Gears of War (both 1 & 2) could be so much better if . . .

yeah i agree. it's almost as if they quit on the story in gears 1 as there are so many interesting things like baird: "oh no don't give the promotion to the smart guy, give it to a jackass instead!". the begginings of a resentment between marcus and baird..? maybe even betrayal? and then there's "HEY SANTIAGO! no news on the lady man i'd tell you if i heard ANYTHING" which i believe is very important in the gears 2 story. and there's the mysterious figure of marcus's father who has all the tunnels mapped out in his basement... but no we quickly forget about him. there's more but you get the idea.crunchUK

I don't think you do agree..... the TC thinks the story is weak.... you just think we didn't learn enough about the story in the 1st game.... which I agree with.... I was happy with what i got story wise.... but would have been happier if I had learned more about what was happening between the Locust & Humans, as well as the intricacies between the different characters in the game... for example.... more info on Dom & Marcus' friendship..... why Baird isn't too fond of Marcus.... the deal with Marcus' family.... and most importantly what happened that got Marcus' thrown in the slammer.

Though I'm fairly certain I know the answers to some of it, I'd still like to know exactly and not have to guess..... thing is, TC is wrong... the story in Gears is great, the problem is, we didn't get enough of it in Gears1.... but Gears 2 promises to remedy that, or so that's what the devs have been saying.

When did Gears 2 come out?

Last i heared, Epic addressed some of those issues and Gears 2 story should be MUCH better. (hopefully) Thing is, Cliffy dislikes long cutscenes and saying in general, games should be about playing, PERIOD! Sounds to me he could care less about a deep story, rather just kickarse gameplay and graphics....simply put a full on tpyical action game.

He made it clear after the critisim MGS4 got for its LONG cutscenes.

Then again, MORE cutscenes are needed if one whats a deep and epic storyline, IMO.

shame really, but who knows Maybe Gears 2 will deliver.

[QUOTE="crunchUK"]yeah i agree. it's almost as if they quit on the story in gears 1 as there are so many interesting things like baird: "oh no don't give the promotion to the smart guy, give it to a jackass instead!". the begginings of a resentment between marcus and baird..? maybe even betrayal? and then there's "HEY SANTIAGO! no news on the lady man i'd tell you if i heard ANYTHING" which i believe is very important in the gears 2 story. and there's the mysterious figure of marcus's father who has all the tunnels mapped out in his basement... but no we quickly forget about him. there's more but you get the idea.Veterngamer

I don't think you do agree..... the TC thinks the story is weak.... you just think we didn't learn enough about the story in the 1st game.... which I agree with.... I was happy with what i got story wise.... but would have been happier if I had learned more about what was happening between the Locust & Humans, as well as the intricacies between the different characters in the game... for example.... more info on Dom & Marcus' friendship..... why Baird isn't too fond of Marcus.... the deal with Marcus' family.... and most importantly what happened that got Marcus' thrown in the slammer.

Though I'm fairly certain I know the answers to some of it, I'd still like to know exactly and not have to guess..... thing is, TC is wrong... the story in Gears is great, the problem is, we didn't get enough of it in Gears1.... but Gears 2 promises to remedy that, or so that's what the devs have been saying.

yeah that's what i mean. could have had a potential brillant story because of all those things, but they seemingly "forgot" about making any kind of absorbing plot.

Honestly Gears 1 had NO story, I had no idea what was going on other then- I kill the creatures. That was my understanding of the story from the first game, and you what............I liked it like that!!!! Straight up action, no BS, just balls to the wall action, that's the way games should be, if I wan't a great story, I watch a movie. If I wan't fun gamepley, I play a game simple as that.

Unfortunately I heard they were really working on the story for Gears 2. :|

[QUOTE="Veterngamer"]

[QUOTE="crunchUK"]yeah i agree. it's almost as if they quit on the story in gears 1 as there are so many interesting things like baird: "oh no don't give the promotion to the smart guy, give it to a jackass instead!". the begginings of a resentment between marcus and baird..? maybe even betrayal? and then there's "HEY SANTIAGO! no news on the lady man i'd tell you if i heard ANYTHING" which i believe is very important in the gears 2 story. and there's the mysterious figure of marcus's father who has all the tunnels mapped out in his basement... but no we quickly forget about him. there's more but you get the idea.crunchUK

I don't think you do agree..... the TC thinks the story is weak.... you just think we didn't learn enough about the story in the 1st game.... which I agree with.... I was happy with what i got story wise.... but would have been happier if I had learned more about what was happening between the Locust & Humans, as well as the intricacies between the different characters in the game... for example.... more info on Dom & Marcus' friendship..... why Baird isn't too fond of Marcus.... the deal with Marcus' family.... and most importantly what happened that got Marcus' thrown in the slammer.

Though I'm fairly certain I know the answers to some of it, I'd still like to know exactly and not have to guess..... thing is, TC is wrong... the story in Gears is great, the problem is, we didn't get enough of it in Gears1.... but Gears 2 promises to remedy that, or so that's what the devs have been saying.

yeah that's what i mean. could have had a potential brillant story because of all those things, but they seemingly "forgot" about making any kind of absorbing plot.

I'm choosing to look at the story of Gears as a whole... we got a little taste in #1, we were introduced to alot of info... but nothing was fleshed out.... I"m guessing we'll get that with #2, well it's not so much a guess as it's been confirmed by the devs. but you know what i mean.

the story in Gears is great, the problem is, we didn't get enough of it in Gears1...Veterngamer

Gears of War had a compelling setting, but the story execution was just painfully awful.

It wouldn't really have taken that much either, and would have improved the game incredibly. I'm talking simple exposition clips in the introduction (and not a really vague one you needed to wait for at the menu screen).

Honestly Gears 1 had NO story, I had no idea what was going on other then- I kill the creatures. That was my understanding of the story from the first game, and you what............I liked it like that!!!! Straight up action, no BS, just balls to the wall action, that's the way games should be, if I wan't a great story, I watch a movie. If I wan't fun gamepley, I play a game simple as that.

Unfortunately I heard they were really working on the story for Gears 2. :|

TriggerheartEx

oh NOES! :shock:

Honestly Gears 1 had NO story, I had no idea what was going on other then- I kill the creatures. That was my understanding of the story from the first game, and you what............I liked it like that!!!! Straight up action, no BS, just balls to the wall action, that's the way games should be, if I wan't a great story, I watch a movie. If I wan't fun gamepley, I play a game simple as that.

Unfortunately I heard they were really working on the story for Gears 2. :|

TriggerheartEx

[QUOTE="TriggerheartEx"]

Honestly Gears 1 had NO story, I had no idea what was going on other then- I kill the creatures. That was my understanding of the story from the first game, and you what............I liked it like that!!!! Straight up action, no BS, just balls to the wall action, that's the way games should be, if I wan't a great story, I watch a movie. If I wan't fun gamepley, I play a game simple as that.

Unfortunately I heard they were really working on the story for Gears 2. :|

Zerostatic0

Yes I do actually, but nothing like that has been made in my opinion. The best storys for games I think would either be Bioshock or FFVII, but storys in games are nothing like movies or books. Movies and books usually have some kind of underlying statements or moral of the story, video games just focus on cool concepts, the diolouge is too generic and over the top in my opinion, maybe someday though.

I don't understand why everyone is so much into wanting a story over great gameplay this gen. I mean it's almost like it is necessity. I mean lets be honest in the history of video games if you look at some of the greatest games of all time the stories aren't that great at all, if anything they are down right atrocious. Lets look at some of them.

Mario- Lets be honest as good as this franchise has been good to us, now I'm talking all of the mario's whether it be kart, baseball, or just the regular mario. How good has this story really been? Its really not that great at all, in fact basically throughout it's entire life span it has been about the same thing and it has never changed, but you know what made this game great? The gameplay its just fun as hell to play mario and I mean I remember playing that game when I was 4 and I'm 24 now and I still find it fun, now thats a game.

Metroid- When I first played the first one and the second one that was on gameboy I didn't know what the hell was going on nor did I care. Though I have not followed the series since, I don't know where it is now or what kind of story it has, but the first one really didn't have much of anything. What made it great? Once again the game play and the fact that I could roll up into a ball and plant bombs while I was doing it.

Sonic- Sonic was another one of the original classics that everyone loved and yet again it really didn't have much of a story line. I mean a hedgehog going after a scientist, so he doesn't basically pollute the planet. Thats it, nothing more nothing less. I mean is that really a great story line? Not really, but once again the game play is what made it such a great game.

Now here we are this gen and to me this has to be one of the funnest gens I have ever had in gaming. All the games are addicting and the game play in a lot of the games is outstanding. I can say there are only two games that I have played that have had long drawn out story lines and basically they needed it and that would be Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid. Those first two games are probably the first to really implement a dramatic and movie like story line, but a good 85% of the rest of the games that are around them never really had one to begin with and if they did they were short and sweet. Now we look at this gen and we have some of the greatest selling games of all time, some of the most enjoyable games that you will ever play and we are all of sudden critics to their story lines. I just don't understand where stories became such a huge part of a game. I don't know maybe I really don't get involved too much into that as much as I do in the actually game play and fun factor of a game. Hey we all have opinions and I guess getting really critical of a story of a great game matters.

EDIT: What a lot of people don't understand is that if you have played gears as much as I have or any really big fan of the game has. You would realize what EPIC did with this game was awesome. They threw you right into the battle. I mean does everybody not realize that there is basically an apocalypse going on? I mean if the end of the world is near and thats what the game is about why are the devs going to waste their time and talk about everyone's life when they have to save the planet?

I don't understand why everyone is so much into wanting a story over great gameplay this gen. I mean it's almost like it is necessity. I mean lets be honest in the history of video games if you look at some of the greatest games of all time the stories aren't that great at all, if anything they are down right atrocious. Lets look at some of them.

Mario- Lets be honest as good as this franchise has been good to us, now I'm talking all of the mario's whether it be kart, baseball, or just the regular mario. How good has this story really been? Its really not that great at all, in fact basically throughout it's entire life span it has been about the same thing and it has never changed, but you know what made this game great? The gameplay its just fun as hell to play mario and I mean I remember playing that game when I was 4 and I'm 24 now and I still find it fun, now thats a game.

Metroid- When I first played the first one and the second one that was on gameboy I didn't know what the hell was going on nor did I care. Though I have not followed the series since, I don't know where it is now or what kind of story it has, but the first one really didn't have much of anything. What made it great? Once again the game play and the fact that I could roll up into a ball and plant bombs while I was doing it.

Sonic- Sonic was another one of the original classics that everyone loved and yet again it really didn't have much of a story line. I mean a hedgehog going after a scientist, so he doesn't basically pollute the planet. Thats it, nothing more nothing less. I mean is that really a great story line? Not really, but once again the game play is what made it such a great game.

Now here we are this gen and to me this has to be one of the funnest gens I have ever had in gaming. All the games are addicting and the game play in a lot of the games is outstanding. I can say there are only two games that I have played that have had long drawn out story lines and basically they needed it and that would be Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid. Those first two games are probably the first to really implement a dramatic and movie like story line, but a good 85% of the rest of the games that are around them never really had one to begin with and if they did they were short and sweet. Now we look at this gen and we have some of the greatest selling games of all time, some of the most enjoyable games that you will ever play and we are all of sudden critics to their story lines. I just don't understand where stories became such a huge part of a game. I don't know maybe I really don't get involved too much into that as much as I do in the actually game play and fun factor of a game. Hey we all have opinions and I guess getting really critical of a story of a great game matters.

xscrapzx

Exactly my point, great games do not need story, games are for playing not watching.

How do you know how good/bad the story will be in Gears 2?SpruceCaboose

[QUOTE="Zerostatic0"]

You act like you can't have the best of both worlds. Awesome gameplay as well an epic elegant story with characters that make you care about them. Don't you think it would have been more fun if instead of killing creatures just because they're in your path you were killing them because you felt like you were fighting for something, don't you wish that you could play a game that from beginning to end you laughed, you got scared, you felt uplifted, and you also shed tears? TriggerheartEx

Yes I do actually, but nothing like that has been made in my opinion. The best storys for games I think would either be Bioshock or FFVII, but storys in games are nothing like movies or books. Movies and books usually have some kind of underlying statements or moral of the story, video games just focus on cool concepts, the diolouge is too generic and over the top in my opinion, maybe someday though.

There is some irony in mentioning BioShock's story and then saying its nothing like a book.

[QUOTE="Veterngamer"]the story in Gears is great, the problem is, we didn't get enough of it in Gears1...Zerostatic0

you are right, I am owned!

But I do like the story though. I just want more.

[QUOTE="TriggerheartEx"][QUOTE="Zerostatic0"]

You act like you can't have the best of both worlds. Awesome gameplay as well an epic elegant story with characters that make you care about them. Don't you think it would have been more fun if instead of killing creatures just because they're in your path you were killing them because you felt like you were fighting for something, don't you wish that you could play a game that from beginning to end you laughed, you got scared, you felt uplifted, and you also shed tears? SpruceCaboose

Yes I do actually, but nothing like that has been made in my opinion. The best storys for games I think would either be Bioshock or FFVII, but storys in games are nothing like movies or books. Movies and books usually have some kind of underlying statements or moral of the story, video games just focus on cool concepts, the diolouge is too generic and over the top in my opinion, maybe someday though.

There is some irony in mentioning BioShock's story and then saying its nothing like a book.

Well the story obviously is but it's all about the execution. You could have the best story in the world but completely destroy if not told properly.

[QUOTE="SpruceCaboose"]

There is some irony in mentioning BioShock's story and then saying its nothing like a book.

TriggerheartEx

Well the story obviously is but it's all about the execution. You could have the best story in the world but completely destroy if not told properly.

Its true that the execution in telling the story is important, but so is the story itself, and I only mention the book thing since so many of the stories that we praise in games are simply veiled stories taken from other mediums, most often books.

Its true that the execution in telling the story is important, but so is the story itself, and I only mention the book thing since so many of the stories that we praise in games are simply veiled stories taken from other mediums, most often books.

SpruceCaboose

Honestly Gears 1 had NO story, I had no idea what was going on other then- I kill the creatures. That was my understanding of the story from the first game, and you what............I liked it like that!!!! Straight up action, no BS, just balls to the wall action, that's the way games should be, if I wan't a great story, I watch a movie. If I wan't fun gamepley, I play a game simple as that.

Unfortunately I heard they were really working on the story for Gears 2. :|

TriggerheartEx

a game can have story AND gameplay, you know.

[QUOTE="SpruceCaboose"]

Its true that the execution in telling the story is important, but so is the story itself, and I only mention the book thing since so many of the stories that we praise in games are simply veiled stories taken from other mediums, most often books.

AltAcct

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

Actually, BioShock uses alot of themes found in many Ayn Rand books. In fact, Andrew Ryan is itself a play on Ayn Rand's name.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

Actually, BioShock uses alot of themes found in many Ayn Rand books. In fact, Andrew Ryan is itself a play on Ayn Rand's name.

SpruceCaboose

[QUOTE="SpruceCaboose"]

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

Actually, BioShock uses alot of themes found in many Ayn Rand books. In fact, Andrew Ryan is itself a play on Ayn Rand's name.

AltAcct

I love dystopian stories, so BioShock was like life blood to me. I would love seeing more games using themes from dytopian classics like Fahrenheit 451, 1984, or Brave New World....

Children of Man nailed it from a cinematic PoV, now I would love a blockbuster game to take it on.

Children of Man nailed it from a cinematic PoV, now I would love a blockbuster game to take it on.

SpruceCaboose

[QUOTE="TriggerheartEx"]

Honestly Gears 1 had NO story, I had no idea what was going on other then- I kill the creatures. That was my understanding of the story from the first game, and you what............I liked it like that!!!! Straight up action, no BS, just balls to the wall action, that's the way games should be, if I wan't a great story, I watch a movie. If I wan't fun gamepley, I play a game simple as that.

Unfortunately I heard they were really working on the story for Gears 2. :|

ejstrup

a game can have story AND gameplay, you know.

Maybe, but sometimes I think the need for story in games has gotten way out of hand, if developers put 100% of there time into pure gameplay instead of 50/50 on story and gameplay, I'd be a happy man.

Like someone else said here some of the best games ever made had no storys, but people don't care because the gameplay is good. And people play games to......well....play games.

Maybe, but sometimes I think the need for story in games has gotten way out of hand, if developers put 100% of there time into pure gameplay instead of 50/50 on story and gameplay, I'd be a happy man.

Like someone else said here some of the best games ever made had no storys, but people don't care because the gameplay is good. And people play games to......well....play games.

TriggerheartEx

Games need to evolve and mature to stay relevant. Gameplay alone cannot carry the industry forward anymore if gaming wants to move up in the world of art-entertainment.

As gaming becomes more main-stream, there is more need for stories that go somewhere and are relevant to society.

Developers just need to be more careful of how they implement story.

And of course, not every game needs a story. WipEout, Elefunk, Boom Blox, Geometry Wars, etc all do fine without stories. But there should definitely be a balance in the industry, at least IMO.

EDITS: Redundancy and poor word choice.

Gears 2?EuroMafia

That is the case with every genre. Good Stories are sort of exceptions with every genre, and not the rule

Survival Horror the only games with really good stories are Silent Hill. Resident Evil while awesome isn't exactly a great stoy, the whole appeal is that its cheasy and actually takes itself seriousaly.

action games- God of War. DMC is cheasy and fun, and NG is just horrible

Stealth- GO MGS, not so much with splintercell

Platformers- Ratchet/Jak....and then there is Mario and Kirby

First Person SHooters can have some of the better stories in gaming and there have been many FPS games that offered great stories

Half Life
Half Life 2
Halo Combat Evolved
Deus Ex
System Shock
System Shock 2
Bioshock
Stalker
etc

what i am basically getting at, is that the FPS genre is not the only genre with terrible story games. All genres can be blamed

There is the lack of story in games like Mario
Predictable stuff like Zelda
Borefests(in terms of story) such as Assassins Creed, Oblivion, etc

Gears of War and Gears of War 2 are and will be great games because

The gameplay is fantastic
The visuals are awesome
Good audio
Bad story is made up for with some funny/cheasy one linears
Great pacing
Fun bosses

Gears 2 can 1 up that with
Horde
Improved MP design
Bigger Scale
Bigger and Better Monsters

Story in this game needs an improvement, but it doesn't have to be a deal breaker.jg4xchamp

agreed.

To be honest, I don't think the story was the problem with the original Gears of War. Yes, it could have been more fleshed out, given backstory and more multidimensional characters, but I feel that it wasn't that Gears had a story because it does. Gears of War could be so much better if it had decent storytelling backing it up.

From dialogue to longer cutscenes that show us more backstory or how the planet was before all this happened, little things like that would help bring a character into the story, thus creating a larger motive for finishing the game/saving the world. I'm hoping that the new writer will help with this.

[QUOTE="TriggerheartEx"]

Maybe, but sometimes I think the need for story in games has gotten way out of hand, if developers put 100% of there time into pure gameplay instead of 50/50 on story and gameplay, I'd be a happy man.

Like someone else said here some of the best games ever made had no storys, but people don't care because the gameplay is good. And people play games to......well....play games.

SpruceCaboose

Games need to evolve and mature to stay relevant. Gameplay alone cannot carry the industry forward anymore if gaming wants to move up in the world of art-entertainment.

As gaming becomes more main-stream, there is more need for stories that go somewhere and are relevant to society.

Developers just need to be more careful of how they implement story.

And of course, not every game needs a story. WipEout, Elefunk, Boom Blox, Geometry Wars, etc all do fine without stories. But there should definitely be a balance in the industry, at least IMO.

EDITS: Redundancy and poor word choice.

I agree 100%. Bravo Spruce :P

I find it funny that the TC is commenting on the story of Gears of War 2...

When the game isn't out yet. :|

[QUOTE="SpruceCaboose"][QUOTE="TriggerheartEx"]

Maybe, but sometimes I think the need for story in games has gotten way out of hand, if developers put 100% of there time into pure gameplay instead of 50/50 on story and gameplay, I'd be a happy man.

Like someone else said here some of the best games ever made had no storys, but people don't care because the gameplay is good. And people play games to......well....play games.

Eddie-Vedder

Games need to evolve and mature to stay relevant. Gameplay alone cannot carry the industry forward anymore if gaming wants to move up in the world of art-entertainment.

As gaming becomes more main-stream, there is more need for stories that go somewhere and are relevant to society.

Developers just need to be more careful of how they implement story.

And of course, not every game needs a story. WipEout, Elefunk, Boom Blox, Geometry Wars, etc all do fine without stories. But there should definitely be a balance in the industry, at least IMO.

EDITS: Redundancy and poor word choice.

I agree 100%. Bravo Spruce :P

I agree as well. I don't think it is too much of gamers to ask for more well-developed stories in our video games.

Stories, or well-told stories, create an attachment between the characters and gamer giving a gamer more motive to see the game through till the end. That connection that a good story can make with a gamer also gives the opportunity of the gamer caring about what happens to the characters much like in a novel or film, and as such a death/happy ending/cliffhanger/etc becomes much more meaningful.

I just think that a game with a decent story is more memorable and favorable in my eyes than a game with no story. If Ninja Gaiden had a story that I enjoyed going through as much as I did the Kingdom Hearts story, NG would be the best game ever. It already has some of the best gameplay around, all they needed to do was hire a good writer and implement him.

lol did you play gears of war 2? no... and gears 1 was absolutely stunning for 2 years ago, it was like a freaking hollywood blockbuster adventure, it also held the graphics throne for 1 year, wich is also pretty amazing. And lets not forget, for you people its all about the looks, but there is so much more behind a graphics engine than looks, like the better physics, the fixed glitchy animations from gears1, 200 enemies onscreen, better framerate, allot better effects, destructible environments, it has more color(lol), bigger environments etc... gears 2 also plays so much better than the 1st one with all the glitches fixed. Gears of war was the freaking goty on this site, and gears of war 2 has allot of new content, you just make it look like its so bad...papi_lekker

The TC was pointing out that these games could be even better than what they are now with a well-told story. Did you not read the OP? Nowhere did he state in that OP that the graphics are bad and gameplay is terrible. In fact, he stated that the graphics are gorgeous. :?

Gears was so boring. I just was not fun. Would have been better on the PS3. Sadly the 360 killed the game. -SoulPSX-

:| I can clearly see that you have no clue what you are talking about.

IDK.

One of the story writers also worked on Bioshock.

I'd just like to point out that Gears of War is not a First Person Shooter. Neither is the second one.