It's been a poor, poor five years for fiction in the video game industry

[Chiefcrowe]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...-years-for-fiction-in-the-video-game-industry

 

[Pr0d1gy]

It really has been. The sad thing is when a company like 38 Studios hires a quality writer to create their story people don't respond to it in the manner you would think they should.

 

[mindcycle]

"There have been too many sequels, and too many established IPs that have been ruling the market. And a lot of them are war games. And they're great projects and great entertainment, but there's a lack of variety today," he told us

Most of the big war games have 100 million+ dollar advertising budgets. There are good IP's out there with good stories to tell but the big guys just aren't taking interest in them. They'd rather milk every last penny out of the war game fad. Support indies!

 

[Kristijonas]

Video games is art. Some create music for money, some for fame, some out of pure artistic calling. There are games made by enthusiasts, small studios, there are giant corporations. Just because Justing Bieber and Gaga are so popular, doesn't mean there's less of other music as well. Mainstream is never quality.

 

[Zenoth]

I'm not sure if I agree or not with him, I think that the variety is there, but he refers to big IPs (well I guess). The "world" of Trine is fun, World of Goo's "world" is great, albeit small of course. I mean, if you look at it, there's choices, but I don't know... I guess that a lot of gamers are attracted towards popularity rather than anything else? Well... obviously that plays its role I kinda just answer my own question (just think of Call of Duty or Modern Warfare, or Battlefield and Crysis, etc). If you're a gamer whom happens to be tired of playing yet another war game in New York city(ies), then you can "go back" to Half-Life 2 and appreciate the creativity put into it. You just have to care about doing so with an "old" game.

The issue, the so called "lack of creativity" (or stagnation of it) I think he referred to was in relation to continuity of said creativity in recent years and mainly in big popular IPs. Indeed when he says "since five years" (which I assume is his own approximation) to which I kind of agree. But creativity happened before that, you as a gamer only have to search for it and you'll find it. We've had decades of video gaming and various platforms, there's literally tens of thousands of games out there. The "problem" is that of course most gamers won't go out and buy a dozen old school consoles along with hundreds of old school games that they might have missed in the past that would happen to have creativity in them. But it exists, which is my point, creativity always happened, and still happens in video gaming to this day.

But, yes, the "stagnation" in creativity as far as big name IPs are concerned has slowed down, it's been made more apparent I guess since about five years, I can agree to that definitely. At least we have "lesser" studios with less restrictions who can risk more, unfortunately sometimes they go uncared for or mostly unnoticed unless they turn their Indie game into a FPS shooter and release it on XBOX and PS3.

 

[CottonRabbit]

It really has been. The sad thing is when a company like 38 Studios hires a quality writer to create their story people don't respond to it in the manner you would think they should.

Just hiring an established writer doesn't necessarily make the story good. Kingdom's of Amalur's writing was not well-received because it didn't fit the game, not because it was under-appreciated.

 

[wuliheron]

I've seen one article after another like this one placing the blame on this, that, and the other thing and recommending every magic bullet solution imaginable. The fact is the industry has just grown faster than the technology. It's an organizational level problem that every business faces. Going from the original Doom which cost 200,000 bucks to the latest Star Wars costing 200 million is a huge challenge and doing it in the last five years with aging consoles and ruthless marketing has just been a disaster for many in the industry.

 

[cmdrdredd]

On the PC I can see maybe some of this as being true. On the console though I see a lot of pretty good IPs with great story. Some of which are sequels sure, but why not? As long as the quality is there and people still show interest why not keep it going?

I think the writers in Uncharted did a fairly good job, Assassin's Creed's story and how it ties into the historical locations and gives you backstory on them is pretty cool as well. I really enjoy Halo's mythology and the universe created for it too. Granted these are all games with multiple sequels which some people don't like.

 

[Udgnim]

Secret World has good writing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L29yYhMeVw

 

[Pr0d1gy]

Just hiring an established writer doesn't necessarily make the story good. Kingdom's of Amalur's writing was not well-received because it didn't fit the game, not because it was under-appreciated.

Fair enough, I didn't get to play it. Salvatore is one of my favorite fantasy writers so I figured it would be a shoe-in that the story would be solid at the very least.

On the flip side, I actually stopped playing Assassin's Creed within a day or two because the story was so stupid to me.

 

[Veliko]

Yet another article moaning about how things aren't as good as they used to be.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Product of gaming becoming mainstream, the casual audience just buy into large franchises and while that stays the best source of revenue and predictable ROI we won't see much effort to create new IPs.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

Yet another article moaning about how things aren't as good as they used to be.

i've come to realize that almost all of the people that complain of 'how things used to be better' are those that lack insight and are completely blinded by nostalgia.

 

[DominionSeraph]

i've come to realize that almost all of the people that complain of 'how things used to be better' are those that lack insight and are completely blinded by nostalgia.

I'm currently playing System Shock 2 (1999) and Dead Island (2011). You sure you want to go there?

 

[Red Hawk]

I'm currently playing System Shock 2 (1999) and Dead Island (2011). You sure you want to go there?

You really want to compare a mediocre modern day game with a game that many consider to be one of the best of all time?

Anyways, some of my favorite stories have happened in the past 5 years. I do not agree with the premise of the article.

 

[AVP]

It really has been. The sad thing is when a company like 38 Studios hires a quality writer to create their story people don't respond to it in the manner you would think they should.

Funny because the story in Amalur was pathetic. So cliche, boring, and uneventful.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

Funny because the story in Amalur was pathetic. So cliche, boring, and uneventful.

Did you bother to read past that post? What was the point of your post? I mean honestly...

 

[Veliko]

I'm currently playing System Shock 2 (1999) and Dead Island (2011). You sure you want to go there?

Yes, I want to go there.

What is your point?

 

[StrangerGuy]

D3 is horribly written from start to end for a game that didn't EVEN needed much plot and that came from a guy called Chris Metzen who got employed by Blizzard for 15+ years despite an astonishing lack of writing talent throughout his career. Tells you about the gaming industry emphasis on quality writing/writers.

 

[Sulaco]

You really want to compare a mediocre modern day game with a game that many consider to be one of the best of all time?

Except, it isn't.

Dead Island received mostly excellent-to-good reviews: 8.0s, 8.5s, 7.5s. All meaning it was "very good", "excellent", or "above average". Sure, many gamers panned it, but it sure received plenty of hype and inflated scores.

Maybe that's his point. That the standards have dropped a touch and what truly is a mostly mediocre game gets mostly positive reviews.

 

[Veliko]

Except, it isn't.

Dead Island received mostly excellent-to-good reviews: 8.0s, 8.5s, 7.5s. All meaning it was "very good", "excellent", or "above average". Sure, many gamers panned it, but it sure received plenty of hype and inflated scores.

Maybe that's his point. That the standards have dropped a touch and what truly is a mostly mediocre game gets mostly positive reviews.

That's still a false comparison.

Diablo 2 also got excellent reviews back in the day, yet it was nowhere near as groundbreaking as System Shock 2.

 

[DominionSeraph]

That's still a false comparison.

Diablo 2 also got excellent reviews back in the day, yet it was nowhere near as groundbreaking as System Shock 2.

Diablo 2 is still so good it defines its genre. Dead Island is a generic console game that eschews immersion to cater to mindlessness. "Follow the white dots to reach your objective."

The only nostalgia System Shock 2 needs is for one to be nostalgic for good games. Load it up and you will find a good game. Dead Island is not superior because it is newer. New games are not a culmination of everything that came before, they are their own entities that are often ass.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

I'm currently playing System Shock 2 (1999) and Dead Island (2011). You sure you want to go there?

might as well compare diakatana with portal 2 then.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

dp, sorry

 

[Veliko]

Diablo 2 is still so good it defines its genre. Dead Island is a generic console game that eschews immersion to cater to mindlessness. "Follow the white dots to reach your objective."

The only nostalgia System Shock 2 needs is for one to be nostalgic for good games. Load it up and you will find a good game. Dead Island is not superior because it is newer. New games are not a culmination of everything that came before, they are their own entities that are often ass.

Diablo 2 is incredibly generic. It's just a case of clicking the mouse, in order to kill as many enemies as possible, to get as much loot as possible.

It's about as mindless as they come.

Has anyone actually said that Dead Island is better than SS2?