The Rest of the Story

[Benjamin Moore]

How about how Rockstar did it with Max Payne?
I've only played 'MP2: the fall of Max Payne'. The story is told non-linearly between normal gameplay, small cutscenes (with little dialogue, just panning shots to set up a scene's beginning or end), comic-book style story elements at the beginning of each chapter. and even narration. The biggest trick, though, was through the use of dream sequences. There are two of them, which use things you have seen or heard throughout the game in a different context to explain what is going on.

Plus the TV shows playing through the game have a tangential bearing the story, giving you a glimpse into the themes involved.

 

[Verlander]

I enjoy these, I'd easily read a book of it. Want James Portnoy back though

 

[Worgen]

if you want a really good story in games then play either odensphere, grim grimoir or ghost trick


all of those games have fantastic groin grabbingly good stories

 

[Dice Warwick]

I remember Morrwind fondly, I understood the story to a point, but it was all about the exploration to me. But the best part was that much of the back-story was contain in the hundreds of books that was all over the place, it is something the "The Elders Scrolls" has that Fallout 3 did not. It would have been interesting to be able to read some of the books, flush out both the pre-war time, and the post-war time, without forcing it.

 

[MB202]

So are Shamus and Graham going to be regulars from now on?

 

[whaleswiththumbs]

n, but I do like how it went out of its way to include alternative game over sequences for a lot of the player's potential asshole behavior (like shooting up your allies in the training level).

Reminds me of the first America's Army, i used to shot the guys teaching you how to shoot. You got sent to "jail" and this awesome harmonica prison song kicked in. I wonder if you actually ever get out of there.

 

[Saelune]

Accuracy is not racism. Having Africans in Africa is not racially edgy. It only seems that way because of stupid people who dont know where Africans came from.

Morrowind's story is only about 10% if even that of the experience. If Morrowind had a Total Completion thing, completing the main story would barely fill the meter. (and I love that)

 

[wehrp3nguin]

Out of the Resident Evil series, I hate when people bash on the one's before 4. If you watch a lot of B action/horror movies and then try to follow 4's story, the whole plot is a copy/paste job with tons of movie references. You can tell the Capcom development teams changed because the later games have a more linear gameplay, and that's where I feel it went downhill.

***Spoilers are mostly gameplay elements, and me ranting, so if you have no opinion of the Resident Evil Series or liked 4/5 best, feel free to ignore everything else.***

Spoiler

The first couple games(Let's call the collective "Minus 4") inadvertently asked the player
"What do you do if you're in an unfamiliar setting, and all hell breaks loose".
The original style of puzzles, top-down or shifty camera angles, and learning the story was 'optional'(through the hundreds of diaries left from deceased townsfolk/workers, which also gave hints to the puzzles) was conducive to this survival-horror plot.

Most zombie games just call the zombifying-agent "sickness" if you take the time to read the in-game files you realize the outbreak of the viruses wasn't an accident, ancient horror, or some demonic magic. It was corporate espionage for black-market bio-weapons.

The players are presented with limit resources, giving an atmosphere of tension. Adding to the suspense the monsters/zombies hide off camera until triggered. RE4 / 5 dropped Ammo/money/health with every other enemy killed. And when you can free look with a sniper-rifle you can pick off "smart enemies" long before they have a chance to aggro you. 4 and 5 had little sense of mystery(except the plot holes)and weren't as scary as the Minus 4.

RE1/RE2 It's scarier to read how some dude is dealing with turning into a zombie, then all of a sudden you stop reading, and he or his loved one busts out of a closet and attacks you within 3ft and they block the door

RE4: there's an Indiana Jones-esque boulder chase which can be avoided by shooting the three or some Ganados off of a bridge, who push it off of the cliff later.

RE5: sniping the people who operate the laser-mirrors, or running back and sniping the "Big-Men". Sure there's the axe/chainsaw mini-bosses but when you get a checkpoint at the start of the area, or stun-lock him with a ladder, it's just annoying to get killed, with no major progress lost. With the first encounter with the chainsaw-man, you can avoid having to throw Sheva to the opposite building, by bouncing grenades off of the Shop signs, breaking the lock on the ground floor, and never being separated(/in danger alone).

Resident Evil Minus 4 were really more of "Choose-your-own-adventure" games. Starting with your characters, which each had their own specialties, and progression.

Spoiler

RE1 Chris(Knife + health) or Jill(handgun and ammo and piano skills)

/RE2 Leon or Claire (Start in two separate halves of the city)

/RE3 Jill(Kill or Run from Nemesis determined how much he evolved and the items he dropped)

RE2/RE3 had a nice touch of the main pursuing boss monster busting through walls when you least expected it. A nice touch for the RE5 DLC: Lost in Nightmares, but predictable.

/RE:Code Veronica Claire/Chris but depending on which items you use/leave for the second character to use determined your ammo/health rationing in the endgame events.
(This was the same in Resident Evil 0 with Bill and Rebecca, but in 0 you could switch at will, making it easier to progress)

/RE:Outbreak was the best as you could access some areas/events with some of the 8+ characters, and not with others. Also some characters(the cops) were better with shooting guns, and some better with support(doctor/nurse(meds) and plumber(making/repairing weapons)) than the other survivors, which only makes sense. And at least 20 endings per scenario based on who played/who died/who got away, You could even MISS the evac-vehicle in some scenarios and just survive until the next event(death or second completion option).

In Outbreak there was an truly scary Ax-man who would travel from room to room in an abandoned hospital in the forest while you try to figure out how to deal with the plants coming to life, and you could hide from him under a bed or in a locker.

Also Outbreak had zombified moths, fleas, frogs(scarier than you think), leeches(really...more terrifying than anything else), lions, Hyenas and elephants, which were completely absent from RE5.
The only enemy animals were like dogs(whose heads opened vertically, wtf?), crows, snakes, crocodiles(who mostly just jump up and yell "boo") and spiders; all of which could have been in any tropical continent, if the few signs(and Sheva) didn't say TRI-Cell African division(most possibly Australia, not so much South/Central America for lack of Savannas).
Forget Capcom being racist, they were definitely more afraid of PETA.

Since you stayed this long here is the opening for Resident Evil Outbreak File #1

#1: Intro/Credits http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb_buz-Gags

#2: Cutscene-1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBELjLruUCs&feature=related

#3: Generic Trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffm62ap3ICE

#4: File#2 Trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ5ockuoYKg&feature=related

#1+2 :It tells you most of the important Resident Evil plot: A scientist(he's got half a labcoat left) , is attack by soldiers, becomes a viral monster, and all the blood they shed gets release into the sewers and carried by rats. With some sweet ominous music I might add. Then cut to Scenario 1 with little conversation, you know: the virus spreads and you must escape the city (with multiple African-American main characters who clearly got ripped off as L4D's Louis and Coach).

<

 

[alexdulcianu]

Who the hell skipped Diablo 2's cutscenes?

 

[PlasticTree]

What? "Come back in a few weeks for the next installment"? This is madness!

That said: I really hope you guys keep doing this. It's delightful to read something about these topics from intelligent people, where not every sentence is editted to deal so it fits into an 'article-style'. Articles are often better formulated of course, but it's refreshing to read something more direct once in a while.

 

[Dectilon]

* System Shock 2, back before everyone was sick to death of audio logs.
* The first ten minutes of DOOM 3 were actually quite interesting. Shame about the rest.
* Morrowwind gets bogged down in side-quest Purgatory, but I really liked the story of the villain.
* KOTOR is the Sixth Sense of game plots. Dynamite if you don't know the twist, but unremarkable if you do.
* Diablo II had some of the best cutscenes that everyone ever skipped.

Thank you, Shamus. Just like the rest of the discussion, all of these points have been made before, but collecting them this way illustrates a point. A large number of games have elements of what can be described as good storytelling, but incredibly few nail more than one of these at a time.

Yathzee is obviously intelligent, but often he doesn't put enough thought in before he talks and it ends up being either devoid of a real point, or outright wrong. I can get behind this bit though:

"Trouble is, AAA games these days have so many individuals working on them (each very keen to show off their skills no matter how small or mundane their task) they become this bloated, amorphous mass with no real discipline, creating an attitude of 'we've got it, might as well throw it in'."

Maybe that is the reason, I don't know, but there's a perverse obsession with 'Lore' these days. Fans of various series confuse a world's depth with how many pages of schlock have been written for it. BioWare is obviously guilty of this, but there's also the idea that as long as something has any sort of story element, no matter how small, it should be expanded. The new X-COM game was revealed with the line "rich lore" in there, something that confused and agitated 110% of the series' fans.

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

I lol'd at Graham suddenly and Jocularly flipping his shit about Marmite. You sir never fail to make me laugh.

OT: This episode seemed a little unfocused, overall. Personally I'm not a big fan of Shamus Young. I don't agree with him generally, so can we please get Mr. Portnow back in here?

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

Ok, who puts syrup on bacon? Syrup goes great on many things, but bacon isn't one of them.

I don't put it on any meat product unless said meat accompanies pancakes. And if that is the case I get sausage. Everyone knows sausage is the proper meaty accompaniment to pancakes

 

[DTWolfwood]

but I do like how it went out of its way to include alternative game over sequences for a lot of the player's potential asshole behavior (like shooting up your allies in the training level).

if all games had this i would instantly forgive all misgivings about story telling in gaming! XD

 

[TheCakeisALie87]

Nice to see Diablo II get a shoutout. I always thought Blizzard took more care with their cutscenes than people give them credit for. That being said, almost all the rest of the storytelling was unnecessary and boiled down to, grab a few random things while murdering everything. By the time we got back around to cutscenes I had no idea what was going on. Combined with my lack of understanding of the game and latent ADD it meant by the time I actually got to the 5th act, I had no idea who the wanderer was supposed to be or why Marius was freaked that he was there.

 

[DTWolfwood]

It's okay Graham no one likes syrup on their pork meats at all.

speak for yourself Syrup on Bacon and/or Sausages (breakfast meats) with scrambled eggs is the most decadent thing you can eat in the morning! sooooooo good, yet soooooo bad for you XD

 

[abhoho]

"An Anglo-Australian, a Canadian and an Irish-American walk into a bar"

 

[TheScottishFella]

Or steam. also I squealed when he said second sight.