Is game story telling and music getting close to film?

Music, yes.

Story, no.

Not even close, although i would take Kirby music over movie music any day.

Music has surpassed movies.

Storytelling never

Music wise, sure, Music is quite easy to transfer from a film enviroment to a video game one. Story telling? Very few games excel in story telling and even then they aren't on par with the greatest movies ever made.

I think the biggest problem is the length. A film is around 90 minutes to 2 hours long where as a game can be 10-12-15 even 20+. Its difficult to make a story that can keep a player engaged for 20+ hours. Not impossible but very difficult.

inb4 jg4xchamp's rant on game stories.

I think the presentation of game stories has been getting better and better each year. The diversity in game mechanics have also been improving as well. I think once the indie scene improves, we'll see better stories from smaller development teams. I don't think anyone here should expect amazing material from AAA games. That's like expecting amazing stories from blockbuster films. They're made to entertain the masses, not have something totally unique or special.

I think game music easily surpasses movies. Seriously, the music in most video games is way more diverse and interesting then most of the stuff in movies.

See I think at least orchestrated music in games doesn't come close to film. Especially intimate and emotional pieces like in the OP. One of the main reasons for this is stories in games just can't do it justice. And I do think as well that John Williams, Alan Silvestri, Tom Newman, Hans Zimmer, James Horner all surpass those who regularly work on game music, again in orchestra mainly. The same way Johnny Depp and Robert Downey Jr >>> Troy Baker and Nolan North lol.

As far as story telling goes, I agree entirely. That and writers in this medium are frankly sub par.

1- No, stories still can't compete with film or literature at all.

2. Music? Sure, why not.

3. Where's jg4xchamp and his video games suck at stories rant?

The Story's are as good sometimes ... its the pacing of said stories that falls short... but that is near impossible to prevent... because the game loops break up the pacing of the story... and you can't always make it flow as smoothley... hell you cant at all.

Like people are saying music yes, stories no. Though Wolfenstein The New Order is fascinating in story terms but it would make an awful movie.

Game stories are just a different way to experience storytelling they will never be a passive experience, excluding Telltale games which are fucking abysmal as movies AND games.

Music? Absolutely. Music in movies feels so homogenous nowadays it's harder and harder to find classics like Rain Man's soundtrack.

Stories? Depends. I think 999 is up there because of its brilliant story and the way it uses the DS in a way that makes it unique. I think Dark Souls is one of the best "peel the onion" game where the story is only as deep as you want to make it. I think dialogue like the jokes found in Uncharted Drake's Fortune are examples of a great pastiche of Indiana Jones.

99% of games? Nah. Their stories are always going to be outwardly humiliated by the best of movies and books. That's not to say they can't be interesting; Binary Domain has no right to be as interesting as it is in the end and Prince of Persia 2008 has a phenomenal ending. But they can't hang with a scripted, detailed book or movie.

Where the best games do stories well is on an interactive level. Shadow of the Colossus has a phenomenal story about loss and the lengths taken to get a loved one back with each fight. Limbo's story is super enigmatic yet charming in a way only video games can be. I Have No Mouth and Must Scream is extremely uneasy on the player because of the way the environment around them is not only fucked up, but how they have to use it.

Games don't have to be better at stories than movies or books, they just have to be unique and genuine about fitting it in with the medium.

@clyde46: I agree pretty much with what clyde said here. I think its also hard to have many repeated action set pieces that many times through out a game and not have the story suffer for it. Video games stories frequently suffer for the sake of gameplay.

Some of the music is fantastic though. Martin's Halo 3 OST is top notch. Easily as good as many movie OST's imo.

Now I don't think I agree with your opinion on the music. Music be it orchestratal or techo or rock envokes emotion is all of us. It doesn't matter where its used, it always has the same effect. Just listen to this piece.

You don't need a film sequence to feel the emotion and power of this music. Music as you know is there is complete the cake if you will. Its there to bring everything together. In games this can be done really well to. It all comes down to how well the scene has been crafted as the music is what tops it off.

Indeed gameplay is part of the problem. A lot of story elements are done in gameplay because the devs want the player to be part of the experience which is why I believe we are seeing lots of Hollywood style big blockbuster stories with little room for actual player interaction with the world, the devs want to led the player on their own personal Hollywood thriller.

It's rare for a film to have a story as deep and routed with such rich characters as the metal gear saga, so I'm going with vidya games.

Music also wins by default, thanks to MGS once again.

Everyone else is pretty horrible, especially Nintendo.

I love the MGS saga but its not rich, just convoluted.

There's alot of depth in there beyond the nano machines.

Storytelling has only gotten worse.

There are only a few types of music that film does better than video games.

I'd say film does intimate, melancholic and perhaps emotional pieces while games does better everything else.

He's right you know. You can't have a good story when the protagonist can run off and do things willy nilly at the whim of the player. Save a cat from a tree, murder a grandma for her gold later. Makes for bad characterization.

Last of us is better than some movies.

Music is so subjective that it's easy to just say one is better than the other. But the notion that a few programmers/musicians in their spare time can produce better shit than the great film composers doesn't sit well with me. I like a lot of music in games, but I find the best movie scores out there to be just better.

And I get the whole diversity of music in games being high due to less reliance on a full blown orchestra and stuff, but when it comes to orchestra, I don't think games have came as far. Halo OST is quite good, but I'd say it isn't exactly on par with John Williams and what he's achieved, Jerry Goldsmith, Alan Silvestri etc. Though having full blown orchestra in games is a fairly new thing, unlike film that has had it for the best part of a century.

@bobrossperm: Most big time devs actually get proper music compossors in, rather than Fred the intern!

This song alone is more moving to me than most movie scores.

It just perfectly encompasses loss. The will to fight on despite knowing it might not make much of a difference in the end.

all the ashes of men remain as a perfect memory.

Just chills man, chills.

I know, but never the greats. I mean, Halo or Star Wars OST? Uncharted or Indiana Jones? Splinter Cell or James Bond? It's always cool to find that old game tune that you are probably more fond of than most shit in movies, but that stuff will never be as great.

The story telling is no where near that of film and I don't think it ever will be as long as devs keep trying to make movies.

It's already there, but people refuse to look at it as such.

Just look at The Witcher games, Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed, Uncharted, God of War, The Last of Us, Resident Evil, Metal Gear.

Lots of these games can be excellent movies if taken word for word and shortened. Hell plenty of them can be great TV/Cartoon Shows too like Rayman, The Wonderful 101, Alan Wake, Persona 4 (actually is good anime), D4 Dark Dreams Don't Die, and more.

But they are not Movies nor Books and are not judged as such and get devalued when they are because Movies and Books are older mediums, but Video Games are really just a nice combination of the two.

@Blabadon: excellent post. Totally agree.

SoTC soundtrack is something that no movie I have seen has come close to it.

Game story is the size of TV series , so story is out.

Music is better or worse depending on the game.

Snake eater can rival most Bond themes.

Those are really crappy comparisons.

I don't want to challange your tastes, and that's a pretty tune. But listen to some Tom Newman stuff. I can only assume you'll love it if you aren't a reptile.

Okay then, suggest better comparisons.

Du du du duuu duuu dud duu dud duuuu du duuu duu duuu duuuu, duuuuuuu dudududu, duuu duuuu duuu duuu DU DU DU DUUUUU DUUUUUUU du du duuu duuu duuuuu duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu duuuuudududuit.

Musically speaking (audio), it's difficult to think of any video game that matches Robocop's theme.

It's improving but we still have ways to go, as far as competing with big budget Story heavy movies is concerned.

I hope it's not getting close because that means video games have stopped exploring. Their potential is very different to film's and when people make this comparison I feel like they're looking for some sort of validation of games from other mediums... It's not the thing to want.

Music, definitely.

Story, roflmao, no.

I get what you mean, I feel games can offer a more intimate and personal experience than film can because the player is afforded the opportunity to become a part of that world and effect it. Where as with film it's a largely static experience, you're watching someone elses creation play out before you, there's no interaction with the audience.

I wouldn't say games are quite there yet, but there's definitely much opportunity for growth.

I cried during interstellar

i cried during ff7 when red xiii lost his dad to stone arrows

No and no. There's very few video game soundtracks I like to listen to outside of actually playing the game and there's even less that transcend the game its unlike films. As far as storytelling is concerned... lol.

Metal Gear Solid's entire identity is being a ripoff of films even down to Solid Snake himself.

Yep, as others said. Music? Absolutely. I actually enjoy listening to game music more than a lot of the crap in movies.

Story? No, not at all. And it's not just because "lolvideogamestory"... I mean yeah if we're being honest, most of these developers just can't put together a worthwhile story. But even for the ones who can? It's just the nature of the medium. It's interactive. It has something called gameplay. It's very difficult to incorporate a top notch story into a medium that is not focused solely on telling you a story.

There are some games that have taken great steps towards telling you the story through your gameplay experience, but they are so few in number. And even then, they still have to function as video games. They'll likely never have the freedom or focus to deliver a story on par with a great book or film. And to be honest, they really don't need to.

Seriously people, Bring up some comparisons to your posts and not just saying "LOL no, Video Games are no where near movies."

I'm sorry I can't handle this, but I find some games on par with the story tellings of Movies like Saving Private Ryan, Independence Day, Forrest Gump, Toy Story, Never Ending Story, And Even The Lord of The Rings.

Remember Halo? Play all three games and go WOW that was amazing! Though I never played Halo 2 I remember feeling hyped about Halo 3 and it's tag line "FINISH THE FIGHT." it rings so true and it's probably one of the best trilogy's in all of gaming.

Since we're on topic of Video games and Movies what about popular movies that are based on Video Games? How does Resident Evil 5 compare to Resident Evil The Movie?

Silent Hill 2 vs Silent Hill Motion Picture? How can we possibly say that Grand Theft Auto 5's story is garbage to movies when Movies have Garbage like Troll 2?

This mentality just boggles my mind here on why Movies are somehow Magically BETTER than Video games SIMPLY because they are Movies.

Look at Never Ending Story and Shadow of the Colossus, Saving Private Ryan and Spec OPs the Line, The Land Before Time and Yoshi's Island, Any of the Star Trek Movies and the Mass Effect Trilogy.

I seriously can't tell you why people think Movies are somehow the better medium to Video Games when honestly Video games have been doing things that Movies have taken Years to perfect.

Just LOOK AT THIS SCENE FROM DEVIL MAY CRY 3

They use the same stuff they do in Movies for Video games and I bet NONE of you knew this, so why are Video Games somehow the lesser Medium to Movies again?

It's inspired by pop culture, sure. But MGS still has elements to it's characters and story telling that aren't found outside of it.

lol I actually thought you were being serious until I got to this part.

Such as?

BUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

@Aljosa23: @ConanTheStoner:

Like that is any better than this shit.

I can look up other Motion Capture Moments in Video Games, but keep thinking that Video Games are no where near Movies in that department, because in reality they probably surpassed Movies and Movie Directors are now probably hiring Animators who worked on Games like Grand Theft Auto or Devil May Cry to work on their Movies that require Motion Capture.

Music has been, sorry telling no

?

Are you being serious? If so, what does this have to do with story telling? As an aside, yes you are correct in that animators do work in overlapping fields. I'm a 3d modeler and texture artist and I work in both games and film. In recent years, game artists have managed a good foothold in the film industry because they're typically more efficient than a lot of the old VFX guys... still don't know what this has to do with story telling though. Production and telling a story are two entirely different things lol.

Well since you are apparently being serious, I guess I'll address some points in your previous post.

Ok. And you likely enjoyed the gameplay a whole lot. Would you actually just sit through the cutscenes in Halo and think to yourself "Oh my god, this is some of the best story telling around!"... probably not, right?

I think you're looking at this the wrong way man. It seems you think that people are arguing that even the worst stories in movies are actually better than the best stories in gaming. Not true. What I will argue though is that even the best stories in gaming aren't going to hang with even an average movie story most of the time. And the best game stories won't even begin to approach the ballpark of the best stories in film.

It's really not even fair. Comparing a medium that is meant to deliver interactive entertainment through gameplay to a medium with the sole purpose of telling you a story.

As for your comparisons, aside from Silent Hill, all those games are just as bad as the movies you compared them to, if not worse.

And did you seriously name drop Yoshis Island man? Bro, that's one of my favorite games, but the story?

Kamek hits stork. Stork drops babies. Mario hops from one Yoshi to the next to reach his goal. He throws eggs in giant baby Bowsers mouth. The end.

lol.

Please be trolling. Please.

The Last Of Us already destroys most zombie movies in plot and depth

A cow would make this thread.

This post is fucking painful.

Also, Grand Theft Auto V's story is garbage even by video game standards.