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Sleeveless posted:"If there is anything I have learned in my travels across the Planes, it is that many things may change the nature of a man. Whether regret, or love, or revenge or fear - whatever you believe can change the nature of a man, can. I’ve seen belief move cities, make men stave off death, and turn an evil hag's heart half-circle. This entire Fortress has been constructed from belief. Belief damned a woman, whose heart clung to the hope that another loved her when he did not. Once, it made a man seek immortality and achieve it. And it has made a posturing spirit think it is something more than a part of me." Thank you. I'll try this again later when I want to go to sleep.
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Jan 3, 2015 03:13
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JebanyPedal posted:The lore is interesting, but the writing loving sucks, and not for the reasons you posted, it is stilted, unnatural, poorly characterized, and lifeless in tone. That's to be expected when the game world has the same old elves and orcs and dwarves (albeit extinct, if I remember right from when I tried Morrowind) and all the other boring, million-times copied tripe. I don't think that can inspire anyone to write with much enthusiasm. At least Morrowind had some interesting-looking scenery. I don't get why games are still stuck to the same old fantasy races (though often with a "~twist~"). The genre gives them license to bring wondrous and strange ideas and concepts to life... and nope, better go with the orcs and elves and all that once again, otherwise someone might have to use a tiny bit of actual imagination somewhere. That's why I can't get into the Dragon Age games either, I just feel like I've seen it a thousand times already. Dropbear has a new favorite as of 03:25 on Jan 3, 2015 |
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Jan 3, 2015 03:22
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Suitaru posted:Metroid Prime did the Dark Souls style of storytelling years earlier, and better. Read what you want, piece things together (eg. what the final boss actually is beyond The Title Of The Game) - or don't, just go explore and kill things, that's totally cool. Metroid Prime managed to give more character to people who didn't even appear than most games can manage with their main characters. Science Team was fantastic.
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Jan 3, 2015 03:24
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Cleretic posted:Metroid Prime managed to give more character to people who didn't even appear than most games can manage with their main characters. Science Team was fantastic. I love the dead troopers near the beginning of Echos. One of them is the only female member on the team and complains how Samus Aran wouldn't get stuck pulling guard duty. Another doesn't even think Samus exists.
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Jan 3, 2015 03:29
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Sentient Data posted:Dark Seed 2: mom's head explosion That was hilarious 
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Jan 3, 2015 03:53
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Dropbear posted:I don't get why games are still stuck to the same old fantasy races (though often with a "~twist~"). The genre gives them license to bring wondrous and strange ideas and concepts to life... and nope, better go with the orcs and elves and all that once again, otherwise someone might have to use a tiny bit of actual imagination somewhere. That's why I can't get into the Dragon Age games either, I just feel like I've seen it a thousand times already. It was a problem for me with Dragon Age as well, but I've always been fine with the Elder Scrolls doing it. Maybe it's just cause I played Morrowind first?
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Jan 3, 2015 03:55
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In Metroid Prime 3 I always appreciated how Retro just rolled with the zero suit and made it so everyone wore it and looked equally stupid in it, including the men.Neddy Seagoon posted:the Steampunk-floating-city planet was pretty awesome though Rezbits were cool. They turned your power armor off and you had to sit and wait for the OS to boot up again. 
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Jan 3, 2015 03:58
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Kavak posted:It was a problem for me with Dragon Age as well, but I've always been fine with the Elder Scrolls doing it. Maybe it's just cause I played Morrowind first? I like that elves are pretty diverse in the Elder Scrolls, and that dwarves are a mysterious, dead civilization. It's not terribly unique, but at least Bethesda is trying harder to do something than BioWare.
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Jan 3, 2015 04:10
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Suitaru posted:Metroid Prime did the Dark Souls style of storytelling years earlier, and better. Read what you want, piece things together (eg. what the final boss actually is beyond The Title Of The Game) - or don't, just go explore and kill things, that's totally cool. This was one of the many things metroid prime 3 hosed up actually. Except for the scans that are important enough to go in your logbook, they limited every scan to just 3 very short lines, which not only made them shorter but also forced them to use simpler language. The logbook scans were also shorter if I recall correctly. Another dumb thing is they made the lore scans appear "in order" for when you would generally bump into them over the course of the game, unlike the first two games where they would be out of order and up to you to piece together the context. Felt much more like like the world was just always there without you, not designed for you. Metroid prime 2 was the best in most ways in my opinion. I didn't think so my first time through, but now that I've played all of them several times I think it's the most consistently high quality all around. I used to be able to say a lot of things about why metroid prime 3 hosed up, but then Other M entered our world so now I have a hard time getting mad at metroid prime 3 in comparison.
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Jan 3, 2015 04:11
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Lumberjack Bonanza posted:I like that elves are pretty diverse in the Elder Scrolls, and that dwarves are a mysterious, dead civilization. It's not terribly unique, but at least Bethesda is trying harder to do something than BioWare. They actually retconned the dwarves in as a variety of elf in Morrowind, same with the orcs.
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Jan 3, 2015 04:16
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Dropbear posted:I don't get why games are still stuck to the same old fantasy races (though often with a "~twist~"). The genre gives them license to bring wondrous and strange ideas and concepts to life... and nope, better go with the orcs and elves and all that once again, otherwise someone might have to use a tiny bit of actual imagination somewhere. That's why I can't get into the Dragon Age games either, I just feel like I've seen it a thousand times already. I'd kill for a game set in the Malazan world. Advanced technology, sword-armed raptors? Let's do it.
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Jan 3, 2015 04:20
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Sleeveless posted:"If there is anything I have learned in my travels across the Planes, it is that many things may change the nature of a man. Whether regret, or love, or revenge or fear - whatever you believe can change the nature of a man, can. I’ve seen belief move cities, make men stave off death, and turn an evil hag's heart half-circle. This entire Fortress has been constructed from belief. Belief damned a woman, whose heart clung to the hope that another loved her when he did not. Once, it made a man seek immortality and achieve it. And it has made a posturing spirit think it is something more than a part of me." Means little out of context, and everything in context. I really need to reinstall this. Could be such a rough game to play combat-wise (without a walkthrough) but such an amazing story...
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Jan 3, 2015 04:53
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kazil posted:I'd kill for a game set in the Malazan world. Advanced technology, sword-armed raptors? Let's do it. And for the simpler-minded folk, whip out a gigantic ol' sword and declare "Witness." Content: in Fantasy Life, I appreciate that, after crafting something, your character reacts in four different ways to show the level of quality of your craft. Nodding: regular quality. Fist in air: good quality. Nodding, looking around, soliciting praise: great quality. Jumping for joy: top quality. 
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Jan 3, 2015 04:57
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Cleretic posted:Metroid Prime managed to give more character to people who didn't even appear than most games can manage with their main characters. Science Team was fantastic. Not to mention atmosphere; Phendrana is still my favourite ice/snow level of any game I've ever played. I truly felt not just isolated, but also insulated from the cold with the suit on. You just know that the place is uninhabitable by humans otherwise.
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Jan 3, 2015 05:00
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Gestalt Intellect posted:I used to be able to say a lot of things about why metroid prime 3 hosed up, but then Other M entered our world so now I have a hard time getting mad at metroid prime 3 in comparison. My favorite little thing about Other M is how it suddenly made all my complaints about Prime 3 feel like inconsequential quibbling.
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Jan 3, 2015 05:11
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Let's not forget, Prime 3 had the story of the mind-controlled Space Pirates.
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Jan 3, 2015 05:16
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Sleeveless posted:"If there is anything I have learned in my travels across the Planes, it is that many things may change the nature of a man. Whether regret, or love, or revenge or fear - whatever you believe can change the nature of a man, can. I’ve seen belief move cities, make men stave off death, and turn an evil hag's heart half-circle. This entire Fortress has been constructed from belief. Belief damned a woman, whose heart clung to the hope that another loved her when he did not. Once, it made a man seek immortality and achieve it. And it has made a posturing spirit think it is something more than a part of me." Should've quoted the rotten custard sphere revelation. That one is my favorite bar none out of all the dialogue in that game. But this one is okay too. It's not an exaggeration to say that Planescape: Torment has the best "video game" story.
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Jan 3, 2015 05:20
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In Other M, it's implied the pirates are just mindless beasts controlled by Mother Brain. Which ties in nicely to the "everything Prime 3 did wrong, Other M did much worse" concept.
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Jan 3, 2015 05:21
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I liked that in metroid prime 2 all their installations had a unique heavy industrial theme and that you could read several personal journals among the other logbook entries. There were some nice details like a message telling low-rank pirates not to feed the metroids they captured; elsewhere in the same area if you scan a metroid in a cage, the scan says it's unhealthy because it has ingested rations and pet treats. Turns out the pirates were actually hosed up just as badly as the federation marines and are stranded on the planet just like you. So while they're still your enemies the Ing are just a much bigger threat. edit: Thank you whichever fabulous human being changed the thread title Owl Inspector has a new favorite as of 06:54 on Jan 3, 2015 |
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Jan 3, 2015 06:52
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Brothers- A Tale Of Two Sons is a cool puzzle game with a good story. The gameplay mechanic is that you each brother with each analog stick and trigger. I recommend that you buy it if you want to see how a narrative can be done videogame style.
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Jan 3, 2015 06:59
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redweird posted:Brothers- A Tale Of Two Sons is a cool puzzle game with a good story. The gameplay mechanic is that you each brother with each analog stick and trigger. I recommend that you buy it if you want to see how a narrative can be done videogame style. I've described that game to people as a picture book you play with your hands, so I'd agree with this. I don't think the game play is particularly worth buying it when it's not on sale; but I can appreciate what they did differently, and how they did succeed in telling a pretty epic story with no words.
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Jan 3, 2015 07:33
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Neddy Seagoon posted:the Steampunk-floating-city planet was pretty awesome though Hey man it was nothing compared to the mountainside laser fortress Metroid Prime 2 really was the best prime and also the best game ever made.
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Jan 3, 2015 07:51
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redweird posted:Brothers- A Tale Of Two Sons is a cool puzzle game with a good story. The gameplay mechanic is that you each brother with each analog stick and trigger. I recommend that you buy it if you want to see how a narrative can be done videogame style. "Good" videogame stories are ones that use their medium to accomplish things that couldn't be done with raw text alone. Planescape is probably the best-known game script that gets by exclusively on its text and even then, it's middle-tier fantasy at best. Other lauded titles like Silent Hill 2, Suda51's work (before he started quarter-assing everything), Nier, or even more contentious ones like Spec Ops: The Line or Telltale's Walking Dead games lash their script to the gameplay itself in ways beyond "get bigger numbers, make the bad things die," which is way more noteworthy to me. Brothers never grabbed me because the story it told veered between way too pat and way too contrived (why on earth did that spider-girl guide them through that whole invisible-monster village just to snack on those kids, does she really need to eat at home that badly), but I could still appreciate the button-prompt trick it pulled in the end. It said things without saying them. Which is why I have a great big crush on Kentucky Route Zero! The way it uses The Walking Dead's CYOA-but-not-really text selections to let the player emphasize various aspects of the characters' personalities or histories would be great even if the text itself didn't have that beautifully sparse, surreal tone. Especially in Episode 3, where you can effectively foreshadow main character Conway's backwards slide into despair, alcoholism, and debt slavery way before it actually happens.
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Jan 3, 2015 08:47
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ArtIsResistance posted:Hey man it was nothing compared to the mountainside laser fortress I've been of the opinion for years that Metroid Prime is one of the best games ever, because it's just so good at what it wants to do, it never really falters. It's tough to compare it to Prime 2 in that sense, primarily because of Sanctuary Fortress. That area's exemplary of the fact that when Prime 2 hits the mark, it's absolutely amazing, but it doesn't always hit the mark. The beam ammo system is flawed, and it's got areas like that underwater part of Torvus Bog, that mean that ultimately, it's an imperfect game.
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Jan 3, 2015 08:57
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The best video game writing is clearly in Journey. Also, there's something I like about Planescape Torment that I wouldn't be able to get with just a novel of text. Perhaps it's the way you can sculpt your character in ways that aren't just 'make a choice here, now make a choice here'. Subtly your alignment is shifted over the course of the game, slowly your allies' opinions of you change based on how you react to them, there are side plots that are revealed and you feel awesome for finding them...that sort of stuff just can't be put into simple interactive fiction. Still, I understand that it's hardly using its medium as well as people may think.
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Jan 3, 2015 09:01
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Oxxidation posted:"Good" videogame stories are ones that use their medium to accomplish things that couldn't be done with raw text alone. Planescape is probably the best-known game script that gets by exclusively on its text and even then, it's middle-tier fantasy at best. Other lauded titles like Silent Hill 2, Suda51's work (before he started quarter-assing everything), Nier, or even more contentious ones like Spec Ops: The Line or Telltale's Walking Dead games lash their script to the gameplay itself in ways beyond "get bigger numbers, make the bad things die," which is way more noteworthy to me. Brothers never grabbed me because the story it told veered between way too pat and way too contrived (why on earth did that spider-girl guide them through that whole invisible-monster village just to snack on those kids, does she really need to eat at home that badly), but I could still appreciate the button-prompt trick it pulled in the end. It said things without saying them. Kentucky Route Zero is a fantastic game. The scene in the bar with the band is probably my favourite part, but the entire game is wonderful. Every system in the game is there for a reason, and it's all working toward giving the game a particular atmosphere and telling a story. There's some puzzles, but all the solutions come about through interacting with characters or the narrative rather than just going somewhere and pulling levers. Navigating Route Zero is the only other thing resembling a gameplay puzzle, and it's there to make you feel lost and confused by the weird nature of the highway. I found brothers really boring and didn't play past the caves full of old machinery. The gameplay was way too simple to keep being interesting, and the story was so sparse. Dad's dying, go walk in this direction. I feel like it's probably best played coop, I can imagine screwing around with another person through all the brother puzzles would be fun.
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Jan 3, 2015 09:12
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mng posted:That was hilarious It did explain everything
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Jan 3, 2015 10:06
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Brothers is great when you play it with someone rlse on one controller
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Jan 3, 2015 10:07
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Cleretic posted:Metroid Prime managed to give more character to people who didn't even appear than most games can manage with their main characters. Science Team was fantastic. Is it that time again? It's that time again. quote:"Samus Aran, the accursed Hunter, has arrived. The sudden arrival of the Hunter is strange enough, but her actions are stranger still. She does not seek our destruction, but our Phazon. With each raid, she steals Phazon ore, only killing those who attempt to deny her. What she needs it for we do not know - though Science Team suspects she requires it to power her new armorsuit. Dark in color, it is equipped with strange new weapons. The troops now call her the "Dark Hunter." It is a fitting title." quote:Another hunter, wearing the traditional colors of Samus Aran, made planetfall today. Horrific as it may sound, there are two of them now. We are bracing for a new assault. This dire turn of events may bear some good will. One of our scouts in Dark Aether saw a curious encounter. The Dark Hunter attacked the one clad as Samus near a Phazon site. Perhaps they are not allies...but foes. Perhaps we can forge an alliance with the Dark Hunter - an exchange, Phazon for the head of our common enemy." quote:Our attempts to intercept the Federation ship departing Aether were unsuccessful. With them went a collection of Phazon, the first to fall into Federation hands. They foolishly left most of the Phazon behind, allowing us to quickly collect what we could. But in our haste we took more than mere Phazon. Our scanners have detected the remains of Dark Samus, who has revived herself within our Phazon storage. quote:"Our struggles have ended. She has shown us the error of our ways. The way is now clear. All previous vows of fealty have been forsworn: we now pledge sole allegiance to our liberator, the great one, Dark Samus. We bear a singular honor, we lucky few, for we are her first disciples. Our burden is a happy one, for we will pave the way to her glorious victory and cosmic rule. Let the light of Phazon lead us!" quote:Science Team is attempting to reverse-engineer Samus Aran's arsenal, based off data acquired from her assaults on our forces. Progress is slow, but steady. Command would dearly enjoy turning Aran's weapons against her. We believe we can implement Beam weapon prototypes in three cycles. Aran's Power Suit technology remains a mystery, especially the curious Morph Ball function. All attempts at duplicating it have ended in disaster; four test subjects were horribly broken and twisted when they engaged our Morph Ball prototypes. Science Team wisely decided to move on afterward."
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Jan 3, 2015 11:56
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Isn't there one where they just about state that Science Team or Command are loving morons because of some fuckup or other? The Trooper logs were pretty good as well. One was about a female soldier who apparently couldn't shut up about Samus and wanted to be like her (and her respective log was indeed about Samus). The rest of the squad thought Samus was a myth like Santa Claus  .
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Jan 3, 2015 13:04
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Neddy Seagoon posted:Isn't there one where they just about state that Science Team or Command are loving morons because of some fuckup or other? Yep! quote:Training Report, 07.200.08
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Jan 3, 2015 13:14
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ANIME MONSTROSITY posted:Brothers is great when you play it with someone rlse on one controller like playing co-op Cookie & Cream
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Jan 3, 2015 15:35
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I've played Brothers up till the first checkpoint and I'm wondering if I should even bother. The controls are hosed, even though I'm using a controller like they said, and I hear the ending is a colossal bummer.
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Jan 3, 2015 15:52
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Lumberjack Bonanza posted:Bioware's writing gets a lot of hate (and they deserve a ton of it), but I really appreciated what they did with Mass Effect. Being able to port your decisions from one game to the next, playing as the same character, helped you get involved with the world. It actually made you want to try to play a consistent character and weigh your decisions more carefully. Much of it was a facade, true, but at least it's one worth buying into. this is because Bioware never intended for you to be able to port things over from Dragon Age to Dragon Age 2, they had to shoe horn it in at the last minute because the fans freaked out.
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Jan 3, 2015 17:09
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Your Gay Uncle posted:this is because Bioware never intended for you to be able to port things over from Dragon Age to Dragon Age 2, they had to shoe horn it in at the last minute because the fans freaked out. On that note, I really do enjoy that for Inquisition they've moved away from importing some file and instead just offered an online tool for fine-tuning your world state. It's been years since I played those other two games so I don't even have those files any more, and it's also incredibly handy for setting up an entirely different background for a replay.
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Jan 3, 2015 18:02
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Inspector Gesicht posted:I've played Brothers up till the first checkpoint and I'm wondering if I should even bother. The controls are hosed. Haha what? The controls are the game.
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Jan 3, 2015 18:04
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kazil posted:Haha what? The controls are the game. Sounds like it's a game he doesn't like? I wasn't jazzed either, but it's easy enough to beat regardless.
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Jan 3, 2015 18:13
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Perestroika posted:On that note, I really do enjoy that for Inquisition they've moved away from importing some file and instead just offered an online tool for fine-tuning your world state. It's been years since I played those other two games so I don't even have those files any more, and it's also incredibly handy for setting up an entirely different background for a replay. Yeah, and when Hawke shows up, they just let you customize him with the same tools you used on your main character, with an extra section just for the blood-paint that only he has
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Jan 3, 2015 18:15
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Wasn't a fan of brother myself, I also uninstalled it after an hour. Telling the player that his father is dying and needs medicine from somewhere far away isn't innovative, it's the most generic plot hook ever aside from "you guys are eating in a tavern when.."
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Jan 3, 2015 18:39
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While playing Shadow of Mordor, I loving love that Talion will draw the appropriate weapon for the given situation he is in automatically. Oh, sneaking up on some orcs, lemme just get out my big knife. As soon as he does that, I can hear the Jaws theme playing in my head.
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