Ah, story. A major topic of debate in the continuously evolving videogame industry. As videogames continue to change through the advancement of technology, it seems that more and more games emphasize story as a key element.
Of course, even now, many maintain that story isn't important, while others are adamant that it's the most important aspect of a game. I'm not here to put an end to the debate, which is something that would be well beyond the capabilities of one person, but I will weigh in with my personal thoughts, so let's get started.
Perhaps the best way to begin is by analyzing the role of an element unique to videogames as a medium, and that is gameplay. The thing that sets videogames apart from movies, books, etc., is that the player always has at least some degree of control, which can manifest itself in a variety of different ways, from controlling the main character, to guiding the flow of the narrative, so, it is no surprise that this is the element many consider to be the heart of a game.
Because many consider gameplay to be the core of a game, the prevailing argument from the anti-story camp is that it's the gameplay that truly makes or breaks a game. I do think there's merit to this argument, because I don't care for games that are horrible to play.
Of course, whether or not less action based genres, such as point and clicks, or visual novels, suck, is purely subjective, but I will agree that a game with broken game mechanics isn't fun, and I don't much care for putting up with tedious gameplay for even the best of stories.
The pro-story side isn't without their key arguments though. The two main ones are that there is more to a game than just gameplay, and that being in control brings a new level of immersion, which brings a greater investment in a narrative, and therefore, the relationship between story and gameplay is symbiotic. I think that camp has a point on both counts.
Games are multi-faceted in nature, and the various elements can work together to craft an experience like no other. Some of my favorite games have good stories, but also solid gameplay, and it's the combination of all their parts, that make them what they are.
What are your thoughts? Where do you stand in regards to story? Leave your comments below.
VGChartz's Mark Nielsen: "This is a collection of short Late Looks picking up on some of the games I meant to write a full article for but was too busy to do at the time. This time the games in question are the original Diablo, Balatro, and Kingdom Hearts III - a perfectly natural combination of games that you definitely expected to see grouped together. Not quite review and not quite rant, it’s more a casual assessment of what I – the gamer of the future – consider to be each game’s strengths and weaknesses in retrospect."
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I never understand why people feel there is an argument between story and gameplay as if one requires the other.
You can have a good game that does not have a story, just look at all those casual games you can play.
The question is what audience are you aiming the game at?
For older players, you will need to make the game connect on more than one level.
The reason why TLOU did so well was because not only did it have great game play, but the story was riveting as well.
As gamers get older, we will need more and more story driven games that not just entertain but also make us think.
But there will also be younger people getting on at the bottom who need easy access to simple games, because that’s were your skills are developed and without these people, the industry would just die.
The only argument I would say is if there was no gameplay and only story...then that’s just a movie.
I strongly fall into the story camp of gamers, the relationship between movies and games is similar in every way covering pretty much the same genres whether is survival horror, military, fantasy medieval, etc. to both games and movies needing a director, actors, producers, etc. The big difference is that games are controlled by the audience for the audience should be able to have complete control of the character. Basically the story and gameplay should be one unity and all the parts of the game makes the whole. Those casual simplified games are great for those that are new to gaming like in films were kids watch disney, pixar, animated films to a more mature films. When it comes to games new gamers start with the casual iphone games moving to the more sophisticated mature games like "To the Moon" "Among the Sleep". Like there's movie blockbusters like The Avengers the equal to that in gaming will be Call of Duty, Battlefield , Uncharted, etc. The interactivity in games is what separates games from movies that's all