Poll: i hate exposition

[edthehyena]

I like a plot in a game. When I played and enjoyed any Tales (symphonia, abyss) game I hit the button to watch the extra exchanges between characters.

On the other hand, some games overdo it (I'm looking at you, uh... well, I haven't played them. But I know they're out there. Perhaps Xenosaga).

 

[APPCRASH]

...What's ICO?
If you're using abbreviations, tell us what they mean.

If you buy the games for the action and not the developer's stories you might just want to get the demo and play it over and over, the cutscenes and characters "yapping" set the scene so you're not just mindlessly killing whatever falls into your crosshairs.

I buy games for the story, and have just finished Dragon Age, not skpping a single cutscene.

As for you "Read a book then" option, that's just plain ignorant. I read a book to be told a story, I play a game to experience the story firsthand as one of the characters.

Being raised reading books gave me the ability to read and comprehend material at an accelerated rate. Dragon Age drove me insane with their slow speaking. I was constantly hitting the X button to continue the damn conversation.

 

[_zuul]

Shadow of the Colossus is better in my opinion.

it is.

 

[dududf]

it's not that i don't like stories, it's that i hate it when the game HAS to explain EVERYTHING. and it's more fun if it leaves details up to the imagination.

Well THAT'S a different thing, from what I inferred it looked like you were saying that you hated complex stories and just wanted to be spoon fed crap.

My bad. =P

 

[Julianking93]

Shadow of the Colossus is better in my opinion.

it is.

Yes. Yes it is.

Usually, people argue with me that Ico is much better.

They are wrong

 

[WayOutThere]

Wait, do you think stories in video games should never take themselves seriously even if they are good?

it's not that i don't like stories, it's that i hate it when the game HAS to explain EVERYTHING. and it's more fun if it leaves details up to the imagination.

it's not my fault some games are obnoxious storytellers.

I suppose that answers my question.

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

*snip*

ICO is the first game by the guys who did Shadow of the Colossus and the upcoming Last Guardian.Yes, I am serious. I've never played either of those games or owned a Playstation, being a PC gamer, so much of the PS2 games passed me by which explains my ignorance in this subject area.

Oh, didn't know you to be a PC gamer.

Anyway, ICO is a fantastic game about a young boy sent to die in a forbidden castle and finds a princess and its just basically about him saving her.

Shadow of the Colossus is better in my opinion. Its about a guy (only referred to as wanderer) who tries to revive his girlfriend and as a sacrifice, he has to kill 16 colossi. The whole game is just defeating 16 bosses. It is the true definition of epic as seen here:

[spoiler/][img/]http://ps3thevolution.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/3424840260_483f29029d_o.jpg[/img][/spoiler]

Yea, I'm going on eBay to find a second hand PS2 and copies of those games now.

 

[_zuul]

Well THAT'S a different thing, from what I inferred it looked like you were saying that you hated complex stories and just wanted to be spoon fed crap.

My bad. =P

hating exposition is different than hating stories, i thought.

i guess i should clarify

 

[dududf]

Well THAT'S a different thing, from what I inferred it looked like you were saying that you hated complex stories and just wanted to be spoon fed crap.

My bad. =P

hating exposition is different than hating stories, i thought.

i guess i should clarify

2 a : discourse or an example of it designed to convey information or explain what is difficult to understand.

I blame the dictionary and it's cryptic explanations of words

 

[NeutralDrow]

Expands upon the story (you don't want exposition, play Tetris).

 

[_zuul]

Expands upon the story (you don't want exposition, play Tetris).

ugh. i'd rather experience the story instead of listening to someone explain it to me in an unnecessarily long dialogue.

 

[Booze Zombie]

Cry some moar, it makes you sound like little baby!

*Cough*

There's nothing wrong with having a game where characters talk about situations and you have to stop and think, you know.

 

[Spiner909]

Only if you can't skip them, like in FF X. And they take a loooong time.

 

[Hiroshi Mishima]

Before I jump into this, I just wanna say that Metal Gear Solid 1 had the best mix of gameplay and storyline/exposition/cutscenes. By MGS2 they were already well on their way to Hell for making more cutscene time than gameplay time, and half of the time the gameplay wasn't even worth it. And tits don't make a confusing story great. *is looking at MGS3 and 4*

Anywho, I do like a good storyline in a game, even ones that don't have a whole lotta "meat" to them like DOOM (old ones) or various Mario Brothers games. I liked to read the manuals for the background story which is sometimes the only story in them, as well as the character bios/backgrounds which tell me more about the people I'm playing, saving, killing or ignoring. I miss the days when manuals were in ONE language *glares at the Wii* and included a nice background story/recap, detailed information about the main characters/villians, and explained what certain things did with a cool hand-drawn pic of items or list of spells.

And to the person who said they wanted to recapture the PSO experience.. gods, I still can't believe they did that to the Phantasy Star series. It used to be such a good series with a compelling storyline and characters I cared about. Then it became another MMO with identical characters, exaggerated features, and storylines that never really ended... but enough about my dislike of MMOs.

When I play a game, I want there to be SOME story. I mean even if it's a game with NO storyline, at least include an opening and an ending... even if it's just during the credits as they pass by with the characters walking home, etc.

But yeah, too much exposition is not a good thing either. I'm on the edge with Dragon Age. I kind of like it, but like the later MGS games, it feels bogged down by far too much exposition than was strictly necessary.

Oh, and sections where they just dump exposition sometimes give me a break to use the bathroom or give my hands a rest from mashing the X button or shaking the Wii Remote. Unless it's just that damn engrossing, in which case I'm glued to the screen.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Expands upon the story (you don't want exposition, play Tetris).

ugh. i'd rather experience the story instead of listening to someone explain it to me in an unnecessarily long dialogue.

Does the technology exist to make games with 200+ hours worth of gameplay?

 

[_zuul]

Does the technology exist to make games with 200+ hours worth of gameplay?

no

but technology exists to imply things and leave it up to the imagination.


good point though

 

[_zuul]

But yeah, too much exposition is not a good thing either. I'm on the edge with Dragon Age. I kind of like it, but like the later MGS games, it feels bogged down by far too much exposition than was strictly necessary.

that's what i intended to get at.


btw, i liked pso as a time waster. it did have a story, but it didn't force it upon you.

 

[Mr.Black]

You may hate exposition, and that's fine and dandy, just go back to your Call of Duty.
I'm going to leave and play a game that's intriguing.

Oh hi there high-horse.

 

[Xerosch]

I just made this experience again when seeing Avatar. How many times did someone explain what the problem between humans and aliens was?

 

[Saris Kai]

Whats with all these 'I'm low brow and have the attention span of a gnat and am proud of it!" Troll threads recently?