What can be done to improve VG stories?

[Melf]

Deus Ex has a really deep and interesting story.

I mean, yea it does a lot of what has been done before, but its well-paced and has great characters. And terrific writing. And it doesn't try to start talking about the nature of Odin and how the church is corrupt and how the girl in your party had a house that was burned down by the evil villain and she had to watch while her mom was in it and how that ties into your quest to capture the MacGuffin so you can restore the delicate balance of the Earth.

I picked this up for the PS2 for a cool $5 the other day, based on what I read in your thread, and I must say that I'm enjoying it greatly. The story is incredibly deep, and I like how one's choices and actions actually change its outcome. The main character is a bit too monotone, for my tastes, but it's a great game overall.

Shit storytelling in games is a worldwide problem. Atleast the Japanese try.

Bleh, I'm so sick of the world being rescued by teenagers with amnesia. I agree that real writers should handle the stories though.

[avatar]

I'll rather take a story then no story or a story that only there to explain why your killing marines/terroists/aliens/etc...

[Fe 26]

I agree that real writers should handle the stories though.

bleh, that won't fix anything. Which real writers? The ones who write those garbage fantasy books that all rip off the same two guys? People who write romance novels? VCR instructions? Newsweek?

There are plenty of "real writers" I don't want anywhere near my games.

Deus Ex has a really deep and interesting story.

I mean, yea it does a lot of what has been done before, but its well-paced and has great characters. And terrific writing. And it doesn't try to start talking about the nature of Odin and how the church is corrupt and how the girl in your party had a house that was burned down by the evil villain and she had to watch while her mom was in it and how that ties into your quest to capture the MacGuffin so you can restore the delicate balance of the Earth.

just talking out my butt here, but maybe you don't like those themes, and there is little to be done to make you enjoy them. Perhaps?

[Videodrone]

You can hate Advent Rising all you want but the potential of a good story was actually in that game.

Please tell me this is true. I remember hearing the same about Indigo Prophecy and that story was nothing but a shitty ass rehash of the Matrix (which really isn't that good anyway).

[Tommy Tallarico]

It's not that you have to improve stories, it's that you have to improve how the player receives the story. Video game stories aren't that much more cliche or fucking dumb than movies or novels.

Hardly anyone in World of Warcraft knows what the fuck is going on or why they have to do what they do in the game, but they do it, and 7 million players are doing it for stupid amounts of hours everyday. You show a player an incredible item upgrade, you show them how to get it, and they'll do it. They don't give a fuck if Richard K. Vaelestrasz is guarding the item or why, but they can read quest logs and game context if they really care to know.

This is what a lot of games don't understand. Players generally don't give a fuck about the story. We didn't need one to like Mario or Street Fighter and want to beat it. Put in a simple backstory and make it completely optional to the player whether or not they want to know the story. Give the player an objective and a simple reason to want to do the objective, and they'll do it.

Aeris dying didn't make anyone want to continue the game to kill the bad guy as much as just levelling your character up to ridiculous numbers, seeing the world and the addiction that goes with that.

[Melf]

I'll rather take a story then no story or a story that only there to explain why your killing marines/terroists/aliens/etc...

The stories in most Japanese games are no less generic than those in most American games. Like it was mentioned earlier, the problem is regionless.

bleh, that won't fix anything. Which real writers? The ones who write those garbage fantasy books that all rip off the same two guys? People who write romance novels? VCR instructions? Newsweek?

I'd assume that you'd have to develop the position, just like every other one involved in games. Just as the industry doesn't get its artists from fan art contests, I'd assume they wouldn't use people who write VCR instructions to pen RPGs.

[Fe 26]

who plays rpgs to level?

thats gay.

The stories in most Japanese games are no less generic than those in most American games. Like it was mentioned earlier, the problem is regionless.

no one really cares. You people need to learn to take a joke.

[NeoZeedeater]

Deus Ex has a really deep and interesting story.

This is the perfect example because it's one of the very few games that actually had a lot of research and time put into its writing. Most publishers probably think this area is a waste of money and so all the budget goes to other aspects.

If you have quality writers and publishers let them do their vision(like Tornquist and the Longest Journey series) then you end up with good video game stories. I think it's that simple.

[avatar]

Please tell me this is true. I remember hearing the same about Indigo Prophecy and that story was nothing but a shitty ass rehash of the Matrix (which really isn't that good anyway).

Yeah the story was solid. Solid. DOn't go in expecting a revealtion but overal the story was the finest part of the game. Some parts really felt epic.

[Videodrone]

lets say a game did have a really deep and interesting story....and it took forever to play through because of this. would you still want to spend/waste your time playing it? + what kind of games do you think need better stories, rpg's? or do you think action games and shooters could use better stories?

I don't think a game has to be of excess length (to the point one would consider the time spend being a waste) to have a deep and interesting story. Games like the MGS series and Killer 7 do a fine job telling deep and interesting stories and do not become overly extensive (8-15 hours).