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The Last of Us ending - Why developers need to remove choice from players sometimes
- Thread starter Tabris
- Start date
GatticusFinch
Member
Nothing is "holding back video games." We have cinematic games, we have "visual novels," we have the "walking simulator" genre, we have puzzle games, etc. There are games where story telling is the primary artistic endeavor to others where story telling has nothing to do with artistry. There are endless opportunities for expression. If you are going to make a story-centric game, though, you can't do it with a bunch of branching path, choose your own adventure stuff.
Games can be fun in the same way movies can be fun but not considered thought-provoking art, and that's just what most of the profitable games are (Call of Duty compared to, say, The Avengers).
multiple endings is one of the biggest reasons why, in general, gaming is notorious for laughably bad stories.
No one takes "choose your own adventure" novels seriously, so why would they make exceptions for videogames?
Of course, games don't have to be serious, but the ones that try to be need to take a hard look at how The Last of Us handled things.
No one takes "choose your own adventure" novels seriously, so why would they make exceptions for videogames?
Of course, games don't have to be serious, but the ones that try to be need to take a hard look at how The Last of Us handled things.
Sorry you just sound threatened because not all games give choice to player. Nobody said all games should be like TLOU and frankly it's boring that every time there's a thread on a specific game be it open world, linear, online, offline someone has to pipe up about the "dangers" of all games going that way. There's always been lots of variety and honestly this kind of concern just sounds empty and without cause to me: concern where there's no need for concern.
By the way I've yet to play a game with narrative choice that equals a linear narrative. It just doesn't work to the same level of excellence in practise. To create a branching narrative of equal excellence would almost certainly require more skill than a linear narrative so the odds are against it. Not only that the more open the choices for the players the looser the narrative becomes to the point you've got something like Red Dead Redemption introducing a "ticking clock" narrative device them immediately allowing the player to ignore it. Great game but lesser narrative than TLOU as a result with its own ending eroded by endless sidequests and uneven character development.
No I think there are other factors that hold games narratives back other than multiple endings. Bad use of multiple, choose your own adventure, endings are definitely worth laughing at, but I think there certainly are some games that handle multiple endings well. For example, even though I used Spec-Ops as an example of flawed narrative design in this thread earlier, it handles multiple endings really well and there are, I think, 5 endings, none of which are extremely heavy handed in saying here is the time to pick what you get, i.e. Mass Effect. They felt like natural consequences to choices and play with the expectation of the player's win/fail states.
EDIT: Wrong thread, oops. 
But since I'm already here, I might as well give my two cents: I've got nothing against multiple endings, but like some others have said, I also star worrying way too much about which ending I'll get, whether it's the better or most "complete" one and that kind of takes me out of the game somewhat, except for games where the ending doesn't really matter like in the Souls series (they're all so brief, so...). So given the option, I prefer games with a single ending, or at least a "true" ending.
But since I'm already here, I might as well give my two cents: I've got nothing against multiple endings, but like some others have said, I also star worrying way too much about which ending I'll get, whether it's the better or most "complete" one and that kind of takes me out of the game somewhat, except for games where the ending doesn't really matter like in the Souls series (they're all so brief, so...). So given the option, I prefer games with a single ending, or at least a "true" ending.
Horse Detective
Why the long case?
I don't want to make Joel my character. I want Joel to be his own character. I didn't play the game so I could play myself.
Justin Thomas
Banned
The ending to the last of us was unhappy?
Part of the reason I loved the last of us so much is that I resonated with Joel so well. I cant think of a choice he made in that story that I wouldn't have made myself.
Telling a story with greater player choice usually winds up with people enjoying the same story but thinking they have had an effect on the outcome. (mass effect)
Part of the reason I loved the last of us so much is that I resonated with Joel so well. I cant think of a choice he made in that story that I wouldn't have made myself.
Telling a story with greater player choice usually winds up with people enjoying the same story but thinking they have had an effect on the outcome. (mass effect)