Interesting article by gamespot about the potential of storytelling within video game

[Slothy]

And as we all know, kids are stupid and need everything spelled out for them.

He means kids that aren't you Kentarou. You're smart because video games has made it so. It's these young kids that have grown up with explosions n' without any substance that are stupid.

Actually I think he was being sarcastic. Personally, I think a lot of developers don't give kids enough credit for being smarter than they think they are.

As corny as this will sound I think, for the most part, that the likes of Final Fantasy are the only games that really mastered story telling in the sense that you actually begin to feel for the characters.
FPS's and the like (such as Bioshock and GTA mentioned), to me, are almost devoid of story due to the game to constantly need to get the player shooting things and blowing things up, rather than creating a character to warm to.

I'm not totally sure where to start with how wrong I think that statement is. Some of the best story telling I've seen in years, along with some of the best characters have been in FPS and action games.

The Half-Life series is an excellent example. The story portions are in game and not overly long (usually representing a small break in the action which is as important to pacing as actually doing something), but the characters and dialogue are great and since the move to the Source engine with it's incredible facial animation, I found it far easier to connect to the characters than in other games. There was suddenly a much more believable quality to them as their expressions displayed their emotions and feelings accurately making them much more relatable.

Portal is another example of a well told story. It's a simple and straight forward one, but the voice of GlaDOS really sells you on the whole thing, and helps to set the proper tone for every bit of gameplay that takes place in the game. From making you feel like a lab rat to running for your life, she sets the mood as much as the level design and pacing, and is absolutely hilarious to boot.

I'll also mention the Uncharted games because frankly, I don't think I've ever seen the everyman character in way over his head done as well in gaming as with Nathan Drake, and his supporting cast are every bit as likable and relatable. I'll have to give credit to Naughty Dog though for not treating the voice acting like it's an after thought as many developers do though.