video game stories

How good do you think stories in video games actually are. I read a little interview that some developers who are in charge of creating video game storylines did with gamespot some time ago. And they said in general 99% of stories in video games are terrible. And it is only through the players imagination that they actually become decent.

So do you think most all video game storylines are terrible as well. If you take away all the rumors or knowledge that you have come up with about the storylines through the message boards and just base your opinions on it solely through the actual game. How deep or shallow do you think the games actually are. Is the fact that there is so many debates and what not about the final fantasy stories on these boards an indication of not how good the story actually was. But infact how weak the story was.

The only story that I can think of that could come close in the video game industry to actually rival a novel in terms of depth would probably be xenogears. And even that would probably be a stretch.

So how good do you think stories in video games actually are.

Guilty Gear X2 #Reload=best storyline of any video game. And don't give me any bull[img]/xxx.gif[/img][img]/xxx.gif[/img][img]/xxx.gif[/img][img]/xxx.gif[/img] about how it CAN'T have one because it's a fighting game.

Most video game stories are on par with movies... most are entertaining enough to keep you interested enough to keep playing. But that's alright because the point of a game is to play it... and story isn't really that important. But once in a while, there'll be a story that'll be good enough to hook you in even if the gameplay isn't that great.

The GG story doesn't count because they don't really explain it in the game... you have to look that crap up yourself... sorry. Haha. :tongue:

Not if you play GGX2's story mode.

Half-life, but, at least for me, BatChao's thing on GGX is the same. I had no clue what is was supposed to be until I looked it up, but when I did, it was really cool. VC said that Blue Shift and Opposing Force go to explain a lot more, so y'know.

actually I think it is difficult to compare video game stories to stories in movies. Because games have about 20-30 times longer to wield their story than movies do.

And to be honest I think story writers who work on movies are quite abit more talented than the ones who work on games are. Evidence of this would be of how bad of job square did in trying to create a storyline for just an hour and a half long movie like they tried to do for The Spirits Within.

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And to be honest I think story writers who work on movies are quite abit more talented than the ones who work on games are.

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Hardly true. They are simply two different mediums and are thus executed in different ways. You can be an awesome game story writer and be a piss-poor movie story writer, or vice-versa, simply because the two mediums are so inherently different. Take me for example, I'm great at writing stories, but my screenplay writing ability isn't up to snuff. That doesn't mean you can't learn other styles, but the fact that they're different makes it hard for a person who specializes in one field to adapt.

And frankly, I think it varies. There are a lot of cliches in both movies and video games, simply because so much has already been done that something truly unique is difficult to accomplish. Of the games that have impressed me, story-wise, Final Fantasy is generally fairly good at delivering a good story (some better than others), Xenogears was the best I've ever seen, Zone of the Enders (2 moreso than 1) was quite good for its length, Xenosaga is pretty good for as far as I've played (we'll see how it turns out once all 6 have been released), and the Shin Megami Tensei storylines are intriguing, if not incredibly depressing.

Most video game stories have plotholes in them that requires the use of your imagination to fill in the gaps, but it's still the storytelling that I love.

are the plotholes purposely put there or do you think the plotholes are a sign of how weak the writing actually is?

it's things like these that we have FanFiction. Bad loophole in storyline? Explain it yourself and stop asking the developers! They're working on the prequal.

I've never really thought about it. I've always presumed that games like Final Fantasy VII, IX and X have great storylines, but to the casual public audience, they're probably not that interesting at all.

At least storylines in games have improved somewhat since the days of Pong. Can you imagine having a storyline in that one? Lies, deceit and treachery as paddle 1 bribes paddle 2 to step aside and let the ball into the ... goal thingy, thus causing player 2 to collapse in a hissy fit of uncontrollable anger!

No. It just wouldn't work.

yeah I think the only storyline in a game that the general public would find all that good would be the xenogears story. And I am sure many people who are real novel reading avids would find even the xenogears story as being pure garbage.


And I wouldn't pay a whole lot of attention to all that fan fiction stuff. Some of those guys take there work just a weeeeeeee bit to seriously. I don't know. Writing stories over worlds and characters that I did not create and making those stories I write my life's passion seems a little sad.

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Originally Posted by darkchrono

actually I think it is difficult to compare video game stories to stories in movies. Because games have about 20-30 times longer to wield their story than movies do.

And to be honest I think story writers who work on movies are quite abit more talented than the ones who work on games are. Evidence of this would be of how bad of job square did in trying to create a storyline for just an hour and a half long movie like they tried to do for The Spirits Within.

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I actually don't agree with any of this. :) Movie writers can be just as terrible, even more so than writers for video games. Gigli, How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, Adam's Sandler's past couple movies---ugh. Of course, I could do the same thing with video game storylines. Shadow Hearts, The Legend of Dragoon, blah blah.

Right now, I'm enjoying video game storylines a LOT more than I'm enjoying any movies that are currently out, or just were out. Like you said, games have loads of more time to convey their ideas, and present their story; I get much more attatched to the characters in my games than I do in a movie.

Hey, I loved The Spirits Within, but I'm well aware that I'm a part of the minority. It's all about opinion, and I don't agree with this article you read. I think video game storylines really are good; they can definitley live up to the books that I read. But this is noly what I think.


:D

What's a plothole?

a part of the story that the game leaves blank or doesn't explain.


Also DMKA I would take off that picture you got on there as it is kind of a spoiler to those who havn't finished or played the game yet.