Boring game stories (also, cool stories)

I'm waist deep in The Witcher 2 these days. That game has a really good story in the sense that it has characters that are well developed and seem to genuinely inhabit their world. It's a complex weave of stories that make for a believable world, and as such it's fascinating to play the game just to let it wrap its web around you. It's delicious.

But it makes me sad too. Going through my list of Steam games, out of 173 games I count less than 20 with stories I look back at with any fondness. For a collection of mostly story-driven games, that's pretty damn shabby.

It's not that these stories aren't told well; You could argue that the primary role for a video game narrative is to be fitted well with the game mechanics so as to make for a seamless telling. It's that looked at in isolation, video game stories rarely challenge the medium. It's just not very ambitious.

They don't even stand up to the elevator pitch. Sometimes I wonder if games are greenlit based on pitches of their gameplay in a vacuum, rather than their stories. Has this changed over the years? (I'd love it if anyone in the industry would comment on this). I can imagine elevator pitches like this:

"First person shooter with RPG elements, where the player guides a unit of memorable characters through a near-future science fiction conflict. As the game progresses and comrades die, the player will receive supernatural powers from their spirits."

As a video game player I'm intrigued, but as a reader of fiction, I don't give a fuuuuuu

In terms of narrative, some of the most interesting games I have played have been RPGs and Adventure games. I think this may be because the mechanics have been designed around storytelling, rather than storytelling being worked around the mechanics. Planescape Torment for instance is the only game I will put up there alongside my favorite books when it comes to quality of narrative. The ONLY game.

I dunno guys, I'm rambling at this point. I just went through shelves of games today and I didn't see a single story I gave a shit about getting into. Even with LA Noire I was more interested in the gameplay/adventure/phoenix wright aspects than in actually being told a tale.

Ugh. Bored and old.

Let's end on a happy note; Which are your favorite game stories, and why? Why did these stories wow you so much? (Try to be objective though; The NES Battletoads story was great to me too when I was a kid.)

I'm waist deep in The Witcher 2 these days. That game has a really good story in the sense that it has characters that are well developed and seem to genuinely inhabit their world. It's a complex weave of stories that make for a believable world, and as such it's fascinating to play the game just to let it wrap its web around you. It's delicious.

But it makes me sad too. Going through my list of Steam games, out of 173 games I count less than 20 with stories I look back at with any fondness. For a collection of mostly story-driven games, that's pretty damn shabby.

It's not that these stories aren't told well; You could argue that the primary role for a video game narrative is to be fitted well with the game mechanics so as to make for a seamless telling. It's that looked at in isolation, video game stories rarely challenge the medium. It's just not very ambitious.

They don't even stand up to the elevator pitch. Sometimes I wonder if games are greenlit based on pitches of their gameplay in a vacuum, rather than their stories. Has this changed over the years? (I'd love it if anyone in the industry would comment on this). I can imagine elevator pitches like this:

"First person shooter with RPG elements, where the player guides a unit of memorable characters through a near-future science fiction conflict. As the game progresses and comrades die, the player will receive supernatural powers from their spirits."

As a video game player I'm intrigued, but as a reader of fiction, I don't give a fuuuuuu

In terms of narrative, some of the most interesting games I have played have been RPGs and Adventure games. I think this may be because the mechanics have been designed around storytelling, rather than storytelling being worked around the mechanics. Planescape Torment for instance is the only game I will put up there alongside my favorite books when it comes to quality of narrative. The ONLY game.

I dunno guys, I'm rambling at this point. I just went through shelves of games today and I didn't see a single story I gave a shit about getting into. Even with LA Noire I was more interested in the gameplay/adventure/phoenix wright aspects than in actually being told a tale.

Ugh. Bored and old.

Let's end on a happy note; Which are your favorite game stories, and why? Why did these stories wow you so much? (Try to be objective though; The NES Battletoads story was great to me too when I was a kid.)

So far Persona 3 has one of the best character driven stories I have ever seen. I never though a Jrpg could make characters just as deep and likeable as a Bioware game but they managed to do that and so much more. Not only that but the soundtrack was amazing and really set the mood, especially for the sad scenes.

Yeah the Persona games are weirdly good. When I first heard of them I had very low expectations, but they really do a great job of making you care.

It's that looked at in isolation, video game stories rarely challenge the medium. It's just not very ambitious.

Considering the fact that there have been hundreds of great video game stories, I can even name off a list of ones as well. 
 
Personally, it is gonna be hard to beat, but Bioshock is flipping amazing, no movie will ever reach it's quality, hell, it is more or less, comparable to the best of books IMO. Also, video game stories ALWAYS beat movie stories on a constant basis. Don't believe me? What has come out so far this year that even tries to tell a story in the movie industry? Exactly, now look at video games, Dragon age 2 (no fucking trolls please. it really is better than the first you blind hatewagoners.) Dead space 2, and even Portal 2 and L.A. Noire have so far beaten the living shit out of the movie industry when it comes to story quality and quantity. 
 
Even then, there is also something else to consider, the video game industry is more book like than movie like if you really think about it, video games have save points, books have book markers, video games have levels (often times called chapters and parts nowadays.) books have chapters and parts as well. Video games can be as long as they want, while books can be as long as they want. (something the movie industry will never do.) Hell, I would consider video games a far better storytelling medium than movies could ever hope to ever reach. Also considering they are hiring actual writers instead of... this... 
 
  

Portal 2 makes you care about a psychopathic robot inserted into a potato. I think thats a pretty large accomplishment.