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Gaijin von Snikbah

What game has the best storytelling?

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Don't get me wrong, I like MGS, but it's not the best way to tell a story at all. It requires some serious streamlining and more gameplay for the fourth. Hopefully Kojima will see sense and use some of that ps3 super strength to remove the need for badly implemented codec sessions.

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Nah, I think that the first time you play through an MGS game, watching all the clips and codec talk is fun, and it's done really well, and when you do it a second or third time through, you can just skip it all, so it's not really a problem for me.

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Nah, I think that the first time you play through an MGS game, watching all the clips and codec talk is fun, and it's done really well, and when you do it a second or third time through, you can just skip it all, so it's not really a problem for me.

 

Problem solved.

 

You have the long codec and cutscenes for the fans to decipher the story, its skipable for those that cant really be bothered.

 

so far 99% of everything in the story that happens before mgs2 makes sense because of this.

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but the codec scenes arent fun. they're shite.

 

Lol, well they are just ways to drive the story without using cutscenes. :P

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I'd say Metal Gear Solid, but the story isn't exactly super complex. The presentation is what makes it so immense. Zelda games don't have an awful lot of super immersive storytelling to enjoy, so I'll count those out.

 

I'm gonna go for Final Fantasy 7. Great story. Never played it through, but it has a great storyline. Games like Farenheit and the like also have great storytelling. Ya know, games that exist solely to tell a story. Tales of Symphonia had a very enjoyable, if clichéd, story.

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I find games that exist with the sole aim of telling a story tend to leave me bored. I just can't be arsed.

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I've never been all that bothered about story telling in games as it's done so much better in books, film and TV. That's not the fault of the game makers (though many don't really care), it's just down to the fact that the player has an influence on the outcome, so any story that's told is just the result of the player running down a pre-determined path.

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I've never been all that bothered about story telling in games as it's done so much better in books, film and TV. That's not the fault of the game makers (though many don't really care), it's just down to the fact that the player has an influence on the outcome, so any story that's told is just the result of the player running down a pre-determined path.

I would of agreed with you until I played Shenmue. The way the story unfolds is remarkable in my opinion, and is why all Shenmue fans would much rather the Saga is finished in games rather than a film, that had been possible.

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I think castlevania is a great example of story telling + great gameplay, always the gameplay is superb in the 2d ones, the n64 castlevanias amongst a few others were scrapped from the main storyline altogether, lament of innocence gave the story a beginning and there is a lot of space in between LoI and Dawn of sorrow to fill in the gaps while giving players the opportunity to play as many different characters.

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The fact that the player actually interacts in the game is the main reason why video games could become the definative storytelling medium. Sadly too many games rely on cutscenes to push the story along, even Eternal Darkness suffers from that at times. But i think in the future developers will eventually ditch cut scenes and distance the medium from film. I think the reason cut scenes are so widespread is because gaming is such a young artform that developers look to film (as gamings closest cousin) for conventions of visual storytelling.

 

Gaming could go in one of two directions: a) the more cinematic route; as processing power increases developers will be able to add more virtual cameras to in-game situations. And b) Developers will recognize conventions of storytelling that only video games can deliver on and use these as a basis to create much less cinematic and much more interactive videogames.

 

Blah, most of that last bit seem like babble.

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Rofl, if you're 12 years old, then yesh, i suppose. :p. Nah, the story was alright, I'm just messin with ya.

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theres also something to be said for games that barely detail the story.

 

Ill use the original Zelda as an example. The bulk of the story is told at the title screen, so the rest is left up to your imagination, and also leaves you wanting sequel after sequel after sequel because you want to know more about the legend. Its marketing genius by Nintendo to leave Zelda's storyline so vague and sparse

 

Hard to believe that this

lozeq6.png

 

led to the frenzy over this

loz2xo6.png

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The Thief series is fantastically portrayed. It does use some — wonderfully painted — cutscenes, but the fun comes in reading all the notes around the levels, listening in on guards' conversations, and letting the level design tell you just what kind of place you're in.

 

On a similar note, the crew's audio logs in System Shock 2 are one of the greatest immersion devices I've ever come across. Cheery, chilling, confusing, contorting: empty corridors resound with voices of the dead, and you know what it is to live, and die, aboard the Von Braun.

 

As previously mentioned, Majora's Mask and Second Sight are also well told.

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I'm actually quite a big fan of story telling although I also play games that hardly have any story if gameplay and leveldesign is alright.

But I recently finished Geist and I still wonder why the story could really grip me.

So far I've come to the conclusion that if the story leaves some mysteries open you want to progress to solve said mysteries. Although the final boss battle in Geist really pissed me off I wanted to beat him to see the ending. I wanted to know what happens to the characters, what will be after I defeat the main villian.

So it's important that the characters are very well portrait because if you don't feel connected to them you won't try to rescue them or whatever the task is.

Then it's also important how the cutscenes are done. If it's just two people standing there talking the story can be good but would most likely still be not gripping because the action is missing.

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The Thief series is fantastically portrayed. It does use some — wonderfully painted — cutscenes, but the fun comes in reading all the notes around the levels, listening in on guards' conversations, and letting the level design tell you just what kind of place you're in.

 

On a similar note, the crew's audio logs in System Shock 2 are one of the greatest immersion devices I've ever come across. Cheery, chilling, confusing, contorting: empty corridors resound with voices of the dead, and you know what it is to live, and die, aboard the Von Braun.

 

As previously mentioned, Majora's Mask and Second Sight are also well told.

 

I need to play system shock 2 i reckon...

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As well as all the obvious ones mentioned already, Grim Fandango has a fantastic story that is original, witty, emotional and genuinely entertaining. I think it's one of those rare gems that actually has serious potential to be made into a movie.

 

Also, Tetris.

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I thought Shenmue was really nice, even though some of the voices and stuff made me laugh cause they were so silly. Still, really nice.

 

 

And yes, Majora's Mask. Great game, great atmosphere. I love all the things going on with all the people. It's just great. =D

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Eternal Darkness

MGS 3

Zelda: Majora's Mask

Sotc

Killer 7

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

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Also, Tetris.

My favourite part was when the long one came in down the side and knocked out four whole lines... it was such an unexpected twist.

 

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As well as all the obvious ones mentioned already, Grim Fandango has a fantastic story that is original, witty, emotional and genuinely entertaining. I think it's one of those rare gems that actually has serious potential to be made into a movie.

There were (fake) rumours doing the rounds in July about Tim Burton taking Grim Fandango to the big screen. That would've been amazing...

 

I feel I should give this a special mention: Shadow of the Colossus's ending is a thing of beauty.

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