Castle Paradox

Sir_Phoenix_Drake · Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2003 11:13 pm Post subject: Storytelling techniques

I notice that a lot of people are looking for a deep FF7 story, that keeps the player at the edge of their seat. Some people seem to think that your story, for it to be good, has to be long, intricate, and perplexing.
But one thing I've noticed, in all of the game making career, it's that your story is imperative, but the way you tell it will either make or break it.
For example, take the film Armageddon. What's it about? An asteroid is getting ready to hit the earth, killing everyone, and a team of people are sent to stop it. That's it! Nothing too complex there.
But what made this movie a masterpiece? In my opinion, it was the theme, or the heart, of the story. The theme that ordinary people, with their differences, strengths and weaknesses, took on an impossible task to be heroes.
Take the PSOne games, Lunar SSSC and Grandia, for example. Their stories were much simpler than FF7, but these games captured the emotions and attention of the player just by using characters. They had people who were no more or less than you and me, and showed them overcome the evil that tried to consume and destroy the world. And to go out of the direct path of the story to show what the characters are thinking, what their feeling, the devastation and inner struggles they're enduring, that is what "makes" your story come alive.
Look at how we did Neo Krysta 3. I'm not saying it's any better or worse than any other OHR game, but what DID make it unique was that it focused more on what the characters were going through and how they responded to the devastating circumstances rather than just what's going on eventwise.
So when you develop your story for an OHR game, keep that in mind. Make your characters lovable. Make them people that you and the player can relate to. That, my friends, is what can take a story, great or small, and make it unforgettable.
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Inferior Minion · Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2003 11:50 pm Post subject: Re: Storytelling techniques

Shadowiii · **It's been real.** Joined: 14 Feb 2003 Posts: 2460

Final Fantasy 7 has a fantastic story? Well..it was good, but you basically have no idea what on earth is going on until the end.

A game with a GREAT story is Final Fantasy Tactics. You can't tell who is really good and who is really bad, just like real life. Another good game was Xenogears, because it focused more on character development.

Armageddon and Deep Impact were ok; I enjoyed Armageddon a lot but I HATED Deep Impact. The end, where the astronauts "blow up" the asteroid was just dumb. It wasn't emotional at all. They just flew in there and, "boof!" we win. I dunno, Armageddon was cooler.

Other great character driven movies are The Princess Bride, Grave of the Fireflies, and Metropolis.
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Uncommon · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2003 3:25 am Post subject:

Uncommon · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2003 3:26 am Post subject:

Stupid double-posting error things...

Rolling Stone · **Bastard Gunslinger** Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 494

A game doesn't need a story though. It helps, and while the only RPGs I would play without the stories are FF6 and FF Tactics (RPGs are SO monotonous these days, I always feel like I'm playing FF7 with skin mods), they're not needed for a great experience. I've spent more than a few hundred hours total playing Metal Gear VR Missions and the missions in MGS2:Substance, while I've probably spent less than half that playing the story driven games they're based on.

Good games with absolutely no real story are Sheep Rancher, 99% of Atari era games, a lot of NES games, racing games, fighting games, I Made Dis, Crazy Taxi, The Sims (Although there is a simple story to that, it's not entirely predefined). When I have to advance a plot I don't feel like a Player, I feel like a slave.

I like having some plot, because it helps me care about the characters as more than just pawns, but I'd rather make my own decisions. In Metal Gear Solid 2 I wanted to join Solidus Snake in his fight against the Patriots, but the game wouldn't let me, instead it forced me to kill a character I admired.

Gameplay should always come first, but depending on the genre, story should be close behind. RPGs of course suck with no story, hell this day and age RPGs just plain suck. Fighting games don't need'em, but it's so easy to write those big brawl melodramas that fit around the games that there's no excuse not to, Metal Gear is most fun without story, but I love Hideo Kojima's writing so much that I would hate it if MGS3 had none.

Story is a bonus to either keep non-gamers interested or to reward the gamers for their efforts. The real reward when I discovered how to beat the giant guard in Substance was that he stopped shooting at me with his eye lasers, but I still got a good chuckle out of his little "I found porn!" victory dance. MGS2 is so funny because the sadistic practical jokes you play are for one designed by you and give the thrill you earned yourself. Rather than a lot of games where the only humor comes from the story and none from the gameplay. Arfenhouse does have funny gameplay though, but the dialogue was the best part.
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Setu_Firestorm · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2003 9:58 pm Post subject:

Dude..! Do you still play the original Mario Bros.? Or Tetris? They are fun games, but if every game in existence was like that, they'd all SUCK!!!! Plain and simple. Some storyless games are still fun, but with no story, you thus have no direction to head your "gameplay-rich" game in, and you'd be better off with puzzle games.
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eldritch · Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2003 9:22 am Post subject:

I find the greatest problem nowadays is that most would-be storytellers don't have enough backstory or background. One thing that every good game has is history back to a point that changed or created the world. A starting nexus from which one should weave history.

FF6's War of the Magi, FF X's creation of Sin, Chrono Trigger's Lavos landing. All of these are excellent examples.

Has anyone ever thought to actually 'make' the world with a unique culture and history? Delving into the small but interesting background is what makes a game believable and fun. The Suikoden series and Xenogears have excellent examples.

No one can truly measure how much value placing something as seemingly insignificant as unique cuisine into a game can have. The storyline may be the backbone for the game and the battle system may make the rest of the skeleton, the characters are the flesh and blood, but all of that is meaningless without the 'skin' to package it. Culture and history make the game come to life beyond the scope of character interaction.
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Setu_Firestorm · Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2003 10:00 am Post subject:

Dude, your input is appreciated, but this thread's been long dead.
Just letting you know.
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LeRoy_Leo · Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2003 12:03 am Post subject:

*sits for 4 days or so, then answers*

Then make a new one... Cool

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