Why is story teling so rubbish in video games?.

MGS has a great story, Bioshock had a good one. Gears has an average story but I guess I do care about the characters. Apart from that I can't think of another game or series that has a deep and involving story. Someone care to prove me wrong?.

Because they are not movies

MGS has a great story, Bioshock had a good one. Gears has an average story but I guess I do care about the characters. Apart from that I can't think of another game or series that has a deep and involving story. Someone care to prove me wrong?.

LiquidSnake1001

MGS has a great story, Bioshock had a good one. Gears has an average story but I guess I do care about the characters. Apart from that I can't think of another game or series that has a deep and involving story. Someone care to prove me wrong?.

LiquidSnake1001

Really? I can think of qite a few games that had good story telling ...

Planescape Torment, Deus Ex, System Shock 2, Fallout 1&2, Baldurs Gate and plenty of other games.

Well written story arcs with twists and good character definition.

a good story can extend your interest in a game, maybe enough to finish it, but really, if it hasnt got good gameplay, are you really going to play it. Assassins Creed is a great example. Good story, boring/crap gameplay = most people not finishing it.

[QUOTE="LiquidSnake1001"]

MGS has a great story, Bioshock had a good one. Gears has an average story but I guess I do care about the characters. Apart from that I can't think of another game or series that has a deep and involving story. Someone care to prove me wrong?.

nmaharg

[QUOTE="LiquidSnake1001"]

MGS has a great story, Bioshock had a good one. Gears has an average story but I guess I do care about the characters. Apart from that I can't think of another game or series that has a deep and involving story. Someone care to prove me wrong?.

nmaharg

You talk of storytelling in your title, TC, yet you say Bioshock and MGS. IMO both of those games/series have great stories,but they are not told well. Half-Life has great-storytelling while having a relatively simple plotline until recently.

MGS isn't a good example of good storytelling in a video game. Good storytelling in a video game shouldn't remove the player from the game to watch cutscenes for 30 minutes.AAllxxjjnn

MGS isn't a good example of good storytelling in a video game. Good storytelling in a video game shouldn't remove the player from the game to watch cutscenes for 30 minutes.AAllxxjjnn

one thing has nothing to do with anoter, not to mention the only MGS who had 30min cutscenes was MGS4, MGS a whole lot other games you know?

MGS has a great story, Bioshock had a good one. Gears has an average story but I guess I do care about the characters. Apart from that I can't think of another game or series that has a deep and involving story. Someone care to prove me wrong?.

LiquidSnake1001

Story telling is great in video games, of course if all you play is shooters then you wouldn't know this.

because developers are cheap and dont want to pay for premium script writing.whoDat_whoDat

Story telling is great in video games, of course if all you play is shooters then you wouldn't know this.

sensfanVone

Because video games aren't a storytelling medium, they're a gameplaying medium.

[QUOTE="sensfanVone"]

Story telling is great in video games, of course if all you play is shooters then you wouldn't know this.

skrat_01

What part of my post said that there aren't shooters with great stories?

I just said if all you play is shooters then you wont know about a lot of great stories.

The Darkness, System Shock, Deus Ex are all great examples.

To keep adding, Resi Evil series, Dead Space etc. I could keep goin on, there are tons of games that involve gunplay that have great stories, but from his examples only using shooters I'm assuming he's not a fan of the God Of Wars, Devil May Cry's and RPG's.

I think part of the problem is that user interactivity tends to play havoc with planned sequences that are designed to elicit emotions and so on. It's what I call the hard choice between free roaming (Western RPGs like the Fallout series) and compelling storytelling (Japanese RPGs like DQ and Persona). It's harder to get the elements right in an WRPG-type game because the developer can't predict (as easily) the player's actions prior to the sequence (or even if the player will reach that sequence at all). Think of storytelling like driving. It's a lot easier to do with only one person (the storyteller) behind the wheel. Put a second set of hands (the player's) in the mix, and things have the potential to get messy.

[QUOTE="skrat_01"][QUOTE="sensfanVone"]

Story telling is great in video games, of course if all you play is shooters then you wouldn't know this.

sensfanVone

What part of my post said that there aren't shooters with great stories?

I just said if all you play is shooters then you wont know about a lot of great stories.

The Darkness, System Shock, Deus Ex are all great examples.

To keep adding, Resi Evil series, Dead Space etc. I could keep goin on, there are tons of games that involve gunplay that have great stories, but from his examples only using shooters I'm assuming he's not a fan of the God Of Wars, Devil May Cry's and RPG's.

Because video games aren't a storytelling medium, they're a gameplaying medium.

ZookGuy

[QUOTE="sensfanVone"]

[QUOTE="skrat_01"]Half Life? L4D (yes really)?skrat_01

What part of my post said that there aren't shooters with great stories?

I just said if all you play is shooters then you wont know about a lot of great stories.

The Darkness, System Shock, Deus Ex are all great examples.

To keep adding, Resi Evil series, Dead Space etc. I could keep goin on, there are tons of games that involve gunplay that have great stories, but from his examples only using shooters I'm assuming he's not a fan of the God Of Wars, Devil May Cry's and RPG's.

Generally the people I'm referring too would only play something like call of duty or medal of honor or halo online, not all shooter fans have played half life, especially console owners.

MGS has a great story, Bioshock had a good one. Gears has an average story but I guess I do care about the characters. Apart from that I can't think of another game or series that has a deep and involving story. Someone care to prove me wrong?.

LiquidSnake1001

Because they are not movies

FFXIII360

Play a Bioware game.SparkyProtocol

Because video games aren't a storytelling medium, they're a gameplaying medium.

ZookGuy

Because Naughty Dog, Square Enix, and Konami can only develop so many games. ;)

DEUS EX. period, no other movie has the story telling of deus ex - mass effect - dragon age - ect

well if you exclude star wars , Lord of the roings ect

Generally the people I'm referring too would only play something like call of duty or medal of honor or halo online, not all shooter fans have played half life, especially console owners.

sensfanVone

MGS has a great story, Bioshock had a good one. Gears has an average story but I guess I do care about the characters. Apart from that I can't think of another game or series that has a deep and involving story. Someone care to prove me wrong?.

LiquidSnake1001

No offense, but MGS does NOT have a great story. It doesn't have a good story... It doesn't have an ok story. It may be presented very well, but it's just rubbish... in my honest opinion. And as you all know: A person's opinion is like a person's faith - can't touch it.

MGS has a great story, Bioshock had a good one. Gears has an average story but I guess I do care about the characters. Apart from that I can't think of another game or series that has a deep and involving story. Someone care to prove me wrong?.

LiquidSnake1001

I disagree that it is "rubbish", but to answer your question - A couple reasons:

1) Story telling involves taking time away from the gamer actually playing the game. The better and more complicated the story you want to have, the more time you have to have the audience sitting there doing nothing. This can alienate a whole group of gamers who don't care about movies or story and only want to play the game.

2) Some genres tend to be easier to add in a story than others. RPGs are obviously the easiest, and it seems like FPS are the hardest. The way I see it, the closer your game gets to being a shooter/FPS, the tougher it gets to have a real story because it would mean having to add too much movie/reading. And really, people playing shooters just want the action of shooting and blowing stuff up. So why bother spending money on something your target audience doesn't care about?

3) Personal opinion. One person's Lord of the Rings is another person's Twilight. Not everyone likes the same things when it comes to story.

MGS has a great story, Bioshock had a good one. Gears has an average story but I guess I do care about the characters. Apart from that I can't think of another game or series that has a deep and involving story. Someone care to prove me wrong?.

LiquidSnake1001

Hmm. It's true -- there aren't any game stories that can stand against something like The Godfather or Shakespearean writings, at least in terms of plot. Metroid Prime is a good example of a game that does story well -- and it doesn't even have a plot really :P. Maybe more games should be like that?Lethalhazard

someone never played a final fantasy

someone never played a final fantasy

da_illest101

Because they're not novels. If I want a good story, I read some Russian literature or some other classics (Dostoyevsky, Pushkin, Chekhov, etc.).