I don't mean to feed the bears, but it's important to ask why people watch movies. Everyone who makes, enjoys or writes about movies asks that question all the time.Varun Garuda Maharaj said:
Why do people care so much about storylines?
- Thread starter Velocity Eleven
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I don't really care exactly about the story, I care about how said story is revealed and presented. The presentation, I think,goes hand in hand with the gameplay. I think people ***** about JRPG story lines because they feel separated by a crappy dub, or because the fighting system is basically in another room, in another house, down the street from the story, yet it has similar wallpaper. That is my speech.
The storyline is the motivation to keep playing, to make the squiggly shapes interact and do things with other squiggly shapes in the way the game play lets you do it
Sometimes a REALLY good amount of game play can counter out a horrible story...however...a bad story can also stamp out game play that could be fun...and good story means sometimes you give in and work with shitty game play to find out what happens next...
Sometimes a REALLY good amount of game play can counter out a horrible story...however...a bad story can also stamp out game play that could be fun...and good story means sometimes you give in and work with shitty game play to find out what happens next...
For me, story keeps the game going. Personally, if gears of war was just a series of rooms with chest-high walls and enemies, and a level indicator in the top right corner of the screen, i would play for 3 minutes at most.
You may not feel this way, but gameplay can get repetitive easily, and stories give you a reason to keep going. A video game is more than gameplay, its interactive entertainment.
Personally i play video games because psychologically i want to work for a reward, and the reward better be decent. I dont just want a green oval/black box telling me i won points/trophies. I want new information, i want to start a story, and fill the holes as much as possible to whats going on.
Basically i think it works like this, people play games for a reward of some kind. For some people the reward can be a high score, other people want more.
You may not feel this way, but gameplay can get repetitive easily, and stories give you a reason to keep going. A video game is more than gameplay, its interactive entertainment.
Personally i play video games because psychologically i want to work for a reward, and the reward better be decent. I dont just want a green oval/black box telling me i won points/trophies. I want new information, i want to start a story, and fill the holes as much as possible to whats going on.
Basically i think it works like this, people play games for a reward of some kind. For some people the reward can be a high score, other people want more.
Stories in games started out with the sole purpose of explaining and justifying the gameplay. It's all about suspension of disbelief. Sometimes just wanting to experience a gameplay mechanic isn't enough.
Today, the stories have evolved far beyond that. Today, gameplay and story can be masterfully woven together.
The Mass Effect series is a pretty good and recent example. This series boasts a solid character-driven story. It's pretty impressive, too. You can tell that the developers concentrated hard on writing up a quality tale for the players to enjoy and get wrapped up in. Pretty much everything in the series is dependent on quality story.
One thing that is especially great, and surprising, is that the developers planned for the series to be a trilogy ahead of time. This means that the series will follow one singular story broken up across the three games. We don't see this kind of thing with the God of War series or (forgive me for jumping to another media) the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. The latter series are not so much trilogies, as they are one story and two sequels.
Back to my point. Story is taking the spotlight in the video game industry, and this isn't a bad thing. The games are still games. The story keeps things fresh. It keeps your game from falling apart, leaving only the meta-game.
Today, the stories have evolved far beyond that. Today, gameplay and story can be masterfully woven together.
The Mass Effect series is a pretty good and recent example. This series boasts a solid character-driven story. It's pretty impressive, too. You can tell that the developers concentrated hard on writing up a quality tale for the players to enjoy and get wrapped up in. Pretty much everything in the series is dependent on quality story.
One thing that is especially great, and surprising, is that the developers planned for the series to be a trilogy ahead of time. This means that the series will follow one singular story broken up across the three games. We don't see this kind of thing with the God of War series or (forgive me for jumping to another media) the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. The latter series are not so much trilogies, as they are one story and two sequels.
Back to my point. Story is taking the spotlight in the video game industry, and this isn't a bad thing. The games are still games. The story keeps things fresh. It keeps your game from falling apart, leaving only the meta-game.
Mass Effect for example is a game that obviously relies on the storyline, to me, everything past the writing was extremely bland in that game, and I still love the series.
Some games make you feel like you're in an actual battlefield slash wasteland slash setting by storming you with realism, while some other games make you feel enrolled with the character, therefor, having you feel like it's your duty to save the galaxy or defeat the daily baddie.
My introduction to gaming was in the "Here's what's going on now go out there and kick some ass" type of videogame, when good storyline was a very casual one night stand kind of thing, and I still value games that leave it up to you whether to explore the storyline too much or not.
As much as I personally love the Silent Hill series, I always hated the over-analytical plot, which always had many different approaches, most of which led your understanding of the storyline to a dead end and a million comprehensive threads to try to get a recap of exactly what's been going on through the last 4 games, otherwise, you won't "fully appreciate the game", but in the end, I came to the conclusion writers just decided to give you the facts and make you feel like there's a lot of depth, when you're actually having a straight forward line of events.
Some games make you feel like you're in an actual battlefield slash wasteland slash setting by storming you with realism, while some other games make you feel enrolled with the character, therefor, having you feel like it's your duty to save the galaxy or defeat the daily baddie.
My introduction to gaming was in the "Here's what's going on now go out there and kick some ass" type of videogame, when good storyline was a very casual one night stand kind of thing, and I still value games that leave it up to you whether to explore the storyline too much or not.
As much as I personally love the Silent Hill series, I always hated the over-analytical plot, which always had many different approaches, most of which led your understanding of the storyline to a dead end and a million comprehensive threads to try to get a recap of exactly what's been going on through the last 4 games, otherwise, you won't "fully appreciate the game", but in the end, I came to the conclusion writers just decided to give you the facts and make you feel like there's a lot of depth, when you're actually having a straight forward line of events.
I have concluded Final Fantasy X, nine times now and will so begin my tenth file. Lunar, my favorite game in existence, I have completed over twenty times and it has an extremely simplistic gameplay, one with which you could honestly fall asleep through, so long as you held the X button. Yes an exaggeration however you understand the basis of what I am insinuating. Nonetheless this all because I derive much enjoyment from the cast of characters, the world with which the dwell and the struggles the characters endure and must overcome. Furthermore I have become immersed in their aforementioned world, I feel for the characters as though they were real, which is the essential purpose of superior character development, were it is in similarity to a friend, albeit different than real life. When I conclude FFX or Lunar, the gameplay is neither what I recall nor what I look forward to on a subsequent play through, it is returning to the story I have grown to love.Velocity Eleven said:
Decent gameplay can easily be overlooked if the storyline is worthwhile, a poor storyline or worse, lackluster characters will be the catalyst that which can completely ruin a game. Evidently not everyone is of similar opinion, hence the creation of this topic, nevertheless in my case, the most appealing aspect of a game is the storyline.