Hi Gamers,
I reckon that video games have artistic merit, and they can be favourably compared to great works of art in other mediums. They can also not be artistically orientated but still qualify as great games, like Tetris. Roger Ebert was wrong and lazy in his famously crude assessment of the games medium. With that said, video gaming suffers from a general lack of good storytelling and writing. You might argue that the same criticism could be applied to other artistic mediums, however I reckon the level of paucity of original, creative stories and an inability to tell them in the games medium, sets it apart from the others.
Without wanting to get into too much of a debate around the definition of art, aesthetics, the rules of writing, three act structures and Aristotelian unities, when I think "good storytelling" I think things like creativity or imagination, originality, stylistic confidence, the ability to communicate an idea, empathetic characters, depth, and the ability to construct and balance an overall narrative. All mediums have an opportunity to tell stories, often in different ways with different strengths, and often in very similar ways. For example, whether you are having a passive experience by observing another's actions in a film, or you are having a more immersive experience by performing the character actions in a game, writers in both mediums have the opportunity to reveal character personalities and relationships using similar devices.
I often find that the most affective writing in a game is the type that makes you feel as if you are creating the story yourself. The ICO and Souls games are good examples. Their stories depend largely on beautifully crafted, complex world designs with heavily implied histories, and allow the player to reveal these details as they progress through the world. Cut scenes on the other end of the spectrum are a way to introduce traditional cinematic techniques, however these are often intrusive, with tedious exposition told by shallow characters, or used as an excuse to show off graphical flourishes. Used sparringly cut scenes can really add to the experience but when used poorly they can really detract from the experience.
Poor characterisation is a common thing in gaming. It's somewhat understandable when the character you control is underdeveloped - the assumption being that the player can fill in the gaps. It can also be played to a storytelling advantage, as in Dead Space or Dark Souls where your quip-free husk becomes at one with the cold, bleak environments. But one-dimensional characters, hollywood cliches, terrible dialogue poorly delivered and bad acting are rife in video game stories. However gaming is not always shit at this. Trico from The Last Guardian is one of the greatest experiences I've had with a character in any medium and demonstrates the potential for video games to allow players to interact, emote and relate to characters in original ways. Bioshock has similarly sublime character writing.
Games are often badly paced and over long and are not designed to contain a well rounded complete story, and calls for shorter, more focused naratives in games are usually met with arguments relating to "value for money". And this is where it perhaps gets tricky because gamers seem to want to view a game, first and foremost, as a product to be consumed, not as a work of art to be experienced. I wonder if we can we even talk about gaming as a serious storytelling medium when the main target demographic is so limited. Perhaps any discussion is bound by the unreasonable need some have for their junky, pop entertainment to be validated as artistically credible. Much in the same way that Marvel fans went against Scorsese for the claim to cinema (they are possibly the same demographic).
I was inspired after seeing this video of everyones least favourite Zelda enemy:
Although I disagree with his view of Schindler's list as gold standard cinema (I think it an enjoyable movie but not good art), I think what he says about art vs commerce, the pomposity and entitlement that game directors have, the likening of things like TLOU2 to superhero movies, are good observations. I haven't played The Last Of Us 2 but I have played the first one. Whilst at times the writing is good in terms of the character relationships and the deer hunt section is an exceptional, beautiful experience that only gaming could do, I found the kidnapping plot to be sub-Taken 2 levels of drivel, with schlock villains and a cheap torture porn aesthetics. When you compare this storytelling to other mediums for example Cormac Mcarthy's The Road or Michael Haneke's Time of The Wolf, video games start to look amateurish and tacky.
Despite being the most skilled gamer on redcafe (joke*) my knowledge of the medium is somewhat limited to retro stuff and a few of the more popular modern indie and mainstream titles. So maybe I have it all wrong and there is a trove of great stories buried in the medium. Anyway give me your titles or takes.
Some good storytelling:
Bioshock 1 and Minerva's Den
Portal 2
Undertale
Brothers
Dark Souls Series
Monkey Islands
Nier Automata
TLDR: Just give me a fecking list of games with good stories. Is gaminga sport art.
*not a joke.
I reckon that video games have artistic merit, and they can be favourably compared to great works of art in other mediums. They can also not be artistically orientated but still qualify as great games, like Tetris. Roger Ebert was wrong and lazy in his famously crude assessment of the games medium. With that said, video gaming suffers from a general lack of good storytelling and writing. You might argue that the same criticism could be applied to other artistic mediums, however I reckon the level of paucity of original, creative stories and an inability to tell them in the games medium, sets it apart from the others.
Without wanting to get into too much of a debate around the definition of art, aesthetics, the rules of writing, three act structures and Aristotelian unities, when I think "good storytelling" I think things like creativity or imagination, originality, stylistic confidence, the ability to communicate an idea, empathetic characters, depth, and the ability to construct and balance an overall narrative. All mediums have an opportunity to tell stories, often in different ways with different strengths, and often in very similar ways. For example, whether you are having a passive experience by observing another's actions in a film, or you are having a more immersive experience by performing the character actions in a game, writers in both mediums have the opportunity to reveal character personalities and relationships using similar devices.
I often find that the most affective writing in a game is the type that makes you feel as if you are creating the story yourself. The ICO and Souls games are good examples. Their stories depend largely on beautifully crafted, complex world designs with heavily implied histories, and allow the player to reveal these details as they progress through the world. Cut scenes on the other end of the spectrum are a way to introduce traditional cinematic techniques, however these are often intrusive, with tedious exposition told by shallow characters, or used as an excuse to show off graphical flourishes. Used sparringly cut scenes can really add to the experience but when used poorly they can really detract from the experience.
Poor characterisation is a common thing in gaming. It's somewhat understandable when the character you control is underdeveloped - the assumption being that the player can fill in the gaps. It can also be played to a storytelling advantage, as in Dead Space or Dark Souls where your quip-free husk becomes at one with the cold, bleak environments. But one-dimensional characters, hollywood cliches, terrible dialogue poorly delivered and bad acting are rife in video game stories. However gaming is not always shit at this. Trico from The Last Guardian is one of the greatest experiences I've had with a character in any medium and demonstrates the potential for video games to allow players to interact, emote and relate to characters in original ways. Bioshock has similarly sublime character writing.
Games are often badly paced and over long and are not designed to contain a well rounded complete story, and calls for shorter, more focused naratives in games are usually met with arguments relating to "value for money". And this is where it perhaps gets tricky because gamers seem to want to view a game, first and foremost, as a product to be consumed, not as a work of art to be experienced. I wonder if we can we even talk about gaming as a serious storytelling medium when the main target demographic is so limited. Perhaps any discussion is bound by the unreasonable need some have for their junky, pop entertainment to be validated as artistically credible. Much in the same way that Marvel fans went against Scorsese for the claim to cinema (they are possibly the same demographic).
I was inspired after seeing this video of everyones least favourite Zelda enemy:
Although I disagree with his view of Schindler's list as gold standard cinema (I think it an enjoyable movie but not good art), I think what he says about art vs commerce, the pomposity and entitlement that game directors have, the likening of things like TLOU2 to superhero movies, are good observations. I haven't played The Last Of Us 2 but I have played the first one. Whilst at times the writing is good in terms of the character relationships and the deer hunt section is an exceptional, beautiful experience that only gaming could do, I found the kidnapping plot to be sub-Taken 2 levels of drivel, with schlock villains and a cheap torture porn aesthetics. When you compare this storytelling to other mediums for example Cormac Mcarthy's The Road or Michael Haneke's Time of The Wolf, video games start to look amateurish and tacky.
Despite being the most skilled gamer on redcafe (joke*) my knowledge of the medium is somewhat limited to retro stuff and a few of the more popular modern indie and mainstream titles. So maybe I have it all wrong and there is a trove of great stories buried in the medium. Anyway give me your titles or takes.
Some good storytelling:
Bioshock 1 and Minerva's Den
Portal 2
Undertale
Brothers
Dark Souls Series
Monkey Islands
Nier Automata
TLDR: Just give me a fecking list of games with good stories. Is gaming
*not a joke.
)
). A common complaint is that MGS tries too hard to be a film but you always have these little moments that just draw attention to how the medium is different from a film and celebrates that.