" Farenheit/Indigo Prophecy. The first part of the game is awesome: grapping narrative, cool characters, innovative control. The second half... urgh. It's terrible, horrific. It looked SO rushed when I played it some years ago... "Don't know about you, but I think it was pretty rad to see a three way fight with Neo, The Internet and Mayans. But I agree, it wasn't very good writing.
What is the most poorly written story in a game in your opinion
Mario
There's probably a better-deserving one, but I'll say the Force Unleashed. Because the game was so awesome but the story was kinda jammed into the main SW universe and twisted around to the point where it barely made any sense. So you're telling me all these stormtroopers, mechs and aliens had anti-Jedi weapons and armor and they just happened to forget all about them four years later (in the story's time) when Luke Skywalker blew up the Death Star? Did the Empire just have a fire sale on that stuff?
TFU2 was even worse. I know the money was too much for them to not make a sequel, but story-wise why the hell would Vader make a clone of the guy who nearly killed him and the Emperor before, then send the same people who failed to kill him before when the clone inevitably escapes and takes revenge? I guess Vader isn't a long-term thinker.
C and C 4
" @blueduck said:We've had our disagreements, HandsomeDead and I, and I don't agree with simply insulting someone but MW2, as far as I can tell, wasn't really trying to have a story much further than "Summer Action Film". The loose ends are there because they made MW2 with the thought that MW3 would continue the story, as any sequel would. MW2 went for the Michael Bay Presents: Explosions-style story and, while the multiplayer was a huge disappointment to me, I actually really enjoyed the singleplayer. I went in expecting a crazy, explosion-filled story and I finished thinking "Man, I want to play the next one." It isn't going for Apocalypse Now-quality storytelling. It's going for an adrenaline rush, and I thought it captured that feeling perfectly." @HandsomeDead said:I'm guessing you totally missed the hegemony in the story too. And, also, what are people comparing this game's plot too? I'm struggling to think of an FPS with a story as well done as the Modern Warfare games. "" @blueduck said:The story was a decent over the top soldier of fortune fantasy, It was never "ground breaking EVER" and IMO turned to total shit at that sniper mission. "" @HandsomeDead said:Not really. I just wonder how many people who played MW2 and slate it even paid attention. The story isn't groundbreaking, but it's solid, told in an efficient manner, pretty clever in spots and far exceeds a majority of other games out there. And then you have threads like this where someone doesn't get the most basic of plot points. It's like the last time a thread about the MW2 story popped up and someone PM'd me to explain why Price dropped a bomb on the Americans if he was a good guy. "" @stoodspoon said:No, I agree with him and you didn't even try to give your reasons for disagreeing with him you just called him names. Seems like you're a little butt hurt. ""1. It's called 'Loose Ends' for a reason. They were a little oblique on what information needed to be kept secret, but still.
Modern Warfare 2 for a varariety of reasons1. Shepards stupid reason for betraying you
2.How 1 cia agent found in a airport massicer make the russians assume that it was the u.s fault
3. The characters have no real personality
"2. You're a retard.3. You're a total retard, why did I even attempt a real answer for the first question."
I can't really think of a game I played with a poorly-written story (possibly repressed memories, I don't know), but I remember being really disappointed in Bioshock 2's story. It had a good story but I think Bioshock set too high a bar for the second one to achieve and, given the limited scope of the story, the sequel just didn't capture me as much as the original did. It also could have been that Bioshock 2 was devoid of the same cast of, in my opinion, great characters to hold up the silent protagonist. Loved the game, to be fair, but the story left me wanting.
The topic title seems like it's been spit out of the Giant Bomb thread generator... but whatever. What defines poor writing? I think KotOR 2 has a bad story, but I don't think the writing is bad. I dunno, maybe Gears of War? That series seems to get a free pass for having a stupid story (yeah, the gameplay is good, but aw, COME ON!)
Unless I'm missing something there isn't a given frame for when TFU happens, outside of being between episodes III and IV." There's probably a better-deserving one, but I'll say the Force Unleashed. Because the game was so awesome but the story was kinda jammed into the main SW universe and twisted around to the point where it barely made any sense. So you're telling me all these stormtroopers, mechs and aliens had anti-Jedi weapons and armor and they just happened to forget all about them four years later (in the story's time) when Luke Skywalker blew up the Death Star? Did the Empire just have a fire sale on that stuff?TFU2 was even worse. I know the money was too much for them to not make a sequel, but story-wise why the hell would Vader make a clone of the guy who nearly killed him and the Emperor before, then send the same people who failed to kill him before when the clone inevitably escapes and takes revenge? I guess Vader isn't a long-term thinker. "
Apart from it, the anti-jedi weapons are there to balance the game, and there wouldn't any reason, apart from the fact that the Episode IV was made thirty years earlier, for the troops to have any anti-jedi weapons. The jedis had disappeared from the face of the galaxy. When Luke destroyed the Death Star he wasn't a jedi yet.
About TFU2, you could say the same thing about 90% of the plots. If the bad guys only made right decisions, the main characters wouldn't live till the end of the game, and in many cases they wouldn't pass from the intro.
But, while i said what i said, I don't consider the plots in either of the games remarkable. In the first TFU, it is well done, if not too mellow and bare-bones. In TFU2 it is contrived, with the saving grace of a high quality CG work.
Both of them aren't anything special.
My vote goes to Condemned: Criminal Origins. The story is nonsensical, and full of plot-holes.
FF XIII is probably the one of biggest failures of a story I can think of in a game. Very poorly written and poorly told.
Mindjack is also pretty fucking terrible.
" This plot description I came across on the Creature Plot Twist wiki page for the game Urban Chaos seems rather fitting for this thread:Fucking WHAT? This is blowing my mind because I played and loved that game when I was a bit younger, but I never actually completed it for some reason ... think I got somewhere with some missiles or bombs you had to deactivate. A demon ... holy shit ... I should have finished that game
"As an example, the game Urban Chaos tells a story about a policewoman fighting a gang. The game's story remains relatively grounded and follows along this path until the final two missions. In the second-to-last mission, the player must fight a demon that inexplicably appears on the city streets. Then in the final mission, a plot twist reveals that the main antagonist is not just a corrupt mayoral candidate, but also a warlock trying to open a portal to Hell. "What. "
As far as recent games go, Crysis 2 had a terrible story.
When I think about it anything that has the words Final Fantasy in it starting with 7. I went back to play them stopped because jeez Its just soooo weird.
@Ahmad_Metallic said:
"
@TEHMAXXORZ said:"im slowly turning into a COD hater, yet i think the Blops story was pretty solid .. are you guys serious? the whole Reznov twist was outstanding for a Call of Duty game..
@nick_verissimo:Black Ops has the worst story I have ever tortured myself to play out of all games I own.It's a bad game in general, zombies and multiplayer offer hardly any redemption. Next time, Treyarch need to do a better damn job.
"
"
Any DICE game.
"
@Jay444111: I stopped reading when you said Halo was better than Star Wars, but from what I did read, you weren't so much making arguments as just insulting the dude.
"
I meant the entire series dude, do you wanna know why Halo is better than star wars. let us look at the prequals of star wars! the first one was basically one of the worst things I ever saw at a theator, I mean, wow, the only good thing was the jedi fight with darth maul. that is it. while it completely retcons everything from the classic 3 movies.
the second movie is a abomonation, I can literally cut off a couple of my fingers, wire them up to a mices brain and tell it to write a something, that something would be better then this movie, any part of it. I mean, my goodness. I literally wanted to puke in my mouth upon watching this.
3, the third star wars movie was the best of the prequals, although it still messed everything up by making vader wimpy and the princess dies from the lack of the will to live. (most idiotic thing ever.)
these three movies literally killed and murdered the classics by having the same name as them and being officially canon, I am sorry to say, but anything can beat them, but even then halo series does have a quality story one of which star wars wished to have.
Also, I wasn't insulting him, I was just baffled by the sheer WTF from that single post actually being taken seriously by another human being is all.
dragon age II, what with all its not having an antagonist till the last act and a frame story that goes nowhere and does nothing.
Wheelman, play it for yourself and you'll find out.
Disgaea.
Some of the dialogue in that game is cringe-worthy.
Super Mario Bros.
Only plot devices is that the princess is in another castle.
The fuck.
@TehFlan:
Trust me, it is worth reading his post in all its illiterate glory. It only gets better. As for insults, you're more or less right. I'm fine with insults (they can be quite fun), but Jay never actually presents his argument so much as repeats his position. This post, on the other hand, is probably not worth reading for anyone but the grand "writer" to whom it's directed.
In all fairness, I'm about to insult him quite a bit as well. I will frequently go out of my way to make him look stupid. Granted, he has done most of the work in that regard - credit where credit is due, but it doesn't make for as uproarious a read as his initial reply.
@Jay444111:
For one who keeps claiming themselves a "writer", you certainly suck at it. If English is not your first language, then this is fine; however, if it is the language you employ as a writer, then your tantrum is just adorable. The next time you want to attack someone's opinion on writing, you may benefit from learning the fundamentals of grammar. For added fun and greater condescension, I'll address your points while correcting your hackneyed form (not all of your failures, only the most egregious). While I will defend my position, my focus will be on illustrating that you are a shitty excuse for a writer. As such, this reply will be quite long, though I assume that you haven't an objection to verbosity. Your drivel will be italicized.
Saying Bioshocks+mass effects story are shit is basically saying that Air is not good because you need it, or that the sun sucks because it gives warmth
Genetive nouns typically include apostrophes, and proper nouns are capitalized. The word "air" is not a proper noun. That you refer to two games requires that you talk about their stories, not their "story." The conjunctive or when followed by a dependent clause does not have a preceding comma. Because a reason is not included in the initial statement, the analogous statements are not parallel (a desired trait of any analogy).
As a supposed counter-argument, the value of this statement is non-existent. See, an analogy is an illustration of a given argument or a set-up for a following argument. One should do more than simply gainsay; they should provide reasons to support or attack a given claim.
Honestly, I am going to be serious, Just saying that invalidates your entire opinion on writing FOREVER.
The unnecessary clause, "I am going to be serious," is awkward without a conjunction; it breaks the flow for needless repetition. While going with "honestly" or "I am going to be serious" would be best, using both requires an additional word and/or alternate punctuation. "Just" should not be capitalized in the middle of a sentence. On the all-caps fetish, no specific use is incorrect; however, that you use this little gimmick several times throughout your little tirade weakens the hell out of it.
As for the argument side, you've still not provided anything of substance. You've succeeded only in making yourself look silly. The hyperbole you use could be useful in small doses, but the way in which you slather every statement with it reflects more on you than on the argument at hand. As for having read books, it is precisely because I have that I can recognize how awful many game stories are.
Bioshock's story was incredibly trite and predictable. It didn't deviate from the paint-by-numbers dystopia template in any way. Every element of the story was derivative and predictable. How many video games that have the player take orders from an unknown or disembodied voice do not have said voice turn out to be one of deception? There was not a single element of the game's plot that was not utterly generic. The pacing of the story was decent, and the voice recording conceit helped shape the narrative with different perspectives. That a story is well told, however, does not mean that the story itself is good.
I am now going to dissect your entire post right now.
Is there a reason that you say "now" twice (other than your inability to write, of course)? It may seem minor, but that you make errors like this one with such zeal makes your post very clumsy.
First two sentences start fine enough, but the third, by God the third is basically like bending down the greatest writers of the world today and basically telling them they suck while you take a crap on them.
Is it basically like basically that? See, not a sentence later, and you're already tripping over your own adverbs again. Speaking of adverbs, you might want to read up on them. "Start fine enough" is incorrect, as "fine" is an adjective, not an adverb. "By God" should be followed by a comma. Commas are useful to avoid hackneyed run-ons and clarify clauses. See, because you can't write well, it is unclear if my taking a crap on the writers coincides with them sucking or my telling them that they suck.
If you think that Bioshock is a product of "the greatest writers of the world today," then you have a very poor sense of the practice. I'm sure that students in the next century will study Chaucer, Shakespeare, Austen, Hemmingway, and... Levine?! Granted, I'm not too big on contemporary fiction, but your assessment is more of an insult to writers than anything I've said.
you have literally angered the writer inside me to the point of writing this very, very long post to be destroying your points altogether.
Sentences begin with capital letters, my dear. Methinks that you don't know the meaning of the word "literally". It does not mean what you repeatedly use it for. Unless you are in the midst of digesting a novelist, you should probably consult a dictionary. The verb phrase "to be destroying" is all kinds of wrong. That it is a common error of people new to the English language makes me question your native tongue. If you aren't a native speaker, then this and some of the other errors are forgivable; however, your understanding-in-progress of English means that you're in well over your head. If you are a native speaker, go to your old grammar school, find your fourth grade teacher, and slap that bitch for her failure.
As for destroying my points, you've not made a serviceable, let alone competent, attempt. You state that you disagree and that I am wrong, but you do not even attempt to back up either assertion. "Nuh-uh" is a courageous rhetorical approach, indeed, but it's never been very potent.
Saying Jericho is INTERESTING while saying Bioshock is SHIT is like saying the greatest movie of all time is crap compared to Garbage Pail Kids. It is an insult to intelligent thought that I take personally in this matter.
Trust me, little shaver, you have no business taking insults to intelligence personally. The prepositional phrase, "in this matter," does not belong. We're discussing the matter, so specifying why some of the sand is in your vagina makes little sense. Analogies work as I've stated above. Like in the bulk of your bullshit, the actual argument is absent. I'm all for taking some liberties with language and communication, but I consider arguments to be a key ingredient in an argument. Call me a stickler.
Again, I stand by the statement that you failed to counter beyond "Nuh-uh!" You said nothing with respect to why Jericho's story is not interesting, nor have you offered a reason that Bioshock's isn't shit. At least try. I'm sure that you would fail, but you might learn something. Beneath Jericho's awful characters and dialog, there is a solid story. Taking root from Biblical apocrypha, the game casts God's failure as a complimentary evil. Mankind's own evil provides an avenue for the Firstborn to manifest, and the two wreak havoc. Upon defeat, the Firstborn retreats, and the zeitgeist that allowed it to breach is added to its arsenal; each victory for good creates a stronger evil. This is an interesting premise, to say the least. You get the usual good and evil shtick, but it's slightly less black & white. God is mostly a failure, man is the source of both good and evil, and the Firstborn is a corollary amplification of history. The enemies were technically evil, but often innocent. While by no means groundbreaking, it had potential. They could have woven particular threads through the periods, raised some basic questions in the vein of Euthyphro, and heightened the ambiguity of ethics. Instead, they threw in magic marines and cocked the whole thing up. It's entirely possible to fuck up a good story, and that the writers of Jericho did so does not mean that there was never any potential.
Fifth sentence just proves you hate videogames, it utterly proves it. Anyone reading your post will know this about you and never take you seriously again. You DO know this... right? Or are you completely oblivious of this fact that you hate videogames with great stories?
Utterly is not an appropriate adverb for "proves"; the sentence isn't incorrect, it just demonstrates slovenly diction. I could be oblivious to a fact, but to be oblivious of it would require a bit of work. Furthermore, I'd be oblivious either to "this fact" or "the fact that...". I assure you, there would be no oblivion with respect to "this fact that...". Demonstrative pronouns and articles are interchangeable, though, right?
Given your complete ignorance of how to argue a point, I can't say that I'm shocked at your failure here. Let's pretend, for just a moment, that I did condemn every game story (This should be easy for you, as nuance seems to make you uneasy.). If I hated every game story with a passion, it would say nothing of whether or not I like games. I could like games without stories or, gasp, like games in spite of their stories. That our hypothetical is only that makes your leap to speak for everyone in the forum all the more asinine.
Sixth sentence, yeah, Mass effects charactors are awesome, but saying the story is derivative is basically saying 2001 Space oddyssy is bad! (upon multiple viewing, yeah, it is, but on your first watch through it is a great movie.) hell, star wars can't even go up against Mass Effect, or, hell, even Halo anymore! They have basically said, "**** this!" to any thought involved in story and decided to retcon EVERYTHING while mass effect sticks to itself and makes completely sure that the lore is fine all the time.
Again, proper nouns are capitalized, and genitive is marked with an apostrophe. Does holding shift for all those masturbatory, all-caps emphases ache your poor fingers too much? I could see being too lazy to capitalize, but that's clearly not the case here. Characters, oddly enough, is spelled without an "o." It was new to me, too. Your comparison lacks a rather significant "like," unless you were saying that the two are entirely interchangeable. Kubrick, being the picky little bitch he is, decided to spell the title of his movie correctly - 2001 A Space Odyssey. The double-d and missing vowel in your version would lead some to question your literacy. Parenthetical phrases don't begin a sentence, but it they did, the first letter would be capitalized. There is/are no "multiple viewing", but there can be "multiple viewings". The sentence after your orphaned parenthetical phrase should begin with a _____? Hint: All sentences should begin with one. "Star Wars" is a proper noun. Kudos on finally getting Mass Effect (Don't worry, you'll fuck it up again in the next sentence.)! The pronoun of the next sentence, "They," refers to whom? Pronouns work with given nouns, so I assume that you mean "Mass Effect and Halo said **** this." You're missing an article before "story". Mass Effect (see, I told you that you'd fuck up again) sticking to itself is probably not what you mean, unless you admire its self-adhesion. It can stick to its own or stick to its story.
2001 has an awful story. It's a damned fine music video and little more. Again, though, you use an analogy without following through. While you did manage to finally say something for the game, it doesn't go very far. Internal consistency is a good thing, but it cannot make a story good. Leonard Part 6 was internally consistent. Continuity is necessary, but not sufficient, for quality.
Seventh post. So, I heard you like the story of tetris, the little blocks that could crush russia under the wieght of its own communism! (sarcasm.)
You aren't ready for sarcasm, my boy. This is evidenced by the fact that your sentence makes no sense. Tetris, aside from being a proper-cunting-noun, shoud be followed by a colon or hyphen here. Some of us learned how to spell "weight" in the third grade, and it'd be selfish to keep the secret to myself, so remember - "w-e-i-g-h-t". As for the bullocks of your point, either the blocks could crush Russia (fucking proper nouns, eh?) or it could be crushed under the weight of its own communism; both cannot happen. The sentence is akin to saying that Dick murders Jane with suicide.
Eighth, I do agree, the early silent hills were badass and had amazing story, although with some wierd dailouge included in them. only agreement of two you will get from me.
No. The early Silent Hills had amazing stories, fuckwit. Numerical agreement is easy in just about every language. How you can botch this repeatedly and call yourself a writer without giggling is beyond me. "Although" is the wrong conjunction, and you should choose "with" or "included". Using both sounds awful. Sentences begin with _______ letters... Come on, you can do it. If there are two agreements, then this one cannot be the only. See, the word precludes others; it's kind of the point.
Hang in there, you're only half-smote. Don't blame me, you made the massive mess that I'm cleaning up, you "writer," you.
ninth sentence. Gears of war, sure, but even then, they do care about the lore more then the movie industry can about anything.
Oops, did I say "writer" just a minute ago? I suppose I should have said "petulant child making a mess with daddy's fountain pen." My utmost apologies for the error. No part of this sentence is correct in any way. The pronoun has no antecedent. I assure you, antecedents are not optional. "...then the movie industry..." ... Then they what? What did they do? Oh, "then" is your troglodytic way of saying "than". I'm with you now.
I'm not sure why you want to bring movies into this, but it is a mistake. You'll find out why when I point out that it makes you seem like even more of a myopic, hypocritical twat than your broken English and impotent "arguments" do.
MGS... I really want to open my can of shitstorm in this thread now. I really do, but even then, this just shows the sheer amount of Gamefaq members that are actually here. (yes, that I consider is a insult.)
Trust me, you've done enough shitting with your attempts thus-far. If you really "do," applies to now, not "then". Mixing tenses is poor form. Thanks for clarifying that you consider this to be an insult (albeit through an incorrectly used parenthetical phrase). I would not have otherwise known given that I'm good at insulting people. As you seem to be new to the discipline, you don't want to let your attempts go unnoticed. If you work hard and get half-way decent at using insults, you'll no longer need to explain what you're doing.
50 cent. honestly... what in the hell were you expecting here? Naughty bear... wow, so I guess a bear that has gone on a killing rage because that is SO DEEP AND COMPLEX!!!!
So you counter my statement that those games were poorly written by mocking them? Not sure what you're trying to accomplish here.
On the topic, though, that they were silly games does not mean that they could not have been well-written. Naughty Bear had no hopes for a great story, but it could have had clever dialog. The voice-over concept would have lent better to subtlety than to playing the extremes. The writers tried too hard, and the result mars what could have been the game's redeeming factor.
Portal is a good example to bring up here. The story is obviously crap, but the dialog struck just the right tone. The clever dialog and overall sensibilities of Portal demonstrate how hitting a sweet spot makes a hell of a difference. While Portal's tone wouldn't work for Naughty Bear, a similarly spot-on sensibility could have been great.
Drbendo, you have literally pissed off the entire writing community for the entire videogame industry, you have literally just said that videogames are nothing and deserve nothing, as a writer myself, I am APPALED to hear this from a human being. Literally appaled. I would write more, but I am done destroying your points until your next post which also should be worth another essay once you repost.
"Literally", as already noted, does not mean what you think it does. It literally means the exact opposite. Nobody can "literally piss off" anybody under any circumstances. The comma after "videogame industry" should be a period or a semi-colon. The same goes for the comma after "deserve nothing". Once again, you call yourself a writer. This word, also, does not mean what you think it does. Yet again, you use the all-caps emphasis. This is my favorite example. Immediately after touting yourself as a writer, you draw attention to the fact that you cannot spell. It's "appalled" you half-literate troglodyte. As for destroying my points (how adorable), are you sure you don't want to include "as well"? You've used just about all of its synonyms in the sentence, so you may as well go for broke.
Basically, My good man, I have destroyed you, you fight against these points and you will show this topic that you truly don't even know what good or even bad writing is. if you take back your words, you are just a sheep then going with the crowd.
The possessive pronoun should not be capitalized. The first "you" should be followed by a period or semi-colon. The sentence, like many of your others, includes false predication. The word "then" has no function in the last sentence.
Do you really think that I will be the one that appears not to know good writing from bad? You demonstrated an inability to complete two sentences without egregious errors; I did not even bother to point out the numerous small errors.
No offense to anyone. I as a writer cannot stand it when my fellows get ragged on for making great works like bioshock and mass effect. Things that other industry like the movie industry won't even think about anymore, a medium that will soon die due to unoriginality. (yeah, I'll get flamed for this one, but to be quite honest, with the smurfs movie coming out, I am right on about this.) while this new one, even as it produces amazing work after amazing work only gets ragged on because they are in a new medium that has already beaten two of it's compadres down beside it in terms of quality. (movies and RETCOMic books. not graphic novels like the walking dead, but RETCOMic books like superman which constantly retcom EVERYTHING in every issue.)
Yet again, you give yourself credit as a writer in a way that proves you cannot be a good one. The phrase, "as a writer" should have a comma before and after. The first instance of "industry" should be plural, not singular. "Things", as you use it, would apply to Bioshock and Mass Effect; I'm pretty sure that the film industry doesn't need to think about them. The final clause of the sentence it's in does not apply anywhere in the sentence; an industry is not a medium. Perhaps you should disable the parenthesis marks from your keyboard. It seems that you cannot use them correctly. "While" should be capitalized at the beginning of a sentence. The whole sentence is a clusterfuck of poor punctuation, false predication, missing appositives, incorrect use of "it's", Read this sentence and tell me again that you are a writer. It just doesn't get old. You lose all sense of subject-verb agreement, spelling, capitalization, etc. It's an almost impressive display of stupid.
I hope to everything that entire post was just sarcasm, I literally hope for humanity that it is. Otherwise it proves that some people only know what writing is from a burger king menu!
Unfortunately, "everything that" entire post was true. Prepositions can fuck right off, no? The sentence should have a semi-colon in place of the comma. The following sentence should have a comma after the first word.
You shouldn't knock Burger King menus. They often feature capitalized proper nouns, number agreement, and some semblance of correctness. You, on the other hand, write like an idiot.
I assure you, no intelligent person could read your post without at least giggling. "I'm a writer...I'm a writer... I is write good..." Fucking open a book and learn a language before you try to condescend with it. While I highly doubt anyone else will read this entire post, anyone who does will see that I know a thing or two about writing. Granted, the organization of this post is complete shit, but that's a matter of following your lead. In terms of basic command of the language, you cannot compete with me. The next time you want to put on the writer pants, at least consult a spell-check. Otherwise, those to whom you attempt to display intelligence will continue to thrash you with ease.
Yours in complete superiority,
Some bloke above a third-grade writing level
" @HandsomeDead said:What loose ends are there? The sequel set up is so simple that it's perfect; Soap and Price hunt for Makarov with America chasing them while, assuming they'd be back, Keith David and his men keep fighting off the Russians while, most likely, uncovering Sheperd's plot or whatever seeing as they're right on top of the White House. And yeah, MW2 reminds me of that Michael Bay film. What's that one? You know, where America are the bad guys, the soldiers are treated like shit by the guys at the top, the film is totally cynical to the concept of war, challenges viewer perceptions of the violence on screen and then ends on a cliffhanger that implies that the terrorist who killed hundreds of innocents may be redeemed in the third film." @blueduck said:We've had our disagreements, HandsomeDead and I, and I don't agree with simply insulting someone but MW2, as far as I can tell, wasn't really trying to have a story much further than "Summer Action Film". The loose ends are there because they made MW2 with the thought that MW3 would continue the story, as any sequel would. MW2 went for the Michael Bay Presents: Explosions-style story and, while the multiplayer was a huge disappointment to me, I actually really enjoyed the singleplayer. I went in expecting a crazy, explosion-filled story and I finished thinking "Man, I want to play the next one." It isn't going for Apocalypse Now-quality storytelling. It's going for an adrenaline rush, and I thought it captured that feeling perfectly."" @HandsomeDead said:I'm guessing you totally missed the hegemony in the story too. And, also, what are people comparing this game's plot too? I'm struggling to think of an FPS with a story as well done as the Modern Warfare games. "" @blueduck said:The story was a decent over the top soldier of fortune fantasy, It was never "ground breaking EVER" and IMO turned to total shit at that sniper mission. "" @HandsomeDead said:Not really. I just wonder how many people who played MW2 and slate it even paid attention. The story isn't groundbreaking, but it's solid, told in an efficient manner, pretty clever in spots and far exceeds a majority of other games out there. And then you have threads like this where someone doesn't get the most basic of plot points. It's like the last time a thread about the MW2 story popped up and someone PM'd me to explain why Price dropped a bomb on the Americans if he was a good guy. "" @stoodspoon said:No, I agree with him and you didn't even try to give your reasons for disagreeing with him you just called him names. Seems like you're a little butt hurt. ""1. It's called 'Loose Ends' for a reason. They were a little oblique on what information needed to be kept secret, but still.
Modern Warfare 2 for a varariety of reasons1. Shepards stupid reason for betraying you
2.How 1 cia agent found in a airport massicer make the russians assume that it was the u.s fault
3. The characters have no real personality
"2. You're a retard.3. You're a total retard, why did I even attempt a real answer for the first question."
I know I'm being facetious here, and not directly to you, MariachiMacabre, but I feel like a lot of people underestimate how good MW2 is at doing what it does because they're conditioned to think certain ways about things. I feel like people see MW2 and immediately recognise it as a modern military FPS, remember that video games are an intellectual gutter most of the time so dismiss it off hand immediately.
This is almost like pointing at a forest and ask which trees got branches... Most videogames have poor stories, just like most recent (popular) movies and TV shows. Hi Avatar and Lost! :D
Good thing games have the element of gameplay to help make the experience rise above the short comings of poor narratives. Portal for example have a poor story. But boasts interesting gameplay and witty monologue.
" Quantum of Solace straight-up butchered not one but TWO Bond movies, which is quite a feat. "Aren't the Bond movies always traded off between two studies much like CoD games are these days? The next one is supposed to be made by the not-terrible studio so it should be decent.
" @MariachiMacabre said:I can't quite name any loose ends off the top of my head because it's been a while since I played the game but what I meant was really whatever loose ends people are seeing I'm confident are there for storytelling, sequel-setting purposes rather than lazy writing. Over the years I've grown enough respect for the guys at Infinity Ward to trust them enough with singleplayer story." @HandsomeDead said:What loose ends are there? The sequel set up is so simple that it's perfect; Soap and Price hunt for Makarov with America chasing them while, assuming they'd be back, Keith David and his men keep fighting off the Russians while, most likely, uncovering Sheperd's plot or whatever seeing as they're right on top of the White House. And yeah, MW2 reminds me of that Michael Bay film. What's that one? You know, where America are the bad guys, the soldiers are treated like shit by the guys at the top, the film is totally cynical to the concept of war, challenges viewer perceptions of the violence on screen and then ends on a cliffhanger that implies that the terrorist who killed hundreds of innocents may be redeemed in the third film." @blueduck said:We've had our disagreements, HandsomeDead and I, and I don't agree with simply insulting someone but MW2, as far as I can tell, wasn't really trying to have a story much further than "Summer Action Film". The loose ends are there because they made MW2 with the thought that MW3 would continue the story, as any sequel would. MW2 went for the Michael Bay Presents: Explosions-style story and, while the multiplayer was a huge disappointment to me, I actually really enjoyed the singleplayer. I went in expecting a crazy, explosion-filled story and I finished thinking "Man, I want to play the next one." It isn't going for Apocalypse Now-quality storytelling. It's going for an adrenaline rush, and I thought it captured that feeling perfectly."" @HandsomeDead said:I'm guessing you totally missed the hegemony in the story too. And, also, what are people comparing this game's plot too? I'm struggling to think of an FPS with a story as well done as the Modern Warfare games. "" @blueduck said:The story was a decent over the top soldier of fortune fantasy, It was never "ground breaking EVER" and IMO turned to total shit at that sniper mission. "" @HandsomeDead said:Not really. I just wonder how many people who played MW2 and slate it even paid attention. The story isn't groundbreaking, but it's solid, told in an efficient manner, pretty clever in spots and far exceeds a majority of other games out there. And then you have threads like this where someone doesn't get the most basic of plot points. It's like the last time a thread about the MW2 story popped up and someone PM'd me to explain why Price dropped a bomb on the Americans if he was a good guy. "" @stoodspoon said:No, I agree with him and you didn't even try to give your reasons for disagreeing with him you just called him names. Seems like you're a little butt hurt. ""1. It's called 'Loose Ends' for a reason. They were a little oblique on what information needed to be kept secret, but still.
Modern Warfare 2 for a varariety of reasons1. Shepards stupid reason for betraying you
2.How 1 cia agent found in a airport massicer make the russians assume that it was the u.s fault
3. The characters have no real personality
"2. You're a retard.3. You're a total retard, why did I even attempt a real answer for the first question."I know I'm being facetious here, and not directly to you, MariachiMacabre, but I feel like a lot of people underestimate how good MW2 is at doing what it does because they're conditioned to think certain ways about things. I feel like people see MW2 and immediately recognise it as a modern military FPS, remember that video games are an intellectual gutter most of the time so dismiss it off hand immediately."
metal gear solid, didn't even have to think about it
You, sir, have made my day. There was just the right balance of elitism and nuance to ensure hilarity would ensue...LITERALLY.
(And, yes, I read the whole thing. Call me an aficionado of well crafted and unapologetic retorts.)
Oh, dammit. I suppose I should add something to the original conversation.
As far as games actually attempting to string together a narrative go, I'd have to say...World of Warcraft; it is at the least the one that has compelled me to wish harm upon others most in recent memory. I was never actually on board with Blizzard's nonsense from the beginning, what with all the ret-conning and silly explanations for the general conceit. I guess I never thought the relationships between the races were so tenuous at the end of Warcraft 3. I don't think there was a single redeeming bit of exposition or dialogue in the breadth of my time with that game that I experienced.
World of Mind-melt incited a hatred in me I never knew I could possess for the Warcraft lore. I would have to say it is the most egregiously overrated game of all time and if I ever acquired my own personal Barbara Eden would have to request for time lost to be stricken from my history.
Modern Warfare 2, by far.
It's not even a contest. The character types are barely established, there's no context for virtually anything that happens, and there are some absolutely breath-taking plot-holes. Top it off with the lack of any real resolution, and a presentation that takes itself beyond serious, and you got yourself a pretty big stinker. I don't even like using the word "story", in a sentence while trying to describe what transpires in MW2. Stories have a beginning, middle and an end...Even with cliffhangers there is an attempt to pointing toward a resolution...There's pathos, logos and ethos...There's something more than bright lights and lot's of yelling.
I mean, at least Michael Bay would at least...try...
*Remembers Transformers 2*
Okay, maybe not...
...And for god-sake, is fuel economy for a helicopter that hard to find?! Cant you make sure to fill up every-time you go into a huge fire-fight?! Yeah! I get it! Killing me for the billionth time losses it's emotional everything after the first bagillion times. Too bad I don't care about anyone, or anything in this game, because someone forgot to write lines for these guys that are beyond telling me what to do. Burger Town? Are you f-ing serious?!
Mass Effect 2. It's like some boring monotone uncle trying to explain at length something interesting he saw on telly but manages to suck all the life and fun out of it and yourself.
"
@Jay444111:
I am going to go and dissect the points you made about story. Not about paragraphs/adverbs/verbs/ectera. Mainly because it just shows how much of an ass you are.
For one who keeps claiming
themselves a "writer", you certainly suck at it. If English is not your
first language, then this is fine; however, if it is the language you
employ as a writer, then your tantrum is just adorable.----------
1. First off, do you like acting like that, or does it just come naturally?
--------
The next time
you want to attack someone's opinion on writing, you may benefit from
learning the fundamentals of grammar.-------------
2. From the person who wouldn't know a great story if it bit them in the ass no doubt.
-----------
As
for the argument side, you've still not provided anything of substance.
You've succeeded only in making yourself look silly. The hyperbole you
use could be useful in small doses, but the way in which you slather
every statement with it reflects more on you than on the argument at
hand. As for having read books, it is precisely because I have that I
can recognize how awful many game stories are.---------
3. Five bucks says this guy only plays pokemon yellow. Let's be honest here, have you boughten any videogame that even has dailouge in it that isn't pokemon? Be honest.
-------
Bioshock's story
was incredibly trite and predictable. It didn't deviate from the
paint-by-numbers dystopia template in any way. Every element of the
story was derivative and predictable. How many video games that have the
player take orders from an unknown or disembodied voice do not
have said voice turn out to be one of deception? There was not a single
element of the game's plot that was not utterly generic. The pacing of
the story was decent, and the voice recording conceit helped shape the
narrative with different perspectives. That a story is well told,
however, does not mean that the story itself is good.
------------4. Wow, okay, mods here, forgive me for saying this, but this is quite possibly the most idiotic paragraph I have ever read in my entire life. Literally, not even gamefaq users are this ignorant of... well, anything really, they are surely much smarter then you are. I mean, my God, the stupidity is literally sickening. Everyone here can agree with me that this paragraph is filled with ****. Every, single, one on this site will agree with me on this.
Also, people like you sicken me, not for the fact that you are a ass. But for the sane fact that you hate videogames because they have story, not because you don't like them for quality reasons. (kinda obvious really. Why do they let you on here to complain again?)
--------
If you think that Bioshock is a product of "the greatest
writers of the world today," then you have a very poor sense of the
practice. I'm sure that students in the next century will study Chaucer,
Shakespeare, Austen, Hemmingway, and... Levine?! Granted, I'm not too
big on contemporary fiction, but your assessment is more of an insult to
writers than anything I've said.
---------5. Again, I must say this, have you ever written anything? Or hell, read anything, because it is getting more and more obvious that you wouldn't know a great story if it slapped you in the face. A story is not just how it is told, or what it is about, it is about the soul of the piece of work that was created, the sweat the tears and the joy all forming together to a single point to create classics such as citizens kane and Bioshock. Bioshock was made from the heart and soul of the videogame makers. Ken Levine is a great writer, one of which WILL be known as great as shakespeare of videogames. But it's going to take about 3 more pieces of classic works from him then for him to suicide for you to notice him as a writer huh?
It's going to be an awesome day when bioshock is going to be in museams as a piece of high art of storytelling, I will laugh at you severally. Most likely causing a heart attack for how much I will laugh at your inability to know what is good or bad in videogames, or story overall.
-------
I stand by the statement that you failed to counter beyond "Nuh-uh!"
You said nothing with respect to why Jericho's story is not interesting,
nor have you offered a reason that Bioshock's isn't shit. At least try.
I'm sure that you would fail, but you might learn something. Beneath
Jericho's awful characters and dialog, there is a solid story. Taking
root from Biblical apocrypha, the game casts God's failure as a
complimentary evil. Mankind's own evil provides an avenue for the
Firstborn to manifest, and the two wreak havoc. Upon defeat, the
Firstborn retreats, and the zeitgeist that allowed it to breach is added
to its arsenal; each victory for good creates a stronger evil. This is
an interesting premise, to say the least. You get the usual good and
evil shtick, but it's slightly less black & white. God is mostly a
failure, man is the source of both good and evil, and the Firstborn is a
corollary amplification of history. The enemies were technically evil,
but often innocent. While by no means groundbreaking, it had potential.
They could have woven particular threads through the periods, raised
some basic questions in the vein of Euthyphro, and heightened the
ambiguity of ethics. Instead, they threw in magic marines and cocked the
whole thing up. It's entirely possible to fuck up a good story, and
that the writers of Jericho did so does not mean that there was never
any potential.
--------6. Wow, so the game about good and evil and call bioshock shit? You're quite possibly one of the most saddest human beings I think I have ever argued with. First point in here, I didn't want to make a book like you did with your post that is basically calling me a moron. (Shouldn't that be flaggable or something?)
-----
Let's pretend, for just a moment, that I did condemn every
game story (This should be easy for you, as nuance seems to make you
uneasy.). If I hated every game story with a passion, it would say
nothing of whether or not I like games. I could like games without
stories or, gasp, like games in spite of their stories. That our
hypothetical is only that makes your leap to speak for everyone in the
forum all the more asinine.
--------------
7. First sentence, umm... yeah, you are condemning every videogame story dude, everyone in this topic knows this now. I have won this fight kiddo. (While having massive OCD on spelling.) You had shot yourself in the foot upon your first post, you lost this one. Give up and try again later, I have the internets side on this battle.
--------
"
You hate videogames, it is just a fact that everyone in this topic knows now. You defended yourself by being an insane ass and now look at yourself. Because I knew as soon as I said that I was a writer, without proving it to you, you would make a total ass of yourself in this very topic. There is a difference between arguing and being an ass. One of which you don't seem to realize that I am taking advantage of.
Get a mirror dude, look at yourself, you are quite possibly one of the most self absorbed people I think I have ever met, in real life or the internet. I am glad that I was able to destroy you like I was planning upon your first post here.
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