Games need a good plot, not a great one...

Found this fun little article and thought I would share.

So what are your thoughts? Does a game need a great story to make it great or does it simply need a passing one with great gameplay to keep you glued to it?

Depends on the genre!

Games don't need to be Citizen Kane with their story to be good, but I disagree with the writer that games can't tell truly compelling stories that are memorable. When I think about games like Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy VI I find their arguments falls flat on their face. And these were games that came out years ago.

Ugh... I'm always annoyed by such articles. People always babbling on about "what games should really be", which seriously clashes with my postmodernist views. There's a place for brainless fun, there's a place for incredible stories. The guy's complaining about the lack of memorable lines from AssCreed and stuff. While I haven't played the game, I can say 1) memorable lines do not indicate good writing or story and 2) maybe you're barking up the wrong tree if you're looking for great, memorable stories? Persona 3, Xenogears and many other games really touch on ambitious themes and would make good novels/movies. It's still all pretty pop-culturey, but then again so is the need for a compelling story in a game.

tl;dr - I'm with Pumpkin on this one. I want amazing stories out of story-driven RPGs, I don't need it for dungeon crawlers, puzzle games, etc.

I agree with Fynn and Pumpkin. I don't need my version of Tetris to have an epic story involving a poor farmer boy who wields the mythic L-shaped cubed sword of might to strike down the evil upright orange block to save the... I'm not really sure where I'm going with this.

As long as a game is enjoyable, who cares if it's "good" or "bad". Like, I really love FFX-2, but it's a pretty bad game. But I have a lot of fun with it!

Depends how much time the game spends on telling me the story. If it's like Crash Bandicoot and spends 30 seconds telling me a story then it doesn't need to be an epic saga. If it's a Final Fantasy or Metal Gear Solid that's going to throw 30+ minute cutscenes at me on a regular basis, the story better be smurfing stellar.

I agree with the article's premise that games are largely functional and as such, most do not need great stories to succeed.

I also agree that most game stories would not survive critical scrutiny. I'd be the first to admit that many of my favorite JRPGs do not have cohesive or structured narratives.

I feel like a broken record because I say this a lot but I don't place huge emphasis on stories in games; 95% of the time I'm there for the gameplay. Occasionally I'm there for lore (which I consider to be different from story) but ultimately I'm "That Person" who skips the cutscenes. :shobon:

To be more specific now that I'm not Vita typing, I like story a lot when it comes to RPG's. Like Xenosaga's billions of hours of cutscenes never bothered me once. Heck sometimes the gameplay is just there to get through so I can get back to the story. With that said, an RPG doesn't need to have an epic story or just a good story. I like some of my games to be lighthearted and silly. They don't all need to be super deep and philosophical and make me question life. Sometimes I just want a game to make me laugh or chuckle or smile. But I do also like games with epic plots. Games that make me think about things I haven't before, that make me look at other stories in a different light, that throw plot twists at me and keep me on my toes. I enjoy all kinds of stories is what I'm saying!

On the otherhand, I love the Tekken series and I give no poops about it's story. I just don't. Some of the ending movies are funny and I have a chuckle, but no way am I keeping up with the whole thing. It's a fighting game, I play it to beat people up. I love Style Savvy and I certainly am not playing that for the story. I run a boutique, that's all the story I need, I just want to dress people up.

So that's what I meant by it depends on the genre. It also depends on the game I suppose! The only issue I have is when I go in expecting and wanting a deep story and I get something shallow and uninteresting. I'm fine with playing shallow stories, but don't make it seem super deep when it isn't!

I think a great story can be a tremendous strength, but more often - as Pike says - it's lore and setting than story as such which makes the difference. Combine them though and whoa

http://i.imgur.com/ImmFxRy.gif