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[MikeBison]

I love the books in Elder Scrolls because for existing general. I don't need to read each one, just knowing that if I opened any single book there will be something written in it is enough for me.

Absolutely love them in RE games, because they usually provide background info on what happened in the room, or something about to happen.

I'm generally not interested if it doesn't like it'll have an immediate effect.

Yeah, I do get a sense of that. Like when it's on the Switch, you have this gigantic encyclopaedic lore database IN game on the go with you. It's just every time I do go to read them it's pot luck as to wether it's really stale or interesting.

 

[Mathieran]

I do, depending on the game. Some games I wanna know everything about the world, some games I don't really care.

Right now I'm playing Soma and I make sure to check every thing I can cause I wanna know all the details. On the other hand when I played Skyrim I got bored by reading all the pointless stuff that I quit checking everything out.

 

[RoseBell69]

When I play games that have journals, books, notes, etc, I always make sure to end my gameplay by reading them before I take a break from the game for the day. I consider it the 'bedtime story book" since the times that I do read them at just so happens to be night time, lol. I love reading things in the game and feeling like I'm a part of a different world with even the literature content they have to provide us gamers.

 

[The Dear Leader]

I try to read them in game but sometimes skip over them if I they're really long or just don't feel like it, what I really wish more developers would do is release a app that lets you read codex's, journals and lore stuff on your phone.

 

[yanipheonu]

Shocking reveal.

People read books in real life. Without pictures or interactive elements or anything.

How can they stand it?🙄



I genuinely like finding tidbits of lore in games. If it's optional, why complain? You can just skip it.

 

[IvorB]

The worst is when they mix vital quest information in with optional lore so you never know which it is and you end up having to read it all.

 

[UberLevi]

Yeah, I also hate reading logs and journal entries. I usually skip most of them unless they're short or the game hides hints and secrets in them (Original Sin 2 has a lot of this). I always prefer audio logs. I've also thought about the writers tasked with filling up books of lore in games that the majority of players probably just skip over, I'd dread having that job personally.

 

[Bakercat]

Like others here, it depends on if I care to know the lore and story of the game. Games like bioshock or metal gear I will listen to all diaries or codecs to get more out of the world or characters and the such. Some like dark souls I don't care for the story or lore and just enjoy playing the game. I've played and beaten all the souls games except demon souls and I still have no idea what the stories are in these games or who is who, I just like to beat the shit out of stuff cause it's super satisfying.

 

[elhav]

I enjoy reading books, but videogame texts bore me most of the time.

I think I just prefer to play the game and absorb information from the interactive bits, rather than having to stop to read usually badly written and bloated journals.

Dragon age origins was one of the only games I've played where I felt compelled to read in. The world and writing were good and it was enjoyable.

Videogame writing usually sucks, and considering there are so many well written books out there, I usually don't find it worth my time.

 

[Admiral Snackbar]

I read absolutely everything the game puts in front of me.

I've DM/GM/ST'd for years in table top games and I know how it feels when people blitz past your world building. I enjoy the backstory and additional information.

 

[Gulz1992]

Mainly depends on how long they are and how invested I am in the lore. Skyrim, for instance, I have no intention of ever reading all those in-game books because they’re too damn long and uninteresting. Meanwhile, I will take the time to read the item descriptions in Bloodborne.

 

[notjackbauer]

I'm with OP.

 

[Peroroncino]

I don't mind audio logs if they're short. Killzone Shadow Fall actually did pretty good in that respect.

The worst ones are the logs that make me stand near the source or they fade out if I walk away.

Worst audio logs are the ones where you need to be in a menu while listening to them, talk about bad game design.

 

[Cuningas de Häme]

I read it if the stuff is good. Recently I read almost all the extra stuff in Pyre, which I thought was extra cool because of how reading is tied to the themes and the narrative.

There was a good article on PCGamesN recently about the historiography in Dragon Age that I would link to if I wasn't on mobile. It made me realize that I only like this stuff when it's very clearly in-universe writing and serves as more than just a lore dump and a Wiki.

People are having a hard time grasping that (at least in good games) these pieces of writing aren't the be-all, end-all of the lore, but writing by characters who actually exist in the game world who are bringing their own biases and experiences to their writing. You know, like how writing works in the real world. They're not (or rather, shouldn't be) dry and objective wiki entries. They're part of the world.

Wiki entries are not interesting to me either. That's why I love ES, you often read about same things from a multiple point of views.

And the proper way to read your books is to steal every book you can find, take them to your house, put them in your book shelf and then start reading. I spent many a nights reading in my beautiful house in Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim. I also usually use mods that puts books from every ES in the game. The more books the better.

Mass Effect and such are boring to read, codex stuff is not something I like.

And thanks to all who answered to my query about the uncensored TRB!



Guys, really? Is reading considered an elitistic thing to do? "A Real man never reads!"
Is that what you think? Are you proud to be ignorant? The world truly is doomed...

 

[tesqui]

I'd love to have the attention span, but for most games I just skip through it all. It has to be a game I'm extremely passionate about to start reading optional lore.

 

[jett]

Not me, not anymore, especially when they're written so blandly and dull, like Dishonored 2. I can't even bother.

TLOU at least mixed it up. The stuff you picked up was not just a wall of text, you could read print or handwritten text off the actual objects. It really helped to make it more interesting and involving.

 

[Dabi]

Dishonored was so bad about this. Concise writing = quality writing. Let's reel it in here, people. I have people to assassinate.

Games like Gone Home are fine. Reading is a mechanism of the game, not an abrupt interruption.

I agree 1000%.

 

[Rumblebones]

Depends on the game.

To use one example: I was completely engrossed with Horizon: Zero Dawn and listened intently to all the audio logs I found and read every last written note I came across.

 

[Galang]

I don't have the patience to read even pokedex entries. An entire letter or journal... yeah I almost always skip them.

 

[HenryEen]

Depends on wether the universe//lore interests me or not.

Loves the one in Dragon Age, Dark Souls, Monster Hunter (lol).

 

[Drillary Clinton]

In games where they are good, like Pillars of Eternity, I read most of them.

 

[Vibranium]

I mean, if Resident Evil 2 Remake doesn't have a shit-ton of files written by Raccoon City citizens, Umbrella employees and public servants (police, fire department, hospital) it's not worth it.

I like reading about the people who live/lived in game environments. So yeah, I read everything.

 

[King Gilga]

I always read it and then forget about 10 secs later because it's always meaningless bland boring ass garbage.

 

[Blyr]

I love it when it's books and emails, especially when it ties into the game world, like a journal about some strange beast in the woods, then going out and actually finding it is incredible, or in Skyrim reading books about the daedric princes and then interacting with them or visiting their realm and having it appear as described is so strong

The only time I'll skip it, is if it's like in Mass effect and you have to dig through menus to read a codex entry about the ecology of some alien, like I get that it's for the sake of convenience but it takes me out of the experience, reading something I find in the world naturally feels better to me, and makes me feel like I'm actually in the world

 

[Bishop89]

Audio diaries I'm totally fine with because I can keep playing whilst listening to the lore.

Having to read however takes me away from playing, so not a fan

 

[B-Genius]

I fucking love it.

Besides, it's a must for anyone who wants Souls lore

From dishes out the backstory in bite-size chunks, which we then piece together.
I quite like that approach.

I also like the Mass Effect Codex, because a dude with a cool sci-fi encyclopedia voice reads it out to you while you do something else.

When you have to read pages and pages, like with Horizon or Remember Me, I tend to get a little more selective. I appreciate the effort that goes in, but if I'm sitting staring at my TV screen for 5mins I want to feel like I've made some progress.

 

[Ascheroth]

I like reading them if they're good. I don't read them if they aren't good.
The Final Fantasy XIII Datalog was more interesting then the story.

Trails in the Sky and Cold Steel have extremely well written in-game books and newspapers, to the point were I actually want to read a sequel to one of those books...
Some of those books even turn out to be based on 'real' people/events and you might even actually meet them in some games

 

[2+2=5]

Sadly i have to agree with OP, i know that there's a lot of work and love in those journals, books etc, but unless we are talking about short notes or some kind of adventure game where those journals are parts of a puzzle or ridldle or evidence... i just want to play!

 

[Fudgepuppy]

I skim through if I don't really care about the world, but in games like Witcher 3 and Fallout I enjoy reading them.

Worst offender to me is Human Revolution and Mankind Divided. Their emails and logs are fucking everywhere, boring, mundane and inconsequential. They add nothing to the universe.

The emails you found in your apartment are dope though.

 

[Majora]

It totally depends on the game and the quality of the writing. Some games I devour everything I can find because the backstory is intriguing or the notes are well written or funny or tell powerful stories. Some games I start skipping through the journals and notes when it becomes clear they're both overlong and not very interesting (Elder Scrolls, Dishonored).

I'd say the most important thing for anyone writing this stuff to consider is that they should really be quite concise. The more inessential waffle you cram into this material, the less players are going to want to read it. It should be a couple of paragraphs at most, not pages and pages. If you have a narrative arc to fit into this material, spread it out over several smaller notes and journals, don't shove it all in one long written piece.

 

[Mr. Bad Example]

I do. But I'm not a slow reader.

Voiced is usually trash because they speak so slow and I'm sick of hearing them drone on for 30 seconds for something I could have read in 5.

On a semi-related note, does anyone else enable subtitles for pretty much everything (which I do for a variety of reasons), then find themselves skipping through dialogues because you've already read what the NPC is going to say?

 

[Shaanyboi]

This reminds me of my friend who complained about the Star Wars opening text scroll, because he 'didn't pay for a movie to read'.

I know I shouldn't be shocked when I hear stupid shit like this, but every once in a while, I'm left utterly stupified.

 

[Haunted]

It's definitely not an optimal way to flesh out your lore, but if it's an interesting world and well-written, I will read it.

I remember codex entries in Ubi games being super bad about this.


edit: I tend to think the people saying "there's too much text in this videogame, if I had wanted to read so much text, I would've read a book!" are those who rarely, if ever, actually read books.

 

[aravuus]

I read all that shit.

Unless I really don't care about the world and lore, or I consider the writing bad enough to not be worth my time. In recent years, Dragon Age: Inquisition has been the only game with which I pretty much skipped all books and notes and letters and other lore snippets.

 

[Monocle]

People with a little patience, like me.

Yep. Me too.

 

[Ascheroth]

On a semi-related note, does anyone else enable subtitles for pretty much everything (which I do for a variety of reasons), then find themselves skipping through dialogues because you've already read what the NPC is going to say?

Yes, I do the same thing most of the time.
I listened to all the voiced lines in Trails of Cold Steel PC though. (The english sub is amazing and it's not fully voiced anyway)

 

[Okada]

My problem is it often ruins the pacing of a game.

There's a murderous psycho chasing me or the world is about to end but let's wait an extra 10 minutes while I read these random pieces of a text.

 

[Dantero]

Hate audio logs. Can't really play the game during them and they take forever. I do like written logs and lore and such, though. Only written thing I skip are the really long books in some games, like the ones in skyrim.

 

[Vampirolol]

Seriously who reads all the journals, notes, and item descriptions that come along every 15 minutes in a lot of games?
I'm ok if it's a paragraph or a small scribble, but fuck reading multiple screens of text. I get that you're trying to flesh out your game with background information, but I'm not going to disrupt my game by reading a book's worth of backstory. Just let me play my game.
Does anyone read all of it and enjoy it?
What about the people tasked with writing all this? How boring is it?
Is it fulfilling to write so much and have people skip over it without thinking twice?

Bioshock did it right with everything being voiced while you actually keep playing the game instead of disrupting.
And even TLoU managed to do it right by making these notes really short and actually making a compelling narrative(Ish) outside of the main one.

Me before finding a job.

 

[peakish]

There's a lot of games that have too much boring writing strewn about them, for sure. It all tends to be skippable so I don't really mind it, though. At worst I skip it. But I read just about everything in some games where reading is part of the actual game design. Many "immersive sims" use notes like this. They clue you in to new objectives, alternative solutions and item pickups, in addition to giving the world context. Most games just have the latter.

So yeah, I read just about everything in games like Prey, Dishonored, Thief and Deus Ex. I skip a lot of it in other games like The Witcher 3, Doom, etc.

Not me, not anymore, especially when they're written so blandly and dull, like Dishonored 2. I can't even bother.

TLOU at least mixed it up. The stuff you picked up was not just a wall of text, you could read print or handwritten text off the actual objects. It really helped to make it more interesting and involving.

Dishonored 2 is a bad example? I think it's one of the best at in-game notes. They give a lot of information that's useful for solving your in-game task: clues to figure out safe combinations, find where keys are hidden, or alternative routes. It does throw quite a few lore books at you, but the game itself is about figuring out the world so it doesn't feel as out of place in it as in more action focused games.

Maybe it comes down to how I play that game. I stealth them with objective markers turned off. That forces me to approach each level in a naturalistic way. Reading notes to figure out where to go is part of solving the level.

 

[Transistor]

Huh? What Souls games have journals?

Not journals, but so much of the Souls lore is tucked away in item descriptions.

 

[sotojuan]

They're better than audio slogs.

I love audio logs in System Shock 2, BioShock, and Alien Isolation.

IDK how they are in other games, but I am sucker for that kind of thing.

 

[HK-47]

I like reading them if they're good. I don't read them if they aren't good.
The Final Fantasy XIII Datalog was more interesting then the story.

Trails in the Sky and Cold Steel have extremely well written in-game books and newspapers, to the point were I actually want to read a sequel to one of those books...
Some of those books even turn out to be based on 'real' people/events and you might even actually meet them in some games

Actually the newspaper in Sky always bothered me because it does feel like it was written by reporters.

 

[Rei_Toei]

Thread makes me all nostalgic for how wonderfully implemented the codex was in the first Mass Effect. Entries in there really did add something to the scope of the universe of that game.

 

[Sidewinder]

I almost never read or listen all the logs in games, I just find it so boring and most of the time I just don't give enough shits to read every little piece of text lying around. It should be held to a minimum, but that's just me. And reading on a screen is often exhausting, as the text is not presented in the eye friendliest manner possible.

I do read books with hundreds of pages, but doing the same in a videogame is just not something I enjoy most of the time.

 

[Kraq]

I don't bother if it's the pages and pages you get in Fallout or Skyrim. But if it's audio logs like in Bioshock or only small notes like in Resident Evil, then I read/listen to whatever I can find.

 

[SJRB]

It's called gameplay, not gameread, for fuck's sake.


On a more serious note, it depends on the game. I love reading lore stuff in Bloodborne, because it's so beautifully written. On the other hand I really, really want to read the lore in a game like Dishonored but for some reason I just can't.

 

[HyperCroutons]

I like to read the stuff you find in the souls games because its usually pretty interesting and fills in alot of blanks, makes you feel like an archaeologist. Also I like reading some of the books in the Elder Scrolls games and the chozo lore in Metroid prime. Depends on the game I guess for me.

 

[Ahasverus]

Books on TW3 and TES are also included in this question hahaha. They are looooong

 

[Unaha-Closp]

I always think I should read them all being - I've been reading novels since I was 10 or something and I read every single night - but play a game and I don't ever read any of them. I'll read a massive novel or trilogy but play a game that has in universe lore and notes and journals - nope. I read a couple of The Witcher novels for Geralt's sake but play the games - don't read anything.

I guess I am looking for something different when holding a controller over holding a kindle.