This is a great write-up. I'm pretty okay with the way stories in games are told - it's more the stories themselves that I want to evolve. We've seen huge leaps and strides this generation in great stories (and great ways that they're told), so I'm super stoked to see where games go in the future.
Also? Even though I wasn't a huge fan of Far Cry 1 and never played 2, I'm sort of stoked to see how 3 turns out. And Borderlands 2 is almost assuredly a day 1 purchase for me, perhaps the first of the year.
This was a great fucking read. I've been growing to hate story because of how it replaces gameplay and allows developers like Bioware to get away with shitty gameplay just because they made us care about fictional characters, but the ending paragraphs in your post reminded me that no, I don't hate story, I love it, I just hate the fact that developers aren't doing anything to implement it more in the gameplay.
You're absolutely right in what you said. The reason Crysis and Max Payne blow any other shooter out of the water for me is because while I played, I felt the story progressing with my actions. I didn't shoot dudes waiting for a cutscene to move me forward, I moved forward and somehow felt like I created the story.....
Wait, what the hell am I saying? This whole story/gameplay debate has been munching away at my mind for too long, the words are losing their meanings to me, I can't figure out what I want or what I like anymore :/
I've always felt like the main problems with games is a lack of deliberateness and perspective. If you're trying to make a game then make one. I think people understand well enough how to do this. But if you're trying to tell a story, then put the story first and make sure that the gameplay elicits and embodies the tone and meaning of that story. If that means making a first person shooter, fine (obviously for some stories, that works best), but don't just make it a competetive death-match against AI with cutscenes in the middle. I wish more people took a step back and though about what kind of experience they wanted their game to be before making it (but then again, I understand how that's not how the money works).
Far Cry 3's trailer at last year's E3 had gameplay in it, and some other gameplay has been shown at other places.
Meanwhile, I agree with Jaffe's stance on story.
And if Far Cry 3 just turns out to be another shooter, I will be happy. Unlike many, I seem to never tire of shooting dudes for long. I can get a little oversaturated, but a week's break and I'm back to playing FPS games.
@yeah_write: I've though about what that type of game would look like and I really don't know. I guess there's a lot of routes you could take, but it's hard to tell what would be interesting and what would just be annoying/boring. You could remove most of the control from the player to let you focus on only certain inputs and give yourself strict control on what was going on. That would, at very least, let you make something that consistently flowed well. But then you always run the risk of just making a quick time event collection, and no one wants that. It's a really tough problem, and I'm definitely not creative or smart enough to solve it. I just think that games offer a really unique opportunity to make interactive, non-passive experiences but we've gotten saddled into certain control schemes and formulas that are making that goal hard to reach.
This was a great fucking read. I've been growing to hate story because of how it replaces gameplay and allows developers like Bioware to get away with shitty gameplay just because they made us care about fictional characters, but the ending paragraphs in your post reminded me that no, I don't hate story, I love it, I just hate the fact that developers aren't doing anything to implement it more in the gameplay. You're absolutely right in what you said. The reason Crysis and Max Payne blow any other shooter out of the water for me is because while I played, I felt the story progressing with my actions. I didn't shoot dudes waiting for a cutscene to move me forward, I moved forward and somehow felt like I created the story..... Wait, what the hell am I saying? This whole story/gameplay debate has been munching away at my mind for too long, the words are losing their meanings to me, I can't figure out what I want or what I like anymore :/
Man, I love you, but I hate you.
The reason people love Bioware games is that if you excel at one area, people are willing to forgive shortcomings in others. Bioware excels in letting you participate in the story. Mass Effect has never had Gears of War caliber gameplay (I'm you won't argue that those games are mechanically, the most sound TPS this generation), but it didn't matter. People were doing exactly what you and the OP describe; living the story. Shaping and bending it to your will, at least, that's the illusion. A lot of these types of games are, when boiled down, binary by nature... but that doesn't mean it's not a hell of an illusion. I think you should realize this. Bioware doesn't just create fiction and slap it into a game - they mold the game itself around the fiction. Whether that's dialogue wheels (which were revoutionary for ME1's launch), or choices from one game impacting the story of the next, leading to a cohesive universe that never feels disjointed, they've succeeded in the areas they focused on. As cool as it is to hate Bioware at the moment, you can't forget that Mass Effect, beyond being an amazing universe and consistent (and amazing) story, it's also revolutionized what is possible with player's choice impacting sequels. Not to mention the writing has been very strong, the characters memorable, and the gameplay on top of it all, serviceable. It won't be Gears of War, but that's okay. It doesn't need to be.
@yeah_write: From one ex-reporter to another, very nice read:)
I agree w/ Jaffe in a way, just b/c most games that try to tell a story are simply not very good at it. A game like BioShock is the exception, as it delivered an excellent narrative without taking the player out of the flow of the game. BioShock Infinite looks to be following that same path. In Elder Scrolls games, the world and your place in it serve as the story. Oblivion and Skyrim are fairly generic high-fantasy, but by carving out a niche in the enormous open world those games provide, you're the one propelling the narrative, and everyone who's played those titles has a different tale to tell.
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