Would anybody here miss cutscenes or storylines if they went away forever?

[brazenhead89]

I've thought about this a lot, and it's bugging me more and more.
Not all videogame stories are bad, but most of them, if we're honest, are truly terrible. Even the best ones certainly don't reach the narrative comprehension of books or film. The sad truth is, however, most games rely on either text or cutscenes at one point or another to convey storyline. It makes me feel like the more we include "cinematic cutscenes" in games, the further we get from maturing as an art form. Books use text, movies use cinematography. Games are so much more advanced than these methods, yet more often than not rely on them to push forward some ridiculous story.

I personally find most transitions between gameplay and cutscene incredibly jarring to the extent that I simply can't follow most game storylines, nor care enough about them. I couldn't even follow what was happening in Super Paper Mario, for God's sake!

There are exceptions; Half Life 2 and Bioshock for example. Half Life 2 contained no cut-scenes, yet still managed to convey a storyline, atmosphere and world within its game environments, whilst Bioshock actually used gaming's restrictions to its own merit (for example, control is only taken away from the player during the scenes in which the player is under hypnosis).

When games were first released, and indeed, even with some of today's best games, storylines were mere mcguffins; run to the right and get to the castle to save a princess, for example. Hardly epic, but the foundation for some of the most renowned and refined gameplay mechanics known to this day. Games, to me, are well crafted not because of the storyline attached to them, but because of their gameplay mechanics or balancing, which is an art in itself.
Unless it belongs to a genre defined by narrative (the only example of which I can think of is the graphic adventure genre), I beleive storylines should stay out of games; not forever, but until we have the technology or experience to combine the two seamlessly.

What about you guys? What are your views on storylines in games, particularly in regards to how they are presented? Is there anybody here who plays games solely for the storyline? If so, why? I've always felt that doing so is missing the point of gaming entirely!

 

[Amethyst Wind]

I will have to disagree with you there overall. I can recognise where you're coming from in terms of jarring cutscenes (Star Ocean 4 comes to mind, 40 minute long cutscenes) but I honestly will not play a game if I think it's lacking a story, hence why I've never played Left4Dead, Borderlands or WoW, because those games are lacking a story by design so as to accomodate more players.

However, I think cutscenes that are done well can serve as useful and entertaining accompaniments to the action in terms of generating interest in the characters behind the avatars, as well as the situation they find themselves in.

Granted I'm biased, leaning as I do towards JRPGs and third person games over make-believe-it's-you FPSs and Hurr Hurr Madden etc sports games. However it's important to me that the creators make a decent enough effort to get a story into a game, and trying to get a story while the action's going down is in-elegant.

 

[Baby Tea]

Well cutscenes and storylines are very very different.
Cutscenes can be done without, I think, if done properly.
Half life 1 and 2 did it to excellent effect.

But you need a storyline in a game for it to be truly great.
Mario Brothers is fun, Plants VS Zombies is a blast, N+ is hair-pulling awesome, but none of those are deeply memorable.
Mass Effect, Baldur's Gate, Bioshock, Half Life 1 and 2...these games were all relatively simple in their gameplay, but rich in story and character. And that's what made them shine. Without the story, what would they be? I enjoy Geometry Wars for a quick play when the wife is getting ready to go out or something, but when I sit down for a good gaming session, I want more. I want to give a shit about the characters I'm controlling, and the actions I make. And I know I'm not the only one.

Pac-Man and Pong were greats games for their time, and still are fun to play from time to time.
But just like Movies went from a guy making pies to the tune of rag-time piano, to movies like Schindler's List, Children of Men, or The Jacket (Subjective list, I know. throw in your own movies with great stories), games have moved beyond the archaic 'You're doing this just because'. And I, for one, am glad they have.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

No...Half Life is fine and good, but not all games need to take cues from it.

And without story, Bioware games would have to get by on combat alone. And that's rarely their strongest hand.

 

[brazenhead89]

Well cutscenes and storylines are very very different.
Cutscenes can be done without, I think, if done properly.
Half life 1 and 2 did it to excellent effect.

But you need a storyline in a game for it to be truly great.
Mario Brothers is fun, Plants VS Zombies is a blast, N+ is hair-pulling awesome, but none of those are deeply memorable.
Mass Effect, Baldur's Gate, Bioshock, Half Life 1 and 2...these games were all relatively simple in their gameplay, but rich in story and character. And that's what made them shine. Without the story, what would they be? I enjoy Geometry Wars for a quick play when the wife is getting ready to go out or something, but when I sit down for a good gaming session, I want more. I want to give a shit about the characters I'm controlling, and the actions I make. And I know I'm not the only one.

Pac-Man and Pong were greats games for their time, and still are fun to play from time to time.
But just like Movies went from a guy making pies to the tune of rag-time piano, to movies like Schindler's List, Children of Men, or The Jacket (Subjective list, I know. throw in your own movies with great stories), games have moved beyond the archaic 'You're doing this just because'. And I, for one, am glad they have.

I respectfully disagree that a game needs a storyline to be truly great. Brutal Legend was a game I really looked forward to which had a humorous, simple storyline, but the gameplay was broken as all hell. Yet there were some people I know that played through just to see the end. Why would you do that? Why subject yourself to playing a game that was confusing, empty and frustrating just to see an average-quality story? To me that's like watching a film, only you have to eat a hammer just to get to the next scene.
Great games can exist perfectly well, and stand their own, without any sort of story. As for the second poster, by missing out on Borderlands and Left 4 Dead, you're missing out on a great shooter/RPG, and a great multiplayer experience.
In fact, it's interesting that we've bought up Left 4 Dead; the stories in that game are nothing to do with the narrative, and all to do with the experience you and your friends have. As the game randomises on each play through, you and your friends are never short of stories to tell. My friends and I have had some truly memorable encounters playing that game, and it's what keeps us playing it.

 

[Booze Zombie]

Why would I want to do anything without story or cutscenes?
Just shooting things without context would be so very boring.

"Shoot these people."

"Uh, okay..."

"Wow, I've never felt this in a video game before..."

"Great, isn't it?"

"No, I mean I actually know I'm in a video game and feel no connection to any characters at all, fighting now seems to me like chore as I slowly shoot all of 'type 1' whilst I wait for 'type 2' to spawn."

"Oh."

By missing out on Borderlands and Left 4 Dead, you're missing out on a great shooter/RPG, and a great multiplayer experience.
In fact, it's interesting that you bring up Left 4 Dead; the stories in that game are nothing to do with the narrative, and all to do with the experience you and your friends have.

Both games are pretty shallow, they have little content, that's why they need the players to make the fun.
I have had fun playing those games, but it wasn't the games themselves making the fun.

 

[tzimize]

Games can be so much.

Super Mario is not about the story.
Heavy Rain is all about the story.

To be a good game a game has to have:
Stellar gameplay OR
Stellar story

One of these is enough, everything else is just fluff. A game with bad gameplay can get away with it if the story is awesome, and it also works the other way around. The BEST is if it has both of course.

Cutscenes is just one of the ways to convey story, and I would miss them. The cutscenes in Diablo 2 (for example) is a wonder to behold and I cannot imagine a world without Tyrael breaking the Worldstone or lifting Marius and ordering him to go to down into hell.

A gameworld without storylines would be a gigantic step back and I would not wish it for the world. If a story is bad its bad, the game can still be good. If its good it adds a fantastic new layer to an already fine product (assuming it has good gameplay).

 

[brazenhead89]

Why would I want to do anything without story or cutscenes?
Just shooting things without context would be so very boring.

"Shoot these people."

"Uh, okay..."

"Wow, I've never felt this in a video game before..."

"Great, isn't it?"

"No, I mean I actually know I'm in a video game and feel no connection to any characters at all, fighting now seems to me like chore as I slowly shoot all of 'type 1' whilst I wait for 'type 2' to spawn."

"Oh."

Oh, yeah, you need context, I agree. Doom, for example, has a perfectly good explanation for zombies and demons. But it doesn't fill the game with exposition, lame plot-twists, or cutscenes, and still manages to tell a story of a man escaping a facility and fighting his way through hell and back. And let's be honest, Gears of War, though a tremendously fun game, is a similar storyline needlessly padded with action-movie cutscenes.

 

[Thaius]

Storylines in games are vital.

Games have been pointless objects of entertainment for too long. Over the last 20 years we've made huge steps in making them a viable storytelling art form: were storylines to disappear it would undo all the work that has been done to give video games true cultural value. Stories are absolutely vital to the progression of video games as a viable art form, and to their consideration as anything more important than a child's toy.

Unless it belongs to a genre defined by narrative (the only example of which I can think of is the graphic adventure genre), I beleive storylines should stay out of games; not forever, but until we have the technology or experience to combine the two seamlessly.

That is counter-intuitive. Art doesn't develop behind the scenes, then suddenly get applied. It's worked at, crafted, built up piece by piece until a medium can eventually reach the height of its potential. Star Wars wasn't the product of letting technology build up before ever even trying sci-fi: revolutionary as it was, it would not have been possible without the sci-fi that came before it, sci-fi that was simply not possible to its full potential at the time.

It's important that we play with these ideas about storytelling in games to eventually work the medium to the level you want it to be at: that level of storytelling prowess is not achieved by sitting around waiting for it to come.

What about you guys? What are your views on storylines in games, particularly in regards to how they are presented? Is there anybody here who plays games solely for the storyline? If so, why? I've always felt that doing so is missing the point of gaming entirely!

It's absolutely not. People watch movies for different reasons, read books for different reasons, play sports for different reasons. If I love The Matrix for its intense philosophical and intellectual themes and someone else loves it because of the action scenes, are either of us "missing the point entirely?" No, we just enjoy it for different reasons. It doesn't even mean we didn't enjoy the other stuff: I love the action of The Matrix as well as its thematic quality, but one of these is more important to me than the other.

Of course good gameplay is important, but I care about story more. That is not missing the point, its prioritizing a certain aspect of the art. I care about the rest, but one aspect is more important than the rest. Everyone has some sort of priorities in any form of art: gaming is no exception.

 

[Booze Zombie]

Oh, yeah, you need context, I agree. Doom, for example, has a perfectly good explanation for zombies and demons. But it doesn't fill the game with exposition, lame plot-twists, or cutscenes, and still manages to tell a story of a man escaping a facility and fighting his way through hell and back. And let's be honest, Gears of War, though a tremendously fun game, is a similar storyline needlessly padded with action-movie cutscenes.

Even if the story is lame, at least people are trying to give you some basic anwsers about the world you are temporarily living in.

Gears of War would be some incredibly insane without some explanation, that said, the Dom and Wife scene was so hilarious to me, because the only thing I could think was "they cut away from that, not to be dramatic, but because a headshot in this game results in someone's skull exploding and that would've just been comical".

 

[black orchid1]

i think games need story and cutscene(BUT NOT ALOT) for example a new game splinter cell what would that be without a story??? a sneaking simulator ....weres the fun in that lol

 

[More Fun To Compute]

I prefer cut scenes to Half-Life story telling TBH.

Give me a silly cut scene in No More Heroes over being locked in a box with people talking past me or some scenery going by any day of the week. To be fair something like Dear Esther does it much better but there is still a fair amount of frustration in not having control and being bored by the awkward pacing in that.

I do think that too many games are leaning too heavily on these story telling devices. I wouldn't complain if a lot of new games had very minimal stories. Certainly there must be room for games without long boring "character building" dialogs, half-hour cut scenes or first person perspective having things slowly explained to you while you look at the wallpaper.

Stories in games are often very childish given that they are often subservient to gameplay devices like "shooting people" or "stab/slash people." I would rather have a less childish game like Civ with none of these story telling devices than a shooting game with these story devices bolted on made by someone who thinks they are some genius story teller.

 

[sjarri]

-snip-

 

[Hamster at Dawn]

I don't think cutscenes have to be removed entirely but yeah, you don't need cutscenes to tell a story and it's better if you can avoid them. That being said, Tim Schafer's game's tend to be good because of the cutscenes since the characters are actually interesting. I would still prefer it if the story could be integrated more into the game, however.

 

[Queen Michael]

Being a Brobdingnagian fan of the Metal Gear Solid series, I'd miss them a lot.

 

[kurupt87]

Yes, completely. I wouldn't play a game that has no storyline. There has to be a point to it for me, there has to be a story.

I can't play L4D for example, I find it boring as hell and stupid. My favourite part of WoW is the early Death Knight quests and storyline. If I play a game with no story I am doing something to kill time, not for enjoyment.

 

[TheDuckbunny]

I see where you're coming from. Cutscenes are indeed kind of an odd way to tell a story in a medium which values interactivity. I wouldn't mind seeing cutscenes die out in favor of something else.

I do however think storylines are a very important thing for videogames to have. While the stories themselves might not be as good as in other media, they establish a game's characters and their settings and in this I think they're doing a great job.

 

[reg42]

Would I miss cutscenes?
Yes. They help to establish what's happening, and you have to be careful how to tell your story if you don't use cutscenes. I agree that some games have cutscene which overstay their welcome a bit[footnote]See: Metal Gear Solid 4[/footnote]

Would I miss storylines?
That's an odd question. Yes, it's one of the main reasons I keep playing games, to find out what happens next in the story.