Game Plots
Necro
<insert non-birthday-related title here> Join Date: 2002-08-09 Member: 1118Members
<insert non-birthday-related title here> Join Date: 2002-08-09 Member: 1118Members
in Off-Topic
im gonna use the thing and halo as an example here.
Now is it me, or did these games have a good plot...until the end, that's when the "undead" hordes come in, or in the case of the thing the company is behind it all. Is it me or are these boring and cliche twists just ment to make a good game crap? or do they add them to make the game longer?
I for one am sick of fighting one enemy for half the game then you find out it's the government who's set things up or it's an undead-like horde of critters who's mission in life is to eat everything?
thoughs? flames? asskissing? <!--emo&::nerdy::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/nerd.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='nerd.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Now is it me, or did these games have a good plot...until the end, that's when the "undead" hordes come in, or in the case of the thing the company is behind it all. Is it me or are these boring and cliche twists just ment to make a good game crap? or do they add them to make the game longer?
I for one am sick of fighting one enemy for half the game then you find out it's the government who's set things up or it's an undead-like horde of critters who's mission in life is to eat everything?
thoughs? flames? asskissing? <!--emo&::nerdy::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/nerd.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='nerd.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Comments
Endings are pretty much always pants, because there is very rarely a good way to end something so long. Half-Life springs to mind, with it's giant-mummified-baby ending. Both the I-War games had great stories until the last quater of the game, when they fragmented and became meaningless: the only area to escape tends to be adventure games, but only the best of them.
The same is true for a lot (but not all) of books and films. <!--emo&???--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/confused.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused.gif' /><!--endemo-->
If you want a good ending, play Deus Ex, there's 4 endings. No cop outs there.
I hope they were serious when they said Halo 2 was going to have twice the levels and no backtracking missions.
[edit] In response to Narfwak; take a look at the black "special forces" Covenant you go up against in the last few missions of Halo. Their weapons and armor are identical to to those of their weaker friends but they use them better (full auto, supressing fire, grenades in your general direction (and thrown faster, too)). They also use better tactics - rather than letting you run away, they'll shoot you in the back, toss a few grenades in your corner, then rush you. Tactics that will be much more effective against human players seeking a safe place where their shields can recharge.
halo is based around ringworld which is a book - 3 actually.
and it deviates from it...a lot.
the books rocked.
the elites i could kinda understand but the flood..naha
I still think that as far as story and background information goes, Blizzard wins hands down. Hell I've sat through games I didn't enjoy playing just because I wanted to get more of the story (Diablo 2). And the manuals... I just love the extensive background writing they do. Truely awesome stuff.
Also, Max Payne and Max Payne 2 have exceptional stories. Really really good.
I also really loved Metroid Prime's story (though if you're the type of person who didn't scan things you probably missed it), as well as Metroid Fusion's (even if it was swiped from Alien Resurrection, which is poo).
For instance, you start of as a mercenary working for an underground organization that assassinates cartel leaders, this goes on for about 10% of the game, then on the mission before your retirment you return to your headquaters and find them overrun by zombies, the only person alive is the second best hitman in the orginization, so you and him team up and spend the next 20% of the game fighting evil zombies, when you kill the six headed zombie of doom you find out it was a goverment experiment to make supersoldiers, so you spend the next 20% of the game shooting your way through corrupt goverment officials until you finally end up in the supersecret level X of the pentagon, at this point you learn your partner is actually a cybernetic killing machine and has been using you to gain access to the countries military defense systems, he then unleashes a horde of deadly cyborgs and prepares to nuke the planet, after spending the next 20% of the game battling cyborgs and trying to prevent global destruction you learn that the cybots have actually been teleporting in from space and trace their origins to one of mars' moons, this is about two thirds of the way through the game. Unable to stop the launch of hundreds of nuclear warheads you flee the planet in a newly designed spacecraft you stole from the basement of the pentagon and head for mx169 an imaginary moon orbiting mars, there you find a sprawling cyborg city operating as an intergalactic war factory, after aquiring some high tech weapons from one of their bases you set off blasting alien cyborgs until you reach the moon's core, and fight a 900 ton mech war machine, after the battle you find strange documents that happen to be written in english detailing the plans for zombies, cyborgs, the destruction of earth and the spawning of an intergalactic army by a crazed computer system, the documents are traced to a far off galaxy that a nearby computer can convinently transport you to, having no home to go back to you decide to go kick some AI butt. When you arrive you find yourself inside a giant network of computers which is governed by a twisted AI with a thirst for blood, after fighting off swarms of cybernatic zobmie androids you finally reach the CPU, you are greeted by a holograph of an old man that explains the supercomputer is the invention of ancient humans made 500 trillion years ago and that life in the universe had ceased to exist about 490 trillion years ago and the computer had been generating it every since and that by destroying it you wipe out existence as you know it. You decided what the hell and fight the supercomputer and wipe out all existence.
On-topic: Final Fantasy 6(3) had an awesome plot, as do most FF games, with the exception of 8.
For instance, you start of as a mercenary working for an underground organization that assassinates cartel leaders, this goes on for about 10% of the game, then on the mission before your retirment you return to your headquaters and find them overrun by zombies, the only person alive is the second best hitman in the orginization, so you and him team up and spend the next 20% of the game fighting evil zombies, when you kill the six headed zombie of doom you find out it was a goverment experiment to make supersoldiers, so you spend the next 20% of the game shooting your way through corrupt goverment officials until you finally end up in the supersecret level X of the pentagon, at this point you learn your partner is actually a cybernetic killing machine and has been using you to gain access to the countries military defense systems, he then unleashes a horde of deadly cyborgs and prepares to nuke the planet, after spending the next 20% of the game battling cyborgs and trying to prevent global destruction you learn that the cybots have actually been teleporting in from space and trace their origins to one of mars' moons, this is about two thirds of the way through the game. Unable to stop the launch of hundreds of nuclear warheads you flee the planet in a newly designed spacecraft you stole from the basement of the pentagon and head for mx169 an imaginary moon orbiting mars, there you find a sprawling cyborg city operating as an intergalactic war factory, after aquiring some high tech weapons from one of their bases you set off blasting alien cyborgs until you reach the moon's core, and fight a 900 ton mech war machine, after the battle you find strange documents that happen to be written in english detailing the plans for zombies, cyborgs, the destruction of earth and the spawning of an intergalactic army by a crazed computer system, the documents are traced to a far off galaxy that a nearby computer can convinently transport you to, having no home to go back to you decide to go kick some AI butt. When you arrive you find yourself inside a giant network of computers which is governed by a twisted AI with a thirst for blood, after fighting off swarms of cybernatic zobmie androids you finally reach the CPU, you are greeted by a holograph of an old man that explains the supercomputer is the invention of ancient humans made 500 trillion years ago and that life in the universe had ceased to exist about 490 trillion years ago and the computer had been generating it every since and that by destroying it you wipe out existence as you know it. You decided what the hell and fight the supercomputer and wipe out all existence.
On-topic: Final Fantasy 6(3) had an awesome plot, as do most FF games, with the exception of 8. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'd buy that <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
But Deus Ex and some FF games have wicked storys
Most absurd is probably Sega's Headhunter, which saw an already comical amnesia plot escalate into total buffoonery due to genetic supermen and a nutty professor <i>with the funny moustache and everything.</i>
I was going to post a bitter diatribe of how much I loathe Final Fantasy and its generic, predictable stories, but I'll just replace that justifiable anger with a funny noise. Pfffffrthpgh!
Oh, I don't know, I'm going to go play Gitaroo Man while you compile your page long argument of how Squaresoft owns my bottom. Note: I beat the second level of master mode, and have therefore evolved to an entity comprised entirely of funk. Note that down, it'll be very important later.
and then when you watch the halo 2 e3 preview, you discover that, while the halo closest to earth was <span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'><span style='color:red'>SPOILER</span></span>destroyed<span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'><span style='color:red'>/SPOILER</span></span>, the covenant have NOT given up their quest to destroy humankind.. and have begun a conventional assault on the earth...
so after considering all that, necro, all in all i gotta say that the writing crew behind halo is doing their thing f*ing <i>expertly</i>.. no less.
more kick*ss storylines: tales of phantasia, chrono trigonometry, mega man x series (rofl).. there are plenty.
Hitman. <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Hitman. <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
lol, hit the nail right on the head =]
For instance, you start of as a mercenary working for an underground organization that assassinates cartel leaders, this goes on for about 10% of the game, then on the mission before your retirment you return to your headquaters and find them overrun by zombies, the only person alive is the second best hitman in the orginization, so you and him team up and spend the next 20% of the game fighting evil zombies, when you kill the six headed zombie of doom you find out it was a goverment experiment to make supersoldiers, so you spend the next 20% of the game shooting your way through corrupt goverment officials until you finally end up in the supersecret level X of the pentagon, at this point you learn your partner is actually a cybernetic killing machine and has been using you to gain access to the countries military defense systems, he then unleashes a horde of deadly cyborgs and prepares to nuke the planet, after spending the next 20% of the game battling cyborgs and trying to prevent global destruction you learn that the cybots have actually been teleporting in from space and trace their origins to one of mars' moons, this is about two thirds of the way through the game. Unable to stop the launch of hundreds of nuclear warheads you flee the planet in a newly designed spacecraft you stole from the basement of the pentagon and head for mx169 an imaginary moon orbiting mars, there you find a sprawling cyborg city operating as an intergalactic war factory, after aquiring some high tech weapons from one of their bases you set off blasting alien cyborgs until you reach the moon's core, and fight a 900 ton mech war machine, after the battle you find strange documents that happen to be written in english detailing the plans for zombies, cyborgs, the destruction of earth and the spawning of an intergalactic army by a crazed computer system, the documents are traced to a far off galaxy that a nearby computer can convinently transport you to, having no home to go back to you decide to go kick some AI butt. When you arrive you find yourself inside a giant network of computers which is governed by a twisted AI with a thirst for blood, after fighting off swarms of cybernatic zobmie androids you finally reach the CPU, you are greeted by a holograph of an old man that explains the supercomputer is the invention of ancient humans made 500 trillion years ago and that life in the universe had ceased to exist about 490 trillion years ago and the computer had been generating it every since and that by destroying it you wipe out existence as you know it. You decided what the hell and fight the supercomputer and wipe out all existence.
On-topic: Final Fantasy 6(3) had an awesome plot, as do most FF games, with the exception of 8. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'd buy that <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
But Deus Ex and some FF games have wicked storys <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
PS this is the plot to Dues Ex 2.
warcraft III, now there are some plot twists, same with the Frozen throne
oh lordy lordy cant wait for WoW
Enter The Matrix.... not much in the way of gameplay, but as for being a good story and fitting in with the film, it's class. Possibly class0rz.
Just for plots, Halo's ending is excellent. SPOILERS Ahead, YARRRRRGH; I didn't really expect to blow up Halo until the 8th level. The only real problem with Halo is the pace of the story. It moves fairly well, but there is a lot (A LOT) of fighting between actual story sequences. Especially in levels like Assault on the Control Room...you went through a lot of the outdoors areas with no Story input, coversely, Halo (level 2) was rife with story and was more interesting.
SW: KOTOR is probably one of the best plot lines, and far surpasses Halo and Half-Life (although, Half-Life's is more seen than heard). You can't beat KOTOR's depth.
FF7 is probably the only fairly deep FF (from modern times, older ones had better stories, but this had better 'main plot thing'). The ending did kind of drop off there though (unlike Halo and KOTOR).
Xen was a terrible mistake, but it still wasn't completely uninteresting, like many games.
To sum up, the end of games can be good, it just takes extra work from good developers...they're rare, but when they do exist, they're awesome <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo--> .
Good Ending games: Halo (slow plot, but fast action makes up for it - since the plot is GOOD), Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Aliens versus Predator (although it is obvious...), Call of Duty (also fairly obvious, but still awesome), Max Payne 2...there's more.
Bad Ending games: Half-Life (Xen = t3|-| 5|_|c|< <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo--> ), Morrowind (wow, I think a snail just passed us), any Medal of Honor game (blow up generic nazi weapon #367.....now), any fighting game (but those aren't big on plots usually), Neverwinter Nights (custom scenarios differ, lots can be good)...and there's more here too!
It started of good until it came to the zombies, it made me think why the heck they ruined the game with zombies and it got worst aswell. The ending was terrible for RtCW fighting a huge zombie boss in WW2. Deus ex and FF had brilliant story plots especially the twists. Also Star wars : KOTOR had by far the best twist known to mankind in my view.
Thus furthering my belief I am the only person in the universe who liked FF8.
Righty, because I can't be bothered to think of all the games i've ever played i'm just going to look through the ones currently within reach.
Half-life: Hmm, sort of crappy but could have been much worse. At least it left you guessing, and left it open for a sequel.
Fire Warrior: Bad ending. You beat the big mega-deamon of doom, and then get a 5 second shot of 2 fire warriors looking out the window at the destroyed planet. The end.
UFO: Ah, old game. Nice ending, had the twisty plot element, plus it wasn't "sudden", it was clear the mission was going to end when it did.
C&C Red Alert 2: Not a great ending, but strategy games arn't known for them. Could have been worse.
Icewind Dale 2: Um, never completed it. Apparently the ending sucks.
Starlancer: Ah, nice(ish) ending. Big Space-station go boom, Alliance wins, the end. And leave it open for a sequel which probably isn't going to be made.
SiN: Another (not quite so) old game, good ending (the bit after the FMV made me chuckle) and again, leaves it open for the expansion pack, and the sequel.
Medal of Honour: Drive away in a train and have "THE END" slapped in your face when you least expect it. Not particularly satisfying.
Deus Ex: All right I guess, could be better but at least there's multiple endings.
(moving on to PS2/PS games)
Metal Gear Solid: YES! This had a GOOD ending! Shame about the sequel.
Metal Gear Solid 2: Not a great ending, but at least it seemed to imply that Raiden WONT be coming back for another game, which can only be a good thing.
Timesplitters: This game doesn't have a plot, let alone an ending.
FF7: Alas, still haven't completed.
FF8: Well <u>I</u> liked it. It's a nice happy happy ending and it ties up all the loose ends.
FF10: Hated the ending. Confusing, and not at all satifying, leaves more questions than it answers.
Metal Gear Solid 2: Well the duel with Solidus was sweet, but the actual ending was kind of crappy. Is it me or did I see Vamp standing by a Taxi in the background?
At this point I realise I haven't got many PS2 games at all. Most of them I rented.
warcraft, warcraft ii/xpac, and starcraft <i>all</i> had absolutely <i>stupendous</i> storylines.. i was on the edge of my seat while i played the single player campaigns =]
as for mgs2: i really liked the "conspiracy in a conspiracy" conspiracy. i guess it's kinda hard to like, but.. oh well. the old elements are there: solid dives off A. gear to pursue "shalashaska", aka you-know-who. it still retained the snakiness, even if it had blondie as the lead.
<img src='http://p.xanga.com/Confuzor/profile.gif' border='0' alt='user posted image' /> <-- I'm not going to say anymore, cause I've repeated myself enough about the game.
In terms of the ending? In a way, I guess it is kind of disappointing at first, especially if you choose the wrong ending. But if you have high wisdom, intelligence, and charsima, the conversation options that end the gameare absolutely stunning.
It's sad, but I like it.
2: It's easier to pull out good gameplay than good plot, even then <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
3: Writing good fiction is a <i>very</i> different skill set to writing good code or designing good games. Some people can do all of them. Some companies hire people who can do that sort of thing. But the thing is, big games are going to be made by people who got there by working up through the industry, and are going to be the kind of games they want to play. <i>However</i>, you don't work your way up the industry through your creative writing - you do through your technical or (graphical) artistic ability. So it's less likely that someone in a position to make a high budget game that they want to make is going to have the ability to write good prose or the inclination to have someone else write prose for their baby.
4: Even if you <i>can</i> write good fiction, endings are hard. You tend to see it happen quite a bit in other genres, such as anime (Neon Genesis and She, The Ultimate Weapon are good examples of the plot deflating like a wet balloon at the end). It's especially difficult to write good endings by comparison to the rest of the plot - your ending is compared with the tension, quality, and expectations built up by the body. It's relatively easy to foreshadow, and build up, and foster attachment to the characters. It's quite another thing to channel all that momentum into an ending that takes advantage of it properly.
it may seem like a good story..but that's probably because u havent read the ringworld trilogy!