Hunter5024

I think the concept sounds really cool. It appeals to my insomnia. Good luck

My old collection of Yugioh cards.

From the videos I've seen of 3ds previews, the ladies that were tethered to the units were almost all very helpful and obviously trained in the games being demoed to highlight the points that nintendos PR wanted them too. So that example was poor. Also I dont really think it's fair to blame the ESA for allowing this, get mad at the companies who are using the booth babes not them. Personally I dont think they should regulate, but thats just me.

Rubiks cubes literally give me nightmares, and I'm not kidding. I am just going to forget I saw these rather than risk being scared of them all day.

I think this notion among the bomb squad that everyones just going to ignore these consoles once the next one comes out is really kind of misinformed. Maybe it's because they're locked into buying it either way being part of the industry, but typically generational shifts take a year or two to fully occur. Look at all of the amazing ps2 games that came out post ps3 like God of War 2, and Persona's 3 and 4. Maybe this time it will be different with the way this generation has dragged on, but I'd be willing to bet that the 360 and ps3 still have another couple of years of solid games.

Lets say Persona 3, Chrono Trigger, and Ocarina of Time.

I feel like the shape of the graph means something... but it's beyond me.

@believer258 said:

@Hunter5024 said:

@believer258: I'm not misunderstanding what you're saying, I just disagree. I think the best video game stories, are certainly on par with the best stories in other mediums, and the games I listed are my examples of video game stories which I hold in as high a regard as my favorite books and movies. Even games that are deliberately ripping off movies often do a better job of it. Look at Metal Gear Solid, which consistently told stories in a very similar style to James Bond, which were actually better than all of the crappy Brosnan movies that were coming out at the same time, and Uncharted is the best action adventure story to come out since Indiana Jones.

I'm going to have to respectfully and strongly disagree.

I can hardly comment on the quality of Metal Gear Solid's story, but from what I've seen it's way overwritten, especially in terms of dialogue and exposition. Uncharted's dialogue is probably the best in the industry (behind Portal 2) but I'd hardly call it up to par with Indiana Jones in terms of story and characters (especially since Uncharted's characters are pretty much just well-written and well-explored archetypes).

But then I liked the Brosnan Bond movies. Sue me.

Your analysis of MGS's story is pretty much spot on, which is why I didn't include it in my earlier list, but I thought the 90s bond movies were campy and nonsensical enough that it was still better. So I guess there's just no way we can find common ground on that point.

When talking about Uncharted you refer to the characters as simple archetypes, but that's all Indiana Jones is, he's a well written character who is actually just an amalgamation and send up of a ton of classic pulp adventure characters from the 40s that Spielberg and Lucas grew up watching, and those characters came out of pulp adventure novels, and those characters came out of oral stories, and so on and so forth. So to criticize the Uncharted characters for being repurposed archetypes doesn't really make sense considering Indiana Jones is the same thing. I'm not saying Uncharted is better than Indiana Jones, but I think it's telling that in the 30 years of cinema since Raiders came out, despite countless attempts, none of them were able to do as good of a job or come anywhere near as close to recapturing the same magic of those classic adventure stories as Uncharted did.

Were just arguing over the details at this point though. All I'm trying to say is that the earlier games I listed have stories that have every right to stand up along favorite stories from any other medium. Trying to compare something like Portal 2 or Shadow of The Colossus to Citizen Kane accomplishes nothing, because theres no objective reason why any of these stories is better than the other. It all comes down to taste, maybe your taste is just skewed towards movies stories, and mine towards games stories.

@Metzo_Paino: I agree with your point that most stories are just there to give meaning to the mechanics and atmosphere, but I don't see the problem with this. Atmosphere is just as important in movies and books as it is to games, just look at the Lord of The Rings novels, that whole story is about the setting and 80% of the prose is dedicated to describing it. Mechanics are even part of the story as well, you can tell a story through gameplay. Haven't you ever heard someone tell you about this crazy kill they got or this epic race or fight they had in some shooting/racing/fighting game? That's a story delivered through mechanics, and it is these kinds of stories which only games can provide. I just feel like all of the comparisons to movies and books hold them back. They need to evolve their own voice distinct from media. Maybe they aren't subtle, but that's hard to do when you have a player who can poke into every crevice of your world as he see's fit.

@believer258: I'm not misunderstanding what you're saying, I just disagree. I think the best video game stories, are certainly on par with the best stories in other mediums, and the games I listed are my examples of video game stories which I hold in as high a regard as my favorite books and movies. Even games that are deliberately ripping off movies often do a better job of it. Look at Metal Gear Solid, which consistently told stories in a very similar style to James Bond, which were actually better than all of the crappy Brosnan movies that were coming out at the same time, and Uncharted is the best action adventure story to come out since Indiana Jones.

@Metzo_Paino: @believer258: Shadow of The Collossus, Bioshock, Bastion, Portal, Braid, Persona 3, Final Fantasy 6, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Red Dead Redemption, and Heavenly Sword off the top of my head. People should stop listing Mass Effect as the end all story based game, because it simply is not. There are some great movies and books, but they've had a lot longer to perfect their art. Games have come a long way in a short time and we shouldn't discourage their stories because of the Call of Duties of the world.