Why are war games so bad at storytelling

This topic is locked from further discussion.

Avatar image for enigmacomic
enigmacomic

49

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

#1 enigmacomic
Member since 2008 • 49 Posts
Ive played many war games such as COD 4, BIA:HH, Medal of Honor etc. And everytime I play a war game the story sucks. for COD 4 i didnt know wat the hell was going on i knew there was a war, some characters etc, but not the reason why there was a war and other things. BIA was more confusing alot more characters and alot of the terms and recon reports were confusing. same with RSV2 what the hell was going on. and most war games u dont even need to know the objective, just shoot ppl. why cant a war game be like full metal jacket? you start off at the most lowest rank work yourself up, make friends etc. so sick of war games puting u in the shoes of a someone thats been already had training etc i want to start off fresh. who else thinks this and what other things do u think war games should change in storytelling?
Avatar image for -Jiggles-
-Jiggles-

4356

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

#2 -Jiggles-
Member since 2008 • 4356 Posts
Play Half-Life 2. Now.
Avatar image for EyeWierd20
EyeWierd20

413

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 10

User Lists: 0

#3 EyeWierd20
Member since 2007 • 413 Posts
Play Half-Life 2. Now.-Jiggles-
That too, and the reason war games are so bad at story telling is because their stories can only be described with boring article-long briefings.
Avatar image for MetroidPrimePwn
MetroidPrimePwn

12399

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 5

User Lists: 0

#4 MetroidPrimePwn
Member since 2007 • 12399 Posts
None of them try. They're all about mindlessly killing waves of demonized enemies using the over-patriotic romanticized portrait of war as your moral compass. Producing a quality storyline which deals with the psychological struggles of soldiers would require effort on the part of the developer, which is bad if you're trying to make a quick buck off the game.
Avatar image for Syaz1
Syaz1

554

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 0

#5 Syaz1
Member since 2008 • 554 Posts
not all games need a good story. cod 4, for example, is all about having fun by shooting loads of bad guys.
Avatar image for bigd575
bigd575

6192

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 185

User Lists: 0

#6 bigd575
Member since 2008 • 6192 Posts
imo I thought that the BIA series has a good story to it.
Avatar image for iam2green
iam2green

13991

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

#7 iam2green
Member since 2007 • 13991 Posts
because there no story really to them. i do agree on cod4 i didn't like how it jumped to one side to another like one point ur American the next ur Australian.
Avatar image for jjtiebuckle
jjtiebuckle

1856

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 11

User Lists: 0

#8 jjtiebuckle
Member since 2008 • 1856 Posts
True. The only war games that made (some) sense to me were the ones where you start out in D-Day or some other major historical event that's easily understandable. Leaving the beaches can go one of two ways...
Avatar image for luno-gamer
luno-gamer

405

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 0

#9 luno-gamer
Member since 2007 • 405 Posts
I think its probably just because the people making war games try too hard to make the actual gameplay as action packed and exciting as possible that they don't really concentrate on the stories as much... but that doesn't go for all of them. Games like halo, gears of war, and half life 2 are all great war games with awesome stories... But yeah, about 90% of them have crappy storylines.
Avatar image for aliblabla2007
aliblabla2007

16756

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 4

User Lists: 0

#10 aliblabla2007
Member since 2007 • 16756 Posts
Wars tend to encompass a scale which cannot be told like your typical heartbreaking romance story or like your typical superhero-beats-everybody-else-up story.
Avatar image for TriangleHard
TriangleHard

9097

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 62

User Lists: 0

#11 TriangleHard
Member since 2005 • 9097 Posts
Final Fantasy Tactic is a war game, and it has great story. As long as you move away from FPS genre, you will find good story.
Avatar image for Rush2k
Rush2k

651

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

#12 Rush2k
Member since 2004 • 651 Posts
The storyline in most war games is pretty much the same. Maybe the armies are different or it's on another planet or whatever, but the story never changes too much.
Avatar image for TriangleHard
TriangleHard

9097

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 62

User Lists: 0

#14 TriangleHard
Member since 2005 • 9097 Posts

The storyline in most war games is pretty much the same. Maybe the armies are different or it's on another planet or whatever, but the story never changes too much.Rush2k

Where did you get this idea?

War is a theme with so many possibilities and aspects. So many different things can happen and be a cause to lead to war and it's outcome.

Final Fantasy Tactics showed plenty of political plot regarding the war. The involvment of the church, back stabbing, taking over a throne, etc.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms is strategy game based on war of 3 Chinese kingdoms. The story there is nothing like WWII replay.

Add Nobunaga's Ambition series and already we have vastly different 3 war stories.

Not to mention Suikoden series too.

Storyline in most war games are NOT the same. Only in FPS genre that lacks creativity must re-use same WWII theme over and over. Look else where and there are plenty good stuff out there.

Avatar image for foxhound_fox
foxhound_fox

98532

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 13

User Lists: 0

#15 foxhound_fox
Member since 2005 • 98532 Posts
For the same reason plenty of games have terrible stories... the developers don't see it necessary to have a good story as long as there is multiplayer for people to put hundreds of hours into to get their "value" from.
Avatar image for MetalGear_Ninty
MetalGear_Ninty

6337

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 0

#16 MetalGear_Ninty
Member since 2008 • 6337 Posts
Quite simply, because storylines don't interest the usual target audiences for these types of games.