Me too. It popped up a few times in the Best Stories thread as well. Basically it was about what a father would go through for his son which is something you don't see much in video games.
My vote goes to Killzone 3. What's worse is it could have been an epic story that captured the moral ambiguity and general craziness of war. BF3 was kind of stupid too. Fighting Russians... again. The whole possible traitor thing seemed really forced and ridiculous.
It manages to ruin the characterization of an iconic character, is terribly edited/written, and has monologues that might as well have come straight out of twilight.
Definitely Other M. If I had to point out one reason, it would probably be lack of characterization. For all the emphasis of storytelling, all the characters seem very flat in personality. With the exception of two scenes Samus never reacts to what is happening other than bland "no shit" exposition given in a bland tone.
I also have to give props for adding different characters just to axe them off. What was the point of
The Deleter
when he had nothing to do with the story other then to
kill the other pointless-to-the-story crew members
. Do you fight him?
Nope, killed for you.
. Then you have Ridley, whom they build up through the entire game. I actually liked in a weird way of how Samus actually reacted to his
revival and his fight was actually pretty good.
He
escapes after the battle, and you'd expect to fight him again right? NOPE LET'S JUST AXE HIM OFF
with a boss that comes out of nowhere.
I guess Sakamoto just wanted create a bad Alien movie.
EDIT: And Skyward Sword IF Nintendo decides to pull and Ocarina of Time with this game's story.
The world setting makes even less sense than usual for action games, too many things are handwaved, character dialogue is abominable. Shitty attempts at social commentary do not help.
Most hurtful was the Dante/Vergil interactions.
Perhaps if I never played DmC3, I would have just not cared
This is why you think Spec Ops is the worst story of the generation? Seriously? None of this is even accurate, except perhaps the "borderline patronising" part.
I'm going to also dedicate some vitriol to Tomb Raider (Reboot).
Holy goodness, that was awful. There is no character development (serial killer prowess aside), every side character spouts the most stereotypical shit, and the journals are cringe-worthy. "She just needed a little help unlocking her inner party girl." Ugh.
The element of survival is a non-factor, and most of the inane dialogue between the guards is more sincere than the nonsensical narrative being told.
Spoilers:
Let's die for a screwdriver & peck on the cheek.
Will Dr. Whitman betray everyone? No way!
There have been lots of posts discussing this in recent LTTP threads, I suggest you read them. I also think that The Line has a very poorly executed story, but you can see that in my post history, I won't copy and paste it all here.
Oh, I read them. If anyone read them, it was me. Some good and legitimate critical points, but mostly incoherent drivel that resembled some kind of strange attempt at a backlash for a game that didn't get any recognition at release and was spread by word of mouth.
It manages to ruin the characterization of an iconic character, is terribly edited/written, and has monologues that might as well have come straight out of twilight.
I agree with you completely. I think we should judge "worst video game story" by the notion of them trying to be a good story.
I think we should focus on games like Other M, and ignore obvious choices like Anarchy Reigns or Motorstorm Apocalypse.
I would also like to nominate any Military FPS game that tries to be profound,anti-war, or try to inject social/political commentary and ham-fisted attempts at any semblance of emotional impact (except for Spec Ops, of course). That, and most JRPG's this generation were terrible. FF13, I'm looking straight at you.
EDIT: I think I got it. Dante's Inferno. What a complete utter spit in the face to the decency of storytelling by turning one of the greatest works in Literature into a horrible male power fantasy.
The scene at the beginning where the one dude (Prophet, or whatever?) transfers his suit over to the other dude is just one of the worst scenes I've ever seen in a video game.
And it's fucking unskippable, with this long as shit pre-rendered opening credits sequence.... It was unbearable. Crysis 3 carries on the tradition proudly, so ridiculously self-serious about a bogus plot with bogus characters.
Me too. It popped up a few times in the Best Stories thread as well. Basically it was about what a father would go through for his son which is something you don't see much in video games.
My vote goes to Killzone 3. What's worse is it could have been an epic story that captured the moral ambiguity and general craziness of war. BF3 was kind of stupid too. Fighting Russians... again. The whole possible traitor thing seemed really forced and ridiculous.
The execution though... and it falls apart easily too with some scrutiny. But I wouldn't call it the worst.
Maybe Star Ocean 4... but this is just perhaps my intense dislike towards the characters that made me feel that way.
Also, *raise the flame shield*: I don't think FFXIII's central story/lore is actually bad, it's just the way the game tells them to the players is abysmally awful.
While it wasn't necessarily THE worst, it was poorly paced and felt no sense of urgency. It didn't help that the characterization of the lead character and his motivation was very poorly done.
In contrast, Tales of Xillia felt like it had a stronger sense of urgency and had much better characterization and pacing, so they learned their lessons.
I LOVED the first game but I only got like 5 hours into this one before stopping. I was actually offended at how shitty the writing was in this one. It's as generic school-anime as humanly possible, and the characters suck.
Most recently, I'd probably say Far Cry 3 mainly because it had so much potential to be interesting and unique from a psychological perspective, but instead, the developers settled on regurgitating common character tropes that we've seen many times before (sans Vaas) and presenting the player with a clichéd story that was deeply flawed on a fundamental level.
Most recently, I'd probably say Far Cry 3 mainly because it had so much potential to be interesting and unique from a psychological perspective, but instead, the developers settled on regurgitating common character tropes that we've seen many times before (sans Vaas) and presenting the player with a clichéd story that was deeply flawed on a fundamental level.
Every character in the game that isn't Vaas is absolutely insufferable. Any time a character is on screen doing or saying something, any time I'm not chain-stabbing people in the fucking neck or something, that game is unbearable.
Jason Brody, man. Shitty game protagonist poster child of the generation.
Let me top yours OP:
Secret Files 3 (You shouldn't play this game, it's not good, so feel free to read the spoiler)
The overall plot is that there has been a long-running conspiracy regarding the number pi. Any time anyone is close to discovering a truth, he is stopped. Early in the game, the library of Alexandria is partially burned down in 48BC to get rid of some scrolls, the thief you play in this early bit is paid by some mysterious men in robes, familiar from the first Secret Files game. In a later flashback to the 1400s they also pay Florentine thieves to steal an amphora. You eventually see a flashback where a King is told that pi can be calculated to its final number and that it supposedly is the 'formula to eternity'.
You eventually discover that after a certain point, the numbers for pi become just 1s and 0s, and form the blueprints for a machine. It turns out that the robed men are 'guardians' who explain that they try to keep people from building this machine, because it leads to the destruction of the world it's built on. They say that that is why there has been no contact with alien intelligent life (other than themselves I suppose), because as soon as a civilization advances enough to learn about this machine, they destroy themselves with it.
I have no idea what the fuck the developers were smoking.
After Dead Space 2 I stopped caring about the market plot after it was obvious they were MacGuffins that did whatever felt convenient to the plot. The way they behave in DS1 and 2 are totally different.
And of course, I didn't even touch on the
necromorph ice moon thing
I can't believe someone wrote that idea down on paper.
1) LA Noire - One of the worst stories I've had the misfortune of slogging through. Starts off with promise. Great acting, set-up, decent writing. Then the plot gets repetitive, Cole is a bipolar asshole who starts
cheating on his wife out of nowhere (the wife that is not characterized at all), chases a serial killer that dead-ends the plot, then randomly bums around in Vice before stumbling on a conspiracy in Arson.
Shit just randomly happens. There's no build up to it. It's just stuff that happens. Cole's character remains pretty static throughout. We get this random conspiracy stuff thrown in here and there that amounts to a fairly underwhelming ending.
Worst? No, far from it. It's not the best story around, but it's one of the better ones for a video game, even pretty good for traditional media.
Cole's "bipolar" stuff is to get clues out of people he doesn't have evidence for. He's ruthless to get ahead.
Sure, his wife is barely in the game, and it does take a weird swerve because of that, but everything else is pretty damn good. It feels like every case is an episode, and every track is a season of a show. It also skips ahead in time, which makes every bit of sense instead of trying to stay on the same path.
Even with poor characterization of his wife, it's still better than most games out there. And again, I've seen movies/read books that left out characters too...
Bionic Commando had a terrible story that is 100% throwaway and never really explained how a red head could become darker skinned dreaded out dude in prison. (though I liked the game)
Tomb Raider is literally leave lara behind the game. If everyone gets killed in a fight and strung up, she's left fully clothed and alive. Was it hard to kill 1 person? No, especially not as hard to kill 100 more.
Bioshock Infinite is racism + religious zealotry in a game with zero choice and a coin flinging crazy girl following you around. Oh and QUANTUM MECHANICS because they're cool but BREAKS THE WHOLE FUCKING GAME'S PREMISE. Oh and the plot was taken from 70's Adam Warlock comics.
It's far from worthy of the ridiculous praise I see it get. In the more recent LTTP threads, negative posts on the story were often countered by 'wait for antitrop', but you haven't been in those threads. Of course there is worse stories out there. Like Killzone 3, which kind of ruined Killzone a bit. But in the end, I still enjoyed Killzone 3 for its gameplay. Spec Ops, however, does not have the gameplay to fall back on, and thus if the story doesn't work, the game completely falls apart. That's what makes Spec Ops's story one of the worst in my opinion. The worst of the generation? Probably far from it. But I didn't make that claim in the first place.
Let me top yours OP:
Secret Files 3 (You shouldn't play this game, it's not good, so feel free to read the spoiler)
The overall plot is that there has been a long-running conspiracy regarding the number pi. Any time anyone is close to discovering a truth, he is stopped. Early in the game, the library of Alexandria is partially burned down in 48BC to get rid of some scrolls, the thief you play in this early bit is paid by some mysterious men in robes, familiar from the first Secret Files game. In a later flashback to the 1400s they also pay Florentine thieves to steal an amphora. You eventually see a flashback where a King is told that pi can be calculated to its final number and that it supposedly is the 'formula to eternity'.
You eventually discover that after a certain point, the numbers for pi become just 1s and 0s, and form the blueprints for a machine. It turns out that the robed men are 'guardians' who explain that they try to keep people from building this machine, because it leads to the destruction of the world it's built on. They say that that is why there has been no contact with alien intelligent life (other than themselves I suppose), because as soon as a civilization advances enough to learn about this machine, they destroy themselves with it.
I have no idea what the fuck the developers were smoking.
Let me top yours OP:
Secret Files 3 (You shouldn't play this game, it's not good, so feel free to read the spoiler)
The overall plot is that there has been a long-running conspiracy regarding the number pi. Any time anyone is close to discovering a truth, he is stopped. Early in the game, the library of Alexandria is partially burned down in 48BC to get rid of some scrolls, the thief you play in this early bit is paid by some mysterious men in robes, familiar from the first Secret Files game. In a later flashback to the 1400s they also pay Florentine thieves to steal an amphora. You eventually see a flashback where a King is told that pi can be calculated to its final number and that it supposedly is the 'formula to eternity'.
You eventually discover that after a certain point, the numbers for pi become just 1s and 0s, and form the blueprints for a machine. It turns out that the robed men are 'guardians' who explain that they try to keep people from building this machine, because it leads to the destruction of the world it's built on. They say that that is why there has been no contact with alien intelligent life (other than themselves I suppose), because as soon as a civilization advances enough to learn about this machine, they destroy themselves with it.
I have no idea what the fuck the developers were smoking.
Damn. You know, it makes absolutely no sense. But I at least admire the writers for trying something that ridiculous. I can only imagine the look on someone's face finishing writing that, and I bet it's spectacular.
Let me top yours OP:
Secret Files 3 (You shouldn't play this game, it's not good, so feel free to read the spoiler)
The overall plot is that there has been a long-running conspiracy regarding the number pi. Any time anyone is close to discovering a truth, he is stopped. Early in the game, the library of Alexandria is partially burned down in 48BC to get rid of some scrolls, the thief you play in this early bit is paid by some mysterious men in robes, familiar from the first Secret Files game. In a later flashback to the 1400s they also pay Florentine thieves to steal an amphora. You eventually see a flashback where a King is told that pi can be calculated to its final number and that it supposedly is the 'formula to eternity'.
You eventually discover that after a certain point, the numbers for pi become just 1s and 0s, and form the blueprints for a machine. It turns out that the robed men are 'guardians' who explain that they try to keep people from building this machine, because it leads to the destruction of the world it's built on. They say that that is why there has been no contact with alien intelligent life (other than themselves I suppose), because as soon as a civilization advances enough to learn about this machine, they destroy themselves with it.
I have no idea what the fuck the developers were smoking.
I really liked what Modern Warfare 2 was trying to do with game storytelling. Jumping between perspectives, being a monster, and an actual denouement after the climax, all felt... Crass instead of meaningful because of the terribly jumbled mess of a story.
Recently I found the vapidness of Far Cry 3 to be an affront to my intellect.
Bionic Commando's story is straight fucking garbage, and the arm shit isn't really the thing that drags it down the most. Everything that happens in it and everything that characters do is just nonsense.
God of War 3 also might be one of the most tone-deaf video games I've ever played. I have no idea how they rationalized building a redemptive arc for Kratos with the shit they force the player to do. The story did a good job at creating excuses for big showy setpieces, but nothing that anyone does makes sense.
The world setting makes even less sense than usual for action games, too many things are handwaved, character dialogue is abominable. Shitty attempts at social commentary do not help.
Most hurtful was the Dante/Vergil interactions.
Perhaps if I never played DmC3, I would have just not cared
Do you mean Limbo and how everything works within that/how it relates to the living world? As for the dialogue, it didn't seem to take itself seriously at all (did anything in this game?) as is evidence with the fight against Poison the Succubus. I haven't played DMC 3 so I can't comment on the Dante/Vergil interactions, but I didn't find them too bad. I did find it jarring how Vergil
suddenly turned bad
at the end though. All in all, I didn't find the game bad, but that may be because I'm not a huge DMC fan in the first place.
For me the worst would be Bayonetta's and Vanquish, because the story and cutscenes actually made me quit games I would otherwise like playing. Metroid Other M was pretty terrible too. I haven't played that Star Ocean game, but it looks like it's a winner.
".
