Originally posted by Hyu
And RPGs (for the most part) do the same in a far more effective manner. The way in which you can simply enter a town and walk up to any inhabitant of your choosing and proceed to "interact" with them, in turn finding out general information about the setting and mood of the townspeople -- that isn't at all necessarily entirely relevant or fundamentally important to the underlying plot of the game -- creates a far greater level of interactive storyline that's entirely unique to the video game medium than simply seeing absolutely everything from the first person perspective of a mute character. Not only do you have the full motion videos and mandatory text based dialogue sequences to present you with the full scope and underlying path and direction of the storyline, but you have this level of interaction that really gives you insight into the general atmosphere of the setting. The sheer emphasis on the storyline and how dialogue heavy these games actually are also add to an unparalleled level of exploration of the characters and setting in comparison to other genres (this is especially true for Japanese RPGs).Games such as Bioshock and Half Life 2 really don't present the player with that much of an interactive storyline in comparison.
Being able to interact with characters on the level you described does absolutely nothing for me if the story/setting/characters aren't interesting or intriguing in the first place. Actually, it only adds to the tedium.
While not my single most favorite of them all, I like the Jak and Daxter series' storyline. Once you actually get the time travel parts, it's sensible (enough...). That, and each game just seems to be funnier than the last.
No matter the one in every hundred people saying otherwise, MGS deserves every mention of its story that it gets. What Mr. Yahtzee Croshaw calls convoluted is simply what I call a lack of actual comrehension of the full series; it takes being there from the start to really get it at the juicier points. The closest thing to a plot hole imho was the whole
Spoiler:
Patriots being dead for 100 years thing, the confirmed falseness of which could have been addressed in an easier-to-remember way than simply having Snake denounce it as a "load of crap" thirty seconds into the second act.
I also respected Tales of Symphonia's message of anti discrimination, even if they just short of beat you over the head with the message--still not as badly as Wall-E (yes, I went there). Can't say the asme for the sequel. I don't know wat the hell that was about, but all I knew is that there were two punk kids taking the shpw from the real stars with their generic lack of confidence and puppy love.
Originally posted by First_Tsurugi06
What Mr. Yahtzee Croshaw calls convoluted is simply what I call a lack of actual comrehension of the full series;
He was also like that with Halo 3 going on about the Halo rings........why the **** all of a sudden play the 3rd one when you have'nt play the others.
Originally posted by ArtificialGlory
Being able to interact with characters on the level you described does absolutely nothing for me if the story/setting/characters aren't interesting or intriguing in the first place. Actually, it only adds to the tedium.
Absolutely. Just saying, as a storytelling function, it really is something that is entirely unique to the video game medium and allows for a far more general insight into the atmosphere of the storyline in a way that a movie or book would find hard to appropriately replicate.
Its the sheer irrelevance and insignificance to the main storyline of the information presented that effectively suits the video game medium so well. Its that, as the player, you are not forced to interact with the townspeople at any time but can do so at your own convenience (usually at a point where you're taking a break from the main storyline and upgrading your inventory, stocking up on items, resting at an inn etc...), and it ultimately brings the setting to life in ways that otherwise wouldn't be done as you're really getting a general feel for the very normal and ordinary elements of the lives of the different inhabitants. Rather than simply escaping into the spectacular journey of your party of characters, it allows you to really escape into the norm of the setting.
Gonna try to list some others, not underdogs just others 😄
I for one really enjoyed the story of Modern warfare. Ending was epic.
Indigo prophecies was such an innovative game and a fun story to boot.
E.V.O on the Snes was pretty general, but a neat concept.
Bioshock had a very powerful original story and a couple nice little twists. Always a good thing if you can get more than one ending XD
The thing with MGS is it spanned an entire decade. I don't know if you would appreciate the story as much if you didn't play the earlier games and MGS4 was probably the greatest of them all.
For me there was a real connection to the characters since I was living there lives through the games for the majority of my life. I didn't give this any thought until MGS4 was released which played on the fact people knew these characters and said this is what the other three games have been leading up to.
No game has ever come close to having such an emotional impact.