Games for a Video Game Storytelling Class?

[Gatx]

Small Worlds [http://armorgames.com/play/4850/small-worlds] is one of my absolute favorite games. It's flash and unrated though but there's not really anything in there that would warrant anything over a T. Well, depends how you interpret a particular level I guess.

Company of Myself [http://www.gamesfree.com/game/company_of_myself.html] is pretty good too in how it uses its mechanic to tie into the story. The puzzle in the last level is horribly designed though.

 

[Deadyawn]

I'll throw my wieght behind deus ex as well. Extremely good example of the player's actions within gameplay affecting the story. Don't know its rating though.

Maybe Phoenix Wright? The writing, while generally quite silly, is solid and there is some very interesting interaction between the gameplay and narrative.

Shit, this is harder than I thought...

 

[psicat]

Games I can recomend, all available on gog.com and rated T: Sanitarium, The Longest Journey, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Psychonauts, Planescape: Torment, Nox, Deus Ex, Beyond Good and Evil, Outcast, and Anachronox.

 

[Aeonknight]

If you're looking for a classic, personal favorite would be Chrono Trigger. Could use it to demonstrate suspension of disbelief. By that I mean it tells a story of time travel in a romantic kind of context. You know, changing the past to create a better future.

If it followed the whole time travel aspect down to a T, the game would've been terrible. It would've been too confusing/convuluted to work, between working out paradoxes and such. So some suspension of disbelief was necessary.

 

[Torrasque]

I suggest Portal, Metroid Prime, Fire Emblem: Fūin no Tsurugi.
Portal because it tells a story with very little interaction with the main character.
Metroid Prime for the same reason as Portal, because Samus doesn't actually say anything, but also because you find out about the story more from scanning terminals than interacting with the game itself. Echoes would be the best game for this (at least I think), but any of them would work fine.
Fire Emblem: Fūin no Tsurugi because the characters are so fleshed out, and you can have the characters talk to each other the more they fight with each other. Depending on your choice of relationships, you can have X character marry Y character, or X character be good buddies with Y character, and marry Z character. Half of the replay value is building new relationships to affect gameplay as well as story.

Edit: also, Baten Kaitos. This game would be amazing because the perspective changes several times, and the motivations change after every major boss battle. It also has an amazing plot twist and then re-twist.

Question: would you just be telling them to play these games and interact with the story? Or would you be summarizing the story, how it unfolds, and how you can interact with it?

 

[lumenadducere]

I'm going to echo Bastion as well, since it ties in a narrator with player actions and does it really well. It's a good way to get a slightly reactive narrative based on player actions.

I'm also going to throw in Braid, because that story has some great revelations and it ties into the mechanics pretty well.

I'd agree with Planescape: Torment, but that will likely have accessibility issues to anyone of high school age. It's got dated graphics and practically no tutorial to speak of, plus it's based on old AD&D rules. If your students can get past that then it's got a fantastic story and some really good character interaction with dialog choices and consequences, but it may just be getting a bit old.

Deus Ex as well, but that's less of an issue as it looks better graphically and it's easier to grasp its mechanics because it doesn't rely on a dated rule system. Generally if you have a section on player choice and agency Deus Ex is the way to go. The great part of it is the gameplay actually can affect narrative, so it doesn't all boil down to conversation choices like most Western RPGs. You can do a compare/contrast with another T rated Western RPG like KotOR, but I think Deus Ex beats it out in terms of narrative, especially when it comes to player agency and gameplay.

For more traditional narratives that are a bit more linear, I'd say Psychonauts is really good, and it handles some mature themes in a tasteful and subtle way. But it'd likely be a great thing to discuss with a class. Beyond Good & Evil is up there, too, and follows a similar pattern of approaching some mature themes subtly. The Longest Journey as well if you think your class would be okay with a point-and-click adventure, which I hope they are because TLJ is fantastic.

A lot of JRPGs would probably be good too, but those are more straight story and less narrative. Still, if you want to change pace and want to showcase some good linear storytelling there are lots of great titles out there. Any of the recent Persona games, Lost Odyssey, etc.

One thing I definitely think you really should include is The Stanley Parable. A few others have mentioned it, but it's one of the best commentaries on game storytelling I've ever seen, and it all takes place within a game. It doesn't judge or preach, it just explores ideas, and it's phenomenally done with a great VA as the narrator. The only thing is you'd probably have to have it be one of the last games you cover in the course, as its nature of exploration of narrative requires you to have some experience actually experiencing narrative in other games. It relies on things we take for granted in games and if you have any students new to gaming they'd need to get used to some of the tropes before they could see what The Stanley Parable does to deconstruct them and point them out. Still, it is definitely one of my favorite things that I've "played" and I'd highly encourage anyone interested in game narrative to give it a shot. Play through all the endings and see what you think, it's a really short process but has a lot of potential for classroom discussion.

Edit: After reading psicat's post I'm going to echo Sanitarium (another point-and-click, I think TLJ is better but Sanitarium is really really good) and Anachronox as well. Anachronox is hilarious and has some great satire to it. But it too relies on knowledge of some tropes to really get its humor, so where it fits (or even if it fits at all) really depends on where you're looking to take the class.

 

[Boggelz]

Bastion, Bastion, and more Bastion. But yes, Bastion. Great game, with an interesting take on storytelling

 

[Da Orky Man]

Okay, here's the story.

As my senior project in college, I developed a college course entitled, "Video Games as Literature." It is a college course studying video games as a narrative medium; basically think of the structure and focus of a traditional literature course, but studying video games. I won't go into detail on the course's structure, but I need a good amount of video games (whether AAA or indie, traditional or more "artsy," whatever) with good stories that are told well. These games should be possible to get a hold of in one way or another, and it would be especially good for them to exhibit good storytelling using the interactive nature of the medium.

Here's the awesome part: since I'm graduating this semester, I have been hired to teach the course at a school in the area. I cannot properly express my excitement at the opportunity to help educate kids on the literary value of video games. The catch is, it's a high school. I can adapt the course to the age group perfectly well, but unfortunately it means I am not allowed to use M-rated games in the course. I won't name any specifics to avoid a war over this or that game's artistic legitimacy, but this eliminates many (though not all, of course) great games from the list I had previously developed.

So I come to you, my fellow Escapists, for advice on more games below the M rating that would be worth studying for their narrative and storytelling. What games could you recommend I include? I likely have many on the list already, but I would like help coming up with more than I can on my own.

TL;DR: What video games would you recommend for a high school class (so no M-rated games) studying video games as a narrative art form?

Before you comment, I would like to specify that "literature" is often used in the academic world to signify a form of storytelling art, with courses such as "Film as Literature." Obviously, words are more versatile than their literal definition, so please don't comment if all you're going to do is assert the term's poor application to the subject matter; that is neither valid nor relevant.

As a small piece of this, try Homeworld. It used a rarely-seen method of introducing the story to the players, yet it really works. I'll post a couple of vids:

 

[SpaceBat]

Journey would be my first recommendation for sure.
If that is not an option:

Planescape:Torment
Ico
Shadow of the Colossus
Knights of the old republic 2 (1 did fine, but its story was far too shallow)
Bastion
Bioshock
The Stanley Parable
The Portal series
Chrono Trigger
Deus Ex
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
Beyond Good and Evil
Psychonauts

Those are the ones that come to mind right now. I wanted to mention Braid, but it's not really a fine example of videogame storytelling.

 

[Guffe]

Okay, here's the story.

As my senior project in college, I developed a college course entitled, "Video Games as Literature."

I'll give you something, not sure they suit what you think but here goes anyways:

Okami (I have the one for the wii)

Tales of Symphonia (GameCube)

Blazing Angels (you're a war-pilot in WWII going through real scenarios/missions so also history based, maybe not deep story thou)

Legend of Zelda (for mind fuck go with Majoras Mask, the time warp and everything but I'd Twilight Princess or Skyward Sword are the most straight forward linear ones in tought of story.)

Warcraft III and The Frozen Throne, This could be a good one.

There you go.
Those are ones I've played, then there's of course the Final Fantasy games which are pretty heavily story-based I guess.

Good luck and Have Fun!

 

[Darknacht]

As for Planescape: Torment, it's one I've been meaning to play for a while, though I was always under the impression it was rated M. I'll have to check it out.

Planescape: Torment is rated teen everywhere except Australia, you should definitely check it out. You can even do a comparison between its as a game and it as a book since the game come with the book version as well.

 

[WorriedSandwich]

Seconding everyone who says Bastion.

It has a man with the most arousing voice evar narrate all your actions, plus it has a decent story. It's also an indie game, which means it's not too long and not too expensive.

 

[Bvenged]

I'm not sure what rates as "mature" as here in the UK we just have U Universal, PG Parental Guidance, PG12, 12, 15 & 18.

I take it 15 is a no-no?

Fable 1 had a good story.

Portal 1 / 2.

That's really a tricky question, the best stories usually require some form of maturity to go about them.

If 18's a no-no: ME series. Hell, even the Halo trilogy and Modern Warfare 1 were epic in an engaging and expressive way.

 

[Thaius]

First of all, to those involved in the "Dear Esther" debate, I have yet to play it, but I will check it out and consider including it. Whether or not it's a "game" is irrelevant; this is about interactive narrative art. Games are not the only way to contextualize this interactivity, nor is any meaningful interaction necessary for it to be an example of this medium due to the fact that, simplified down as low as it could be, it does require the player to interact, even if only by walking. Again, I have yet to play it, but on principle I find the "not a game" argument to be a waste of time since that does not disqualify it from being a meaningful work of digital interactive art.

I don't have any specific suggestions that haven't been included here, but have you considered the actual logistics of your students playing the games?

It is something I thought about. I thought about it when I designed the course and brainstormed with my Game Design professor as to the best solution. It looks like I will be organizing the course into studies based on genre, perspective, etc., and allowing the student to pick between a few potential options. That way, I can have games available on multiple systems so students will always have the means to play at least one game on the list. The only downside is that it eliminates whole-class discussions on specific games (though I do have the whole class play Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time), but it seems to be the best solution.

 

[Fappy]

Knights of the old republic. Might as well start off strong.

Ninja'd in the first post. The ONLY issue I see with Kotor is its reliance on basic Star Wars knowledge. I'd imagine most those kids have seen the Star Wars movies though anyway.

 

[Freechoice]

A bit off topic (I would also suggest Planescape: Torment and Bastion), but I would like to congratulate everyone that actually READ THE FUCKING OT and listed a game that fit the criterion.

Jesus.

 

[sageoftruth]

I think for a class like this, you'd want to use a mixture of titles that tell stories in different ways. Games like Portal and Bastion tell it through the setting and in-game dialog (monologue?), whereas games like the Metal Gear Solid series or recent JRPGs do it more through cutscene exposition. Games like Uncharted or Enslaved tend to use a bit of both.

I would make sure to use both types to compare and contrast. You'd also want to mention the good and bad points of both methods, as well as ways to make the most of them, or ways you can make them less effective. For example, having overly-specific criteria for continuing the plot can make players forget the plot and focus on searching for the waypoint. Meanwhile, if the game is more cutscnene-driven it can hinder the plot if the gameplay seems completely disconnected from the cutscenes.

Anyway, I think I got a bit excited there. I haven't written a report in a long time and this was a subject that I found interesting. I'll leave the rest to you. Good luck.

 

[go-10]

you could either go with Majora's Mask or Wind Waker, if you take apart all the implications of human psychology and how it all comes together in a world faced with its destruction, keep in mind neither of these games take place before or after the apocalypse these games literally take place DURING the apocalypse and the amount of people that have given up on life and how they act during these final hours/days and the uncertainty of them dying from a falling moon or being swallowed by the sea, not to mention the amazing villains and their reasons for putting the world in the state it is.

If I was to compare them to any written novel it would be Don Quixote of La Mancha, where the human mind is explored to numerous personas and its all presented in a fun whimsical way to hide the bigger picture of life being nothing more than a constant repetitiveness of itself with random moments of happiness and a shared goal for all, and how we as individuals chose to cope with that reality



or if you rather do something simpler you could play Brave Story and read Brave Story, there's both a game and book and both are REALLY good. http://www.amazon.com/Brave-Story-New-Traveler-Sony-PSP/dp/B000R39IKI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1332187297&sr=8-2 http://www.amazon.com/Brave-Story-ebook/dp/B004GXB46G/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1332187297&sr=8-4

 

[hewhocommunes]

No M rated...well, I was going to suggest God of War, even though I haven't played it Extra Credits had an episode [http://extra-credits.net/episodes/no-redeeming-value/] where they explained the story structure really well.

And while talking about Extra Credits, how about you mention telling a story through mechanics alone using Missile Command [http://extra-credits.net/episodes/narrative-mechanics/] as example.

I second the suggestion of missile command! The episode there is really well put together, as is the game.