Molyneux: "Greatest Story Ever" Will be in a Game

[Kriegsherr]

He can't write the greatest story ever made, its already been done by Konami with Silent Hill 2.

Anyway, did Fable really even have THAT much of a plot? The first one was kinda just "Some jerk burnt down your village and killed your family so we're going to train you to be a Hero and you can do a bunch of quests to get back at him and his bandits, or you can do the bandit quests and lend them a hand, whatever, its your life"

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Lionhead's Bible confirmed.

I thought that as well. You could have a Grand Theft Chariot bit with Herod killing off the first borns, Cooking Jesus making fish sandwiches for 5000, 40 day/night spawn camp...

The geek shall inherit the Earth.

 

[Artemis923]

Molyneux: "Greatest Story Ever" Will be in a Game

Lionhead Studios boss Peter Molyneux thinks that one day, videogames will tell the greatest story in the world.

Lionhead's Molyneux - perhaps best known for games like Fable and Black and White - has a bit of an odd relationship with stories in videogames. Oh, there's no doubt that he's for them, and the man clearly thinks there's potential there ... it's just that he keeps revising what he believes that potential is.

First, he said he thought that games would have come from a computer game [http://www.vg247.com/2009/03/20/molyneux-games-to-have-godfather-quality-storytelling-by-2016/]. That's right, the greatest ever. Of all time. Period.

"And I think that if I play the greatest story ever told in the same game as you play it, your greatest story is going to be different to my greatest story ... and that is power," Molyneux told VG247.

Molyneux is a man who has a reputation for thinking big - perhaps thinking too big, if you ask some people. In Peter Molyneux's perfect world, the game with the greatest story ever told would be one of Lionhead's: "That ambition to do that, to write that story, or to write that game that allows you to experience that story, is definitely something Lionhead Studios wants to do."

Big words, Peter. Big words. But I suppose we'll just have to wait and see - I wonder what Shakespeare would have come up with had he been playing as a Bard in EverQuest back in the day?

Permalink

Lol maybe if GRRM releases A Dance of Dragons as a new RPG.

 

[Tech Team FTW!]

He seems to be making baseless predictions... *cough*economic downturn*cough*...
Aaaaanyway, how do you compare one story to another?
Choose your own adventure novels have interactivity, but that does not make them good...
Any of them.

 

[sorry user name taken.]

this man is like foreplay...great build up but when it comes to the main action....

yeah well you see where I'm going with this..

( i ment in his games btw not him )

*Breathes a sigh of relief*

LOL!

 

[Xerosch]

Well, it's quite possible that he's right. But he won't be the one to write it. What was that again? He wants people to remember Fable 2 for it's story? (He says so in either an interview on the limited edition DVD or in one of the video diaries for Fable 2)

 

[iain62a]

Panescape: Torment is (to me) the best story ever told through a game, and I think great stories could(and have) be told through the medium of games.

 

[Darky252]

I don't understand why people criticise him so much. He's only being optimistic and expressing his faith in the medium. It's not like he's saying that he's going to make the greatest story ever.

 

[scarbunny]

I disagree with scarbunny,

But only a bit, I feel that the interactive nature of games can make them a stronger storytelling medium than film, television or literature.

Look at Silent Hill 2, where every monster design has plot significance, or where all of the levels are somehow reflective of the main character's inner turmoil. It's a deep psychological drama told in an interactive manner. Choice is irrelevant, the story is made all the stronger by it's playable nature.

Or Bioshock, where the Environment is a Story in and of itself, almost apart from the main plot. Granted it's not perfect, but it is impressive, and unique to gaming. You can't have a movie where an unspeaking environment is part of the overall narrative. It takes too much time to explain.

I will agree that the interaactive nature of games allows for a greater level of emersion than that of films, and as a result you are able to become more attached to the characters. However I dont think that any game has the ability to be the greatest story ever written if the player is able to make choices that affect its out come, once you start with branching story lines you start to lose what makes the story great. Think about it if you give the player the option of making a stupid mistake then there is a large chance they will take it.

You end up with the greatest story ever told only being seen by a small minority that choose the correct path through the game. However a skilled design team will guide the player down the correct, maybe even only path, with out them noticing. You still give them a sense of freedom you allow them to experiance the game at their own pace and as a result you have them so involved in the story that when given a choice only a very small minority choose the wrong option.

 

[SimuLord]

Well, now that Molyneux's said it, we can officially write it off as a possibility. As someone opposed to the games-are-art belief I find this tremendously reassuring.

 

[Shycte]

And I think we already have that "Greatest Story Ever": Metal Gear.

Oh I get it. You were joking, right? RIGHT?

OT: I think that he may be correct, about a game telling THE story. Lionhead making it I don't know.

 

[ChocoFace]

So all of the world will think the same way about one story? that one story is the greatest?
Not gonna happen.

 

[nova18]

Lionhead's Bible confirmed.

You have just won 1 million Internet points for making me laugh so much.
But a part of me deep down knows that its the kind of thing Mr Molineux would do.