• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Game stories: Are they getting worse?

Speaking as someone who loves play videogames of all genres and loves to read (non-YA) novels for over a decade and a half, videogames writing has ALWAYS been terrible to mediocre. Before this gen, games have mostly leaned towards terrible. This gen (counting The Last of Us), games stories are hovering closer towards mediocre. Though JRPGs have been on a whole other level of terrible. Even the JRPGs I and others love have writing that makes a high schooler written play look passable.
 
I think we're in an odd place where game writers are actively trying harder to make good stories, but the end result is it makes stories worse because it just exposes how mediocre their writing abilities are. So some old games benefit from a "less is more" philosophy.
 
Some of the best games stories I've experienced (KRZ Act IV, Hyper Light Drifter, Inside) were this year so I can't say that I agree.

Even super-AAA, butt-dumb Doom had a perfectly self-aware story. Dark Souls III was awesome. No Man's Sky has a wonderful world.

Yeah, can't agree.
 
I don't think game stories are that bad if you compare them with comparable books/movies. Yeah, of course most games won't have a Bertolt Brecht-type story but if you compare it with media in the same "genre" it's on the same level. Just look at action movies like Civil War. That might as well be a story in CoD.

I think it's dumb to randomly compare stories in games with stories in movies if they aren't at least roughly in the same genre.
 
I think people see only they want to see. While Mankind Divided might have an abrupt ending and a simple main plot interactions leading to reviewers claining it has disappointing story. It might have great world building and bits and pieces of stories everywhere in the environment and characters.


digitalrelic said:
I would definitely say, at the very least, that stories from this gen have fared worse than last gen thus far.

Last gen had:

The Last of Us
Journey
Gone Home
Spec Ops: The Line
Heavy Rain
Mass Effect series
Bioshock series
Portal series
Red Dead Redemption
The Walking Dead
Grand Theft Auto V

This gen has:

Uncharted 4 (I guess)
The Witcher 3
Firewatch
Inside (maybe?)
...???


A pretty poor showing this gen thus far from a storytelling perspective.
Click to expand...
You forgot to add Wolfenstein: TNO, Life is Strange, Tales from Borderlands, Valient Heart, Oxenfree, Broken Age.

Last gen was also 10 years long, this gen is about to finish its 3rd.
 
I think in certain games, storytelling is becoming a more involved part of the experience. So it's not so much that stories are getting worse, it's more like the bad stories are in your face a bit more. But much like movies, there's still a select few really good stories and an awful lot of bad cliche ones.
 
I think stories from western developers have evolved for the better over the last 5 years, but japanese developers are stuck in a rut since the early 2000's.

The cheese and forced melodrama that are part of every japanese RPG have completely turned me off to the genre. I want to be excited for FF XV, but then the characters start talking nonsense or randomly shouting at the sky and i'm done.
 
nOoblet16 said:
I think people see only they want to see. While Mankind Divided might have an abrupt ending and a simple main plot interactions leading to reviewers claining it has disappointing story. It might have great world building and bits and pieces of stories everywhere in the environment and characters.



You forgot to add Wolfenstein: TNO, Life is Strange, Tales from Borderlands, Valient Heart, Oxenfree, Broken Age.

Last gen was also 10 years long, this gen is about to finish its 3rd.
Click to expand...

I liked Wolfenstein and all, but there's no way I could ever say that it's story touches something like The Last of Us. This gen has been solid, and the titles you listed have some decent stories ( I loved Life is Strange overall but lots of the writing was atrocious) but Tales from Borderlands and Wolfenstein just don't stack up to the gems from last gen.
 
Icyflamez96 said:
Ok? Just like anything subjective. Not sure how that meaningfully adds to the discussion.
Click to expand...

Exactly, because this is a topic that you can't simply generalize. People do have different taste and to say that "Gen X" had the best overall stories would be straight up wrong, as you can clearly see by reading a coupple posts in this very thread. That's how opinions work after all.
 
Crafting a good story and having good writing is not easy. Most developers and writers simply don't have the talent to pull it off, even if they have a creative mind. No matter how hard they try (and trying too hard is going to make things worse). And even if the story itself is good...integrating it into the game in a good way (i.e. storytelling) is another challenge on top of that. There's also a matter of personal taste, to an extent.

And as for AAA games, most publishers are risk averse and prefer that their games (including their stories) cater to the lowest common denominator.
 
Akai__ said:
Exactly, because this is a topic that you can't simply generalize. People do have different taste and to say that "Gen X" had the best overall stories would be straight up wrong, as you can clearly see by reading a coupple posts in this very thread. That's how opinions work after all.
Click to expand...

That doesn't mean a general consensus regarding an opinion based topic such as this can't exist, which is why it's not an entirely unproductive discussion to have.
 
Skux said:
Were they ever good to begin with?
Click to expand...


-TLoU
-Red Dead Redemption
-MGS3
-AC2
-FFVII (IMO)
-FFXIII (IMO)

Just to name a few..
The problem with some game stories now adays is that developers are trying too hard to tell a story (If that makes sense). Games are way too cinematic. So the player doesnt immerse themselves into the story because the gameplay is so restrictive and mediocre. Thats one of the problems I have with games like life is strange and some telltale games.
The gameplay doesnt drag me in so I dont care about the story
 
Akai__ said:
Gonna hijack a post by Shinobi:
Click to expand...

And I replied to that post:

Lime said:
It's difficult to determine what counts as a 'good story' for sure, but at the same time we have to recognize and agree on why a 6 year old's random words on a piece of paper is not as 'good' as Dostoyevsky

We can't be all relativistic and say that anything goes when it comes to narrative.
Click to expand...

it's simply a pretty meaningless position to have.
 
Icyflamez96 said:
That doesn't mean a general consensus regarding opinions can't exist, which is why it's not an entirely unproductive discussion to have.
Click to expand...

And I haven't ever said that.

There is always games were the general consenus is positive or negative, but I would say that it doesn't go that far that people could say that a particular generation had better story telling or that stories have gotten worse. Games with good stories have always been rare to begin with.

Lime said:
And I replied to that post:

it's simply a pretty meaningless position to have.
Click to expand...

I don't think it's meaningless at all. It's a fact that people have different opinions about different stuff and people just have to learn to accept opinions more and be open to critisiscm without going crazy, because they like a certain story/game.
 
I don't think stories are getting worse. Rather, publishers and developers are finding it easier and safer to try and mimic Hollywood rather than deliver a narrative in a creative way. Things like long cutscenes, real time dialogue, and melodrama are designed to make players think the game is telling a great story when really, it's often simply just a serviceable plot delivered in a flashy manner. There are exceptions to this, Bioshock, Mass Effect, The Last of Us but the majority of AAA games follow a distinct set of clichés and tropes because they're easy to market and create, especially since making these types of games is already difficult and expensive. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, I see AAA games the same way I see Summer Blockbusters, they make great popcorn entertainment, but they don't really toy with the medium and create something fresh. If you want that, then you might want to check out the indie scene, or the Visual Novel Genre for some real story-telling innovation.
 
We get the same thread every month and everytime it's trapped in general words or people discussing good and bad taste. Not really interesting and the worse is of course the "the old stories were better when we had real gameplay blablabla".

Same answer as ever : there aren't "game stories" as a whole and you have to distinguish narrative and narration. This isn't done in these threads (and they're not getting worse, just same old).
 
Akai__ said:
And I haven't ever said that.

There are always games where the general consensus is positive or negative, but I would say that it doesn't go that far that people could say that a particular generation had better story telling or that stories have gotten worse. Games with good stories have always been rare to begin with.
Click to expand...

Why can't it? It's just like any other opinion based topic.

Games with good stories have always been rare to begin with.
Click to expand...

This is what a lot of people seem to agree with, and the fact that you and many others can share this particular opinion only gives merit to the idea that it's possible that it does "go that far" to where people could say a particular generation of games had better or worse stories than another generation.
 
The AAA space seem pretty consistent to me. That is to say, not very interesting.

The biggest change I noticed is that games seem a more confident in tackling mature themes without resorting filling themselves with blood and tits at the same time. Mostly thinking of stuff like Her Story and Firewatch here which I thought both where very successful. Overall I'm pretty optimistic.
 
AAA games are trying to be more ambitious with their story telling, which often flops. I think it's less noticeable when games like Deus Ex, Soul Reaver and Silent Hill 2 were coming out because it wasn't as big of a concern for people making a game.

The wrong thing to do is to ape the Hollywood blockbuster style of story telling like The Order. That doesn't make for an exciting game story. Even then most game writing ends up laughably juvenile, even when it comes to dialogue and not the plot or story. Some games have some good dialogue like Nier or Uncharted tho.
 
Woo-Fu said:
Game stories don't have to be getting worse to seem like they're worse as you get older.
Click to expand...

Chrono Trigger is still pretty great. So is TLOU. Not sure I agree.

Games will always have a lot of terrible stories. But there will always be a few gems here and there as well.
 
They haven't been spectacular in the first place. There are a few good ones but thats it really. Games are better at exploring and telling lore than story
 
No. Games are just changing. Devs aren't as pressured to make a long game, so they can tell their stories in a shorter experience that will fit what they want to say better.

Longer playtime seem to generally be about gameplay now with some exceptions. I like the change.
 
Planescape Torment, a game from 1999 has yet to be topped on the story department.

Games aren't getting better stories, just better presentation.
 
Probably true of AAA gaming at the moment in general. Personally I think a large part of the issue for me is that I want stories with more breadth and depth than we tend to get now. More characters of a world being properly integrated into the world and story, exploration of more philosophies and ideologies than just typical Hollywood fluff. I've found a lot of the CRPGs and indie games on PC have been stellar for strong stories like that.

dreamfall said:
Pinning my hopes and dreams on Mafia III !
Click to expand...

Yeah, I am really really hoping the game can do it. Mafia 1 and 2 were amazing for that, and I really hope they don't lose that as they try to widen their audience with a more action focus

Mr. Poolman said:
Planescape Torment, a game from 1999 has yet to be topped on the story department.

Games aren't getting better stories, just better presentation.
Click to expand...

Ain't that the truth
 
Most of the time, game stories could've been better told in another medium. Most of the time they assume one pace will work for everyone and that doesn't work when everyone can interact with the game differently.
 
There have been many kinds of stories both good and bad, both evidently good and unsuspectingly good and other times it takes reaching a new age in your own life to perceive things you couldn't before. I wouldn't say they're getting worse or better, i would wager it's about the same except there's just more of everything these days.
 
Due to the nature of AAA games in this era (massive teams, relatively huge budgets), telling a strong story is probably more difficult than ever before in mainstream gaming. A good story needs a writer (or writer/director) with a strong vision, focus, and control over the entire project. Such freedom is hard to find in the AAA industry these days, with only a few studios really placing a heavy emphasis on story from the top down.

Given that indie titles are generally smaller teams (sometimes even just one person), I feel that these games will be able to more consistently tell fresh and interesting stories. There is less risk involved, and there is also greater freedom available to the creators. This isn't entirely dissimilar to the film industry, as many of the smaller budget titles contain the best storytelling, whereas the big blockbusters fulfill other roles.
 
I think cut scenes and other story delivering methods that result in chunks of unplayable sequences stand out way more nowadays as outdated design, and the writing only suffers because of that. It makes me wanna skip that shit regardless of quality.
 
This thread is prime get off my lawn territory for me.

Modern Video Game stories are operating under insane degrees of difficulties. Television over the past decade has adopted a shorter model where big series release less episodes that are more serealised and intense. Games especially RPGs are being asked to deliver that same type of story while being 60-100+ hours long. Game of thrones right now after 6 seasons is probably around 80 hours in and that has taken insane amounts of money, 6+ years and it still isn't getting everything right.

If you are a shorter action game the degree of difficulty becomes just as high, since the story has to be obvious so people actually pay attention to it, while fitting within the context of the game. Yet it can't have narative dissonance like in Tomb Raider 2013 for instance where Lara feels bad about killing one person somewhat clumsily and then progresses through the gameplay into a mass murdering sociopath. These games often use cutscenes as a crutch and sometimes include too much story in places where the player has to just sit and watch, when the whole medium of gaming is built around the idea of players interacting with the narative. Almost like they are performing it in a theatre/Broadway show.

It's also worth noting that better graphics/motion capture/voice acting can just as easily hurt a games storytelling as it reduces a players engagement to the story. It's especially limiting in RPGs. Seriously try playing Mass Effect as a dark skinned Shepard. The voice sounds all wrong.

Some games deal with these limitations better then others but no one is really doing a very good job presently. Or I'm not finding modern AAA fare very engaging.
 
I wouldn't say they've become worse but I continue to see a lack of games actually utilising the medium to tell their story. A game where my presence as a player contributes to the story (not just talking about choice driven RPGs) will usually get more praise from me than a game that I feel wouldn't lose anything in the translation to being a film.
 
Older games just didn't have the opportunity to fuck story up as much because the hardware required simplicity. Simplicity is generally going to be stronger than complexity and over-ambition.

Modern games can still have intriguing story, but it tends to be when the gameplay is at the forefront, just like in older games.
 
This year i think INSIDE was the only game with really great storytelling that i've played. Uncharted 4 was "almost there" for me, but nah.

The last two games that i've played and really enjoyed the story was The Last of Us and Undertale. Since them, it's been disappointment and crappy stories.

I don't expect anything great for this year (maybe The Last Guardian?), but yea. This is messing me up too. I really love TLOU 'cause they tell a really great an well developed story. Hopefully we will get more of those throughout the years.
 
I feel like JRPG stories have gotten worse over time but visual novel stories have gotten better. And of course more indie games with good stories have popped up in recent years. I don't really play many other kinds of games that are focused on story so for everything else idk.
 
Chacranajxy said:
My theory is that older stories worked in service of the gameplay. These days, it's frequently the other way around. Regardless of the literary merit of any of it, that has a huge effect on how well it works.

It's like devs are trying to bury what makes games... well, games.
Click to expand...


Pretty much spot on.

Also, we went from the absolute brilliant madness of Resident Evil 6 to the tired and cliche RE7 so things have definitely gotten worse.
 
I think they're getting better. And I think people are expecting more as well

Just with the infusion of indie games and different ways of doing game stories I think has added better stories, IMO
 
digitalrelic said:
I liked Wolfenstein and all, but there's no way I could ever say that it's story touches something like The Last of Us. This gen has been solid, and the titles you listed have some decent stories ( I loved Life is Strange overall but lots of the writing was atrocious) but Tales from Borderlands and Wolfenstein just don't stack up to the gems from last gen.
Click to expand...
You mentioned heavy rain and then say Life is strange had bad writing. I'd say takes from borderlands and especially TNO with its incredible writing stack up well. Stories don't always have to be touchy and feel to be good.
 
I think the overall trend is toward better storytelling (which in my view includes characterization and dialog, not just plot) -- but that's with a long view. I don't think comparing now to 6 years ago is very useful, because the time frame/perspective is too small. It's like comparing this year in the stock market to last year and trying to draw conclusions. You need a longer time-frame.

There are ups and downs along the way; it's not a linear progression. The overall trend is one of improvement, though. I started gaming 17 years ago, and game stories are definitely better than they were then.

I'll qualify that, though. 90% of game stories have always been crap. 90% of game stories will always be crap. It's the 10% that taking storytelling seriously that I'm talking about.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

  • Locked
Meta is raising the price of the Quest 3 and Quest 3S due to memory price rises (they made worse)
News 
3
163
Smiggs replied
  • Poll
Crimson Desert - Are you getting it?
Poll  2 3 4 5 6
258
2K
Barakov replied
Monster Hunter Stories - Both games are on the eShop for $20...worth it?
9
249
DarkShadowXI replied
Bethesda Devs Say They Should Get More Credit For Fallout: New Vegas
Opinion Trailer Game Dev 
49
486
AltruisticFormality replied
Why are games not getting price drops like they use to?
2 3
122
9K
DownLikeBCPowder replied
Top Bottom