank you. This captures exactly how I feel now that my generation doesn't so much feel like the "bleeding edge" of gamers, so to speak.

Story and immersion is what I want nowadays. I still like testing my skills and going for a high score - but if I want that I'll fire up Asteroids or Pooyan or another golden-age arcade classic. If I want to be challenged, I'll play Castlevania (the original, of course). That's fun to me. My coworkers keep telling me to try Mass Effect or Fallout - but I want to enjoy the story without getting bogged down like Mr. Westbrook describes. (I also can't afford an Xbox 360 plus a Live subscription, but that's another matter.)

Excellently written.

 

[JEBWrench]

This is exactly why I play games on easy. I couldn't care less anymore about challenge from a game, I want entertainment. If I'm playing a fantasy game, and I don't want to get mired down anymore in "die, reload, repeat".

Some games, they seem to really penalize you for that, though, which irritates me. I don't need to think of a tactic at all in Oblivion, since when I play on easy, it boils down to "Press 3 to win".

I'd like to see a bit more effort in improving easy modes so that a variety of gameplay methods can be entailed, while still not erecting massive roadblocks to the time-limited people amongst us.

(If this double-posts, please accept my apologies.)

 

[Setsuhen]

Loved the artice, and I must say I can relate to it.

Playing Oblivion for me was no easy task. I found myself getting killed time after time, and it just became a bore. I tried active leveling, and it worked, yet there were still parts that just made me want to rip my hair off. My "pride" refused to make me slide the difficulty bar all the way down, so I just set it down when fighting a monster I found impossible, then resetting it after getting it done.

If a game has a story, I want the story. While I'll still most likely enjoy the gameplay itself, it's the narrative that mainly takes my interest. If I find a game with a good story but bad gameplay, I'll press on. Vice Versa however, I'll probably stop midway because my interest dries up. If the game has no story to begin with, or a fragment of a story (Borderlands, Monster Hunter, etc) then I'll play it for the gameplay and most likely enjoy it.

 

[9NineBreaker9]

Playing Oblivion for me was no easy task. I found myself getting killed time after time, and it just became a bore. I tried active leveling, and it worked, yet there were still parts that just made me want to rip my hair off. My "pride" refused to make me slide the difficulty bar all the way down, so I just set it down when fighting a monster I found impossible, then resetting it after getting it done.

This is my Oblivion experience, too. I wanted so desperately to get into it, and there were a few moments (listening to The Slip, because the same few tracks got annoying after a while) where I wouldn't have been able to tell you the difference between my current dungeon and reality, but those moments were fleeting and outnumbered by constant death over enemies that seemed far stronger than I. Eventually, I just gave up with the entire affair. I pick it up every now and again, thinking "I"ll do it this time" but each new experience often never makes it out of the sewer.

But I agree with the article, and find myself in similar situations often. I always seem to get about 3/4ths of the way through a game before the actual gameplay begins to become boring. I did this recently with Persona 4 and simply forced myself through the last two dungeons to continue on the story - a God awful grind, but one I'm thankful for, having made it through and seen the ending to a close.

However, there are certainly some games where I play it now for the simple challenge. Excluding 'arcade' sorts of games, I play through Dead Space now on Expert just for the sheer difficult thrill of it. I suppose that, after already playing the story, I feel more inclined to challenge myself, but, until then, I do my best to make it through on normal... but always keep in the back of my mind the knowledge that "easy" is often a few clicks away.

 

[Rogue 9]

I had a bit of the same issue you had with DA:O on my second playthrough of ME2. After beating it once I figured I was ready to crank it up a notch from the medium setting I'd played it on. This turned out to be a mistake, as I found myself dying more frequently than on my first playthrough, for (often) avoidable reasons. And this kept me from playing through the game, getting to the scenes where I wanted to explore alternative dialogue choices and decisions. So not all that far through the game, back down went the difficulty setting.

 

[pluizig]

Thank you. Story is so often overlooked in games. If a developer spends hundreds of thousands of dollars (if not more) on programming and art direction, would it be so difficult to hire ONE good writer?

 

[Frybird]

Great, now i'm ashamed that i actually stopped playing Dragon Age altogether rather than turning down the difficulty.


Also, for anyone who prefers fully interactive storytelling over actual gameplay mechanics, try out "Sleep is Death"

 

[BlueInkAlchemist]

Story is indeed more laudable in pulling off in games in a generation of twitchy first-person shooter addicts. But I didn't think the story in Mass Effect 2 was all that interesting. The characters and their stories were, but the overarching plot was just... well, it was kinda dumb. Here's a couple [http://www.blueinkalchemy.com/2010/03/01/game-review-mass-effect-2/] arguments [http://epix.blueinkalchemy.com/?p=178] to that effect.

 

[razormint21]

Most definitely agree. I prefer JRPGs over WRPGs because of these very factors.
Even those games with not-too-intelligent plots. I just play most games because i want in on the story. I also tone down the difficulty on single player games since a game that feels like a grind is unappealing for someone who can only play on controlled levels. In the end, it's all about pleasing oneself and not others. Who should care if you enjoy playing the game laid back rather than sweaty due to the intensity you put to yourself?

 

[DTWolfwood]

there is no shame in admitting your bad at the game and having to excuse yourself from playing the game on its default difficulty

Flees before the reprisal of nerdrage XD

 

[SavingPrincess]

-GreatArticleSnip-

Okay, good; I thought I was alone. I had a very similar experience with Dragon Age: Origins and, playing it on PC, the dev-console and Mods were definitely my friend. I had no interest in leveling my characters, I just maxed everything out right away. I downloaded armor and weapon mods, unlocked all the skills on my main character for all classes; I made the character look and play how I thought the hero should... and then just waded my way through the story. Worst part? I had a ton of fun doing it that way. I had more fun cheating and modding the game to hell while playing through the story than I would have trying to play the game "as intended." Fights were simply a chore I had to do between plot points.

I wrote a quick little piece a while back called "Why Do We Hate Games So Much?" [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.177439], in which I talked about how the gaming community as a whole is mostly "doing it wrong" and developers are following suit. We're starting to complain about lack of story in Platformers or too many cutscenes in Metal Gear Solid. Instead of appreciating things for what they are, we like to complain about what is not there. Developers are reacting and "injecting" other elements to try and please everyone. Portal is in essence, a puzzle game, and the sequel is trying to make it more of a story oriented game. Now I'm all about the story, but I played Portal for the incredibly clever puzzles. I would have rather seen higher quality writing in a game like Mirror's Edge, which I enjoyed thoroughly, but for the gameplay elements (which also could have been better).

I would love to see more narrative-oriented games in our world, and I think since our generation (25-35) doesn't have the time for competitive play-oriented games (what with our silly jobs and families and whatnot), some of us tend to look for something different in games... more of an "experience" than a "no0b-pwning sesh." All in all, great article. I hope we see more games like Heavy Rain that focus on "interactive story" even at the sacrifice of quality shooting mechanics or deep inventory systems.

 

[Nomanslander]

Interestingly enough, I'm the complete opposite, I use to be all about the story but since then my fascination with headshots has grown and taken over.

My reasons?

I don't see video games as a story telling experiences any more, I save that for movies. Video games are all about just the experience of being there and being put in those conditions, and testing one's skills is a fundamental part of that.

I think video games developers and gamers alike still have a long way to go to truly understanding the point of an interactive medium...=/

 

[Jory]

I did exactly the same thing on DA:O. Played through the entire thing on Easy. I hated micromanaging. I'd just choose the odd attack and watch my party wade through the enemies.

I really enjoyed it. It was great fun. Now I think about going back to play it again, but the memory of the really combat heavy parts keeps putting me off.

 

[ThrashJazzAssassin]

Some games just flat-out don't need a story - I can think of quite a few that have cutscenes which bear no real relation to the gameplay, and which could have been dispensed with entirely - but if a game does have a decent story, I want to be able to appreciate it properly and, if it's good enough, go through it again. I really appreciate RPGs that have an easy mode or New Game+; I won't necessarily use it, but I do get frustrated by games which don't have the option; I continually want to replay them just for the story, but never do, because I'm put off by the amount of grinding I'll have to do all over again.

 

[Talvrae]

That's exactelly why i love Bioware so much

 

[Eleima]

I haven't played Bioshock or Heavy Rain, but I *did* play Dragon Age: Origins, and I too had to turn down the difficulty setting down to easy, to my great shame. It just became too frustrating, and I wasn't enjoying it, so I played it for the story. All that micromanaging was a giant pain.
On the other hand, I found Mass Effect a cakewalk, and even completed it on both Insanity and Nightmare difficulty settings. Shooting stuff, that I can do. =D
But thank you, Mr. Westbrook for explaining so clearly why the "high score" isn't all that important, in the end.

 

[ben---neb]

Is it just me who feels that storytelling in gaming peaked at KOTOR, Morrowind and Half Life 2 and will never again reach such dizzy heights?

Oblivion, Fallout 3, Mass Effect (1+2), Dragon Age all had rubbish main quests that were adaquate rather than epic. It seems that most video game writers are good at doing the small stuff but always seem to try to hard when it comes to the big plot arcs.

 

[EnigmaHarper]

I really want to print out this article and make my friend read it. I play games on easy because 1) I have played for all that long and 2) I want to get through the story without dying 80 bagillion times. My friend doesn't understand that. He's all about the better upgrades you get on the harder levels. I've tried to explain to him that I like to get through the game once, but he just doesn't get it.

So thank you for writing this. Hopefully now my friend will understand my point of view.

Also, I wanted to mention that I got through all of BioShock on easy and I only died like 3 times. I switched to medium for my next go-round and died within 4 minutes, by the first damn splicer. Either that's a crazy difficulty curve, or I really suck of gaming.

 

[Enkidu88]

I went a step further and just ended up cheating my way through DA:O. Yes, you can all crucify me now. I plead guilty.