Poll: Do you prefer emergent or linear storytelling?
- Thread starter BloatedGuppy
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Wait THATS what fable was suppose to be ? That sounds AMAZING! what the hell happenedCandidus said:
OT : linear , i want to be told a story through my game , i play games for story , like reading a book . My favorite genre is jrpg so linear stories are my cup of tea.
I like linear with enough of an INTERESTING open world to allow for the chances of me creating bits of emergent story. What is this completely empty vast area that I don't have a clear reason to be in? I'll explore it.
Indeed, a prefer a game with a story, but if the journey allows for emergence all the better. Still I love Minecraft, and while I find it intriuging I'll admit DF is just a bit too deep for me to get into when I am constantly playing other fairly deep games like X3, Baldur's Gate, and X-Com.Iron Lightning said:
Actually that last one is a great example of mixing story with emergent gameplay. Play X-Com and you develop an attatchment to soldiers who make it through a few missions, so much so that you feel sad when Anatoly Meyer the sole survivor of the Tokyo terror Mission Disaster gets killed when his fire team is hit by a blaster bomb.
Another (flawed) example is Far Cry 2. Yes the game has its issues, but it does give you the tools to go out and wreak whatever havoc you please, while also having a story to hang the game on. Even the missions allow for different approaches.
Despite my love of Minecraft I find it difficult to keep up my interest without a task to do and a reason to do it. I don't like dicking around in GTAIV, I gave up on Oblivion, Red Faction: Guerilla, and Assassins Creed (not just because it was aimless I'll admit), however I still prefer to just wander the wasteland in Fallout 3 (An indication of the quality of the story?). I liked Mafia 2 because it was all meat and no potatoes (too much driving though).
Linear in most single-player games
Emergent in multi-player. Especially MMOs.
Single-player games usually have a beginning and an end, so it's important to have structure to guide the player.
MMOs have a beginning, but generally the ending isn't as solid. And, if they do have a clear ending, you run the risk of losing players. Or you'll eventually bleed the writers dry of any and all creativity. Look at how long WoW has been going. They've long since resorted to having players kill off major characters in the Warcraft universe. Either Warcraft 4 is going to have declare WoW noncanon, or they'll need to explain how LegolAss and Sefirot of Gnomeland Security killed half the cast of Warcraft 3.
Emergent in multi-player. Especially MMOs.
Single-player games usually have a beginning and an end, so it's important to have structure to guide the player.
MMOs have a beginning, but generally the ending isn't as solid. And, if they do have a clear ending, you run the risk of losing players. Or you'll eventually bleed the writers dry of any and all creativity. Look at how long WoW has been going. They've long since resorted to having players kill off major characters in the Warcraft universe. Either Warcraft 4 is going to have declare WoW noncanon, or they'll need to explain how LegolAss and Sefirot of Gnomeland Security killed half the cast of Warcraft 3.
Emergent stories ONLY work when the player has the most control and can, visually, change the world at will. Basically, the player has to be given a LARGE extent of freedom.
Linear story is best when Story is the MAIN focus *look right on over to heavy rain* and if it ISN'T the main focus, it can become hard to follow or be forgotten.
Then theres Simple Stories, look at Mario, you are given one goal, complete goal.
I like Emergent stories, but think that each type of story is best on games that use them correctly.
Linear story is best when Story is the MAIN focus *look right on over to heavy rain* and if it ISN'T the main focus, it can become hard to follow or be forgotten.
Then theres Simple Stories, look at Mario, you are given one goal, complete goal.
I like Emergent stories, but think that each type of story is best on games that use them correctly.
I reject both options, and substitute my own.
I like the Oblivion/Fallout 3 method of storytelling. No, not the crazy hell plane/look for daddy overarching storylines. I like being able to walk into a building/cave/bunker in Fallout, and trying to work out what happened there in the past, either before or after the bombs dropped. Generally, the developers have something in particular in mind that they want to express, but you have to pick up all the clues and work it out yourself, or even come up with some completely different theory. It's a much more enriching way to experience the worlds; there's hundreds of little stories here and there that you can find stashed away.
Like I said, there's generally an actual story that the developers want to tell in each instance, and there may even be a side mission or something that ties into it, but it's up to you, and how you interact with the world, that defines how the story goes. So it's sort of somewhere in-between emergent and linear.
I like the Oblivion/Fallout 3 method of storytelling. No, not the crazy hell plane/look for daddy overarching storylines. I like being able to walk into a building/cave/bunker in Fallout, and trying to work out what happened there in the past, either before or after the bombs dropped. Generally, the developers have something in particular in mind that they want to express, but you have to pick up all the clues and work it out yourself, or even come up with some completely different theory. It's a much more enriching way to experience the worlds; there's hundreds of little stories here and there that you can find stashed away.
Like I said, there's generally an actual story that the developers want to tell in each instance, and there may even be a side mission or something that ties into it, but it's up to you, and how you interact with the world, that defines how the story goes. So it's sort of somewhere in-between emergent and linear.
I haven't played Minecraft or Dwarf Fortress, but it sounds like I'd like to try that kind of storytelling, but I'd probably enjoy the latter most of the time. I know I like to come up with my own stories and dialogue though when dealing with silent protagonists because I'm weird...
I don't like linearity. Unfortunatelly, there are very few non-linear games. Most hide it well, but it's still there. However, like it was mentioned previously : if story is good...BloatedGuppy said:
BTW : I think ME does lead by the hand practically from beginning to the end. Comparing it to Planescape or Deus Ex:HR ? Blasphemy !
Emergent. Games like The Elder Scrolls and Fallout feature a type of storytelling that you can't get from any other medium. (Also yes I realize the quests are quite linear but there's so much freedom to deviate from them that I don't consider it a linear experience.)
I love Minecraft and in general free roaming do-stuff-in-your-own-order game narratives are a big plus for me, but I do like a well written linear story.
I start liking it less if and when I start noticing the way the story is structured and can pretty much predict exactly when I'll get the next story moment/cutscene/bit of character interaction. Portal 2 is bad for that, since almost all of the game is either you entering a room, listening to some dialogue, solving the puzzle, listening to some more dialogue, leaving to go to the next room... or moving through entirely linear interlinking sequences with dialogue coming up at specific moments. Great game, don't get me wrong, but it's so linear even by Valve's standards, some sequences might as well be on rails.
Mass Effect 2 was the same. Sure you had some freedom, but sooner or later there was going to be 10 or 12 rooms of chest high walls to slog through while shooting it out with inexplicably huge armies of mercs before you got your reward in the form of the next story scene. But at least you don't have to be warned to not stray off the path, because there is no other path.
I like to be able to explore, get lost a bit, pick an alternate route that doesn't have "ALTERNATE ROUTE" hanging over it like a neon sign. That's missing from a lot of the current gen.
I start liking it less if and when I start noticing the way the story is structured and can pretty much predict exactly when I'll get the next story moment/cutscene/bit of character interaction. Portal 2 is bad for that, since almost all of the game is either you entering a room, listening to some dialogue, solving the puzzle, listening to some more dialogue, leaving to go to the next room... or moving through entirely linear interlinking sequences with dialogue coming up at specific moments. Great game, don't get me wrong, but it's so linear even by Valve's standards, some sequences might as well be on rails.
Mass Effect 2 was the same. Sure you had some freedom, but sooner or later there was going to be 10 or 12 rooms of chest high walls to slog through while shooting it out with inexplicably huge armies of mercs before you got your reward in the form of the next story scene. But at least you don't have to be warned to not stray off the path, because there is no other path.
I like to be able to explore, get lost a bit, pick an alternate route that doesn't have "ALTERNATE ROUTE" hanging over it like a neon sign. That's missing from a lot of the current gen.
I prefer the linear storytelling. However, I greatly enjoy it when emergent storytelling is possible in a linear storytelling game - the story of the character I'm RPing as emerging.