The Story Snob

[Amnestic]

(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.)

I suppose if you consider a quizzical eyebrow raise a forced emotional reaction, then consider your trolling successful.

I'm of the opinion that a story inexorably hurts the gameplay... unless that gameplay is some paper thin concept like "When Mario woke up, he was in the Mushroom Kingdom...". I would much rather see developers focus on the mechanics of the gameplay and leave story far behind.

This coming from someone with a Chrono Trigger (CT being an RPG) avatar seems a bit backwards to me.

 

[Mr.Squishy]

I'm of the opinion that a story inexorably hurts the gameplay... unless that gameplay is some paper thin concept like "When Mario woke up, he was in the Mushroom Kingdom...". I would much rather see developers focus on the mechanics of the gameplay and leave story far behind.

Just Cause 2 sounds like your wet dream then, sir or madam

 

[religionman]

Good article as always, but what do you think about games where the stories are largely unimportant, such as a Mario game (By which I mean a platformer like Super Mario World, not an RPG like Paper Mario). While you may have your own opinion on whether or not the gameplay is any good, should the designers strive to create a meaningful story, or focus on getting the gameplay perfect?

Also, you got me with sonic unleashed, Bravo.

 

[Megacherv]

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

Soooo glad I searched for a disclaimer at the bottom before reading anything else in the article

Good work with the Things About Stuff by the way, kinda reminds me of my Physics teacher

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

WTF SONIC UNLEASEHEDED!?!!??!!

Lol, no I did read it.

[...]then don't try to build a fifty hour story, build a world that will sustain 50 hours worth of player-built narratives.

Really good way of putting it. Wish I'd put that in the column.

This is true, and where the world of FF13 went wrong in my opinion.

I love story, and narrative, but worlds never seem to be able to sustain them long enough

Im so much of a sucker for story I still wanna buy FF13 (Played first few hours on a mates copy) and skies of arcadia?

FF13 really let me down in that respect.

I'm cool with linearity, long cutscenes, JRPG tropes, turn based combat etc. but I was really hoping for a balls to the wall plot filled experience that merrily dragged me from one cool local to another whilst letting me fight cool bosses and watch melodramatic cutscenes. Instead I get stuck with long stretches of running through straight or slightly curved hallways fighting wave after wave of repetitive enemies with sometimes an hour or more passing between interjections of story. Even then it seems like the cutscenes are more about the characters ruminating on the dungeon they're in or throwing jargon back and forth more than it is about the overarching story.

 

[Dorkmaster Flek]

Oh you son of a *****, you almost had me with the Sonic Unleashed bit! I was very nearly about to jump straight to the comments and demand to know what legally questionable substance you were ingesting or inhaling and where you procured it.

 

[xdgt]

Well, I am one of those few who finds storytelling a very important part of a game, and when it fails me I consider the game bad. My favourite games are such because of great story - anything from Bioware qualifies (also everyone should check out Witcher). Bottom line either do a good story or don't bother with it at all - don't do a half assed story just because you feel like you have to, because it will only make things worse.

 

[koriantor]

Games don't need a story to be good. See Unreal Tournament 2004.
But when you try to shoe-horn a story on a well built multiplayer franchise (I know it started with Unreal, and was a story-based game, but I'm ignoring that), like they did with Unreal Tournament 3, then things just get stupid. For example, they tried to use flags- no, wait, F.l.A.G.s. to explain respawning. In the story you had to capture 3 flags to stop their respawners and- well the whole thing is just silly.

If your going to put a story in, make sure its good, and not a pain. Otherwise just don't bother.

And nice job with that Sonic Unleashed thing. I laughed.

I actually played through the campaign JUST because it was so silly. I laughed the whole time.

 

[Irridium]

Games don't need a story to be good. See Unreal Tournament 2004.
But when you try to shoe-horn a story on a well built multiplayer franchise (I know it started with Unreal, and was a story-based game, but I'm ignoring that), like they did with Unreal Tournament 3, then things just get stupid. For example, they tried to use flags- no, wait, F.l.A.G.s. to explain respawning. In the story you had to capture 3 flags to stop their respawners and- well the whole thing is just silly.

If your going to put a story in, make sure its good, and not a pain. Otherwise just don't bother.

And nice job with that Sonic Unleashed thing. I laughed.

I actually played through the campaign JUST because it was so silly. I laughed the whole time.

True. Sometimes the bad stories are the most entertaining.

 

[trueluigi7]

This article explains so much and makes sense and is how I feel. But I am a huge story lover and very picky about the story in games.

 

[SnakeF]

Games don't need a story to be good. See Unreal Tournament 2004.
But when you try to shoe-horn a story on a well built multiplayer franchise (I know it started with Unreal, and was a story-based game, but I'm ignoring that), like they did with Unreal Tournament 3, then things just get stupid. For example, they tried to use flags- no, wait, F.l.A.G.s. to explain respawning. In the story you had to capture 3 flags to stop their respawners and- well the whole thing is just silly.

If your going to put a story in, make sure its good, and not a pain. Otherwise just don't bother.

And nice job with that Sonic Unleashed thing. I laughed.

I actually played through the campaign JUST because it was so silly. I laughed the whole time.

True. Sometimes the bad stories are the most entertaining.

I find it funny that we were talking about this earlier today.

O.T. I think I may have to link this article to my friends who constantly spout @stories in games aren't important." because you pretty much summed up my views Shamus.

 

[burningdragoon]

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.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

The original L4D movie is just astonishingly well put together, and stands head and shoulders above the second one.

Simply should be the qualifier for a GOOD intro.

 

[ranger19]

Totally nailed me on the Sonic Unleashed trick, you jerk. Also, yes, yes a thousand times yes. I want to wrap this column around me like a warm, safe, blanket and tell myself everything will be ok.

Hey game developers, when it comes to story less is always more! Portal, Shadow of the Colossus, Fighting Games, etc.

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.

My words exactly, at least on the Sonic part. I'm not sure I'd say less is *always* more, but it can certainly work.

One game that follows your last point, though, is Oblivion. Game world is huge, and there's so much to explore, so much to do, and I often found myself imagining stories for why certain things happened. Or at least, I was saying "oh, it works because of magic" to fully and happily suspend my disbelief.

 

[Looking For Alaska]

"Sure, I'm a story snob. Not because I demand that all games tell Planescape: Torment-level with Shadow of the Colossus-level emotional impact, but because I demand that if a story is in the game, it should be worth seeing."

I'm pretty sure you forgot a word in there somewhere near Planescape.

Good article.

 

[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?

 

[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.