A Fanboy's Guide to Fanboying

[TheKimi]

Ahahaha!! No reviewing games EVAR. Hilarious, Shamus, hilarious.

 

[The Heik]

You lost me at "it's not about the story" OFCOURSE it's about the story - games and we have evolved so far luckily that we can, and should, demand a good story and storytelling from games. I don't care if the game has incredible gameplay mechanics like Modern Warfare 2, if the story is horrible then I have no reason to play it. Same goes for movies and books, if the story isn't there, I'm not watching/reading any further, no matter how good the technical side is.

Uh, you do know that games are entirely based upon gameplay to further EVERYTHING about it? The story could be an epiphany causing diamond that could turn Hitler into Mother Teresa, but if the gameplay is so broken that it's rendered unplayable, then that story might as well be nonexistant. On the other hand, a game with great gameplay but an atrocious story will still be fun to play, because the part that includes the player is at the core of the player's experience. Remember, you can usually skip the cinematics, but you can't skip the gameplay.

OT: You lost me at gameplay. It doesn't matter if it's part of a series, the gameplay of a game is always independent of the other installments.

Teaches me never to take a improv vacation after making fanboy-rage-inducing statements. My inbox hasn't been this full before.

Not even gonna reply to all the singular ones, so this'll do:

Gameplay is important, true, but if any of you watched the fantastic Extra Credits some weeks back, you'd know that this is a medium driven by the story as much as gameplay. If Mario didn't have his princess to save, there wouldn't be the addictive jumping gaming we know and love. I stand by my statement that the best games created have a brilliant story to back up the gameplay, if either one is lacking, I'll be bored with the product faster than with the new Katy Perry album. Pressing buttons in sequence only goes so far, there has to be a motivation behind it - and no, achievements don't count, they're not impressing anyone.

I understand where you're coming from, and yes motivation is incredibly important in a great game. But, the thing is, it's not what defines games as a whole. Games are a unique medium because they allow the player to interact with a virtual reality, something that no other medium can boast. If you were to remove that from the equation then it would be a movie, not a game. And most the most popular games usually didn't need much story (I'm sorry, but "your princess is in another castle" is not world class writing). Rockband and guitar hero had a pretty much nonexistent plot, yet people loved the game because it allowed them to live a fantasies of being stars, totally free of a railroading storyline.

To make a truly great game, you need not just good gameplay, but a good story as well. But remember, great game plots are always based upon the experience of the player in the interactive sections. Would Silent Hill 2's plot been as good if the gameplay had been removed, along with all the frights and chill that occurred in it? I wouldn't think so.

 

[knight56]

AHA! I CAN STILL JUDGE GAMES BY THE TITLE SCREEN!

 

[megadraco]

Hey there, just dropping by to say there is a unisex name for fanboys and fangirls (or at least this definition of them). It was penned by the folks over at TV Tropes, and it's called Fan Dumb. Kinda appropiate, isn't it? BTW, I may have readed so much of that page that I am actually immune to its effects. And the column was hilarious. Good job, Shamus.