BEAR on 21/11/2006 at 18:48
TBH, although I really liked DX, SS2 beats it in storytelling. I felt more a part of the story in SS2. The fact that there were almost no cut scenes, nobody ever just telling you anything. You're entire vision of the ship and its inhabitance being shaped by voice logs. In the end of SS2, I felt so much more understanding for the story than at the end of DX, although I loved being able to change the story with actions. I cant complain really, as long a SS2 is in there.
Thief/thief2 I think are great also, not for the main story but the sub-plots and side stories. I loved reading correspondences between barons and maids etc, it was one of the only sources of info for the outside world besides what you actually see in the game, which is cool because you never really know anything about the world other than the city you are in practically.
TheGreatGodPan on 22/11/2006 at 06:59
Quote Posted by BEAR
TBH, although I really liked DX, SS2 beats it in storytelling. I felt more a part of the story in SS2. The fact that there were almost no cut scenes, nobody ever just telling you anything. You're entire vision of the ship and its inhabitance being shaped by voice logs. In the end of SS2, I felt so much more understanding for the story than at the end of DX, although I loved being able to change the story with actions. I cant complain really, as long a SS2 is in there.
Thief/thief2 I think are great also, not for the main story but the sub-plots and side stories. I loved reading correspondences between barons and maids etc, it was one of the only sources of info for the outside world besides what you actually see in the game, which is cool because you never really know anything about the world other than the city you are in practically.
There is no story in SS2. It's all background because everything already happened before you wake up.
Thirith on 22/11/2006 at 14:44
Quote Posted by TheGreatGodPan
There is no story in SS2. It's all background because everything already happened before you wake up.
This strikes me as an immensely dumb statement. You might as well say that books told in the past tense have no story, only background.
SS2 tells two stories. One of these you don't participate in as such, yet it still tells this story; the other story is yours, and its telling is interwoven with the first. Saying that it has no story doesn't make any sense.
TGGP: If I may ask - you've got U of I as your location. Is that the University of Indiana? If so, what is it you study?
TheGreatGodPan on 22/11/2006 at 19:34
The I is short for Illinois, more specifically at Urbana-Champaign. I'm majoring in computer science.
What I said was hyperbole, because waking up, following some directions, killing the many and stopping SHODAN is a story, thought not much of one.
Books are different from games. But even if a book were told in the past tense, if the plot followed a character who found out about stuff that happened in the past, the story is about how those things were discovered, while the content of what is discovered is background.
Thirith on 22/11/2006 at 20:30
See, the thing is that I don't think it's the complexity of a story that makes it a good story. It's the telling of the story. SS2 does a very good job of telling its story/stories, whether you look at the actual occurrences on the two ships as background or not.
In my opinion, Deus Ex does an okay job of telling its story, but the story itself is so hackneyed in its "Everything's a conspiracy OMGLOL!!!!!1!1" style. The big revelations aren't handled very effectively. In terms of storytelling skills I think that SS2 works a lot better.
Anyway - I'd say that it's all about how a story is told rather than what the story consists of. Shadow of the Colossus doesn't have much of a story, but it's told beautifully.
Pyrian on 22/11/2006 at 21:34
Quote Posted by TheGreatGodPan
There is no story in SS2. It's all background because everything already happened before you wake up.
That's not true. Everything happens before you get to that particular spot - in at least one case, only by dint of a door opening slowly - but there's a fair amount going on.
BEAR on 30/11/2006 at 04:53
Well, hes partly right in that the story I mean wasnt the story of the game, it was the story within a story. I just remember comming to these rooms, (my memory is schechy), I think it was the crew quarters or cafateria or somthing, and listning to these voice logs from the viewpoint of one of the factions on the ship, talking about "we'll show those rent-a-cops how real military does it" or somthing, which just felt so deep story-wise to me. It wasnt that the story had anything to do with you, in fact thats what made it great. Thats what I liked about thief, most of the readings had jack shit to do with you, but they gave you these tantalizing glimpses into this world that you otherwise know nothing about.
In SS2, you start out with no knowledge of the ship or whats going on, and the way it hurls you into the story is great, rushing you around. As you go on you learn more and more about what happened, and you feel this connection to it all, when you run back through areas later you remember what happened there before you and what happened when you came there yourself.
Thats what to me makes it so excellent.
