The Story Snob

[Andronicus]

I had to read the line about Sonic 3 or 4 times to make sure I saw it right.

A good story will suck me in and I may not even notice if the gameplay isn't up to snuff. I wish it would happen more often though.

It does not help that FF13's storyline is, how do we say, outlandish putting it nicely and pants on head retarded putting it bluntly. But many games when you come right down to it have stupid overal plots.

...

To go back to my FF13 example you just get dumped with loads of text (and i mean LOADS) to try and fill in the stuff in the story no one ever bothered explaining. This goes counter to the notion of "Interactive story telling" you know, being a game?

I didn't think FF13's story itself was bad, but that the story-telling was pretty terrible. I remember going through a little scene a few times when I was still actually reading the datalog. Reading a synopsis of a short scene and wondering how I was supposed to pick up on all the info explained. I also found the cutscene when you return to Cocoon baffling.

I'm kinda in the same boat here. I actually thought the story in Final Fantasy XIII was on of the best in the series. If it was just condensed a little, and then released as a movie, it could have been appreciated so much more. But that's just the point; it's not a movie, it's a game. It's just that the story and gameplay (what little of it there is) are so far removed from each other, that what you end up with is a convoluted plotline broken up into itty-bitty pieces, dispersed with large portions of mostly boring travel from A to B and even more yawn inducing battle sequences.

I felt kinda sorry for the world designers at SE. Here they built not one, but two magnficent worlds, and then are forced to make all the pathways linear. Players don't get a chance to stop and admire the scenery; all they want to do is get through the stupid battles as fast as possible, and then you're not even allowed to go back and revisit some of the earlier parts if you felt so inclined. Tragic.

 

[bjj hero]

For me The Darkness was a great example of Story telling done right. I was hooked on that game. The narrative kept me playing and made me muscle through the slightly wooly controls.

There were parts I found quite disturbing, areas that made me want to get out of as soon as possible and others I wanted to explore. Charecters I was attatched to and others I really wanted dead. Finally there was one guy I thought I wanted dead but his death was quite hollow once it was all done.

I only tend to complain about stories when they interfere with my enjoyment of the game. MGS comes to mind. Longwinded, pretentious, boring, wankey cut scenes put there to fill the developer with a false sense of importance.

I put up with it in MGS on the PSX as it was new and innovative as far as the actual game was concerned. I've not been able to stomach a MGS title following the first one.

I feel that half of the shoehorned story phenomenon is about developers believing that games need to be art. This is not the case.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

wow almost got me with that sonic...i was reading them BAM massive wtf enraged until the end.

completely agree with this though

im a story snob at heart so this is really put my thoughts/likes into perspective

 

[Andronicus]

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.

 

[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.