• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Do you think Soul series way of story-telling should be a standard from now on?

N

NaughtyCalibur

Member
No.

But I'll play along for the sake of this thread and say sure, but only under the condition that the games' universe itself is the main character. "True" role-playing games where YOU are the protagonist thrust into a strange world fall into this classification. Souls, Elder Scrolls, SMT: Nocturne -- these work.

This doesn't work well at all for character driven games imo (see: Final Fantasy XIII -- what a clusterfuck),
 
QuantumZebra

QuantumZebra

Member
baconbm said:
I don't think there should be one way of telling a story for every game, no. I think a lot of games can learn and take some cues from Dark Souls but that style wouldn't work for every game.
Click to expand...

^^^^^^^^^

I love the DS / Demon's series "hands-off" storytelling... but every game is different.
 
Z

Zertez

Member
Sorry I didnt have a chance to read the whole thread and Im sure someone has summarized things more eloquently than I can.

I would like developers to use it in more games of different genres, if they have talented enough teams to use the Soul Series style of story telling. It can be difficult to pull off and in some genres it is more than enough work to put in a linear main story, much less have it presented like the Soul Series

I enjoy the lore of most games, so I seek it out in games, be it by listening to recordings in Bioshock, searching for it in the Soul Series, but it is easy to understand why some want to jump straight to the action skipping long cut scenes ala MGS series. If people arent interested in the main story, seeking out well placed lore is even more of a chore. I think the Soul Series does a really good job of giving you the best of both worlds without forcing it upon players who do not care.

Some people want to jump through cut scenes in games because many are pretty laughable at times. I dont blame them wanting to skip bad cut scenes, but I like the cheesy dialogue and it gives me a breather from the action. I like the way skits are handled in many Tales games, they give me more story, lore, banter, funny and cheesy scenes, but you are not forced to sit through them if you dont want.

I believe a lot of games in many genres could benefit from the story telling of the Soul Series. I dont think it will work with all genres and various structures of a game, especially linear games that push you from one section to another quickly. If a team can barely hold together the main story, putting in more bad lore that you have to search for will probably end up upsetting more people than it makes happy.

My ramblings in short, I would like to see more story telling like the Soul Series, but only if the team is skilled enough to pull it off and if it fits the genre and game.
 
synchronicity

synchronicity

Member
I adore the way the story is told in 'Souls', but I don't think it has to be the "standard". I also don't think it would be as easy as it may seem to some for many developers to implement this type of narrative delivery.

I would definitely love to see more subtle narrative that relies heavily on player engagement and discovery however.
 
R

Red Liquorice

Member
I think now it's established it should be used more as an option yes. I think it's less about being esoteric or whatever and more just about respecting your audience. If you treat people like 9 year olds, they will act like 9 year olds.

More than the lore of the item descriptions and limited cutscenes and dialogue, what I really like about the Dark Souls 1 (since that's the game where it's used the best and mostly) is it seems almost every item, character and enemy has been placed in a certain area for a certain reason. I really like that kind of environmental storytelling, and would like to see that used in more games - have a great vista, but also have a reason for why things are where they are in the world.
 
M

Meffer

Member
I would rather have more ways to tell a story then a set standard. Yeah the Souls series is great and all bit it's not the end all be all.
 
3

3bdelilah

Banned
Dark_castle said:
Mainly for RPG's or action adventure titles. Rather than having a direct story that is told through cutscenes after cutscenes and narrative expositions, have the player explore the environment and learn the lore by talking to people and reading item description. For story-centric, cinematic games (like The Order 1886), I suppose this wasn't an option for them, but what about everyone else?

Many people liked this indirect approach of story-telling, and for gamers who really just care about gameplay, a great way to keep them entertained by cutting down time spent watching the screen rather than playing.

Food for thought.
Click to expand...

If it wasn't for the thread title mentioning the Souls series, I would've instantly thought of Metroid Prime. I haven't properly played it yet (hated its GC controls, Wii controls were much better but still didn't feel great to me), and I'm still hoping for a port to Wii U solely for the Pro Controller. Any ways, from the hour or three I spent on Metroid Prime, I really liked the atmosphere and its indirect way of story telling (despite its somewhat excessive backtracking), exactly as you described in the OP.

I ought to really suck it up and just get used to the Wii controls for the Prime trilogy...
 
E

enzo_gt

tagged by Blackace
Had to shake my head at the notion alone that there should be a standard form of storytelling for any format or subgenre.
 
MrCunningham

MrCunningham

Member
Hadn't that type of story telling already been done in games before the Souls series? Metroid, Half-Life, etc? Don't get me wrong, I like non-intrusive narratives, but the Souls games weren't really the first to do this.

Personally though, I think there's room for both story styles.
 
eXistor

eXistor

Member
Nothing should ever become standard; too many things have become homogeneous as it is. I want developers to experiment.
 
U

ugly

Member
Well, I feel what you mean OP
Like, errybady be hatin' like 'yo, of course not'
That's idealistic
There are standards in any market - we got a lot of open worlds, a lot of shooters presently...
If DS style gameplay became more prevalent and we saw a switch to that becoming a dominating genre - then fuck yea!
But yo lemme play it to you - that kind of change is precipitated by the wants of the industry at large yo. The players, and the devs.
So, hm. I gotta say, yo. DS fans gotta make some noise
 
K

Krusenstern

Banned
Depends on the type of the game. Some would benefit from that way of story telling and some wouldn't.
But developers could blend that stuff and tell part of the lore and story through the environment.
 
V

Vazra

irresponsible vagina leak
There shouldn't be one way or the other but the way the developers intend to deliver their story. If they wanna take the old school no cinematic story and let you figure it out yourself then go for it and if they wanna go the modern route of hamming it up with cutscenes and dialogue bring it. There is enough room for different styles of story telling.
 
G

Gator86

Member
GuessMyUserName said:
Exactly these.

"They should make ____ like Souls" is way too common around here. The series is taking over From's attention already, no need to take over everything else.
Click to expand...

It's one of the main things that define Gaf for me. I know going in to any thread, completely regardless of content or theme, someone will mention Souls within the first page.
 
P

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
A standardized story telling method would never be a good idea, no.

I also don't really care to read bits and pieces of lore through items anyway.
 
D

DarkHeartedKill

Member
The thing I like about the Soul Series is that a lot of it is ambiguous, which allows for an open interpretation in the community. A lot of the community theories are extremely interesting and I prefer that over a "here's what actually happened" as each person gets to experience it differently. I don't think it would fit all games, maybe a select few.
 
T

Tegernako

Banned
Dear god no. There's room for every kind of storytelling and doing that sort of thing might cut down on the epic sort of stories like FFVI.
 
S

SeventhSon

Member
It it hasn't been noted already, let me say that the actual "story" as in plot of Demon's/Dark Souls is not obscure. Both are fairly straight forward. It's the background lore that is discoverable and ambiguous. Matthewmatosis pointed out how the producers of Dark Souls II misinterpreted this aspect and made the plot mysterious rather than just the lore.
 
1

120v

Member
the esoteric lore of DS perfectly matches the game mechanics. so while that's really cool I don't think every game having such an obtuse approach would work

but I do think it should be a lesson to developers on how to deliver a story delivered within the gameplay instead of obtrusive cutscenes. such examples are Shadow of the Colossus, Hotline Miami, off the top of my head
 
C

Chao

Member
Surprised that 1st reply isn't "what storytelling?"
Being able to finish a game so tough that took so many hours and still not having a clue of what happened is not what I would consider good storytelling. Souls games are awesome, but for other reasons.
 
A

AndrewDean84xX

Banned
Hell no. I lose interest in the games due to there being little to no story or motivation to keep going. I hope Bllodborn at least dangles a carrot in front of my face.
 
C

cris7198

Member
Nope, Souls series get it's way with this because of everything it does you kind of except that the story also doesn't hold your hand
 
S

Sol_Goodguy

Member
I love the Souls series but I wouldn't want every game to copy its style of storytelling. I'd rather have variety over homogeneity.

Maybe I'd feel different if Dark Souls 2 had does this kind of storytelling better. I cringed a little when it opened with 'you'll do stuff without really knowing why'. The draw for me is the satisfaction of discovery, not unexplained mystery and I feel like From Software missed the mark with that.
 
L

LX_Theo

Banned
Hell no. Games should not treat story like an Easter egg as the standard. That's atrocious storytelling. There's a reason the draw for the games is something entirely different.
 
C

Cave Johnson

Member
I agree with the notion that there shouldn't be a set standard for storytelling. However, if we are taking about the direction of where game storytelling should evolve than I would agree Demon's Souls would form an excellent framework.

Other similar storytelling mechanics used effectively are Brothers: Tale of 2 sons and Gone Home. These are example of utilizing the medium to engage in exposition and is notably distinct from movies or books. My wish is that more AAA games get inspired and devise their own methodology when designing their games.
 
T

Tetranet

Member
How do you even came up with this? A "standard", in storytelling, really? I can't express how mind numbingly inane this is.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story | Review Thread
Analysis Review
4
1K
killatopak replied
How the Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster devs Nightdive Studios enhanced the classic FPS
Game Dev
14
990
Alexios replied
Until Then - Announce Trailer
News Trailer
7
885
PSYGN replied
Dragonkin - The Banished - Announcement Trailer | Action RPG coming to Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC in 2025
Trailer
0
378
Thick Thighs Save Lives replied
  • Poll
Lore or Narrative? Which you prefer?
39
859
Amiga replied
Top Bottom