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Old 05-25-2010, 10:19 AM   #19
cbman
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Join Date: Aug 2009
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sughly View Post
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


You make some good points.

When i say a 'play-through story' I guess I am reffering to entirely linear games, wherein the player travels a completely prescribed route in a prescribed way. This is fine in a game that prioritizes the puzzle aspects (Machinarium for example, which i thought was brilliant) but when a game operates in this way whilst prioritizing story (ie masses of dialogue, cutscenes etc) then to my eyes it is comparable to a piece of extremely limited animation that you have to stop watching every five minutes to do a Sudoku puzzle.

Now, i know that there are fans of this type of game and I don't mean to come across sounding dogmatic about this - that is their taste and it differs from mine and that's fine. I'm just putting across a different perspective on what I think is great in the genre.

Interesting that you mention the Dig, as i just recently played it for the first time. The concepts were passable but it would be a fairly generic movie - as evidenced by the fact that, as you point out, it was originally intended as just that! The story-telling isn't bad in a lot of Adventure Games but neither would the stories be anything more than average films or novels (sure, there may be the occasional exception). But those films and novels are not encumbered by the need to also be a satisfying game.

Yes, i did enjoy Syberia a lot but then that was written and conceived by a graphic novelist, which kind of proves my point. And even then I didn't really care about the character of Kate Walker; I enjoyed the fantastic journey and the concepts. Again, it's that aspect of 'wow, what a great adventure that would be', rather than trying to emphathize with the character and their situation as you would do in a piece of literature.

It's just my personal opinion but I think that AGs must primarilly be games, with the story in service to the gameplay experience.

I emphasized exploration when talking about what i like to see but of course that exploration is ultimately hollow if there is no purpose to it. Story is important but I think it should be functional storytelling. I've sometimes played games where the author / designer seemed to believe that they were creating a great work of fiction rather than a game (the Longest Jorney for example).

Im a huge fan of Jonathan Boakes' games but every one of them has had a highly dissapointing ending, from a story perspective. But it doesn't really bother me too much because the story was never really my primary interest in the games; the appeal was the fantastic environments and the atmosphere of the game, wandering round an old, abndoned station and hotel. The story's there just to give all of that purpose and to give some logic to the gameplay.

Bricks are an inherantly better material for building than pebbles. A film or book is an inherantly better medium for telling a complex story than a computer game. I'm not putting games down, just suggesting that they concentrate on exploiting their advantages (interactivity, in-depth world building) rather than those things that could be achieved much more easilly in another medium. Sure, the talent of the individual creator plays a big part but it would take real genius to tell a story on a par with the best drama and literature in the games medium and geniuses are very rare.
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