[Sughly]

Originally Posted by cbman

For me there are much better mediums for storytelling than computer games. They cant really hope to compete with literature (prose, comics etc) or drama (film, plays etc) on that front.

I generally dislike games that are just a play-through story. I don't think the Godfather would be a better story if it was interspersed with inventory puzzles, nor would James Joyce read better if it was required to solve a lever puzzle after every other page.

What would you say are examples of games that are what you consider to be "just a play-through" story? I'm trying to think of what some may be myself but can't really... Heavy Rain maybe? Anyways,

I do see where you're coming from but can't help but disagree on some aspects of it. I wholeheartedly agree on what you write with environment and setting, but what I think is something that hasn't even come close to being realised at it's full potential is storytelling in games. I not only think that games can be as good a medium for storytelling as literature or film, I think they have the potential to be better in some degrees. But I don't think we've seen that potential (yet).

You mention Syberia - is that not an engrossing story to you? It was a huge story to me as a player, and the involvement of Kate as a playable character through this great narrative was synonymous with driving that narrative forward. Numerous others I can think of, Beneath A Steel Sky, Broken Sword, Full Throttle, The Dig, etc etc, they all operate in similar ways which is guiding the protagonist through the narrative and revealing it through the gameplay. Are these not all strong narratives? Another interesting note to these too is that, as narratives, I don't believe they would be suited to being films or books, as some books aren't meant to be films, and some films not meant to be books/games etc. They are most definately their own form of storytelling in my opinion.

EDIT: Spielberg was going to do The Dig as a tv feature and has since stated he would still consider making it as a film! Is that not enough story for you? I mention this only because I think The Dig specifically has one of the best adventure stories that I've experienced