Originally posted by: BenSkywalker
Man are we in trouble in the coming years in terms of the creative process at least if this is what today's youth is being taught. You have yet to be able to refute any of my simplified explenations of your examples of what you consider to be great examples of story telling. Mainly your choices are quite telling that you are a young man still entrenched in the thought of conspiracies and some grander scale scheme of the powers that be to subvert the people, a trend most common in older adolescent and slightly post adolescent minds. Your mindset is dictating to you what you find good instead of your judgement being capable of dissecting the material at hand for particular strengths and weaknesses based on what you are citing.
Again- Pulp Fiction is a bunch of guys fighting over a briefcase.
DeusEX is yet another in the tired line of conspiracy stories.
These simplified explenations can not be changed by you expanding on them, that is irrelevant as what you need to do is come to the realization that it is precisely in the telling of these stories that their strength lies. Even your own sitings are based on the fact that they expand off of their very simplistic core. Pretty much every great work in terms of literature or film have a very simple premise that is executed brilliantly. Your own sitings have cores that are commonplace in dime store novels, they aren't thought provoking in the least in and of themselves. Executed properly, even such drivel as another giant conspiracy can come across as a brilliant story.
Oh man, you are making me laugh. All your responses boil down to "I think you're wrong. I'll use big words to seem like I'm saying something more than I actually am."
Firstly, regarding simplified explanations and simplistic core, any story can be nutshelled depending on how general a statement you wish to make. How a given story line is expanded matters some, I'll agree, but more important is the core chosen to begin with. People will find a story about control and government abuse of power as well as survival more intruiging because of the plausibility of the story; the possibility that it may occur in real life. You can say Deus Ex is a tired line of conspiracy theories if you want, or you can get into the grit and really nitpick at the significance of each of the missions to the plot line. It all depends on what one wants to do; I myself don't have the time to waste doing so, so I used the mechanic of establishing a basis on which to compare the two games; namely, their subject matter and how the gameplay presents it. This covers both my argument (subject matter) and yours (pacing and revelation) and shows how both are important to presenting an enthralling story.
You have not established any basis for comparison, and thus cannot reply to my argument - arguments only work on their set terms, otherwise they'd never be resolved.
Your pop-psychology was very very cute. I'll pop-psych it back by noting how your paltry attempt at analyzing the psyche of someone you do not know, have not met, and have no background or history about whatsoever was just a last-gasp attempt to gain credibility when presented with an argument you cannot refute. Do you hold a degree in psychology? If so, have you met me and performed the neccesary tests and analyses to determine my psychological state? If you have not completed either of these requirements, your statements about my "state of mind" and its "entrenchment" must be thrown out, as you have no credibility and no evidence for your statements - they are simply speculation with no basis in fact.
Also, I suggest you learn how to spell "citing".
Now, it's time to turn the tables, because I don't want you running out of syllables to muddy the water with too soon. Refute my argument. Show me how Half Life had a good story. This is how debates work; point - counterpoint. If you persist in attempting to artfully dodge making a counterpoint, I'll be done with this thread quite quickly - you're providing nothing new to the conversation, but simply rephrasing the same point over and over again. Either back it up, or stop giving me bait.
Because I really, really like bait.
