Poll: Story important in games?

[Dark Wingstalker]

in Civ, you make your own story.

notably however, Alpha centurai, which is basically the same, but in space, has a rather heavy story/Mythos that, if you buy into, makes teh game 100 times better.

 

[AartSnikkelbaard]

I think stories are always important for games. No matter what game really. A story, essentially, motivates the player to play the game. Even a very basic story like; "aliens attack the planet! Whipe out all aliens to save the world." is far more motivating than just simply moving around with a purple dot and sending yellow rectangles flying towards green blobs.
Still, I think gameplay is the most important aspect of a game. Obviously no game is any fun to play if the gameplay isn't right.
Graphics are just there to serve the story and gameplay. Unfortunately, graphics nowadays seem to be about realism, hence the demanding hardware requirements. I reckon this will change when technology has advanced to the point where it's not really possible to create even more realistic graphics. From that point, I think story and gameplay will become even more important.

 

[ROBO_LEADER]

Story is important, but it all depends on the genre. Without some sort of unifying idea, some sort of way of telling the player "This is what's happening, this is the explanation of why things are the way they are" it just becomes a jumbled mess. When it comes to as little story as possible while still maintaining a cohesive and defined environment, I think that BF2142 is perhaps the best example. The simple setup tells the player who they are, what they are fighting for, why they are there, and who they are fighting.

Given a choice between that, and a much more cinematic game with the same overall gameplay quality, however, I would probably choose the latter.

 

[Lightbulb]

Unfortunately, graphics nowadays seem to be about realism, hence the demanding hardware requirements.

While this is in general true there is a good trend for differences:

Team Fortress 2
Spore

Nitendo games? Not really a trend, more an institution...


I think that soon graphics won't leap forwards so fast. I think the market is less likely to buy new graphics cards every 6 months these days. I mean there are people with 6 series, 7 series and 8 series. I don't think the 6 series people will necessarily change when the 10 series come out (By the way i use nVidia names because they make more sence. The ATi names just confuse the non-initiated).

Also i don't know that Crysis actually looks THAT much better than HL2. Not really enough to justify a huge investment in new hardware anyway...

So soon maybe the gameplay and story will become more more important.


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Address the issue of extreme violence and blood in games: The problem is people want more and more of these kinds of things. What was once shocking becomes common place - in order to get that same 'thrill' you need to be even more bloody and violent. However there is a limit to what the censor will allow and this should restrain things. Once you can't rely on shock value anymore you must once again make good games.

Please note i am not against games like Soldier of Fortune - indeed i found the damage model made the game more fun because i could tell when i had killed someone alot more easily. However games like Man Hunt and Postal seem to take it a bit too far for my tastes.

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Dark Wingstalker: Alpha Centurai - Yes this is true. The story did add something.

However Gal Civ (1 & 2) tries a similar approach and i never bothered with it i just played the sandbox mode. So it can work both ways. Then again they did make the story game a series of small maps which ins't really in the 4X genre (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit and eXterminate).

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4X)

 

[Lightbulb]

When it comes to as little story as possible while still maintaining a cohesive and defined environment, I think that BF2142 is perhaps the best example. The simple setup tells the player who they are, what they are fighting for, why they are there, and who they are fighting.

This is what i meant about a good setting. Almsot everyone knows something about WW2, you don't need a long series of explanations about why and where you are fighting. You already know that, so you can simply say here you are: Now get on with the fighting.

The BF series wouldn't be so fun if it wasn't online with real people though...

 

[jezcentral]

It depends on the genre. Beat-em-ups don't need a story, whilst "experiences" like Deus Ex and BioShock would be second-rate FPS games if they didn't have the depth of story.

Look at Hellgate London, it's getting a very rough ride, mostly due to the lack of story, and the fact that the way the quests are given is mostly just a single line of text.

J

 

[AartSnikkelbaard]

While this is in general true there is a good trend for differences:

Team Fortress 2
Spore

Nitendo games? Not really a trend, more an institution...


I think that soon graphics won't leap forwards so fast. I think the market is less likely to buy new graphics cards every 6 months these days. I mean there are people with 6 series, 7 series and 8 series. I don't think the 6 series people will necessarily change when the 10 series come out (By the way i use nVidia names because they make more sence. The ATi names just confuse the non-initiated).

Yes you are right there. The focus seems to be changing a bit, which is definitely a good thing. But I think that at the moment this is mostly due to renewed interest in casual gaming. 'Starting' game developers found out that there's a huge market to gain there (mostly elderly people and women). It's indeed nice to see that developers dare choosing for maybe more stylized graphics like with TF2. Still, the hardcore gamers that like to play games like Crysis need to invest in better hardware. (and yes, Crysis does look much better. But it's still amazing how well the source engine performs on lesser systems).

Actually the stupid thing with this trent towards realism is that the more realistic a game looks, the more realistic behaviour we expect. Take a game like Oblivion. It looks great, but because of that we become more aware of the stuff that's not very realistic. (there are no kids to be found, people have strange conversations, you can ruin a shop without anyone getting angry -but as soon as you steal so much as a feather you're chased by guards). Realism and believability are two very different things. Developers should aim for the latter.

 

[Archaeology Hat]

A sufficiently good story in a game can make up for clunky gameplay.
Sufficiently good gameplay can make up for a crap story.
Sufficently good atmosphere can make up for a crap story if combined with good gameplay.

 

[mrdanman]

I think YES as HALO would just be another FPS and i would of found my self board...but i wanted to know what happened at the end...

And i think NO because on fable i ignored the story line and just got the best spells and gear and pillaged oakvale many times...

And C&C has pratically no story and its amaizing

 

[LordOmnit]

I'd have to say that personally story is either one of the most important aspects of the game, or pretty far down the list.
If I feel like playing an RPG, then it'd better had a story and handle well, or I'm going to go into a firey rage.
If I feel like playing a shooter, then I'm probably only going to be playing it for: challenge, multiplayer, or change of pace, and therefore story isn't going to really effect me either way, but it had (again) handle well.
If I'm playing old games, then I'm not expecting much (after already knowing about them and only looking back at them), and I'll play it for the silliness when compared to newer games.
But most of the time I really key in on story, and if a game (that I care has story) has one.
And mentioning games like pong and other puzzle/casual games is kind of pointless.

 

[LisaB1138]

Story depends on the genre. Some styles of gameplay do not lend themselves to "great storytelling." You're not going to get Ico when you're in FPS mode.

 

[Gildedtongue]

It really does tend to depend on what sort of game you're talking about. Tetris is a great game, but it doesn't really need a story, just let me drop some blocks to make some lines.

I do like some story telling elements in shooters, since I'd like to at least imagine a reason why someone would be unloading magazine upon magazine of hot lead into his or her opponents. Of course, I'd also like to see the amount of psychological problems the shooter will go through post game. Obviously story isn't necessary to make a good, fun shooter (See Serious Sam, and Time Splitters), but the addition of a plot makes the game that much more complete and satisfying.

Certain games are based off of story, RPGs and Adventure games would be pointless if there wasn't a reason why you are poking around menus constantly. These are expected to have some sort of novel-like quality to them and be something more than just hitting the next baddie with a club to get an arbitrary amount of money to buy a bigger club.

 

[SanitysRequiem]

Having a good story is always applicable in a game, sometimes it comes in the form of thematic plot, like Katamari, sometimes it's a wonderful interpretation of a classic story, Eternal Darkness: Sanitys Requiem (*ahem*) and sometimes? Well...it's Metal Gear Solid 2.

No matter what? Story makes a game engrossing and funner the play.

Best story in a Final Fantasy? Tactics. Political intrigue AND a fantasy end-of-the-world weave? Good stuff! Good stuff.

 

[Koselara]

Story is an important thing in genres where it makes sense -- yeah, if you're totally into arcade button-mashing, it's probably not necessary. If you want an intense experience on a more personal level, then there will need to be a plot to structure your actions around, otherwise your character's going to have no reason to do much of anything.

In reality, though, story isn't exactly just "becoming" important, as if we've been in the dark ages for three decades... On computers, it was important in the appropriate genres until technological advances changed the focus to graphical quality, basically as it had been for the consoles for years, and FPS started becoming the expected norm. I'm not saying that everything was great (there was plenty of garbage then, too) but there were quite a few games that were. Richard Garriott was quoted somewhere (in an article here?) as describing the cycle fairly well here:

"Periodically, whenever there's enough technological advancement from what the games have done before, you see everybody dives into very simple game play, like a straight shooter with no other frills - it just showcases the technological advancement of the day. However, as time goes on, in order to compete with that game...it becomes more important to deepen the product in some way...and you get more diverse offerings -- more of the things I enjoy, more literary content... I actually look forward to the time when you can start using tools you've developed, and the platforms actually begin to stabilize, and we begin to compete not just on the bells and whistles, but on the depth of the content."

(Of course, that's not counting the games designed for when people don't feel like dealing with depth, or the genres where depth is largely pointless.)

 

[Lance Icarus]

I love a good story in a game, but not every gaming story has to be a super extravagant piece of prose. Some games seemingly require the huge amount of story (Metal Gear series, Legend of Zelda), but there are plenty of games out there that should have a more minimal storyline to get things going.

First, lets look at the Halo series. The first game was a decent enough story, but then it seemed to get really, really full of itself in two and three. It's storyline seems to be to be a more zombie oriented version of Little Shop of Horrors, except Seymour is a cybernetically enhanced bad ass.

Then you have more minimal storylines, and I mean VERY minimal. Take for example Guitar Hero 3. Wait, did I just hear "GH3 has a story, really?" Yes, it does, but it's so minimal that it doesn't get in the way of what is really a shallow game based solely on the player's own merits.

Here is your Guitar Hero 3 spoiler in it's entirety:

Guitarist joins a band, band plays at local bar and gets signed, band goes on tour, band rebels against record label, head of label turns out to be Satan, Satan sends band to hell, guitarist out duels Satan and sends him to...uh...second Hell, band rides out of hell on badass winged motorcycles.

The End. And that's the way it should be.

 

[maxjae]

A good storyline can make a good game better, but it should be considered the least important aspect of a game. A game can be fun with no storyline at all. Resident Evil 4 would still kick ass if you took out all the cinema scenes, notes and dialogue. It would be strangely lacking in story, but it would still be fun to play. Even an RPG with no storyline could work, if the battle system was good and the tweaking of characters was satisfying.

Sometimes the storyline can even be detrimental to a game. Super Mario Sunshine's long-winded cinema scenes, besides being bad, felt pretty out of place for a Mario game.

 

[Lance Icarus]

...Even an RPG with no storyline could work, if the battle system was good and the tweaking of characters was satisfying.

Well, not really. If you're talking about a pure RPG, then a story is necessary. I mean, why play a role playing game when there is no defined role to play? Now if you're talking about a different game with RPG elements, then I'd say it could definitely be good without a story.

 

[LordOmnit]

I mean, why play a role playing game when there is no defined role to play?

Heh, MMORPGs...
Well, apparently some have storylines, but it isn't like you just continue on with the story, it just eventually comes out in some patch or whatever.

 

[maxjae]

...Even an RPG with no storyline could work, if the battle system was good and the tweaking of characters was satisfying.

Well, not really. If you're talking about a pure RPG, then a story is necessary. I mean, why play a role playing game when there is no defined role to play? Now if you're talking about a different game with RPG elements, then I'd say it could definitely be good without a story.

Yes, an RPG with no story is not technically an RPG. But that's beside the point I was trying to make, which is that any game that is fun to play, gameplaywise, would still be fun to play without its storyline, so long as it's still possible to play it.

 

[Lance Icarus]

...Even an RPG with no storyline could work, if the battle system was good and the tweaking of characters was satisfying.

Well, not really. If you're talking about a pure RPG, then a story is necessary. I mean, why play a role playing game when there is no defined role to play? Now if you're talking about a different game with RPG elements, then I'd say it could definitely be good without a story.

Yes, an RPG with no story is not technically an RPG. But that's beside the point I was trying to make, which is that any game that is fun to play, gameplaywise, would still be fun to play without its storyline, so long as it's still possible to play it.

I understand what you're saying here, but a think a better example of what you're going for would be the RTS genre. Games like Starcraft and Command and Conquer are loved for their stories and the history behind them, but to say storyline is what sold a game like Starcraft would be ludicrous. These games are based on out-thinking and out-witting your opponents, building up your forces and hatching plans to demolish your opponent's base all the while protecting your own hide from your opposition.

Oh, and LordOmnit, MMORPGs always have a backstory and a linear progression early on, but in the end it's up to the player to decide to carry on the central storyline or to just grind and grab all the drops their inventory can handle. The thing with MMO's is that there is no set "end". All they do is expand on the story anytime they feel like it.