The Story Snob

[WafflesToo]

"(Also, I was just trolling you with Sonic Unleashed. Let's see if anyone ragequits the article and comments without reading all the way through.)"

ROFLMAO! I had actually thought you'd taken leave of your senses myself. Well played.

Totally with you, if they're going to do it, and spend millions doing it, then do it well. Otherwise, leave well enough alone if you would please.

 

[wtrmute]

Some of my favorite games don't have any thing resembeling a traditional story in them. Civilization 3 and Mount & Blade being examples. Perhaps I am drawing a different conclusion from this article than the author, but there are many games today that could be greatly improoved by stripping out of all story element.

I also like open-world sandbox games like Mount and Blade or Starflight, like "here's a cool place, now go play in it". Obviously, other people like other things, but I agree that if you're telling a story, it should be a good one. I particularly am rubbish at it, but I appreciate those who can tell one.

 

[WafflesToo]

Sonic Unleashedand

Umm... you thought Sonic Unleashed, the game that brought the most annoying character that the Sonic world has ever brought upon us, had a good story?

PWNED!!1!

 

[Xocrates]

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time

Ok! I'm going to ask this completely honestly:

What was the plot of PoP:SoT and why was it so good?

No seriously, I played the game and to this day it's one of the incredibly few games I couldn't understand why people praise it so much. Everyone mentions the story but whenever I ask "what story?" I never seem to get an honest reply.

To me the game was about the egotistical prince, who got tricked by an evil vizier (duh!), and needs to collaborate with the hot chick who he initially hates but falls madly in love with at the end of the day (I'll admit the prince/chick dialogue was well done, but it didn't excuse the fact that it was horribly cliché).
The above summary takes place around the 1st hour mark of the game. It was followed by about 8 hours of nothing of importance happening (including the bad guy being completely absent), and then the rest of the story takes place in about the last hour of the game, and was not only horribly anti-climatic (he passes around him? really?) but it undid the WHOLE game.

So, in complete honesty, please tell me what exactly was so good about PoP's story?

 

[Logan Westbrook]

Sonic Unleashedand

Umm... you thought Sonic Unleashed, the game that brought the most annoying character that the Sonic world has ever brought upon us, had a good story?

Dude, read the article.

Or even just the rest of the comment...

 

[Signa]

Experienced Points: The Story Snob

You don't have to put a story in your game, but if you do, try to make it not suck.

Read Full Article

I'm just curious what your thoughts on Borderlands was. I don't think I can classify myself as a story snob, but it sure as hell makes a HUGE difference for me too. Borderlands had an embarrassingly bad story and lack of conclusion, yet I've beat that game 10 or so times now. I really can't say that about any other game I've played. I'm just wondering if there are exceptions for you where the gameplay can be good enough to overlook the bad story, or if you feel that if a story is present, it should be either good or not there at all.

 

[Shamus Young]

Sonic Unleashedand

Umm... you thought Sonic Unleashed, the game that brought the most annoying character that the Sonic world has ever brought upon us, had a good story?

Took until comment #40 until we got one!

 

[Shamus Young]

Experienced Points: The Story Snob

You don't have to put a story in your game, but if you do, try to make it not suck.

Read Full Article

I'm just curious what your thoughts on Borderlands was. I don't think I can classify myself as a story snob, but it sure as hell makes a HUGE difference for me too. Borderlands had an embarrassingly bad story and lack of conclusion, yet I've beat that game 10 or so times now. I really can't say that about any other game I've played. I'm just wondering if there are exceptions for you where the gameplay can be good enough to overlook the bad story, or if you feel that if a story is present, it should be either good or not there at all.

I agree that the Borderlands story was shameful.

The worst part was, they had everything they needed to make it work. The premise, the voice acting, and the pacing were all well done. But the story was criminally dumb. Even the guardian angel could have been a really cool idea to play with, but they did NOTHING with her.

1) You are about to face a huge challenge, I hope you're ready!

2) You beat the challenge! I never doubted you for a second! Now go.

Once was tolerable. Twice was pushing it. Half a dozen times was just lazy and insulting. She could have been a great hook, and instead she was basically an applause sign. Boo.

I beat the game a couple of times. The game was very close to being a classic, but it missed a few marks, and story was one of them.

 

[Signa]

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time

Ok! I'm going to ask this completely honestly:

What was the plot of PoP:SoT and why was it so good?

No seriously, I played the game and to this day it's one of the incredibly few games I couldn't understand why people praise it so much. Everyone mentions the story but whenever I ask "what story?" I never seem to get an honest reply.

To me the game was about the egotistical prince, who got tricked by an evil vizier (duh!), and needs to collaborate with the hot chick who he initially hates but falls madly in love with at the end of the day (I'll admit the prince/chick dialogue was well done, but it didn't excuse the fact that it was horribly cliché).
The above summary takes place around the 1st hour mark of the game. It was followed by about 8 hours of nothing of importance happening (including the bad guy being completely absent), and then the rest of the story takes place in about the last hour of the game, and was not only horribly anti-climatic (he passes around him? really?) but it undid the WHOLE game.

So, in complete honesty, please tell me what exactly was so good about PoP's story?

I think a lot to do with storytelling is its presentation. I won't argue that the story was cliche, but it was kept interesting by watching your character's struggle for survival and the reliance and romance that is developed by the two survivors. Throw in a few tragedies like having to kill his father and the fact that the whole adventure gets erased at the end, destroying the love they shared, and you have some storytelling gold.

Oh, and one thing that I really liked is how the whole game you think the prince is telling YOU his story, but realize at the end that he's telling the princess his story. Little, minute details suddenly become massively relevant like starting a new game by sneaking into the princess's chambers.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Sonic Unleashedand

Umm... you thought Sonic Unleashed, the game that brought the most annoying character that the Sonic world has ever brought upon us, had a good story?

Took until comment #40 until we got one!

Excuse me?

 

[feather240]

I'm having a hard time discerning what kind of story telling you actually like. Just to clarify, what methods tell a decent story in your opinion? Legend of Zelda's cutscenes at regular intervals maybe? or do you prefer the on-the-fly dialogue of say, Uncharted 2?

Either or really, my dislike comes in the form of people feeling that Portal, Half-Life and Left 4 Dead tell "TEH BEST STORAIZ EVAR!" considering they barely have characters, barely have dialogue and barely have plots. What they have is good storytelling, not good stories in and of themselves. I guess it's a "Just because a game doesn't have cutscenes doesn't mean it's brilliant" gut reaction.

Even then I suppose this was a mostly a misdirected rant at Multiplayer Storytelling.

I don't think that really applies to Half Life, or at least Half Life 2. Your rules base themselves almost exclusively around the player character and forget the NPCs.

 

[Caliostro]

(Also, I was just trolling you with Sonic Unleashed. Let's see if anyone ragequits the article and comments without reading all the way through.)

Almost got me. Did a triple take before wondering "...has he gone raving mad...?". Kept reading to see if you'd go anywhere with it though.

If that seems like a cop out to you, then don't try to build a fifty hour story, build a world that will sustain 50 hours worth of player-built narratives.

Different Strokes for Different Folks I guess. As a lifelong writer and roleplayer I really dislike this intense focus on "nonexistant" narrative in games, that somehow a story "invented" by the player and not present in the game is better than one put forward. If I wanted to create my own story, I could write one myself and if I wanted to create a story with other people I could play a pen and paper game.

Sorry folks, "Player Driven Narrative" as shown in games where there is basically no story is a cop out. This isn't a ringing endorsement of cutscene heavy storytelling either mind you, I just demand dialogue, interaction and plot, not silence and minimalism that barely soaks through the scenery.

And if I wanted to play an action scene I'd join the army!

...See how that doesn't work? The bottom line is, some games don't lend themselves to the typical "story" structure, and as such are better off letting the player weave his own tale.

The point, however, was that if you're not going to have a good story, you're better of not having any story at all.

 

[The Random One]

Hmmm, I'm reminded of X-Com. People are complaining that the upcoming sequellike thing will have a story. It seems like a bad thing to complain about, unless you know that the very fact that the original X-Com games' story is little more than ALIENS ARE ATTACKING THE WORLD ARE YOU A BAD ENOUGH DUDE TO SAVE THE WORLD allowed players to create their own stories out of the faceless characters you are given, creating a tale that feels much more personal.

I agree with Shamus entirely, as usual. (Shamus is the new Yahtzee!) Games are about gameplay, so if your game doesn't need a story, don't put one in it. If your story doesn't help gameplay, take it away. Developers are way too worried to prove games can do anything movies can, when in fact they can't, but they can do lots of things movies can't and they should be focusing on that.

 

[inkheart_artist]

Oh god. Oh thank god. For a second there I thought you were serious about the Sonic game. You should save that kinda shit for April fool's or people are more liable to take you seriously lol

 

[Tom Phoenix]

Sonic Unleashedand

Umm... you thought Sonic Unleashed, the game that brought the most annoying character that the Sonic world has ever brought upon us, had a good story?

Took until comment #40 until we got one!

Excuse me?

(Also, I was just trolling you with Sonic Unleashed. Let's see if anyone ragequits the article and comments without reading all the way through.)

In any case, brilliant article, Shamus. I could not agree more with your thoughts.

I think the problem with game developers is that they are unwilling to pay for top quality storytelling. They are willing to hire top-of-the-line artists, voice actors, musicians.....but when it comes to story, they are content with using a scribble a developer made during lunch.

Basically, if they want to convey good stories, they need to start hiring people that will make good stories. They should not be content with merely making something up as they go along.

 

[BlindMessiah94]

Experienced Points: The Story Snob

You don't have to put a story in your game, but if you do, try to make it not suck.

Read Full Article

Thanks Shamus, good article as usual. Hit my sentiments on the issue verbatim.

I get sick of people telling me that games aren't about the story. I like how you put it. If it has a story, then it better be good. Otherwise just have pacman eat some damn pixels and we won't question why there's no story.

 

[BlindMessiah94]

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time

Ok! I'm going to ask this completely honestly:

What was the plot of PoP:SoT and why was it so good?

No seriously, I played the game and to this day it's one of the incredibly few games I couldn't understand why people praise it so much. Everyone mentions the story but whenever I ask "what story?" I never seem to get an honest reply.

To me the game was about the egotistical prince, who got tricked by an evil vizier (duh!), and needs to collaborate with the hot chick who he initially hates but falls madly in love with at the end of the day (I'll admit the prince/chick dialogue was well done, but it didn't excuse the fact that it was horribly cliché).
The above summary takes place around the 1st hour mark of the game. It was followed by about 8 hours of nothing of importance happening (including the bad guy being completely absent), and then the rest of the story takes place in about the last hour of the game, and was not only horribly anti-climatic (he passes around him? really?) but it undid the WHOLE game.

So, in complete honesty, please tell me what exactly was so good about PoP's story?

I think a lot to do with storytelling is its presentation. I won't argue that the story was cliche, but it was kept interesting by watching your character's struggle for survival and the reliance and romance that is developed by the two survivors. Throw in a few tragedies like having to kill his father and the fact that the whole adventure gets erased at the end, destroying the love they shared, and you have some storytelling gold.

Oh, and one thing that I really liked is how the whole game you think the prince is telling YOU his story, but realize at the end that he's telling the princess his story. Little, minute details suddenly become massively relevant like starting a new game by sneaking into the princess's chambers.

I think for me its the way that they seamlessly integrated the story into the gameplay. They story may have been simple with cliche elements, but cliche doesn't have to mean bad. If something is cliche it means its been done before a bunch. Why would people repeat it if it was a bad idea to begin with?
The game just focused on a simple story, a few characters that you could really get behind, and then went to integrate it with the gameplay in a way that was compelling and didn't separate the two from each other.

sry fer double post

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Whenever I bang on my "this story sucks" drum I invariably get someone asking me, "Why don't you just go watch a movie if you want to see a story so bad?" Which seems to imply that you shouldn't expect good stories from games. But if you think videogame stories have to suck, then you've been playing the wrong games. KOTOR, Jade Empire, Thief, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Max Payne, Sonic Unleashed and the aforementioned Left 4 Dead all manage to deliver both engaging gameplay and a well-written story.

SONIC. UNLEASHED!?

manwhat?

 

[DeadlyYellow]

My thoughts on it are that if the game is about story, then it better be a good one. Otherwise I just take a page from Carmack.

Story in a game is like a story in a porn movie. It's expected to be there, but it's not that important.

 

[Shynobee]

I was so confused when you listed Sonic as a game with a good story, I had to think, maybe I might want to check that game out. Thank God you came clean with that one at the end, I was worried.