Supporting characters, yea or nay?

[Gez]

nxGangrel said:

Deus Ex was the only game series where I legitimately cared about the plot, all the other stories in games I have played (the few of them) I never really cared about.

Plot in Deus Ex is pretty goofy. "What if every conspiracy theory was true? The Illuminati are fluoridating our water!"

That doesn't mean the game was bad. The premise was fun, the writing was good. But I can't say I really cared about the plot, because when I thought about the plot I just chuckled.

[Koko Ricky]

That kinda goes back to what I was saying earlier. Game plots are generally a series of cliches and borrowed ideas. They're meant to be interactive, not narrative, and so the narrative suffers as a result.

[Deleted_Account]

I like the "story" in the Silent Hill games, specifically 1-3. So not all game plots are outright terrible. As for Doom 4, I'm sure it will have a plot but it wont be intrusive forcing you to watch 47 minutes of footage of chit-chat between Doomguy and a bag of potato chips.

[Jaxxoon R]

Naw I'm just jossin' with ya. In all seriousness:

Witch's House had a story that struck a chord with me personally, though I'd say it's delivery was rather strange; some of the biggest details being mostly hinted at through the littlest things. Alternate ending sort of ruins the fun of piecing together the big twist, and is kind of clumsy how so much story is dumped right at the end of a mostly psychological experience. But it still stands as the most memorable part of the game by far.

One of my theories for the game I put together entirely based off of random detail in the game was actually confirmed by the prequel novel, so that's cool.

Ecco the Dolphin was bizarre. Plot wasn't Shakespearean by any means but it was unique. The idea of being lost to the darkest depths of the sea and time--- as a fucking dolphin of all things, is pretty darn scary.

The PS3 Ratchet and Clank games have a nice golden-era Pixar feel to them, so that's cool.

Another World had a damn great story. Plot was simple, guy gets trapped in another world, but the execution and how the story was literally woven entirely into the gameplay was real neat.

Really depends on what you're looking for and what you describe as good. If you want something imaginative ot fun, a regular Rat Race or Metropolis, there's things out there. If you want Citizen Kanes or Gone with the Winds... uh... wait a few decades for the industry to mature more, I guess?

[ChickenOrBeef]

I'll chime in and say that some of the classic Final Fantasy games have great plots. Some of the dialogue can be cheesy and the plots tend to become over-the-top towards the end (it's like a Final Fantasy tradition). But I've replayed games like FFVII and FFX a whole bunch of times mainly to experience the story again.

[HorrorMovieRei]

The Legacy of Kain games also had a great story and superb writing.
It depends on the game really. Story can either work in a game's favor or not. For fast-paced action games it should be something simple, just enough of an excuse for you to go John Matrix on some bad guys.

[Face23785]

Piper Maru said:

I like the "story" in the Silent Hill games, specifically 1-3. So not all game plots are outright terrible. As for Doom 4, I'm sure it will have a plot but it wont be intrusive forcing you to watch 47 minutes of footage of chit-chat between Doomguy and a bag of potato chips.

I was going to bring up Silent Hill as well. Silent Hill 2 especially, I thought the plot was excellent and could've made a much better movie than the first one. The Last of Us has a good storyline too. Dead Space. It really just depends on what exactly the game is trying to do and who is doing the writing. Doom 3's dialogue was cheesy at times, but dialogue isn't plot. The plot was fine. Most of the backstory was in the text and audiologs, which I actually found interesting finding out just what the hell happened on this base as I progressed through the game.

To the point of the OP's question, I really didn't think NPCs would work in Doom 3, but they didn't ruin the game for me, so as long as they stay out of the way for the most part I'm ok with it. I do prefer the complete hopeless against-all-odds feeling of being the only living man on an entire planetary body, as in the original Doom or Doom 64. No backup, no escape. But if this one is set on Earth, I guess that wouldn't be totally true anyway. You'd almost have to run into survivors at some point. Maybe do it like Dead Space, where you run into survivors occasionally, but you can't really interact with them and they're almost always killed immediately.

[nxGangrel]

Gez said:

Plot in Deus Ex is pretty goofy. "What if every conspiracy theory was true? The Illuminati are fluoridating our water!"

That doesn't mean the game was bad. The premise was fun, the writing was good. But I can't say I really cared about the plot, because when I thought about the plot I just chuckled.

That's very true. When you think about it yeah its pretty hilarious and sounds like conspiracy comments people post on the internet but the writing pretty much saves it thus making me care about it.

@Arctangent. I have a mixed opinion on what you said. "A game can be made entirely to tell a story in an enjoyable way" yes it can, but not many games really do a great job with it. Many games do have a good story and can give a game a point other than shooting or destroying things but not many games do this well.

I can't speak for all games because I mainly play first person shooters. And there are gamers who play games not because of the story but because of gameplay. I really don't think Carmack was wrong, but I didn't find it completely right either.

That's really all I can say.