What is Most Essential to a Game's plot

[David Abrams]

What is most essential to a game's plot
Is it the charicters?
is it scenery?
is it the art style?
what do you guys think

 

[Seishisha]

Personaly if your realy interested i often find games with compelling characters have better plots, simply because i feel more invested in what happens to the character if i actualy like them.

 

[Zhukov]

Good characters.

Even if your overarching plot isn't that great , I will still love every second of it if it is populated by a cast of characters that I care about. (Yes, I'm lookin' at you, Mass Effect games.)

Sadly, most game developers are either utterly incapable of good characterization or simply don't care.

 

[CrankyStorming]

is it the art style?

What's that go to do with what the writer put to paper?

Anyway, I think the core of any story has to be what it's trying to tell you. If it doesn't tie together to give a good message then it doesn't work as well.

 

[oplinger]

In all honesty, the "essentials" would be

Pacing: The story needs to move at an engaging pace, to keep me interested, but not so fast as to resort to multiple instances of deus ex machina. Or just lack of any sort of explanation at all.

Characterization: I say characterization because they don't have to be good characters. They just have to be convincing. They don't need deep character flaws and a hardcore background. They just need to be consistent, and make choices that you believe they would make. (Which to some is a good character...but often not, from what I have seen)

Sense: Plot has to make sense. No matter what. If it doesn't make any sense, no one will care. Now, you may be saying "Oh well this doesn't make any sense and it's awesome!" It does make sense. It's own kind of sense. It goes together within itself as flawlessly as the writer was able. That's all it needs to do.

Those 3 are it to make a good plot. Everything else is just extra.

 

[L3W15 M]

Drawing the player in. If the player feels like they are in the game world then anything that happens is 1000x more effective.

 

[shadow_Fox81]

alot of people have said character and that is very important.

but i feel (also)the plot should be intertwined with the game design so player interaction with the game is part of the narative rather than being held at arms length from one another.

a good narative told seperate to the gameplay itself makes a poor game.

also simple plots are better because they allow alot more freedom, they are especially well executed if they are applied to well executed worlds and characters.

 

[Avayu]

I'd say that a good narrative stems from two things: Believable characters and coherent world building.

As someone already said, characters don't always have to be good characters. I'd say they don't even have to be likeable. If you've got a good reason (anchored in the plot) to hate the character, then someone designed him/her/it well. Characters have to be consistent, both in their actions and in their motivations. Real development can only come from a solid foundation. They can't just completely change every now and then without a very good reason.

Same goes for the world around the characters. It has to be consistent with itself. There have to be rules governing this world, sometimes they are clearly defined, sometimes not so much. Those rules can be be completely unrealistic for us watching from the outside, but they apply in-universe and if they have to be suspended for the plot to work, the plot isn't very good.

 

[ergoaddict]

What is most essential to a game's plot

For most developers these days the answer seems to be:

"Anything that demands that all of the female characters wear very tight revealing clothes."

 

[Monkeymaniac]

Personally I'd say characters. I can forgive a lot of stupidity if the characters are engaging and interesting.

 

[Jimmy T. Malice]

Interesting characters are a must, but I think that a central mystery (villain's motives/plan, what-the-hell-is-going-on-here, etc) is important to keep interest.

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

I say character development, a defined goal/quest, a great setting, a firm plot, and moments that will make the player think and reflect upon are essential to a good game plot.

 

[neonsword13-ops]

Characters and Atmosphere. Those are a must, of course.

Look at Mass Effect, what would it be like without outer-space and Garrus?
Another bland cover shooter.

Same thing for Portal. The game would would be nothing without GLaDOS and the Aperture Science Labratories.

 

[Blow_Pop]

Character development. If I'm going to be invested in a game-financially and emotionally- I want them to get from beginning to end by making them relatable, flawed and-above all else-have a personality.

Despite how basic a concept this is, 8/10 games nowadays don't utilise it.

This. Also don't make it too repetitive. Prince of Persia(the PS3/360 one) I'm looking at you for this. Same bs over and over again. Run to this area, defeat enemy, make girl orgasm to fix the land, rinse, lather, repeat. I like having some exploration.....and a good story I can immerse myself into. But character development would be my most important.

 

[GameMaNiAC]

The characters. If I'm interested in the characters, I'll care what happens to them, and I'll be sad if the game kills them off.

Mass Effect, Arcanum, Planescape Torment are some good examples of excellent, believable characters.

And I know the CoD series isn't too focused on the story as much as it is focused on shooting people in the face, but I've quite became fond of MW's characters, as you can see by my avatar. Their witty radio chatter, their shouts and screams as one of their mates gets hit... believe it or not, Modern Warfare has very believable characters. And I've found myself quite saddened by the betrayal scene in MW2.

 

[LordDPS]

For a game's story to be good, it needs to be well-paced, neither being too fast as to be abrupt, nor too slow as to be boring, tedious, and stale. Meanwhile, the characters, whether they're playable-heroes or non-playable quest-givers, also need to be balanced, neither being too nice as to be total softies, nor too tough as to be ass-holes. That doesn't mean you can't have a varied cast, though, as it's okay to to resort to the four temperaments to create a good cast of characters.

However, not all video games need a good story to be good, or any story at all. Think, for example all those 4X strategy-games like Civilization, platformers like the Super Mario franchise, or simulation-games like The Sims. These games lack actual storylines, so that in-turn you could create your own instead.

On the flip side you have Mass Effect 2 where the writers focused solely on the characters leaving us with very little plot and a glorified fetch quest.