Storytelling in games

[LuckyPupil]

With improved graphics, audio, live capture and movie writers writing games, story telling has taken a brand new position in gaming. Never before has story been so important in video games and been so good. What impresses me the most is how believable scenarios are because of good acting and scripts. Some of the best storytelling I've seen have been in Red Dead Redemption and all three of the Bioshock games.

What are your thoughts on storytelling and what's the best writing in a game you've played?

 

[OniBlackMage]

Now, let's keep in mind that writing and storytelling are two completely different things. Script writing has been all over the place for every generation, so technology has no effect on that. Also, story telling is like how you can have the same exact story told by 10 different people, and you will get 10 different experiences. good and bad.

As such, the improvement of technology has had little to no impact on the QUALITY of story telling so much as the MANNER of story telling. That is, while its now possible to have graphics in which people can emote in such emphatic ways, that doesn't mean your story is any better than one that tell its story through inanimate objects or animals. Better audio and voice acting can have significant impact on creating ambiance and atmosphere, as well as correspond emotions with sound cues, but at the same time, you can also accomplish more with less sound in general.

Finally, you have the audience and their expectations and preferences. People like some personal ratio on their storytelling, based on not only their own impact on it, big or small, and a balance of audio, visual, and tactile (what they hear, see, and do). Me, I personally prefer games that offer personal choices that matter, and doing in an immersive, tactile way. After that. I care about the audio of the game, both soundtrack, audio cues, and voice acting, if any. Then Visuals and aesthetics. Graphics are low on the list, but I like it more if they flesh out worlds, especially if they use an uncommon or unusual art style.

 

[LuckyPupil]

Well said I should've been careful to differentiate the two. The only point I'm trying to make is that the improved tech has made it easier to get immersed and frankly, impressed with a game. Storytelling is all about how well you can get your audience to feel the emotions you're trying to translate. Pokemon games are probably the cleanest example so let's compare Pokemon Blue to Pokemon White. Both tell a similar story but the generational improvements involved in Pokemon White makes it a more coherent game. Of course this isn't always true because there are definitely older games that outdo newer games in the story department. It's also vastly all about opinion. Some other examples of stunning storytelling is Limbo an XBLA game and Badland an iOS game, both are very simple games with no dialogue yet are completely immersive and moving.
I just think that most of the time, generational improvements help drag a player in easier.

 

[dannyboy]

I like storytelling in video games and I think it adds an important element to the games that is enjoyable. This is a major reason why I love the Hitman gaming series. After you completed every mission, the storyline would advance and the game would present a new story for each passing mission. It was really good stuff.

 

[Pandsu]

Storytelling in video games is still so full of untapped potential.
Games have the potential to tell stories in a way that a book does and many do, even more games go the Movie/TV Show like route and, especially with good actors and mo-cap and whatnot, some games are pretty good at that too. The Last of Us for instance. That game didn't have any especially great story. Nothing we haven't seen before. Most of it actually sounds pretty boring and incredibly generic if you just tell someone about it. But it was the way it was written and played, plus how well the actors' performances were implemented that made it great.

But on top of that there is so much more that you can do. Like telling an emotionally gripping story without using even a single word of dialog (like in Limbo, as mentioned before). Journey is another great example of that.
There's also games like Thirty Flights of Loving. Or Gone Home (which I haven't played yet). Or Dear Esther. All of which use our medium as an interactive way to tell a linear, unchanging story.

But games just have so many benefits that haven't been used yet - or at least not all too well - in my opinion. It's an interactive medium where the player actively participates in how their experience plays out. So if games took real advantage of that you could truly have experiences that wouldn't even remotely work if adapted into a different medium. Something where the player gets to truly shape the story. In a more immersive way than most games do it with their formulaic choices and whatnot.

 

[Medza]

Some games can tell a good story, but I think what's really important is making the player feel involved and be part of the story. I strongly thing that Dear Esther is a terrible game, because there is no player involvement, you just walk and that's it, but if you look at a game like Bastion, you will quickly see how good narrative can combine with some great gameplay to form a really good storytelling experience.

 

[TheMac]

The scenario doesn't even have to be too terribly believable for me to get immersed in it. A good story will make the player suspend disbelief. Red Dead Redemption drew me in so well and so completely that, when I played the Zombie Nightmare expansion, I completely bought the notion that zombies were ravaging the old west.

 

[BlackSolaris]

All this advance in technology and i still think the best story in a game is from Grim Fandango, which didn't age that well and could use a rerelease, something like a GoG support where they patch it all up and put it in the same package kind of deal. It's because you are able to tell such a story through means that would, in other ways, look bad that makes the story that good. And all the characters that you meet through out the game, the places you go, the writing, i think it's all a great thing to experience.

 

[lindbergh]

I think story telling in games is becoming better and better. Gaming has definitely evolved into something that rivals that of movies. A good story should be able to urge us to push through and play. There are a lot of games that impressed me with their stories like Metal Gear Solid 4, Ni No Kuni, Bioshock, Fallout, Mass Effect, and many others. Story lines and more spice to an already great game.

 

[crazyduck]

The stories in games are becoming more engaging to the gamer and enjoyable. A good story makes you continue playing a game, full stop. It doesn't so much matter about the graphics or any other aspects of the game, if a story has a good game you will play it. Why? Simply because the player feels involved and engaged in the game. I have played a few games, where the graphics were terrible but I kept playing them because the story was good.

 

[Esperahol]

I feel like storytelling has gotten better. I also feel that dev teams are really starting to understand that they can extend themselves without worrying they're going to lose all their gamers.

 

[lstryhrn]

Story telling of games now are big. Its a must for a game to be considered a great game. The story makes you want to keep playing. The best game have ever played was The Last of Us. The story line was awesome. I feel in love with the little girl on there. This made me want to keep playing the game. God of War had a great story as well.

 

[amazingone]

I feel like too many games are oriented around saving the world from destruction. I wish that game developers would increase their writing budgets and hire more creative writers. A lot of the dialogue in RPG's is so generic and boring that it's like reading a really bad book. And these games are replacing books for kids, how weird is that. I think storytelling is the aspect of games that has the largest room to grow.

 

[Joel]

Story telling has come a long way and its also hit bumps along the way as well. You have games like Uncharted, The Last of Us, Final Fantasy and any other of large titles that take excitement in their stories and spend a lot of time at the story board working out kinks and trying to make something engaging. You also have titles like Zombie Nation that doesn't go quite so in your face, but still does well to create a story off a bit of dialog though their mechanics are suited more for the arcade.

Older games possessed different forms of story telling. There's Ken and Ryu for example...why do these guys always have to fight each other? Are they related? In the 90's we had no idea but we do know that they'll kick each other back and forth with similar moves until one is down on the ground.

I feel like games have also taken steps back at times... Look at some smaller titles and try to pick up what they are trying to say and you'll find they spent too little time focused on the story. Army of Two is a title that comes to mind though not soley a playstation problem.

Stories will continue to get better I'm sure, but we'll have some flops along the way.

 

[corporatenoun]

Best writing is a toss-up between Heavy Rain and The Last of Us. FFVII also had a great story even if they didn't have the best technology to emulate it. These are the games that have the kind of writing that pushes you to keep playing, the kind of writing that sticks in your head when you're not playing because you so badly want to know what happens next.

Storytelling has become an important aspect for the artistic side of gaming. Sure, you will have your legions of people who buy an FPS just to play online, but because creating games is becoming an artistic medium that can be taken seriously, storytelling can take on a larger role.

 

[crazyduck]

Something which I must add now is that the stories in games are always far fetched. Like GTA's stories but they are still fun to play. Far Cry 2 has a good story that could actually be true, except he would die from Malaria a lot quicker probably.

 

[Jaymun]

The first bioshock had some of my favorite storytelling. It seemed like every room you entered had a story of its own to tell if you looked around enough. The whole world felt so immersive that even just things littered across a desk seemed to tell the story of what used to happen there.
I am excited to see where storytelling advances as other parts of games become more and more refined, because I do feel like for most games storytelling is way behind things like graphics in how far they've advanced, and I hope it changes

 

[Fleexie]

It depends on what kind of games it is.
Of course single player games need a good story. Else there would really be no point in playing them.

Online fps games doesn't really need good story as the closest you will get is probably a good co op campaign. But most online fps games are arena like or smaller objectives.

A game I think that have a good story is Mafia 2. I like how the story develops and it keeps the "mafia/gangster" theme throughout the story.

 

[Kidzukai]

I'm so bad when it comes to playing games for their story. I'm the kind of gamer that skips past scenes because I'm more committed to killing things, or looting things, or just finishing a game. The only reason why I know what's going on in Borderlands 2 is because I've played a few characters and leveled them up to 50. I get really impatient even in RPGs (my favorite genre) because I end up playing the game to see how over-powered I can get with the next set of gear available to my level.

 

[Reptar_On_Ice]

Story in video games is neat, but honestly I think I prefer it when it's told straight-up. Easy to follow. I like to multitask so sometimes the finer points of storytelling can get away from me. Although, with games like Dark Souls, I absolutely adore how they conveyed the story and lore in that game. I guess it really depends. As long as I don't have to pay super close attention during every cutscene, I'm alright with it, I suppose.