Video Game Stories, A Discussion.

[Iceman]

I love high quality cut scenes but they should always be skippable for those with no interest.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

I love high quality cut scenes but they should always be skippable for those with no interest.

Exactly

 

[Matt Mortem]

Unskippable cutscenes are of the devil! I remember playing a Crash Bandicoot game for Xbox and there was a part where I died a lot and right after the checkpoint was a long, unskippable cutscene. I watch the same 5 minute cutscene at least 10 times. That is unforgivable.

 

[Iceman]

Just thinking for this discussion where The Walking Dead fits in as the gameplay on that is terrible (just think how bad it would be if the story had been **** too!). Gameplay can't be the be all and end all in every circumstance when a game like that can be so popular and highly rated.

Unskippable cutscenes are of the devil! I remember playing a Crash Bandicoot game for Xbox and there was a part where I died a lot and right after the checkpoint was a long, unskippable cutscene. I watch the same 5 minute cutscene at least 10 times. That is unforgivable.

That's really terrible checkpoint design. Very unprofessional actually. I've always said good checkpoints can make a super difficult game fun even if you have to repeat the same section 400 times and bad checkpoints can turn even the best game into a negative experience.

 

[Soapy]

On the latest Bombcast Brad was talking about how unfortunate it is that most game stories have to be some sweeping epic where you're the "chosen one" and everything hangs in the balance. I totally agree. A friend and I talk about this often, and I would really love it if game writers didn't feel compelled to ratchet up the peril to ridiculous levels.

I think about Dragon Age and how Logain's betrayal and coup d'état are way more interesting than whatever the rest of that game was about. That really should have been the main plot thread. I think that's true for a lot of other games too. Pick any of the major subplots in Mass Effect and I think they're significantly more interesting than the return of the Reapers. Similarly, I think Skyrim would have been way better if the focus was entirely on the civil war and they went really in depth with it.

All I'm saying is that game writers should try and keep it simple sometimes.

You know what game had a good story? Double Dragon. A bunch of thugs beat up your girlfriend and you have to save her. Boom. Done.

 

[Iceman]

Yeah, we've had enough end of the world scenarios in films, books & games now

 

[Matt Mortem]

I was discussing in my Creative Writing class the fact that every fantasy story somehow has the main character doing a task that will in some way have huge effects on the entire world and that's become pretty true of video games. Even stuff like COD has you trying to stop someone from destroying the world in some way. Scale the story back, make it more intimate and, IMO, a tad more enjoyable.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Yeah, we've had enough end of the world scenarios in films, books & games now

As long as JRPGs last, this scenario will stay in games