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General discussionVideo games and stories(116 posts)(116 posts)
(116 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted September 15, 2015
I love stories. All kinds of stories. I'm so glad to live now when there are video games, which basically are stories that allow the reader to act inside it, shape it, be immersed in it. We're very lucky.

There are games out there with stories that touch me deeply. Stories that stay with me for a long time, perhaps even the rest of my life. I'm not sure if that is a good or a bad thing.

When I was s child, I remember my uncle telling me that stories are just stories. That they're supposed to be read and then forgotten. Ignored after. I remember believing him back then.

As I am older now, every time I read a story, play a great game, I feel a bit guilty for being so invested in it. The characters had become real, in a sense. Is it a bad thing?

What about you? Have you encountered stories that kept you thinking for a long time? That kept you invested? Did you like the feeling? Or was it something to be ashamed of?
Posted September 15, 2015
I'm just going to leave this here...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Utk2k8Z4bJE
Posted September 15, 2015
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HiPhish: I'm just going to leave this here...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Utk2k8Z4bJE
Well, there are people I really disagree with. This guy in this video is one of them.
Posted September 15, 2015
Like anything it's about moderation. If you spend all your waking hours thinking/fantasizing about a work of fiction, then a case could be made that it's a bad thing. News and political developments are boring and depressing as all hell, but it's important.

But anyway, I love it when games have stories I can invest myself in, and sadly it's rare that games manage to do that. The most recent game that conveyed a story that I found myself greatly invested in was Mass Effect. If the story was generic and cliched then I'm positive I would not have enjoyed it as much. Case and point the final battle sequence : I felt a sense of urgency and excitement because the game made me care about what was at stake, just like when you read a good book and a favorite character(s) is in danger.

Other games with awesome stories :
Planescape Torment, Outcast and Warcraft 3

Warcraft 3 is a bit of a strange one. On one hand I really like the story of a prince who's mad obsession with defeating a threat to his kingdom turns himself into an even greater threat to his own people. The idea is great, but it's not really conveyed as effectively I feel. I'm talking about some of the pretty cheesy ingame cutscenes. In the case of WC3 I think it's perhaps something else that comes into play as well, which books aren't that good at it. The game does an excellent job of creating an amazing world, which is fun to explore and generally just to spend time in. That's highly subjective of course : the music and art design really works for me.
Here books aren't that effective for me, perhaps because I don't have the imagination to create awesome scenery in my mind, or perhaps because I don't spend enough time trying. In any case that is why I'm glad that I saw the LotR films before I started reading the book, because it equipped me with imagery as I read the book that are far cooler than anything I could have come up with. The same goes for Blade Runner and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, though to a lesser extent.
Posted September 15, 2015
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Matewis: Like anything it's about moderation. If you spend all your waking hours thinking/fantasizing about a work of fiction, then a case could be made that it's a bad thing. News and political developments are boring and depressing as all hell, but it's important.

But anyway, I love it when games have stories I can invest myself in, and sadly it's rare that games manage to do that. The most recent game that conveyed a story that I found myself greatly invested in was Mass Effect. If the story was generic and cliched then I'm positive I would not have enjoyed it as much. Case and point the final battle sequence : I felt a sense of urgency and excitement because the game made me care about what was at stake, just like when you read a good book and a favorite character(s) is in danger.

Other games with awesome stories :
Planescape Torment, Outcast and Warcraft 3

Warcraft 3 is a bit of a strange one. On one hand I really like the story of a prince who's mad obsession with defeating a threat to his kingdom turns himself into an even greater threat to his own people. The idea is great, but it's not really conveyed as effectively I feel. I'm talking about some of the pretty cheesy ingame cutscenes. In the case of WC3 I think it's perhaps something else that comes into play as well, which books aren't that good at it. The game does an excellent job of creating an amazing world, which is fun to explore and generally just to spend time in. That's highly subjective of course : the music and art design really works for me.
Here books aren't that effective for me, perhaps because I don't have the imagination to create awesome scenery in my mind, or perhaps because I don't spend enough time trying. In any case that is why I'm glad that I saw the LotR films before I started reading the book, because it equipped me with imagery as I read the book that are far cooler than anything I could have come up with. The same goes for Blade Runner and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, though to a lesser extent.
Moderation is good, yes. Perhaps I gave the impression that I'm constantly obsessing over stories, which is not the case :D
Posted September 15, 2015
If I want to over-obsess about stories then I'll watch "The Young and the Restless".

A good story is nice in a game but when I see someone blast a title just because it has a shit story, or no story, I am flabbergasted. I guess that comes from my 80's arcade upbringing. When I was a kid, a stupid plumber trying to rescue his girlfriend from a giant ape was considered fucking Shakespeare! :P
Posted September 15, 2015
The stories in Final Fantasy 5, 7 and Xenogears were pretty powerful for me. I was a hopeless escapist, especially when it came to the RPG characters and plots from the games I played growing up. I don't think it's wrong to feel invested in them, or think about them, as long as it doesn't take over your life.
Posted September 15, 2015
I think that the best video game stories at at least in part shaped by the player. I'm not talking about some Mass Effect 3 'choose the colour of your end sequence' bullshit. But rather events that aren't entirely scripted that occur during play. Stalker is a good example of this. There are a lot of occurrences, especially in the third one with the blowouts that cannot be replicated and become a part of that one playthrough's story.

Don't get me wrong, a strong scripted story is good too. But it's the ones that were created on the fly that have stuck with me.
Posted September 15, 2015
high rated
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KneeTheCap: What about you? Have you encountered stories that kept you thinking for a long time? That kept you invested? Did you like the feeling? Or was it something to be ashamed of?
Ashamed of? That's insane. Stories are the essence of being human. Terry Pratchett once said that "we are Pan narrans, the storytelling chimpanzee". Telling stories is how we keep our history, our ideas and ideals alive. It's how those ideas form, change, evolve. Everything is a story to us. A wise (and fictional) man said "our thoughts form the universe. They always matter." Great works of fiction are the foundation of our civilisation. Whether it's Hector at the gates of Troy or Holmes at 221 b Baker Street, we eould be lost without them. They inspire us, they are everpresent in our thoughts and our language even when we don't realise it.

When I read a truly great book, or see a truly great movie it stays with me for days, weeks, sometimes years or forever. I just read Watership Down for the first time a few weaks ago, and it still haunts me. It's too important, too beatifull and smart to stop thinking about. And too true. Neil Gaiman once wrote that not all true thing have to happen. It's actually a theme behind a lot of his work, how fiction conveys the most important truths.

Never be ashemd of getting hung up on a great story. Cherish it. Learn from it. Let it it transform you.

Now, video games rarely have that kind of stories, but they are there. It happened to me once. When I was a kid and played Dune (the first one). I didn't know there was a book, or a movie. The game was my first contact with it, and with that kind of space opera in general. It blew my mind, that story, that universe, that scope and vision of impossible things. And me in the middle of it. It really was a moment when "the sleeper has awakend". A whole new universe of ideas opened before me.
Post edited September 15, 2015 by Breja
Posted September 15, 2015
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HiPhish: I'm just going to leave this here...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Utk2k8Z4bJE
Haha. I thought that Tetris thing was a joke. Guess not. I just got life-trolled.

Eh, apples and oranges. I don't mind RPG or adventure games having a good story. Cramming in 10 minute cutscenes into Command and Conquer or Doom? Not so much. Sometimes we over-think things. But it's all part of that infinite growth cycle that every human gets stuck in with development and technological advancements. Once we discovered fire it was all downhill.
Posted September 15, 2015
I don't play games for stories, but I don't mind good stories. Usually they have better characters than average human being in real life. Even villains are more morally upright.
Posted September 15, 2015
Bill Waterson, the creator of the American newspaper comic strip "Calvin and Hobbes" once wrote:

"In making comic strips, good writing will save poor illustrations always. But good illustrations will save poor writing only sometimes"


I think that same logic applies to video games and stories

Good gameplay will always save poor stories. But a good story may or may not save poor gameplay.
Posted September 15, 2015
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TheTome56: Bill Waterson, the creator of the American newspaper comic strip "Calvin and Hobbes" once wrote:

"In making comic strips, good writing will save poor illustrations always. But good illustrations will save poor writing only sometimes"

I think that same logic applies to video games and stories

Good gameplay will always save poor stories. But a good story may or may not save poor gameplay.
Actually, that's not "the same logic" rather the opposite.
Posted September 15, 2015
low rated
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HiPhish: I'm just going to leave this here...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Utk2k8Z4bJE
I watched that video and there is one point on which I disagree: Story is not important in RPGs. I prefer RPGs with very little in terms of mandatory plot and cutscenes.

An example of a non-ancient RPG that handles this well is Elminage Gothic. When you start a game, there is a bit of text (which can be effectively skipped) and you are then in town, ready to create your party. (Of course, it happens that the basic gameplay is similar to the ancient RPG Wizardry, complete with things like beheading, level draining and resurrection failure that you don't normally find in modern RPGs (well, there's beheading, just not as early or as common).)
Posted September 15, 2015
avatar
TheTome56: Bill Waterson, the creator of the American newspaper comic strip "Calvin and Hobbes" once wrote:

"In making comic strips, good writing will save poor illustrations always. But good illustrations will save poor writing only sometimes"

I think that same logic applies to video games and stories

Good gameplay will always save poor stories. But a good story may or may not save poor gameplay.
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Breja: Actually, that's not "the same logic" rather the opposite.
Well, yeah technically. I guess I did equate "writing" with "gameplay" when it would be more natural to equate "writing" with "story"

Eh, whatever. I think people will understand what I'm trying to say.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionVideo games and stories(116 posts)(116 posts)
(116 posts)