Video Games Are Better without Stories

I love interactive movies. Which is what the best games are. I want to be transported into the game. Not just cod jam jam whizzzz boom bleh.

Fuck that guy.
 
I generally hate story-heavy games which grab control of my character constantly for extended periods of time. Usually the narrative isn't up to snuff. Once you strip away the novel veneer of it being a game instead of a proper movie, you realize it's mostly derivative tripe that Hollywood has churned out for years.

The only exception for me was the Witcher 3. I went into it expecting to do my usual thing of hammering the skip-cutscene key as soon as they start, but I found myself enthralled by every last bit of dialogue, watching it all. I even read many of the books of lore you find ingame. So yeah, I think there is a place for games which are story-driven, but they have to be done well in their own right, not just well for a game. I don't grade on a curve.
 
Without a story, Assassin's Creed is nothing but a psychopath simulator. Look at Syndicate, which is essentially just that. Without story, games are mostly pointless to play.
 
Some games don't require stories. Others do. Some very simple games like Yars Revenge have a good story, but can't really tell it in-game. When you got into the 8-bit era, you could put the story in game a lot easier.

I like a good story. There are some games where the story makes the game (Uncharted, Last of Us). The game itself is decent, with good game play. But, put that storyline in there, and you're bringing the game up a ton.

Games without stories are more like puzzles or whatever. Even simple arcade games (Golden Axe, Double Dragon) had simple stories. They didn't really matter, you weren't playing for the story. These days, the story makes a decent game an amazing one.
 
OK so when I was playing the original Doom as a 13 year old, I actually thought the story was pretty cool even if it was simplistic. Especially when you come to the end of the shareware version...after all your suffering and work, you find yourself in a dark cave of monsters that tear you to shreds.
 
Bandalo said:
I'm pretty sure there's enough room in the world for games with stories and games without stories. And plenty of room for great games of both types.
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Yep, story can enchance a game but you don't need it for a great game. Monster Hunter is great and its story is "Now kill this larger, nastier dragon this time. Also, you dying makes me sad winky face."
 
Diablo - minimal story (added as after thought)
Diablo 2 - has story but mostly as you move between acts
Diablo 3 - story forced onto player at the cost of game play (didn't help that the story was bad)
 
You cannot blame the medium for poor writing. the same as with books or movies. If the story sucks, it doesn't matter how it is presented. Some games do a better job telling their story than some movies or even some books.

I also don't generally like games that are mutliplayer only. I played my fair share of Quake and Doom at office and private LAN parties when I was younger, but now my eyesight isn't as sharp, my reflexes aren't as quick and the slower pace of Deus Ex, Tomb Raider, Fallout, Mass Effect among others is just more appealing. But just because that is my preference doesn't mean there is no value in the other types of games. I think that is the vibe that the author gives off in his article, "I don't get it so it shouldn't exist" is the conclusion I drew from his article.
 
wootius said:
Yep, story can enchance a game but you don't need it for a great game. Monster Hunter is great and its story is "Now kill this larger, nastier dragon this time. Also, you dying makes me sad winky face."
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You also don't need great game play to have a good game. How about Undertale? How about Secret of Monkey Island? Both are great games made great by their story, not their game play.
 
I enjoy both, but recently I've been very much intrigued by games that don't spoon feed you everything. Dark Souls series comes to mind. If you want to explore it there's a great story that pieces everything together....but if you wanna rambo that shit you don't have to follow too much and just go balls out (and probably die)
 
The author forgot a word in the title of his article. Let me fix it for him so his opinion becomes more clear for you all.

"Racing Video Games are Better without Stories"

Yes, we can all agree with that.
 
Scizyr said:
The author forgot a word in the title of his article. Let me fix it for him so his opinion becomes more clear for you all.

"Racing Video Games are Better without Stories"

Yes, we can all agree with that.
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2fast2furious
 
too much story can be tiresome.

GTA has a good balance.

super mario was fun. did it have a story?
 
There is room for both.

I prefer games that have a story if it's a single player experience. (how that story is implemented is another aspect. Most Open World games, fail spectacularly at that often. Like most of Bethesda or Bioware's work. The Witcher did it fine.)

It also depends on the game.

MP is almost always compromised when they try to insert a story into it.(The story is compromised I mean).
Though there are exceptions.
I find stories hard to enjoy in MMOs because of the disconnect. But I find MMOs hard to enjoy period.
 
Man, i could not even get through two paragraphs of that bloviating dribble.
Stories in games have there place, but like ES - Skyrim, the story is what kills the replay value. No matter what you do, or what character you choose...paths, choices whatever, its always about the main story. For an RPG I would rather have an open world with no main quest, just some mini quest, but all the adventuring is up to you. However, the computer gaming industry thinks everyone has ADHD, so all games have to have something to move the player along and keep them entertained. Some games however, like Deep Space, the story is key. Its like being in an interactive horror film. Its a fun ride like a good scary movie. Max Payne, GTA 3 and up, Deus-Ex and so many other games that had great stories.
 
There are some multiplayer focused games who had terrible single player experiences that they shouldn't have even bothered. I am wondering if that is what he was trying to get at. However, some games lacked a starting point to get you acclimated to the point that it kept the game from fully succeeding. Battlefront comes to mind.

Then there is good single player input that really gets you into it before you're dumped into multiplayer such as Titainfall II.
I can think of a few games that didn't have single player experiences that were huge multiplayer hits. However, I can think of a number of games that didn't and may have failed because of it.

I can also think of a few that had huge marvelous single player experiences who had terrible multiplayer. I can see how this can be hard to balance a game's budget and design based on both experiences.

Regardless, I do like some type of training scenario before multiplayer even in pure multiplayer games just to get acclimated but Titanfall II really succeeded.
 
NeghVar said:
Games with good storylines is what brings me back to play them again and again over time
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I agree 100% I almost exclusively play games with a storyline. I will play something like Racing or Sports from time to time but when I sit down at the PC to really game, I want a storyline. I think the Witcher series are the most compelling and addictive games I have played in my life. Hell, it's not just RPGs that need a storyline, the shooters need them too for me to want to play. I like the option to free world it but having a main storyline is what keeps me engaged.
 
Megalith, thanks for letting me know of another perl: "What Remains of Edith Finch"
I guess my opinion is self explained.
 
I do love a story but also mindless games. For story games I need a good balance though, long stretches of just watching my character make choices without me just irritate me especially in rpgs where you make lots of decisions.
 
Anyone who didn't immediately think of Thief 3 upon reading that title should either be forced to play it, or shot.
 
I'm not big on the narrative driven games that are out there but I feel games are more enjoyable with some kind of story even if it's simplistic. The story moves the game along and gives you some sort of reason to keep going. In nearly all the Mario games the princess gets kidnapped and you have to save her from Bowser. As simple as this story is it still gives you a goal to work toward making the game more satisfying to complete. Doom (2016) is brought up a lot when talking about games that aren't story driven but even it has a story that's actually done pretty well. What I don't agree with is when people declare a game bad all because it doesn't have the best story out there. One example would be Halo 5. I've seen people hate on it because they didn't like the story even though the game play and levels are quite good. For the record, I thought the story in Halo 5 moved the game along fine so it was good enough for me.
 
GameLifter said:
I'm not big on the narrative driven games that are out there but I feel games are more enjoyable with some kind of story even if it's simplistic. The story moves the game along and gives you some sort of reason to keep going. In nearly all the Mario games the princess gets kidnapped and you have to save her from Bowser. As simple as this story is it still gives you a goal to work toward making the game more satisfying to complete. Doom (2016) is brought up a lot when talking about games that aren't story driven but even it has a story that's actually done pretty well. What I don't agree with is when people declare a game bad all because it doesn't have the best story out there. One example would be Halo 5. I've seen people hate on it because they didn't like the story even though the game play and levels are quite good. For the record, I thought the story in Halo 5 moved the game along fine so it was good enough for me.
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Go play Thief 3. Right now.
 
Smashing Young Man said:
I generally hate story-heavy games which grab control of my character constantly for extended periods of time. Usually the narrative isn't up to snuff. Once you strip away the novel veneer of it being a game instead of a proper movie, you realize it's mostly derivative tripe that Hollywood has churned out for years.

The only exception for me was the Witcher 3. I went into it expecting to do my usual thing of hammering the skip-cutscene key as soon as they start, but I found myself enthralled by every last bit of dialogue, watching it all. I even read many of the books of lore you find ingame. So yeah, I think there is a place for games which are story-driven, but they have to be done well in their own right, not just well for a game. I don't grade on a curve.
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Yep there's nothing wrong with games having a story. It's just rare that those stories are well written, intriguing, or original. Almost every story-heavy game you are a generic "action hero" with very little nuance or character development for the protagonist or anyone else. Games that constantly take control of the character are often just trying to hide the fact there isn't really much of a game there in the first place too.
 
Last of us! I loved the gameplay and the story, sneaking around the tunnels avoiding clickers while looting everything was awsome and terrifying.
 
Depends on the gamer and depends on the game.

Did the "story" behind Doom (the original one) make it better? Did it even matter? Of course not, it's a bloody first person shooter. I didn't give a damn if I was on Mars killing Demons or on a secret Nazi base killing Nazis.

Does the story matter in all of the LucasArts "scumm" engine games or Telltale's current reincarnations... Of course, it's *all* about the story... There's no "game" without the story.

It's like the argument for multiplayer games... do then need a single player mode? Of course not... but does the Battlefield series need a single player mode since they typically had them... that's a sticky question. For some people, yes, for some people, no. I don't play multiplayer, so I wouldn't buy Battlefield game if ti had only multiplayer... but others couldn't care less because multiplayer is all they play.

There is no A or B... it's more complicated than that... and articles that state absolutes are just click bait.
 
A journalist who believes content is unnecessary... why am I not surprised.
 
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Depends on the game really, they ruined Unreal Tournament 3's single player campaign for me by adding a story to it for example. Arena shooters for example plays best as a tournament kind of thing, no story involved.

But a traditional japanese console RPG is almost primarily about a story as everything else is typically not deep enough to be able to get main focus. Final Fantasy series great thing were especially the story (older ones, newer ones are a bit "meh" in this regard). Also Star Ocean for playstation 1, Chrono Trigger etc were all great too in that regard.
 
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thingi said:
BioShock's 'Would You Kindly' twist is one of the greatest moments in video game history. No story better? Pfft!
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Too bad it's already a re-hash of the twist in System Shock II. And almost all of the game is a re-hash of it, except it was greatly simplified in the RPG side.
 
Doom actually has a really interesting and thought-provoking story... it's just that you aren't spoon-fed every last tidbit of the universe, instead it's there if you want it. Don't want to listen to the hell tomes tell you the story? Walk away. Don't want to learn about the different demons and characters featured in the gameplay? Dont waste time reading the codex. Just want to kick ass and blow sh** up? Go for it. In many ways, the Doom Slayer has more personality and definition than the most talkative of short haired, stubly, white male protagonists walking stoicly toward the camera on the cover of nearly every game...

More games would benefit from such player-controlled world-building.
 
KazeoHin said:
Doom actually has a really interesting and thought-provoking story... it's just that you aren't spoon-fed every last tidbit of the universe, instead it's there if you want it. Don't want to listen to the hell tomes tell you the story? Walk away. Don't want to learn about the different demons and characters featured in the gameplay? Dont waste time reading the codex. Just want to kick ass and blow sh** up? Go for it. In many ways, the Doom Slayer has more personality and definition than the most talkative of short haired, stubly, white male protagonists walking stoicly toward the camera on the cover of nearly every game...

More games would benefit from such player-controlled world-building.
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The Dark Souls games (especially the first one) have a similar approach to storytelling which I agree is a much better way to do it than forcing the story onto the player. The story in that is mostly told through observation of the world/locations, item descriptions, and occasional vague dialogue that often leads to more questions than answers. That approach wouldn't necessarily work for all games, but I'd like to see it a lot more. It's a really great way to design a game because as you said it's up to the player how much they want to engage in the story/lore.
 
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