Storytelling within games.

[smurphy]

What game ( or perhaps game series) in your opinion, does the best job of, well, telling and conveying a story. This contains many factors like the characterisation, the ambience,the balance of humour and the deranged, the plot as well as many others.

And do you think gaming is the de facto medium for storytellers to convey what they will. I think the likes of Kojima et al are as inventive and competent as the best film directors or authors.

Personally I think Uncharted 2 sets the benchmark. It would take a few paragraphs to elaborate on why it is so commendable but in a nutshell the pacing of the plot is perfect, it leaves room for the surreal, the characterisation is so well done and while some parts are laugh out loud funny there are others which are dark and a little bit demented.

So, what do you all think?

[DragonHeart]

I don't think any medium is perfect for telling every story. That's why we have so many different ones, because not every story can be told effectively in any given way. That's why the book is almost always better than the movie and why novel adaptations of movies are usually terrible. Well, rushed deadlines and poor writing aside.

I don't have any one favorite video game story, much like I don't have any one favorite book. It's simply impossible to just choose one. I will say that right now Assassin's Creed is an absolutely fantastic work of historical fiction. Not necessarily the frame story, which is a bit of a silly premise, but Ezio's story. I recently played through the first of his memories of Cristina and I seriously almost cried. That invincible assassin's cloak was pulled away for the first time since he became an assassin and you remember everything he's lost and how deeply it's changed him. In a game like this, without a good main character you've got nothing, and Ezio's one of the best, imo at least.

It probably helps that I'm a sucker for a good revenge story. And assassins.

~DragonHeart~

[ZantetsukeN]

Personally, I will say that it depends on the story. It all depends on the idea, and in what medium would it fit best. Perhaps longer, more elaborate stories are best told in games.

I will second Dragonheart here, and say Assassin's Creed is a great story, although I'm focusing more on the first one here (since I've only just finished it, and am now playing ACII), the merger of two stories; that of Desmond Miles in present day, and that of Altair in the past. Both characters are involved in two good story lines (although, obviously, Altair's side of the story is a bit more elaborate). The story telling is very thorough, doesn't leave any unnecessary holes in the plot. It's an exciting story, one that draws you back to it, to find out more about these characters, and why they are doing what they are doing etc. To me, that is the key element in telling a story. You need one that makes the reader, watcher or, in this case, the player care about the characters. And I believe a story such as this could have only been told in a game.

I believe that every idea has the potential of becoming a good story. One of the key factors that make it become one is the medium.

[Unknown Entity]

Personally, I will say that it depends on the story. It all depends on the idea, and in what medium would it fit best. Perhaps longer, more elaborate stories are best told in games.

Pretty much what I wanted to say.

There's only so much a book or a movie can delve into. For example, the final Harry Potter movie is in two parts because there was so much content within the book, it would be near impossible to cram it all into one three hour movie. Also, the story is better told in the book - the movie is better on the special effects. The games just bring the book and the movie to life.

Okay, bad example if you're not understanding what I mean. It was the only story I could think off which has been in more than two mediums at this moment in time. ^^;

RPGs have the best story concepts, but perhaps not always the best stories in my opinion. In an RPG, you tend to focus more on character development instead of the story momentum, and most of the story (if you're me) ends up lost in countless random battles/grinding, hunts for Holy Grails, side-quests and sub-stories.

I find that particular linear type games tend to have the better stories, like the examples given above: Uncharted and Assassin's Creed (story can get a little lost in AC titles with the many various side-quests, but you can go back to do them after the story is finished). Both games have very likeable main characters as well, so you tend to understand them much better which helps the story greatly.

Ezio is a fantastic character. During the first game he went from a lady-killing, street-punk to killer assassin. He totally grew up throughout the course of that game. Even in Brotherhood, he's in his forties and you can still see his charm through the hardened, driven assassin. And I played through one of the first memories of Cristina, and it made me realise just how much he'd changed, and like DragonHeart said, had lost. =(

[Freya]

As for storytelling, only telling, not the stories themselves, I like RPGs best. They are mostly telling stories in a similar way: First you get a long introduction, get the main problem of the story. Then the first characters are introduced. You are at a place, discover it, probably get another character then. Then the story goes on and you see other characters, other places, other details. Then, you fight a few monsters, beat a boss and get another bunch of information about the story.
The only thing I dislike about RPGs is that in the modern ones the video sequences are so damned long. Compared to the time you're in dungeons or cities, it's way too long.

Other games have such a... let's say structure/system as well, like Assassin's Creed. But I don't like the "do the same thing in every damn town" thing. A good story is told in a game which has something new to offer every few hours. A new detail, new quests... and that's RPGs for me. (At least in MOST of them something changes every few hours... like the fights or even the characters.)

[Pete]

Yknow, I'll say that Grand Theft Auto does a fantastic job of storytelling. When you strip the games down from the ridiculousness and the going on constant rampages, they really do have some solid stories to them, especially San Andreas and IV.

I would say that Liberty City is a story in itself, much as any city really tells millions of stories. Yes, that's a cliche, but hear me out. All of the characters you meet have their own motivations, and can get along just as well with or without Niko, yet he can't really do anything without them. But he's an immigrant in search of a certain person, and needs all the help he can get to tracking them down.

The overall story itself is quite an amazing commentary on the American dream, both for how real it can be, as well as how ridiculous it is made out to be. The New York lifestyle is also shown, and how downright insane some of it can be. The scary thing is how well the city is portrayed, both good and bad.

The thing that really sells it for me though is how the story unfolds, and how things don't necessarily work out for you. Your decisions can backfire and when you try to hedge your bets, they can both bite you in the ass big time. It just seems like it's realistic in that sense, and for me, the flow continuity and plausibility of things happening makes a good story. When I say plausibility, I mean in the scope of the story's plot and world, and not something along the lines of "Resident Evil sucks because zombies don't exist"