- Zombine
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- Fabled Legendary Member
>all these games getting praise for their stories
Here's why they are or are not good.
Spec Ops Very well told narrative, causes the player to think and engages the player. Very nice deconstruction of a genre, though it could have gone much farther with it. The fact that it incorporates the actual gameplay into the narrative by conforming it to generic cover shooting tropes and telling the player repeatedly to stop playing is brilliant. Not the most original story (takes heavy inspiration from Heart of Darkness) but the storytelling techniques employed by the developers are fascinating, and really take advantage of the format well.
Mass Effect seriesThe first game does have a nice story, although it is not terribly well written overall. It has spots of great writing through it though. The game excelled at atmosphere and world building, with exceptional use of environmental storytelling. It was intriguing, and could have gone in some really fascinating places.
The second game, however, has no story. When you boil everything down to its most basic elements, nothing happens. It has no effect on the overall narrative and has no reason for existing. Mass Effect 2 is literally filler. The world building of ME1 is gone, the atmosphere is "grim" and "dark" but has no impact or substantial punch, because we do not see the Collectors as a valid threat. They killed Shepard, sure, but he just came back to life. The story is impersonal and cold, and goes nowhere. It has great character development, but that is essentially it. Literally useless in the context of the series, given it is supposed to be a highly narrative driven game.
ME3 is similar to ME1 in that it has spots of fantastic writing, but it also goes in a very unsatisfying direction. The actual ending is fine enough, and as far as basic narrative goes is serviceable. However, the absolute lack of closure or meaningful differences based on choices when the series was all about choice is immensely unsatisfying. The story itself is mediocre, and relies entirely on a deus ex machina. They wrote themselves into a corner and wrote themselves out of it in the most unimaginative and dull way possible. ME2 was useless to ME3, and ME3 ended the franchise on a lackluster note. Individual stories were well written, and Bioware deserves credit for that. However, there is no threat. The Reapers never seem credible as galaxy ending monstrosities and are ultimately not engaging to see Shepard fight.
BioshockBioshock completely fizzled out after the big reveal. The game hinged on the reveal to be the driving force behind the narrative, and ultimately failed to end in a satisfactory manner. The game had good writing and a serviceable story, and insanely good atmosphere. But atmosphere is not story.
Knights of the Old RepublicLike Bioshock, this game completely depended on the twist as the driving force behind the narrative. It does not have compelling writing, or even exceptional world building. Some good character development, but overall the only really memorable thing is the big twist. Stories that rely on twists are not engaging and are ultimately lackluster because everything was built around the twist instead of the twist coming organically. Nothing change when you learn the player character is Revan. It continues on in the exact same manner as before, except now the player is apparently important. But it does not matter in the end at all. If you went on not knowing who you are, nothing would have changed and the characters would have been the exact same as they were actually knowing who you are.
Shadow of the ColossusLet's be honest, the actual story here isn't that moving or great. You kill things to save your lover and become a bad guy through your actions, and all was in vain anyway. It's tragic, and is compelling, but not terribly great. The narrative is fantastic though, but the actual story is lacking.
Oblivion & SkyrimNeither of these are well written in the least bit and have very, very weak stories.
Gears of WarThese games really have flimsy narratives, poor storylines and generally corny dialogue. They are not compelling in any way. How can you feel sorry for Dom when he shoots his wife immediately after stomping a Locust's head in while yelling "eat -blam!- and die" in the most hamfisted way possible? This isn't compelling or food storytelling, and is just there for stupid fun. They could have made GoW a really compelling deconstruction of the wartime genre by making it a deeply emotional look at the toll the war takes on the lives of the soldiers as they struggle to rebuild, but it really goes nowhere. Soldiers shoot bad guys, bad guys die, soldiers are happy and everyone is happy the end.
HaloHalo doesn't have a terribly well written story, though it is exceptionally deep and well thought out. The games themselves have little story though and rely on exterior knowledge. This isn't great storytelling, though overall it is compelling and rewarding.
The Legend of ZeldaThe only Legend of Zelda game I would say has a great story is Majora's Mask. MM is different from the rest of the stories entirely and focuses on the struggle of Link trying to save the town of Termina. It is fairly deep, given the subtle philosophical questions raised concerning whether or not Link actually saves the town when he condemns everyone to a fiery and hellish death thousands of times over as he continuously fails them. Does saving them once rectify their countless deaths and seemingly eternal agony? Is Link even a good hero at this point since he is literally a constant failure and only happens to win after his repeated failures stack their bodies so high he finally manages to stumble into victory in the end. Was it worth it at all? Should he have just let them die once and let that be that?