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Originally Posted by Baltimore Jones
I do not play video games for the stories. Even with the "story-heavy" (note the quotes) genres such as adventure games and RPGs, I don't play for the stories and if anything the stories get in the way.
I guess I don't truly either, but I've finished some games where I really felt like I was taken on a great ride. Love those opportunities even though (or maybe because) they're rare in the VG world.
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Portal is I agree one of the best games ever made (top 3 or so I'd say). Portal is a story in video game form done correctly, with a narrative revealed to you through environment, exploration and gameplay rather than through dialogue and cut-scenes. Portal 2 was a step in the wrong direction, trying to be more like a movie (a mediocre one) and less like a game.
Yeah I had that fight with someone in a SE WW game (clearly not a ton was going on that day). People forget one of the best things about Portal was that it took EVERYONE by surprise. Remember that Portal was just supposed to be a fun little add-on the The Orange Box so when you started play, you were in exactly the same mindset as the character: Hmm, this room is odd, guess I'll go do some fun puzzles.
Gradually, you start to see ****** in the armor. Why does GLaDOS seem to cold? Why is that real acid down there? Why is there blood on the walls and in places where I'm clearly not supposed to be able to reach? Why are those drones using live ammo? Is this crazy bitch trying to kill me???
I've always held Portal is the best example of story telling in gaming we've seen so far, but a big part of that is the fact that the game was an "unknown" at release. Sadly, GTA can't do anything like that.
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I'm not positive how you meant the comment about people saying "the story really let me down". Do you mean that many idiots consider Portal to have a disappointing bare bones story that should have been fleshed out more? If so, I agree with your disagreement with those people.
I worded that poorly. What I meant was that those are the
types of games where I'd expect people to be disappointed with the story. If you played Portal and loved it, then picked up Portal 2, I'd expect someone might say "This story isn't as good. Such a letdown" because a big part of Portal's charm was it's amazing story.
I don't view GTA the same way, which is where this all started. You didn't care for their story, I basically said who cares.
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Where you and I differ is that I can't just give Rockstar a pass and ignore the boring story **** that takes away from the fun. When all is said and done it may not matter, as I've said about RDR. But it's still an unfortunate issue that takes away from the experience, and it would be a better game if they went back to having crazy cut-scenes about fapping to Margaret Thatcher with Robert Loggia and Ray Liotta doing voices. There is that ludonarrative dissonance thing too.
Right, and that's fine. I'm not ever going to defend GTA4 as good story telling or even say that on some level it didn't add to my dislike of the game (Nico is the least relatable character ever), I just had issues with GTA4 such that I was turned off by the game long before I ever had time to wonder exactly how much the story-telling blew.
I hope they've learned from that mistake (and don't put the worlds most annoying cell phone in this game again...), but if they haven't, I hope the story at least stays out of it's own way long enough for me to be able to enjoy the simpler things in life: committing drive-bys with RPGs and killing hookers.
