Zen Toombs said:
4RM3D said:
You mention Bioshock and other games as good examples of excellent story told through gaming, but Mass Effect is not because it could be, as you said, translated onto the big screen relatively easily. But could this type of thing not be done with most games?
In the end you can turn every game into a movie. They even made a movie of battleship!
But what I wanted to point out where two things:
1) By Hollywood standards the story is mediocre.
2) You can translate the story 1-on-1 into a movie script (that wouldn't be possible with The Witcher 2, for example)
skywolfblue said:
What is so wrong with static stories? Some of the best stories in games have been told through static stories. Half Life 2 has a static story, Red Dead Redemption has a static story, Starcraft has a static story, etc...
There isn't anything inherently wrong with static stories. And for some games it works better. The example I mentioned about JRPGs, where you are almost watching an interactive movie rather than playing a game. I like JRPGs, but I also want to see something differently. We had have these static stories since day 1.
Lilani said:
I love the gameplay of Soul Calibur, but the stories are always so inconclusive and predictable it's almost an insult whenever you get to the end. But to imagine finding a way to make the game work without a story is a bit daunting, and the games still sell like hotcakes, so Capcom won't be changing their formula anytime soon.
For some game genres it is more difficult to tell a proper story. Sport and simulation games don't even have a story most of the time. Do they really need a story? Probably not. But it would still be nice to see an actually football (soccer) RPG where you start out as a lone manager and climb your way to the top. Where the 'battles' are football matches. You could even throw in the movie Shoalin Soccer. Oh yeah, give it to me now!
Ahem, I digress. I can't remember any fighting game with a good story. I have seen a few try, but it is quite difficult, because of how fighting games work. Still, I have to applaud BlazBlue for its story. They used the gimmick of alternative universe to weave all mini-stories together. Creating quite a complex story for a fighting game about what happened on a certain day.
KILRbuny said:
these medium's need to be judged independently. film succeeds because of good film-making, i.e. cinematography, editing, acting, mise-en-scene (setting, costuming, props, etc.) and the like. a film can have great writing and terrible editing and be awful because of that. film needs to be judged based on how well all of the elements are incorporated.
likewise, video games need to be judged based on the integration of the elements of video games, i.e. gameplay, (i'm using this for a lack of better word) mise-en-scene, writing, pacing, etc. etc. if games are being compared to other media, then nobody will ever see how truly good the medium is. it is the integration of all the elements that must be the point of judging, with all things considered. the whole will (almost) always be greater than the sum of the parts.
An interesting theory. But does that mean you actually changed the definition of the word 'story' because in its current form (movies) it can not be applied to games?
GrizzlerBorno said:
You want a game that does a "video game story" well? Fallout: New Vegas. It's not a mind bender, and it never could have been because it's not linear AT ALL. You are in charge of writing your own story, from scratch. YOU pick which faction to help. YOU pick where to go. YOU decide how much you actually even care about the world. It's a COMPLETELY interactive story, and a marvel of video game design.
While typing a response, it made me think of another issue with stories in games. And for this I am going to use TV series for comparison.
There are two kinds of TV series (and combinations thereof): one with a continuous story and one where the episodes stand alone. With the latter you can watch the episodes in any random order. This has its advantages of being flexible. The game Fallout: New Vegas works with this principle.
A continuous story requires more writing and it requires a good flow to move the series forward, which is very expensive and because of that many TV series don't use it. JRPGs (like Final Fantasy) mostly fit this description. But if you want to make a game using a continuous story but still have a dynamic story telling, well then that is going to be a challenge. I still think The Witcher 2 did it pretty well.
As for Fallout: New Vegas there are three issues.
1) The main story is too simple and straight forward and lacks an 'epic' build up.
2) Also your actions don't reflect much on the main story. You have two sides to choose from, but that's about it.
3) The world doesn't really evolve with you.
EDIT: I still like the game and I still like the game world. But as far as the story goes, it's too basic and straightforward.