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Started by Keef Monkey, 11 June, 2011, 09:35:35 AM

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Definitely Not Mister Pops

Quote from: El Pops on 07 March, 2013, 07:48:30 PM
The story in HL2 isn't even a very original one, but what it is, is an exceptionally well told story, a story that was best told in the medium of a video game.

I don't usually expect much from a games story (I never really got the plot to Tetris), and I don't think I can remember playing a game that was ruined by a bad story. Bad gameplay yes, but not a bad story. I had to laugh at the net's fanboy rage of Mass Effect 3. Were their expectations really that high? I've not played any ME but I believe it uses a moral choice system, and THAT is something I have a big problem with. My experience of moral choices in games such as KOTOR is that you can either be an impossibly good Disney-like protagonist, or a ridiculous, moustache twirling sadist. There's no subtlety, no grey areas. There's no focus either. I've heard HL criticized for being too linear, but that linearity is precisely what allowed them to tell such a tight, well-focused story.

Ultimately, game storylines (especially in FPS) are fairly limited and cliched. The world/universe is in dire peril and only a Macho-Messianic-Malefactor-Murdering-Machine can save the day with his big gun.

EDIT: Also the protagonist (or an important NPC) will have a ridiculously tragic back-story and at some point, YOU WILL BE BETRAYED!

Damn that edit button is illusive.
You may quote me on that.

Satanist

MGS is the worst for story but fans will tell you its a masterpiece. I finished MGS4 at 2am and then fell asleep at the final cut scene. A cut scene which I think is about an hour long  :o No idea how it ended but then I'd lost the plot long before then anyway.

MGS1 is still the best.
Hmm, just pretend I wrote something witty eh?

The Enigmatic Dr X

Quote from: El Pops on 07 March, 2013, 07:48:30 PM
The story in HL2 isn't even a very original one, but what it is, is an exceptionally well told story, a story that was best told in the medium of a video game.

I don't usually expect much from a games story (I never really got the plot to Tetris), and I don't think I can remember playing a game that was ruined by a bad story. Bad gameplay yes, but not a bad story. I had to laugh at the net's fanboy rage of Mass Effect 3. Were their expectations really that high? I've not played any ME but I believe it uses a moral choice system, and THAT is something I have a big problem with. My experience of moral choices in games such as KOTOR is that you can either be an impossibly good Disney-like protagonist, or a ridiculous, moustache twirling sadist. There's no subtlety, no grey areas. There's no focus either. I've heard HL criticized for being too linear, but that linearity is precisely what allowed them to tell such a tight, well-focused story.

Ultimately, game storylines (especially in FPS) are fairly limited and cliched. The world/universe is in dire peril and only a Macho-Messianic-Malefactor-Murdering-Machine can save the day with his big gun.

Mass Effect has some of the best story telling in any game. In fact, I reckon Bioware's stuff - to a greater or lesser extend, and including Black Isle etc - is some of the best storytelling in games. Not great, mind. Not at all: derivative sci-fi fluff (ME) or derivative high fantasy (Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights). Even so, at least on a par with most churned out sci fi books.

The rage associated with ME3's ending is 100% justified. Not because of the story but rather because it was so inconclusive. After playing for 100 hours or so, all I wanted was a clear cut resolution. Instead, it was plain unclear what was happening and why. Slight spoiler: [spoiler]you spend all three games fighting the bid bad, The Reapers, and at the very last minute engage in some nice chat with them for NO FRIGGING REASON[/spoiler]
Lock up your spoons!

radiator

Quote from: Satanist on 08 March, 2013, 12:01:29 AM
MGS is the worst for story but fans will tell you its a masterpiece. I finished MGS4 at 2am and then fell asleep at the final cut scene. A cut scene which I think is about an hour long  :o No idea how it ended but then I'd lost the plot long before then anyway.

MGS1 is still the best.

Metal Gear Solid is a game I would cite as the wildly indulgent story element ruining the entire game. Gorgeous graphics, wonderful character design, intriguing gameplay mechanics, all undone because Kojima thinks he is an amazing writer. As I said before, the story - even in the first game - is complete and utter gibberish.

radiator

Agree entirely about Mass Effect. The writing is strong (for games) but the fiction is entirely derivative of other genre pieces - it's basically Star Wars Trek, with a dash of Halo and Aliens, with an aesthetic taken from the Final Fantasy movie.

Another key thing Valve do with their games is take inspiration from outside of the usual places, and it shows.

The Doctor Alt 8

Me, I'm stuck on Dragon Age. Origins and can't understand how to work the cheat codes I found. Where is  bin_ship when its at home...?


The Enigmatic Dr X

Spent a couple of hours on Fight Night Champion last night. It's amazing how quickly I was getting aggressive towards the mofos I was boxing. The game itself is fun but seems to have made itself deliberately hard to learn in order to give it longevity. There is no tutorial, for example. You just get beat up (either sparring or in the ring) in order to learn.

Still, I played on easy and enjoyed bopping some other fellows on the nose.
Lock up your spoons!

grthink

I've been wringing my Playstation+ account for all it's worth over the past few weeks. Revisiting God Of War via the magic of HD was very rewarding, the gameplay really stands up. Just started playing Dead or Alive 5, having not played any fighting games at all for a decade or so, and the game itself is good, and the game mechanics of the story mode are good. The actual story mode itself is cringing to sit through, though, and good lord I didn't think I'd get bored of breasts but DoA5 is pushing it.

Mass Effect 3 is DL'ing at the moment, and because of its size I had to clear a lot of stuff off my HD, so I hope I'll enjoy it. I played the original on X360 and the second on PS3, and whilst my memories of both are being sat watching talking heads for hours on end, I also spent a LOT of time on each of them.

radiator

For some reason Dark Forces is no longer available on PSN - at least in the UK, so I had to resort to eBay to get a PS original copy.

I'd kind of forgotten that it's a pre-Goldeneye, pre-Dual Shock game, so the controls are most likely going to render it almost unplayable to the modern gamer, but we'll see!

grthink

Quote from: radiator on 12 March, 2013, 01:13:25 PM
For some reason Dark Forces is no longer available on PSN - at least in the UK, so I had to resort to eBay to get a PS original copy.

I'd kind of forgotten that it's a pre-Goldeneye, pre-Dual Shock game, so the controls are most likely going to render it almost unplayable to the modern gamer, but we'll see!

I remember going back to Dark Forces after playing Dark Forces: Jedi Knight and finding it almost impossible to play, what with having to key in where you're looking rather than use a mouse to aim (that's on the PC, not played it on PS). Such a shame because for a while I was insanely good at it -- the only game I've finished on hardest difficulty, that I can remember.

radiator

Since about 2000, trying to play any FPS with move and turn mapped to the same stick, keys or d pad is like trying to do something left-handed.

Hoping there's at least some way of customising controls...

f4lke

Last game played: Crysis 3. My Review is a 7/10.

Professor Bear

Quote from: radiator on 12 March, 2013, 01:13:25 PM
For some reason Dark Forces is no longer available on PSN - at least in the UK, so I had to resort to eBay to get a PS original copy.

If you know anyone who's downloaded Dark Forces from PSN you can temporarily add their profile to your PS3 dashboard and via Account Management/transaction management/download list you can download a game to your PS3 HDD even if it isn't available on the store anymore.

I tried playing Dark Forces recently but by god it is old.  I don't think it was particularly unplayable so much as the look and gameplay mechanics left me scratching my head wondering what I was supposed to be doing after a few levels.

Definitely Not Mister Pops

Quote from: Professor James T Bear on 12 March, 2013, 07:15:33 PM
I tried playing Dark Forces recently but by god it is old.  I don't think it was particularly unplayable so much as the look and gameplay mechanics left me scratching my head wondering what I was supposed to be doing after a few levels.

When I played through it recently, I found muscle memory did most of the work for me. Some levels are quite obtuse, you really need to read the mission briefings and then use your map.

I had a go at the free to play MMORPG, Star Trek Online. It can be fairly meaningless to review something you didn't have to pay for, but by Spock's ears it was fucking terrible. I created my character, a bald, Vulcan Science officer in a snazzy blue jumpsuit, and looked forward for doing some fictional science, but no. First up, I had to kill some borg. Not using some clever Trek ploy, no, because that would be interesting, just shot them with the phaser. You don't even have to aim. Controlling a starship is even duller.

This game is not Star Trek. It is some sort of dumb military sci-fi, with a Star Trek aesthetic. It's just so fucking generic.
You may quote me on that.

Radbacker

End Game map pack for Battlefield 3, lots of dirt bike fun to be had I'm sure its only a matter of time before race servers get set up, and the Capture the Flag mode they have added is rather choice fun.  Last map pack for BF3 all the developers work going into number 4 now. (unless they want to supprise us console fans with a new Bad Company).

CU radbacker