Why I Hate Story Driven Games And You Should Too

[Denim Destroyer]

We often find ourselves judging a game by the quality of its story and how fun it is to play. Over the near fifty year history of the video game medium there has been no greater challenge than trying to create a good story in fully interactive medium. The art of story-telling requires a heavy handed and directed approach to create something excellent, a concept that is considered restricting in the video game world. Some of the games considered to be "the greatest of all time" focus more on player agency by providing players multiple options to solve a problem. Deus Ex allows players to go in guns blazing or stealthy take downs. Thief provides a diverse equipment load-out which can facilitate a ghost like method or devious assassin methods. Baldur's Gate 2 has multiple lines of quest locked behind player class which in turn radically alters gameplay. All of these games have a story but it does not restrict the gameplay. But what sets these older classics apart from modern "classics" is that they rarely, if ever, interrupt the gameplay. They do not inundate the player with cutscenes or take away control so they protagonist can perform certain actions. In fact these games do not have protagonists in the traditional sense. In classic stories the protagonist have a predetermined course of action that never changes regardless of who is experiencing the story. In the aforementioned classic games you the player is the protagonist. Despite having some in universe avatar such as JC Denton, Garret, or Charname they are nothing but a digital puppet that you control the strings of. Story driven games have the main character controlled by a director not you.

 

[JamesDixon]

Almost all of the games going back to the originals in the 1960s told a story. What mattered was the focus the story had in the game world itself. By declaring story is dumb and you should hate then you would think Pong is such an immersive experience. It lacks a story.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

man this tldr tool is cool

The art of story-telling requires a heavy handed and directed approach to create something excellent. Some of the games considered to be "the greatest of all time" focus more on player agency by providing players multiple options to solve a problem. In classic stories the protagonist have a predetermined course of action that never changes regardless of who is experiencing the story.

 

[Arryosha]

There's nothing wrong with story driven games in themselves. Some are great. I just hate that their rise in popularity has led to fewer player agency focused games.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

Thief in particular should be praised for how well it puts the player into the shoes of Garrett. His somewhat amoral attitude (sometimes even referred to as Neutral Evil) means that whether you're killing everyone or playing a pacifist, it fits the character. Garrett's in-game quips always enhance the experience and never break immersion, whether they're providing some guidance to the player or are merely for flavor. The only time Garrett's commentary went against my intentions as a player is in Life of the Party, when he says "No need for alarm, ladies... I'm just passing through", because I smashed those women on the back of their heads as he was saying it. But that was really my fault.

His position as a master thief may seem to contradict certain players' gameplay. After all, Garrett is said to be "rarely seen, never caught", but you could easily bumble through all of the levels running into everyone like an asshole. But in this case, the character and the story encourage the player to play the game in the most fun and efficient manner. You want to "roleplay" as Garrett, so you want to sneak past enemies with skill and grace, which will also reward the player with an easier time (and is necessary on higher difficulties). He's a perfect character for encouraging the use of the game's mechanics.
Other characters that I can give similar praise are Sonic the Hedgehog and Dante from DMC. These characters sway the players into playing the games in a way that fits their protagonists - in Sonic, you want to go through levels as fast and stylish as you can without getting hit, and in DMC you want to pull off cheeky combos and taunt your enemies to rack up the style meter; both characters' personalities work perfectly for their respective games. These two examples also use ranking systems to further cement the point, but Thief thankfully avoids this particular convention because ranking systems are always dogshit in stealth games.

 

[kites]

I feel like there’s some harsher feedback within myself lately, concerning how much credit those ancient games are due being from my imagination - And as time goes on I see that’s why I prefer those older games from simpler times

Also, in some cases the levels of abstraction artists could use lended itself to more complex systems (whether thru text or image, now every thing wants to be a full-length movie, hold this button..)

 

[mondblut]

Almost all of the games going back to the originals in the 1960s told a story.

"Demons took over the station. Kill them"
"Evil wizard stole a magic amulet and keeps it on the lowest floor of the dungeon. Retrieve it"

If that's "telling a story", I guess most porn is telling stories, too.

The only right kind of story is flavor shit that doesn't affect gameplay in any way. I'll take Deidranna abusing Elliot over self-aggrandizing PST storywankery any day.

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

Your definition of "story-driven" is pretty narrow. Thief had a very strong story in both games. And it absolutely altered gameplay, since the levels revolved around it.

I would say that simulationist games aren't story-driven. Civilization, for example. But Bauldur's Gate etc. definitely are. And there were plenty of cutscenes in BG2 that took control from the player.

You're basically talking about cinematic games and linear RPGs. Games that usually have a lot of cutscenes, forced encounters, and drive the player from point to point, down one or more preset paths.

Non-linear, openworld, gameplay-focused or simulationist games have a lot less of this by nature, but they can still be story-driven - though simulation games less so, unless you count random events like in Stellaris.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

Thief had a very strong story in both games. And it absolutely altered gameplay, since the levels revolved around it.

And the story did nothing but improve the game. Some people dislike The Maw of Chaos for being linear and simplistic, but I loved it for mixing up the experience and allowing me to directly experience and interact with such a climactic part of the story. Even a part of a game that's weak mechanically can be awesome because of the story context. But I also liked the Body of the Many from System Shock 2 and Xen from Half-Life for the same reasons, so most people would probably disagree.

 

[Pound Meat]

Story sucks. It ruined games, it ruined comics, it's ruining all entertainment, but especially games. Reason one: writers today are low IQ retards who think Marvel capeshit is the height of human achievement.

Reason two: games don't need deep story. Why in in the world does the latest God of War need 45 minutes to introduce everything? Just tell us who wronged Kratos and let us start killing. If your game has more cinematics than gameplay then it's just an interactive movie.

Also why is a Spartan voiced by a black guy? Isn't that against Clown World rules?

 

[JamesDixon]

Almost all of the games going back to the originals in the 1960s told a story.

"Demons took over the station. Kill them"
"Evil wizard stole a magic amulet and keeps it on the lowest floor of the dungeon. Retrieve it"

If that's "telling a story", I guess most porn is telling stories, too.

The only right kind of story is flavor shit that doesn't affect gameplay in any way. I'll take Deidranna abusing Elliot over self-aggrandizing PST storywankery any day.

You confuse having a story with having a good story. There is a big difference.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

Reason two: games don't need deep story. Why in in the world does the latest God of War need 45 minutes to introduce everything? Just tell us who wronged Kratos and let us start killing. If your game has more cinematics than gameplay then it's just an interactive movie.

Gameplay versus deep story is a false dichotomy. Story =/ cutscenes.

 

[JamesDixon]

Reason two: games don't need deep story. Why in in the world does the latest God of War need 45 minutes to introduce everything? Just tell us who wronged Kratos and let us start killing. If your game has more cinematics than gameplay then it's just an interactive movie.

Gameplay versus deep story is a false dichotomy. Story =/ cutscenes.

I don't recall Donkey Kong the original arcade ever having cut scenes... This is the problem with Millennial and Gen Z moronic gamers is that they ignore the first few generations of games where there was a strict limitation in terms of hardware and how to tell a story. Every single game prior to 2000 told a story and did so using a variety of methods from journal books of SSI Gold Box to the feelies you got in the Infocom games.

 

[Falksi]

I love it when I see cunts review games like Hellfire and Afterburner 2 and complain about story or game length

 

[JamesDixon]

I love it when I see cunts review games like Hellfire and Afterburner 2 and complain about story or game length

You mean these stories for Hellfire and Afterburner 2?

Hellfire: The story takes place in 2998, where humankind has reached a great point in intergalactic travel and space colonization with the help of a peaceful society, however a mysterious space matter known as Black Nebula appeared and begins engulfing different stars before reaching latest colonized galaxy by humans. It is eventually revealed that the force behind this matter is Super Mech, a mysterious robot dictator from the farthest regions of space with the only intention to destroy any resistance that it and its massive space armada faces. A Space Federation member, Captain Lancer, decides to initiate a surprise attack against Super Mech by piloting the only available space fighter craft, the CNCS1, loaded with Hellfire, the strongest weapon available in the galaxy. In the arcade and Genesis versions, Lancer returns safely to Earth after having defeated the Black Nebula, while the PC Engine Super CD-ROM² version features a more poignant ending where the character Kaoru takes her own life in a heroic act of self-sacrifice in order to save the Earth.

Afterburner II: The game actually has a deliberately ridiculous secret spoof "plot" of sorts about a greasy bearded nerd called "Match" abducting one "Princess Lucy". This is told via broken English messages that can be revealed by entering certain combinations of commands during the between-level weapon replenishment intermissions. It seems these were originally detailed in issue 16 of Gamest magazine from January 1988, but were also printed in an official booklet that came with the year 2000 reissue of the Sega Game Music Vol.3: After Burner Soundtrack CD.

The messages can be triggered by pressing the correct combination of inputs during the start of the requisite replenishment cutscene. If done correctly, the little plane seen during high score entry flies across the screen leaving a message behind it.

 

[Morenatsu.]

story =/= narrative

 

[agentorange]

Title of the thread is "Why I Hate Story Driven Games" and then you proceed to list off a bunch of great story driven games. Stop making click bait titles, this isn't youtube.

The problem isn't whether a game is "story driven," it's whether or not the game is approaching its story in a way that makes the best use of the medium of video games (non-linearity, exploration, player skill, multi-media possibilities, etc). Modern "cinematic" games are shit because instead of telling a story in the way that only a video game can, they try to emulate live action movies, so they hamstring everything that makes video games distinct as a medium while trying to emulate a medium that they can never compare to (not in the sense that movies are better than games, but that a game can't be a better movie than a movie).

 

[Pound Meat]

 

[Ereshkigal]

Should I remind you Planescape: Torment was voted best CRPG of all time here?

 

[Denim Destroyer]

I should clarify that I consider "story driven games" to be games where the narrative takes precedence of player freedom. I have nothing against stories in games but I do strongly dislike games where the developer cares more about telling a story than fun game play. Also I do apologize for the click-bait title but I could not think of anything more succinct.

 

[Dickie]

Why in in the world does the latest God of War need 45 minutes to introduce everything? Just tell us who wronged Kratos and let us start killing.

Now I'm imagining God of War with the Double Dragon intro.

 

[JamesDixon]

Why in in the world does the latest God of War need 45 minutes to introduce everything? Just tell us who wronged Kratos and let us start killing.

Now I'm imagining God of War with the Double Dragon intro.

God that intro sucked ass. The arcade was a lot better.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

A good story improves a game, goes without saying. Sometimes the story can be told in four seconds, sometimes it takes a little more. Sometimes it isn't even needed at all.

The trick is how forcibly it's told. A loosely-told story gives players plenty of room to fill in the gaps of the story on their own via gameplay. Sometimes the player even has room to adjust the story slightly. But if the gameplay and game design have to take a step back so that the story can be told, and only told in that one precise manner as demanded, then you're gonna run into problems.

I started noticing the forced aspects of storytelling around 2010 or so, and it's only gotten worse since. Games that let the players run around doing whatever they want, picking what gear they used and what attitudes to use in conversation. But then the endboss fight came along and the player character changes clothes for no reason, and spouts pre-determined lines that don't add up to the player's decisions... but worst of all are the games where the player loses control and is forced to watch what is, for all sakes and purposes, an unskippable cutscene. It's a game, let the player have control right up until the end.

The industry being taken over by insane weaklings isn't helping either.

 

[Ravielsk]

Story driven games have the main character controlled by a director not you.

You are conflating two separate things here. The problem you are describing is simply the modern design trend of making games like movies because of their consumerist appeal. It has nothing to do with the concept of a "story driven games". That is just a marketing term publishers use to cover up the fact they are selling a (poorly made) movie interspersed with some bottom of the barrel gameplay sections.

 

[octavius]

Thief in particular should be praised for how well it puts the player into the shoes of Garrett. His somewhat amoral attitude (sometimes even referred to as Neutral Evil) means that whether you're killing everyone or playing a pacifist, it fits the character. Garrett's in-game quips always enhance the experience and never break immersion, whether they're providing some guidance to the player or are merely for flavor. The only time Garrett's commentary went against my intentions as a player is in Life of the Party, when he says "No need for alarm, ladies... I'm just passing through", because I smashed those women on the back of their heads as he was saying it. But that was really my fault.

His position as a master thief may seem to contradict certain players' gameplay. After all, Garrett is said to be "rarely seen, never caught", but you could easily bumble through all of the levels running into everyone like an asshole. But in this case, the character and the story encourage the player to play the game in the most fun and efficient manner. You want to "roleplay" as Garrett, so you want to sneak past enemies with skill and grace, which will also reward the player with an easier time (and is necessary on higher difficulties). He's a perfect character for encouraging the use of the game's mechanics.

Hmm...never thought about this before, but Thief is a game that encourages playing your character in a certain manner, that you could call role playing, and is thus more of a role playing game than too many CRPGs that encourage/force you to "play the story".