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Posted by: N8 Thegr8t
Posted by: Zombine
>all these games getting praise for their stories
Here's why they are or are not good.
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.
Bioshock was MUCH more than just the linear narrative that you seem so adamant to discredit; the story focused on the world and the characters who inhabited Rapture. The reason the "big reveal" was so impactful was because, by the end of the game, you truly felt for Atlas and his story, you became so attached to his idealisms, aspirations, and the stories of the people he affected, that once he pulled that rug from underneath you, the stories that actually made you care about those characters vanished. It was powerfully heart-wrenching not because it was revealed to you who his true nature was, but because everything, literally EVERYTHING that made you who you were was taken from you. You completely missed what was actually important to Bioshock's story and scoffed it off as having "ultimately failed," but the game did not "hinge" on that twist, the game was always about the characters; about YOU as a character, how you DIDN'T have a story, DIDN'T have that life you thought you once had. You were this "empty shell" created for the sole purpose of sustaining the very empty shell of a city you were forced into, but in the end you became something much more than anything your creators ever imagined for you. You became your own person, with a life, and a family, dying-clasping the hands of the children who were just as much an instrument you once were, knowing now that your life actually meant something. The story most definitely did not end at the "big reveal," the story of the puppet ended there, but the story of the man who would come out of Rapture began, and if you can not see that, then you totally missed the point of Bioshock as a game, and more so, a work of storytelling art.
The greatest comment of all year.
Also, bioshock to me was amazing for actually putting philosohy, story telling, idealism, and gaming all at once. The story to me was just like reading the work of Rand all over again, but you are the empty character who is in the game in a more deeper concept.