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59: The problem with story in video games

Not EVERY game needs one, and not every game should be expected to have one.

You know how it is, you see some dumbf*ck give Super Mario Galaxy a 7, points reducted because it dosen't have an in depth storyline. Hell I've even seen people do this with older games, and saying stupid sh*t along the lines of "being old is no excuse, the story is bad and there's no excuse, even if it's old".

Actually there is, you useless, imbred puss spewing fatass abomination against mankind. First off lets not confuse bad stories with stories that are just nonexistant.

Most older games are like this. And is that really a bad thing? No, it isn't, let me tell you why.

In depth storylines would kinda ruin the mystique of the Mario universe, the stories are simplistic and the characters have no backstory. Instead they require you to use your imagination. Are Mario and Peach a couple or is Mario just doing a job? Why is Bowser so persistant in getting Peach? Why can't Peach afford better security? Those are blanks people have to fill in, and more games should just leave stuff to the gamers imagination. Mario and Sonic are classic characters, they have no backstories, but neither does Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny. They're still way more interesting than a lot of video game characters with super complex backstories and a movie's worth of endless dialogue.

Don't you miss the days when games were just absurd as hell and there was no explaination for anything? I do. Does anybody really think Dig Dug needs dialogue and cutscenes?

Too many video games now try to be like movies, they give you long drawn out cutscenes that explain the plot, character backstory and the various events of the game. Admirable idea, but with the major exception of RPGs, big cutscenes usually just distract from the game rather than enhance it. Video games are not movies, and they shouldn't try to be.

I'm not saying games shouldn't have a story, but we gotta remember that games are interactive art. You don't need cutscenes to tell a story, you can just let the environment tell the story, or the actual events that unfold during the game. There are some games that do a pretty good job of that. Like Half Life.

Remember Sonic 3 & Knuckles and how cool it was that different events in the story occured during the gameplay? And how they even explained how you went from one level to the next? Without the need of dialogue? Why can't more games do that? In a way that's simple and coherent without having to have big cutscenes and NPCs explain even the most trivial parts of the game?

How about Star Fox 64? There was dialogue and cutscenes, but they happened during the game, and what I loved about it is how your actions in the game would influence what other characters would say, sure that's standard stuff now but it was revolutionary at the time. And unlike a lot of games now where you have to put up with the bitching of some NPCs, in StarFox if you had enough of Slippy's whining, you could just shoot his ass.

I loved how you could choose the progression of the story too, you didn't even have to beat some levels for the story to progress, if you failed a mission, it would just open up another chapter in the game. I'd like to see stuff like that expanded upon in newer games, Fable and Mass Effect have these kinda elements, but I want to see more of it.

You don't even need dialogue to have a good video game story. Some of the most powerful cutscenes from Zelda games have no dialogue at all. Hell Link dosen't even need to talk, and yet Wind Waker did a pretty remarkable job of developing his character.

You can write a whole book about Master Chiefs backstory, but does that make him a more interesting character than Mario or Sonic or Kirby, who have no backstories at all? No, it dosen't. Sometimes all a character needs is a little personality and the lack of backstory just adds to the mystique of that character. I really prefer it that they don't develop a playable character too much, because that way you could just imagine that you are that character.

When games have me playing a rugged space marine with some convoluted backstory, a lot of dialogue and some stupid romantic subplot jammed in there, it dosen't suck me into it, it just has me scratching my head, I can't really imagine being part of that universe at all, I don't feel like I'm that character, and that's a bad thing. It's too much like watching a movie than really feeling like you're a part of the game.

With Mario, you don't need story, the progression of the game is the story, and overall you really feel like you're a part of that world. And even though RPGs have big complex stories, they do the right thing by almost always making the main character a silent protagonist, that makes it easier to put you into the story, you can insert your personality into that character and imagine that character's dialogue instead of actually having to read it or hear it.

Again, I have nothing against stories in video games, I just think that developers should find more creative ways of telling these stories that don't include trying to imitate a movie. Let the actual events of the game do the storytelling.

Or better yet, let ME create the story. I want to see more video games like Mass Effect where just about everything you do has consequences on the story, if you kill a NPC for no reason, that shouldn't be game over, or having to start the mission again, it should open up a whole new story possibility for the game.

In other words, more game should be like choose your own adventure books. That's highly preferable to all the games that are basically sh*tty Uwe Boll movies that you have to sit through to get to the actual interactive parts of the game.

But yeah, people care way too much about stories in video games and some fail to realise that not every video game story has to be anything more than simple, especially games of the older era where stories merely set up the structure of the game. Anyone who reviews old NES and Arcade games and reduces points for lack of an intricate storyline is a goddamn f*cking idiot.

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