Gaming PlayStation 5

[caid]

That’s genuinely a mental opinion to me. From games are literally all about gameplay. Stories are so incredibly weird and abstract. What great story (in any medium) only involve combat? You moan about this set pieces and cinematic moments but you have to have something to actually tell the story other than just killing one dude, then another on repeat.

I like them for the world. You learn about the world by exploring it, by seeing the decay, by meeting the inhabitants - who dont regurgitate their life story and motivations in a long cutscene on meeting them, they just exist doing whatever it is they do. Show dont tell.
I've been playing games for 35+ years and in terms of memorable stories i think i'd struggle to make it past half a dozen. Last of Us, Half Life, System Shock ... struggling already ... Final Fantasy had a few good stories.
I remember experiences, i remember worlds and far, far too many to list. I'll remember Dark Souls and Bloodborne forever. Guardians of the Galaxy has a pretty good storyline and good characters and i'll have forgotten it in 6 months.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

I like them for the world. You learn about the world by exploring it, by seeing the decay, by meeting the inhabitants - who dont regurgitate their life story and motivations in a long cutscene on meeting them, they just exist doing whatever it is they do. Show dont tell.
I've been playing games for 35+ years and in terms of memorable stories i think i'd struggle to make it past half a dozen. Last of Us, Half Life, System Shock ... struggling already ... Final Fantasy had a few good stories.
I remember experiences, i remember worlds and far, far too many to list. I'll remember Dark Souls and Bloodborne forever. Guardians of the Galaxy has a pretty good storyline and good characters and i'll have forgotten it in 6 months.

The truly great games hit both for me. Experiences in the world, and top-class storytelling/cutscenes too. Red Dead, Red Dead 2, Infamous, Ezio story on Assassins Creed, GOW, The Witcher, all left a lasting impression on me with the stories they told and the characters they created. I like games that tell me a story and let my imagination fill in the blanks, for me I cant do that in a from game where the only avenue of story is combat.

 

[caid]

The truly great games hit both for me. Experiences in the world, and top-class storytelling/cutscenes too. Red Dead, Red Dead 2, Infamous, Ezio story on Assassins Creed, GOW, The Witcher, all left a lasting impression on me with the stories they told and the characters they created. I like games that tell me a story and let my imagination fill in the blanks, for me I cant do that in a from game where the only avenue of story is combat.

Didn't rate some of them and didn't play others. I think God of War has a relatively strong cinematic storyline but thats primarily because I think the standard is dogshit. In any other medium it'd be a saturday morning kids tv show or some equivalent. It felt like watching Thundercats or something. The Last of Us probably peaks slightly above something like Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I can get into stuff like that but they're so, so rare. When i say Guardians of the Galaxy is pretty good it'd be a tv show i turned off after 20 mins, its tolerable.
Theres just a lot of obstacles to making an actual game that people can and will interact with while telling a good story, or at least a cinematic one. I think the storyline of Portal is incredible, but its plot is you wake up in a facility and have to escape > you escape, its a simple premise and the experience of playing the game defines the story.
So while the storyline of Metal Gear Solid 2 was (this is going to be a struggle) that Snake is trying to stop the Lalilulelo by sneaking onto a boat and disabling a Metal Gear before it reaches some place but its stolen by Revolver Ocelot who's being controlled by Liquid Snake's arm which he stitched onto his stump. And the presidents daughter needs to be rescued from Bowser and its all a training exercise and virtual reality etc. etc.
My version of that storyline was some dude snuck onto a boat full of guards, ran around with a box on his head and harrased and bullied the guards until they gave up their precious, precious dog tags. Used porn as bait, had a pretty great shootout with a russian lady, cool firefight in hallway, sneaking around **** meeting and trying to figure out how to get the dogtag from guy on platform, silly kojima nonsense, more silly kojima nonsense then lots of harrasing guards on an oil tanker. And vampires. 10/10 will play again.
People are talking about FZero in one of these gaming threads and the nostalgia of going back to it and their memories of playing it. It makes no attempt whatsoever to tell a story but people have their own stories associated with it.
Occasionally games do both brilliantly. Rockstar have made a few good attempts but I think most miss so miserably that maybe they should refocus elsewhere. Or rethink their approach. Making a hollywood movie with random intervals of mass violence lasting 15 mins and Chris Pratt completely ignoring me attacking him with a rocket launcher is just so weak

 

[Moby]

That’s genuinely a mental opinion to me. From games are literally all about gameplay. Stories are so incredibly weird and abstract. What great story (in any medium) only involve combat? You moan about this set pieces and cinematic moments but you have to have something to actually tell the story other than just killing one dude, then another on repeat.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

Didn't rate some of them and didn't play others. I think God of War has a relatively strong cinematic storyline but thats primarily because I think the standard is dogshit. In any other medium it'd be a saturday morning kids tv show or some equivalent. It felt like watching Thundercats or something. The Last of Us probably peaks slightly above something like Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I can get into stuff like that but they're so, so rare. When i say Guardians of the Galaxy is pretty good it'd be a tv show i turned off after 20 mins, its tolerable.
Theres just a lot of obstacles to making an actual game that people can and will interact with while telling a good story, or at least a cinematic one. I think the storyline of Portal is incredible, but its plot is you wake up in a facility and have to escape > you escape, its a simple premise and the experience of playing the game defines the story.
So while the storyline of Metal Gear Solid 2 was (this is going to be a struggle) that Snake is trying to stop the Lalilulelo by sneaking onto a boat and disabling a Metal Gear before it reaches some place but its stolen by Revolver Ocelot who's being controlled by Liquid Snake's arm which he stitched onto his stump. And the presidents daughter needs to be rescued from Bowser and its all a training exercise and virtual reality etc. etc.
My version of that storyline was some dude snuck onto a boat full of guards, ran around with a box on his head and harrased and bullied the guards until they gave up their precious, precious dog tags. Used porn as bait, had a pretty great shootout with a russian lady, cool firefight in hallway, sneaking around **** meeting and trying to figure out how to get the dogtag from guy on platform, silly kojima nonsense, more silly kojima nonsense then lots of harrasing guards on an oil tanker. And vampires. 10/10 will play again.
People are talking about FZero in one of these gaming threads and the nostalgia of going back to it and their memories of playing it. It makes no attempt whatsoever to tell a story but people have their own stories associated with it.
Occasionally games do both brilliantly. Rockstar have made a few good attempts but I think most miss so miserably that maybe they should refocus elsewhere. Or rethink their approach. Making a hollywood movie with random intervals of mass violence lasting 15 mins and Chris Pratt completely ignoring me attacking him with a rocket launcher is just so weak

I do see your point and you’re right in many ways that the medium of video games doesn’t allow for stories that are too long or complex because the moment to moment action/gameplay is much slower than on a TV show etc. What video games can do better than TV and Movies for me though is building characters into those stories. As the player you have a truly unique attachment to those characters especially when you play with them. The games I mentioned all have pretty legendary protagonists who I will remember far more than say the main guy from the walking dead (can’t even recall his name).

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

Come on Moby this isn’t the football forum, you can do better than that.

 

[Moby]

Come on Moby this isn’t the football forum, you can do better than that.

Don't think so bro, there's way too much to be explained here and I don't think I have the patience.

Maybe start here: https://www.youtube.com/c/VaatiVidya the go to guy for souls storytelling.

Or this book written based on the story of Bloodborne: https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1JL5acskAT_2t062HILImBkV8eXAwaqOj611mSjK-vZ8/mobilebasic

But otherwise, there's not much to help if someone says there's no story in these games because there's no kid narrating it for half the game like a fairy tale being narrated to a toddler. Their loss.

 

[Volumiza]

It’s only 09:09 and I’ve had my surprise of the day already! Guardians of the Galaxy is actually good fun. Not groundbreaking in any way but fun nonetheless.

 

[gormless]

It’s only 09:09 and I’ve had my surprise of the day already! Guardians of the Galaxy is actually good fun. Not groundbreaking in any way but fun nonetheless.

Really enjoyable game. Not something I will ever return to replay wise, but it’s been a right laugh so far

 

[Berbasbullet]

Finally defeated Phrike in Returnal, had to get a random stranger from USA to hold my hand actually starting to get really into this and think as a co op game with a good mate it's a really good game to play.

 

[TsuWave]

Finally defeated Phrike in Returnal, had to get a random stranger from USA to hold my hand actually starting to get really into this and think as a co op game with a good mate it's a really good game to play.

one of the best games this generation. Housemarque are god's at this making videogames stuff. no misses.

 

[Berbasbullet]

one of the best games this generation. Housemarque are god's at this making videogames stuff. no misses.

It's not usually my cup of tea but im proper getting into it now! I like the lack of hand holding

 

[Stacks]

As someone who came into GOW having never played the previous games, knowing nothing about the lore or world and basically nothing about the gameplay, I was genuinely shocked how much I enjoyed it. That to me was almost its biggest selling point. I pick up so many games and drop them quickly. GOW just had a way of keeping me hooked. To be fair I don’t remember the ending much so I guess that’s a fair criticism but I think at the end of the day they just combined exceptional cinematography and gameplay in a way very few games can match even now. I reckon that’s why it’s so highly rated. I’ve done everything I can to get into the souls games (including Elden Ring) and I just cannot get them to work for me. Not enough story, not enough structure. I wouldn’t want them to sacrifice the cinematic elements of GOW just to put in more challenging bosses.

Agree with this, never played GOW but fell in love with it quickly.

you just convinced me to start GoW again. I first started it in Jan 2020 and got to the first boss. I stopped and haven't played again because I had just completed RDR2 and decided I could not bring myself to immerse myself into another long game. The time is right now

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

you just convinced me to start GoW again. I first started it in Jan 2020 and got to the first boss. I stopped and haven't played again because I had just completed RDR2 and decided I could not bring myself to immerse myself into another long game. The time is right now

Brilliant. Hope you get into it and enjoy it, I thought it was truly brilliant. Keep us updated on progress in here.

 

[Hoof the ball]

So..................was replaying RDR2 again and happened upon a big ass bear. Normally I'd run, or shoot it, but recently I saw a documentary about how if you stand still and show no fear, then the bear might disengage. Thought I'd give it a shot in-game, fully expecting to get mauled. The bear sprinted up to me and I kid you not, he stopped dead in his tracks yards from me, backed down and walked away.

There's levels to this shit. Insane amounts of detail that you find out four years after release.

 

[Moby]

So..................was replaying RDR2 again and happened upon a big ass bear. Normally I'd run, or shoot it, but recently I saw a documentary about how if you stand still and show no fear, then the bear might disengage. Thought I'd give it a shot in-game, fully expecting to get mauled. The bear sprinted up to me and I kid you not, he stopped dead in his tracks yards from me, backed down and walked away.

There's levels to this shit. Insane amounts of detail that you find out four years after release.

That's brilliant. This is one game I haven't deleted since I played just because there's endless ways to enjoy it. Don't mind giving it another go.

 

[BusbyMalone]

That’s genuinely a mental opinion to me. From games are literally all about gameplay. Stories are so incredibly weird and abstract. What great story (in any medium) only involve combat? You moan about this set pieces and cinematic moments but you have to have something to actually tell the story other than just killing one dude, then another on repeat.

You've said things like this before, and it's just not true. They DO have stories. The difference is, is that they just tell them differently to most games. There's more than one way to lay out a story and build lore. GoW does it in a very standard, seen-it-before, way. And it's...whatever. Fine. I don't like it, I think the game is wildly overrated, but many do and that's fine. And I'm not saying you have to like the way From games do it either. But just because you don't like it, it doesn't mean that it isn't there.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

You've said things like this before, and it's just not true. They DO have stories. The difference is, is that they just tell them differently to most games. There's more than one way to lay out a story and build lore. GoW does it in a very standard, seen-it-before, way. And it's...whatever. Fine. I don't like it, I think the game is wildly overrated, but many do and that's fine. And I'm not saying you have to like the way From games do it either. But just because you don't like it, it doesn't mean that it isn't there.

I’m not saying there isn’t a place for From games they have a huge following for a reason and I’d love to get into them. I do think the story is really minimal though. Maybe world story telling but I honestly couldn’t say what any of the games are really about. Maybe I’m too stupid or childish as others have put it to understand

 

[BusbyMalone]

I bought the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary collection the other day and have been playing that. I am wildly out of practice. I forgot how hard most of the older games were. I know they were made that way to get your money, but goddamn! Guile is kicking my arse.

 

[BusbyMalone]

I’m not saying there isn’t a place for From games they have a huge following for a reason and I’d love to get into them. I do think the story is really minimal though. Maybe world story telling but I honestly couldn’t say what any of the games are really about. Maybe I’m too stupid or childish as others have put it to understand

It's not a case of being stupid, you may just not like them - that's fine. Again, I really don't like GoW, but that's just me. It obviously has something going for it as it's a game that's held in high esteem. I just take issue with the "From games only got [insert one thing here] gong for it" Or it has no story. Yes, they are deliberately obtuse in how they tell that story and how the lore unfolds, but it's there. Again, it's just a different way of doing it, as opposed to an absence of it.

 

[caid]

I’m not saying there isn’t a place for From games they have a huge following for a reason and I’d love to get into them. I do think the story is really minimal though. Maybe world story telling but I honestly couldn’t say what any of the games are really about. Maybe I’m too stupid or childish as others have put it to understand

From are bad at story telling in their own way. They're too obscure. Too much of it is placed on item descriptions. They have their own problems.
They definitely have a story but its obscure, your never entirely sure whats going on (which is kind of intentional, the first dark souls is about a world and a history thats a lie built to trick you). Its interesting but if you dont really go out of your way to speculate and read up the wiki and watch youtube videos about bits of lore your not going to have a clear idea of whats going on. Which is ok in ways, i think the worlds themselves tell their own stories. But story wise they're going to be marmite, you either read up obsessively or not at all and have no real idea of whats going on.
I usually just go straight through and try and soak it up a bit. Maybe towards the end i'll start looking up videos about earlier bosses who seemed interesting or just scroll through inventory reading item descriptions but i try to keep it for second playthrough where i'll be more completionist and look up quest guides and things like that. Then i'd look up youtube video's or reddit where theres endless speculation and theories which is quite interesting and unique for gaming in many ways.
I found Elden Ring in particular really interesting lore wise, thats the one i got into above all others where i have a rough outline of whats going but not much more

 

[Schmiznurf]

I've played and finished Dark Souls and have barely any idea what the story was, I aint got time for the obscure placing of lore in wherever they hide it.

 

[caid]

I've played and finished Dark Souls and have barely any idea what the story was, I aint got time for the obscure placing of lore in wherever they hide it.

Yeah but you have your own stories about the hours and hours you spent fighting Ornstein and Smough, complete with Rocky training montages when you leveled up or upgraded some weapons. About seeing Queelag the first time, about how much you hate blightown and how anor londo archers can go feck themselves.
I mean the basic outline of the game is you're the prophesised undead, there to relink the fire.

 

[Schmiznurf]

Yeah but you have your own stories about the hours and hours you spent fighting Ornstein and Smough, complete with Rocky training montages when you leveled up or upgraded some weapons. About seeing Queelag the first time, about how much you hate blightown and how anor londo archers can go feck themselves.
I mean the basic outline of the game is you're the prophesised undead, there to relink the fire.

feck Blighttown.

 

[Hoof the ball]

I've played and finished Dark Souls and have barely any idea what the story was, I aint got time for the obscure placing of lore in wherever they hide it.

This, for me, is why Witcher 3 is such a gold standard.

Dark Souls story is meant to be found in the things and items they scatter around for you to find. Little pieces of information here and there to build a world and narrative. The Witcher 3, however, not only does this better by far, but it also builds a compelling story arc on top of all those things. They could have settled for Geralt finding items for world-building and narrative, but credit to CD Projekt Red; they didn't settle where FromSoftware did.

Souls games are brilliant gameplay experiences, but they're not emotional narratives. That'll hold Souls games back. They've taken to open worlds now, but honestly, it was unnecessary. It was just an empty open world. FromSoftware don't get criticism for this from critics, but they should.

 

[caid]

This, for me, is why Witcher 3 is such a gold standard.

Dark Souls story is meant to be found in the things and items they scatter around for you to find. Little pieces of information here and there to build a world and narrative. The Witcher 3, however, not only does this better by far, but it also builds a compelling story arc on top of all those things. They could have settled for Geralt finding items for world-building and narrative, but credit to CD Projekt Red; they didn't settle where FromSoftware did.

Souls games are brilliant gameplay experiences, but they're not emotional narratives. That'll hold Souls games back. They've taken to open worlds now, but honestly, it was unnecessary. It was just an empty open world. FromSoftware don't get criticism for this from critics, but they should.

Witcher 3 had a great story but i found the game very mediocre. I mean theres a few storylines in gaming that are outstanding like Disco Elysium which stands up well vs any other medium but the game portion of it is a bit limited and there isn't much of note outside the story line. Theres a bunch of visual novel kind of games too and they're interesting but they kind of feel like a very different thing to the God of Wars of the industry.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

I've played and finished Dark Souls and have barely any idea what the story was, I aint got time for the obscure placing of lore in wherever they hide it.

I agree. While there may be a story there, the way the Soulborne games tell it, for me, is not very interesting and engrossing. I absolutely love these games but it's mainly for the challenge, gameplay, mood, bosses etc Sekiro is one of the best games of this past generation and IMO the absolute pinnacle of mele combat in gaming. The story... is.. alright.. whatever. Cool custcenes, good lore but it's the gameplay that was phenomenal. I know many people do dig the story or something but it's not for me.

Yeah but you have your own stories about the hours and hours you spent fighting Ornstein and Smough, complete with Rocky training montages when you leveled up or upgraded some weapons. About seeing Queelag the first time, about how much you hate blightown and how anor londo archers can go feck themselves.
I mean the basic outline of the game is you're the prophesised undead, there to relink the fire.

That's not narrative or story for me. That's gaming experiences. Like the chilling yet beautiful feeling in Subnautica where you enter a new biome. I agree that it can be more powerful than a narrative. But the story or narrative, it's not. For Sunbautica that is the events that are, did or will occur in the plot.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

This, for me, is why Witcher 3 is such a gold standard.

That it is

 

[amolbhatia50k]

And you don't need cutscenes per say for a great story. I'd argue that Outer Wilds has a brilliant story and it's told very differently. Anyone who has played it will understand. But not felt that personally about FS games ever.

Then again Outer Wilds is among the greatest games ever made IMO

 

[caid]

I agree. While there may be a story there, the way the Soulborne games tell it, for me, is not very interesting and engrossing. I absolutely love these games but it's mainly for the challenge, gameplay, mood, bosses etc Sekiro is one of the best games of this past generation and IMO the absolute pinnacle of mele combat in gaming. The story... is.. alright.. whatever. Cool custcenes, good lore but it's the gameplay that was phenomenal. I know many people do dig the story or something but it's not for me.


That's not narrative or story for me. That's gaming experiences. Like the chilling yet beautiful feeling in Subnautica where you enter a new biome. I agree that it can be more powerful than a narrative. But the story or narrative, it's not. For Sunbautica that is the events that are, did or will occur in the plot.

Its definitely not narrative no, I'll go back to saying they have their own shortcomings. I think part of the mood they create and the experience is kind of informed by the mystery, obscurity and weirdness though. I think it'd be a terrible mistake on their part to fill in the blanks with long cutscenes around bosses.

And you don't need cutscenes per say for a great story. I'd argue that Outer Wilds has a brilliant story and it's told very differently. Anyone who has played it will understand. But not felt that personally about FS games ever.

Then again Outer Wilds is among the greatest games ever made IMO

Outer Wilds is probably a much better example of what im trying to say than From. Its cinematic storytelling I'm trying to criticise.

 

[Volumiza]

And you don't need cutscenes per say for a great story. I'd argue that Outer Wilds has a brilliant story and it's told very differently. Anyone who has played it will understand. But not felt that personally about FS games ever.

Then again Outer Wilds is among the greatest games ever made IMO

Firewatch is a great example of a fantastic story told without cutscenes. Everybody’s gone to the rapture too.

 

[Moby]

Firewatch is a great example of a fantastic story told without cutscenes

Love that game.

 

[Volumiza]

Love that game.

One of my faves. A great reminder that it’s not all about graphics and cutscenes. Storytelling of the highest order and a shame we can’t have more games as good at scene setting.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

It wouldn’t be for everyone but personally a dream game for me would be Souls/Elden ring style gameplay with Bethesda/Skyrim like narrative and world building. That’s kind of what I hoped they would do with Elden ring with it being a new IP and all that but really it should be called Dark Souls 4 because it’s clearly the exact same premise. For me it’s too obscure and I think then ultimately leads me to lose interest in the rest of the world, battles etc. Hell even in a game like Returnal I think they did a better job of the whole, weird obscure story thing, I actually did want to find out what was happening there.

 

[caid]

I think Skyrim had its day 15 years ago and just wouldn't be good enough today. I think if their next game is a minor upgrade on Skyrim it'll get panned. The voice acting, animations and characters were clunky and a bit cheap and dead inside even then. I think a lot of the stories were buried in scraps of paper in a cave in a random corner of the map (almost like elden ring ). I loved the game 15 years ago enough to play it for about 500 hours or something crazy but it's been surpassed by huge distances in the mean time. Witcher 3 being the most obvious case.

I adored Elden Rings world. Honestly i've probably watched 30+ hours of youtube or reddit rabbit holes associated with it. I've probably spent an hour or two scrolling through my inventory to read item descriptions semi often when playing the game. Its a terrible way of delivering a story but my god is it an interesting world. Its dense and honestly a lot of it requires you to fill in the blanks yourself, it can be interpreted very differently depending on your view. But i think thats kind of interesting. You kind of piece together a narrative yourself and then you hear how someone else interpreted different parts and find 'oh thats quite an interesting way to look at it, i didn't think of that' and you kind of stitch together this weird quilt out of the bits the game gives you, how you want to view it yourself and other bits you steal from other people. And lots of guessing based on being familiar with GRRM and Miyazaki.

I kind of like the consistency of from's worlds too. Like they have in an universe explanation for how you can die and come back to life at a nearby bonfire or site of grace for instance and that kind of extends out to every element of the game. So secrets of the gameworld are secret and are buried at the bottom of an optional crypt miles out of the way, they're not hand delivered to you. Random townsfolk miles from the capital have no opinion on the King, they've never seen the king, they've never seen the capital for that matter in a lot of cases. The only people who know anything about the king have an in universe reason to know about him.
I guess i'm overlooking that his hat knows quite a bit about him and has a long message attached to it. Thats a definite weakness, its basically the elder scrolls book in a cave with a diary of the vampires plan to takeover nearby town. I dont know, beating them in a boss fight feels like a good time to reveal a few bits of lore from a gamey point of view and their weapons or armor telling you something about them feels a passable explanation.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

I think Skyrim had its day 15 years ago and just wouldn't be good enough today. I think if their next game is a minor upgrade on Skyrim it'll get panned. The voice acting, animations and characters were clunky and a bit cheap and dead inside even then. I think a lot of the stories were buried in scraps of paper in a cave in a random corner of the map (almost like elden ring ). I loved the game 15 years ago enough to play it for about 500 hours or something crazy but it's been surpassed by huge distances in the mean time. Witcher 3 being the most obvious case.

I adored Elden Rings world. Honestly i've probably watched 30+ hours of youtube or reddit rabbit holes associated with it. I've probably spent an hour or two scrolling through my inventory to read item descriptions semi often when playing the game. Its a terrible way of delivering a story but my god is it an interesting world. Its dense and honestly a lot of it requires you to fill in the blanks yourself, it can be interpreted very differently depending on your view. But i think thats kind of interesting. You kind of piece together a narrative yourself and then you hear how someone else interpreted different parts and find 'oh thats quite an interesting way to look at it, i didn't think of that' and you kind of stitch together this weird quilt out of the bits the game gives you, how you want to view it yourself and other bits you steal from other people. And lots of guessing based on being familiar with GRRM and Miyazaki.

I kind of like the consistency of from's worlds too. Like they have in an universe explanation for how you can die and come back to life at a nearby bonfire or site of grace for instance and that kind of extends out to every element of the game. So secrets of the gameworld are secret and are buried at the bottom of an optional crypt miles out of the way, they're not hand delivered to you. Random townsfolk miles from the capital have no opinion on the King, they've never seen the king, they've never seen the capital for that matter in a lot of cases. The only people who know anything about the king have an in universe reason to know about him.
I guess i'm overlooking that his hat knows quite a bit about him and has a long message attached to it. Thats a definite weakness, its basically the elder scrolls book in a cave with a diary of the vampires plan to takeover nearby town. I dont know, beating them in a boss fight feels like a good time to reveal a few bits of lore from a gamey point of view and their weapons or armor telling you something about them feels a passable explanation.

Most games become obsolete. That's just how it goes. I find Skyrim a bit overrated (albeit was excellent for its time) but eventually someone will do that much better owing to standards in technology and progression in the medium. That's why the context of when a game released is important.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Its definitely not narrative no, I'll go back to saying they have their own shortcomings. I think part of the mood they create and the experience is kind of informed by the mystery, obscurity and weirdness though. I think it'd be a terrible mistake on their part to fill in the blanks with long cutscenes around bosses.

It would just be a different kind of game. For Dark Souls or Bloodborne, yes, longer cutscenes wouldn't work, and their vague / straight to business system works.

Outer Wilds is probably a much better example of what im trying to say than From. Its cinematic storytelling I'm trying to criticise.

Fair enough. I think it has an important place in gaming now.

A game like Snake Eater was one of the most incredible experiences as a young gamer for me.

 

[caid]

Most games become obsolete. That's just how it goes. I find Skyrim a bit overrated (albeit was excellent for its time) but eventually someone will do that much better owing to standards in technology and progression in the medium. That's why the context of when a game released is important.

Yeah i agree with the context being important. Skyrim was a great game and I think its place in the history of gaming is kind of guaranteed to a certain extent. I'm sceptical about the next one is all. It'll need to be a pretty significant leap forward just to be good and I'm not convinced Bethesda have it in them to make a great game at the moment.

 

[RacingClub]

It’s only 09:09 and I’ve had my surprise of the day already! Guardians of the Galaxy is actually good fun. Not groundbreaking in any way but fun nonetheless.

I downloaded it a couple of days ago (and was initially apprehensive) and one of the first chapters had a cutscene with "Every1's A Winner" by Hot Chocolate blaring as you hurtle through space ... Loved it ever since. Great Fun.

 

[Moby]

Glad we were able to discuss a bunch of games with great storytelling and the list didn't include GoW.