In Response: An Aging RPG Gamer Looks at Story.

Apr 2, 2010

I know I fit into this category, and you know if you fit into this category too if you could admit to playing Atari’s Adventure when it was new.

Adventure didn’t have much story; it gave you a small shaded pixel cube and three dragons to fight towards the end of the game that ended when you got your hands on the “Holy Grail.” The story had about as much detail as the dragons did, which was next to none. As time went on console based games started getting more advanced systems of graphics, but most of the time the stories stayed the same. Hero or heroine fight against the bad guys to save someone or something that will benefit the entire world. If you fail this mission the world will end, muhahahaaa.

I’ve seen it many times before, dating back to when adventure games were text based was the most engrossing times of storytelling. For one, you actually had to read the text; there were no cut scenes or CGI graphics at the time. The most powerful graphic engine would be giving flesh and blood to your characters; it was all done in your mind.

Nowadays, ‘dem young whippersnappers get fansah joy-stickery to play with. We had no joysticks back in mah day and when we did, it had one button! If it broke you had to walk uphill to your friend’s house to knock on his door on a snowy day. Only to find out that his is broken too. “What do ya’ wanna do?” he would ask me. Rather than walk back uphill to my house again (in the snow and barefoot) I would say, “I dunno; watch TV, read comics or maybe play a board game. If it slows we can go to the store and buy some?” Heavens forbid that on snowy days we couldn’t retreat to the world of our favorite video games to get immersed in some story.

Did you just picture that in your head? Well, that is my way of conveying avery simple quest mechanic that is employed in many RPG games. The quest, the journey, and the failure but not without sacrifice that had a hidden brighter side to it all: the ally. Seems a little too familiar? But seriously: Video games have transcended through many years and many mediums of communication. There might be a day when all we need is our phone to get immersed in someone’s well thought out story in an RPG. Wait, that day has come!

What we all forget to realize is that all of these RPG’s and MMORPG’s arestories played out over a grand design. The heroes and villain all have a set place. The scenario is set, the background is fleshed out and ready for the most important person to show up: YOU. You are to become the willing or unwilling traveler in this journey written by someone else’s imagination. The only problem is that as in novels, short stories and even TV melodramas, you have your good stories and your bad stories. It is all depends on who your author is.

While I was reading my Leigh Alexanders “Analysis: FFXIII And The Aging RPG Gamer” (Photo on left and I give full credit for the name of this post to) over at Gamasutra, I decided it was time that I gave a glimpse of my opinion of the story in FFXIII. I recently had a friend, not the same one with the Atari joystick but somewhat similar, bring over his copy of FFXIII to give me a little trial through.

I have to tell you that the reason why you don’t feel attached to the characters are that it really isn’t that great of a story. From what I gather from the beginning is that this story has been done before, actually done to death. What? Did the evil government take over the world? Now people that are specially marked by some mysterious force are in danger of being corralled and eventually exterminated unless some other mysterious force called cocoon is saved. If I am wrong here let me know.

From the startup page I didn’t really feel any attachment to the characters of FFXIII. What interested me the most was that the game does take place from different points of view. THAT was the innovative part of FFXIII, which was one part of the game that I did like.

The scenes in FFXIII are spectacular and almost motion picture quality material. As you progress through the game you will be taken through some visually stunning CGI generated graphic. Modern gaming is long left texted based storytelling in the dust; it’s all done visually now.

Now that storytelling is done mainly by moving pictures it leaves much of what we do in our heads to wonder when we get into some exploration or combat. Are we really paying any attention to the story? Once in awhile someone comes along with some really progressive and innovative story. Some have found new ways of telling it and Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain is a fine example.

Story is what has captivated many RPG players like me over the years. Unfortunately, sometimes I feel that some of the writers of RPG’s have all graduated from the same school. If someone reads 5 great books and then one bad one, you might pick up on it. But if you read 100 great books and then 1 bad one it will stick out like a sore thumb. Not because you are getting old, it’s because you can now tell the difference. The bottom line is that it’s not because you are getting old it’s because you are seasoned.

Today’s RPG gamer has a very long lineage of games to look back on. There are many great games along the way and some not so great ones. But in each in every one of them are the common practices of storytelling. What keeps people playing RPG games is a varied mixture of endearing characters, genre, story, combat, exploration, discovery and exactly how we impact the world we are in. If you don’t feel attachment to a certain games story, it’s likely because there isn’t that great of a story to it.

To be continued…

Play safe,

Inktomi