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"Budding Miyamoto's take note!"

"Ooooh! Look at that new game! It looks great, and the gameplay is mean to be excellent."

Really? So what do you do?

"Well, you’re a young hero who has to save a princess from an evil tyrant."


Marvellous! A developer spends millions of pounds on its latest genre-defining masterpiece (complete with a new graphics engine, realistic AI and the greatest level of interaction seen in a game before) and the best storyline they could come up with is "save the princess from the evil tyrant". Well that’s just great!

In some types of game, such clichéd plots are acceptable: kids games, deliberately corny games and licensed games are expected to have such plots. But when you have games like Metal Gear Solid 2 trying to make itself out to be a competitor to blockbuster films, you know the makers have lost the plot... literally.

The fact is that MGS2, and many other games, have the plotline of B-Rate movies. If they were films critics would heckle them. Don’t believe me? How’s this for a round up for the MGS2 plot:

"The cool as a cucumber character, Raiden, is on a mission to save the president who has been kidnapped along with the launch codes for America’s nuclear arsenal. It’s a race against time. But as the story progresses, things are not as they seem! In fact, a secret undercover organisation has been running the country for years, and the president is working with them. They have developed a weapon of mass-destruction that only you can stop! Even your friends must not be trusted! Etc...."

Now, as I think you’ll agree, the makers of MGS2 really were being a bit presumptuous to liken the game to a film. The fact is the matter is that almost every game that tries to be cinematic fails in one key area- the plot.

The mistake is not due to poor scriptwriting either- it’s due to the ethos of game design. Why should games- an interactive branching medium- try to emulate the plots of films- linear preset sequences of events- anyway? The whole point of games is that you are the one in charge- you should drive the story, and not the other way around. Preset plots and stories simply aren’t adequate for gaming anymore- the plot must be adaptable to your actions- something that film script writers need not worry about.

The problem in the industry is clear: after consoles equalled the specs of arcade games, developers turned from developing games that emulate arcades to games that emulate films. The focus has misplaced.

So, if there are any budding Miyamoto’s out there please don’t fall into the trap. Games are not films, nor shall they ever be. So don’t try to make them something they’re not!

Sonic

Turbonutter wrote:
and in Zelda there wasn't really
> much fighting, just an awful lot of walking around

There was a hell of a lot of fighting in Zelda actually, it's just there was a lot of exploring in between. The fighting is the one thing that to me make it stand out from games like Final Fantasy, instead of being forced into random battles you had the option of standing and fighting or running away and it was all in realtime so there was non of that turn based nonsense. The main thing that makes Zelda stand out from any other game of it's kind is the freedom, you can do whatever you want there's tons of mini quests and secrets to find and you don't feel like you're always going along a set path.

Turbonutter wrote:
>
> Nope, but Zelda has very repetative gameplay from the large amount I
> played of it. This was during the time I DIDN'T have an PlayStation by
> the way, so don't pull that one on me. Maybe I don't like RPGs. They
> always have zrepetative gameplay - and in Zelda there wasn't really
> much fighting, just an awful lot of walking around. This is where a
> good storyliner comes in to play with RPGs. It's essential, seeing as
> it is a ROLE playing game.
>

There was plenty of decent fighting if you go deep enough.
I suppose you don't have the patience for general exploration and experimentation.

Storyline is good for people who like linear games where you're pushed in one direction, but for games that are about exploration and thinking for yourself, a story thats too complex and restrictive might just get in the way.

Strafex wrote:
> Turbonutter wrote:
> I really hate all clichéd plots in games, epsecially
> "Save
> the Princess" and anything that involves elves.
>
> This is whatsets the Final Fantasy series apart from any othe RPG,
> and
> why it's just so funning good. The worlds created and the sheer
> depth
> is amazing, and it's not like any other RPG, it's for the most part
> a
> post-apocalyptic lanscape where magic and science live in unison.
> It's
> also why I went nowhere near FFIX and probably won't play FFXI
> either.
> And it's also why I think Zelda is poor, amongst other reasons.
>
> So you prefer a game with a storyline while I prefer a game with
> gameplay.
> Each to their own I suppose.

Nope, but Zelda has very repetative gameplay from the large amount I played of it. This was during the time I DIDN'T have an PlayStation by the way, so don't pull that one on me. Maybe I don't like RPGs. They always have zrepetative gameplay - and in Zelda there wasn't really much fighting, just an awful lot of walking around. This is where a good storyliner comes in to play with RPGs. It's essential, seeing as it is a ROLE playing game.

>
> Besides, although Zelda's basic plot is sort of cliché, it does
> stem quite deep, it affects different areas in different ways and
> there's plenty of little sub plots to keep you interested in between
> the big adventure parts.

Clichéd storylines?

There are only in fact 5-7 (can't remember the exact number) possible components of a storyline, upon which the entire film industry, game industry and TV industry has based every single thing they've made, except random things like Monkeyball.

The only reason something seems innovative or original, is because it puts these components together in a way that you've not seen before, or with a twist.

So really all plots are at their most basic level clichés.

Turbonutter wrote:
> I really hate all clichéd plots in games, epsecially "Save
> the Princess" and anything that involves elves.
>
> This is whatsets the Final Fantasy series apart from any othe RPG, and
> why it's just so funning good. The worlds created and the sheer depth
> is amazing, and it's not like any other RPG, it's for the most part a
> post-apocalyptic lanscape where magic and science live in unison. It's
> also why I went nowhere near FFIX and probably won't play FFXI either.
> And it's also why I think Zelda is poor, amongst other reasons.

So you prefer a game with a storyline while I prefer a game with gameplay.
Each to their own I suppose.

Besides, although Zelda's basic plot is sort of cliché, it does stem quite deep, it affects different areas in different ways and there's plenty of little sub plots to keep you interested in between the big adventure parts.

The fact is, all games are based on a storyline of some sort.

Sure, some games have many sub-plots, but so do films, and they're stories which you can only watch!

Ok, so maybe sports games don't neccesarily have storylines, but they're an exception. Most other games are based on a fixed linear story and that will not change for a while yet.

There are (I think) one or two games that have different endings depending on how well you play, but right now, there are very few alternate endings in games, and maybe that will change in future games.

So, instead of complaining about storylines for now, I will enjoy them, even if they aren't really that original, as it's better to enjoy them, than not include them at all!

The problem with FF games is they are getting more and more about hand feeding you the plot with unending cut sequences, and less about the actual game. I loved FF7, I enjoyed FF8, but by the time they got to 9, half the time you're just waiting through listless conversations, probably cutting your toenails while you wait.

Games should be more about letting you get on with it than "setting the mood". If the mood doesn't set itself while your playing, the game is poorly designed...

Yet every FF story is about saving the world from some evil power...yadda yadda yadda......you get the idea. Don't get me wrong, I love the series, but its so repetitive!

I really hate all clichéd plots in games, epsecially "Save the Princess" and anything that involves elves.

This is whatsets the Final Fantasy series apart from any othe RPG, and why it's just so funning good. The worlds created and the sheer depth is amazing, and it's not like any other RPG, it's for the most part a post-apocalyptic lanscape where magic and science live in unison. It's also why I went nowhere near FFIX and probably won't play FFXI either. And it's also why I think Zelda is poor, amongst other reasons.

Plots of games and books are far too long to make into films.

Besides, like Sonic said, games are about controlling what happens.
The story does enhance this to an extent, but overdoing it on cut scenes and cinematics can just get in the way sometimes.

Anyway, a budding Miyamoto makes the game and throws the plot in as a extra.
People who want to make their game around a story should apply to Squaresoft instead.