Horizon Zero Dawn.

[ipman]

I considered it briefly when waiting at length for the type of PC games I prefer to release. In the end though it didn't look like my cup of tea. A lot of it just looks too weird, like the creatures being a bit too mechanical for my taste. This seems all the more strange to me since the game world and clothing NPCs and the protagonist wear look natural and even primitive. This just doesn't make sense at all.

HZD yes. I don't really pay much attention to all the story stuff in games. It's the lowest on my list of interests me.

But I get the general vibe. If you look at the development of robots that's happening now. They are often based on known animals or just their means of movement. The designer for HZD watched a lot of BBC nature programmes and made robot versions.

I can imagine post apocalypse these robots still carrying out tasks, or being reprogrammed by some AI. And the few people left reverting to a tribal lifestyle just to survive.

 

[Frag Maniac]

HZD yes. I don't really pay much attention to all the story stuff in games. It's the lowest on my list of interests me.

But I get the general vibe. If you look at the development of robots that's happening now. They are often based on known animals or just their means of movement. The designer for HZD watched a lot of BBC nature programmes and made robot versions.

I can imagine post apocalypse these robots still carrying out tasks, or being reprogrammed by some AI. And the few people left reverting to a tribal lifestyle just to survive.

While I know technically my point is indirectly story related, because the story would likely explain it, it's more of an aesthetics thing for me. I just don't like the setting of the game basically, and if I can't even get past that, the story matters very little. And that's coming from someone whom, like yourself, doesn't get too deep into game stories, as they can often be too strange and convoluted to me, or just make little sense, or have huge plot holes. It's pretty common in fact that in games, well written stories are far and few between. This has become far more prevalent since eye candy has taken precedence over other details, and of course the writing suffers because of it.

You know the old saying "Don't kill the messenger"? Well in game development anymore, it's like there's no messenger, because it's as if most devs don't get the memo, despite many fans complaining about it. Of course there are a few exceptions, but like I said, they are far and few between.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

HZD yes. I don't really pay much attention to all the story stuff in games. It's the lowest on my list of interests me.

But I get the general vibe. If you look at the development of robots that's happening now. They are often based on known animals or just their means of movement. The designer for HZD watched a lot of BBC nature programmes and made robot versions.

I can imagine post apocalypse these robots still carrying out tasks, or being reprogrammed by some AI. And the few people left reverting to a tribal lifestyle just to survive.

Haha. If you would have paid attention to the story, you would have gathered that there is a big reason the robots are designed like animals.

 

[ipman]

While I know technically my point is indirectly story related, because the story would likely explain it, it's more of an aesthetics thing for me. I just don't like the setting of the game basically, and if I can't even get past that, the story matters very little. And that's coming from someone whom, like yourself, doesn't get too deep into game stories, as they can often be too strange and convoluted to me, or just make little sense, or have huge plot holes. It's pretty common in fact that in games, well written stories are far and few between. This has become far more prevalent since eye candy has taken precedence over other details, and of course the writing suffers because of it.

You know the old saying "Don't kill the messenger"? Well in game development anymore, it's like there's no messenger, because it's as if most devs don't get the memo, despite many fans complaining about it. Of course there are a few exceptions, but like I said, they are far and few between.

It's like I am aware of the stories in games like HZD, but it's background.

What you say about 'eye candy' is the same for films. I get the idea that when they write a game or film now, they basically get a team to write one hundred scenarios that they liked in films and games, and they then construct the story from that(it's postmodernism gone cannibal) .

With HZD they did something similar, but no doubt there was bias to give it a message.

But I can appreciate 'eye candy', like the landscape/weather RD2, and the design element of HZD is exceptional from the robot design(even built in weak points placed externally for gamer to shoot), to the clothes design.

Both those games I play to chill out and just enjoy wandering the landscapes.

 

[ipman]

Haha. If you would have paid attention to the story, you would have gathered that there is a big reason the robots are designed like animals.

It doesn't really matter to me. All I needed to know was how to destroy and tame them. But I have absorbed the story at some level, went through all those ruins, listening to holograms and even her guide.

It's a bit sad, you see these incredible machines like the Snowbird, but when they are destroyed, just a pile of ugly scrap.

 

[Frag Maniac]

I can appreciate good stories in games, but honestly, it's so rare I think if I obsessed over complaining about all the games that either have overall bad stories, or bad story elements that nearly ruin the experience, I'd be nit picking endlessly. So I take an is what it is approach, but I DO pretty much require games that are aesthetically pleasing and make visual sense to me. I just can't see myself destroying and taming robot animals. That would get old fast for me, in fact, it would kind of start out old.

 

[HenrykForkbeard]

I'm finding this quite a surprising debate, it appears many aren't all that interested in the stories of the video games. Has this become something now people just do to occupy your mind? I honestly consider gaming much like reading a book, watching a film or some production. A story is the most important thing to me for a game and everything else around that will either help with the immersion of it or cause it to suffer.

 

[Brian Boru]

I honestly consider gaming much like reading a book, watching a film or some production

We've had some previous discussion on this, if you search this forum up top for 'story' and tick the 'In title' box.

Big difference for me is a game is where I write the story, rather than being served someone else's—that's one of the big strengths and differentiators of games, and probably why gaming has surpassed all but TV, even tho the production values are not yet as good.

If I want a pre-written story, I'll go for any other medium.

 

[ipman]

Yes that was how my son got me into gaming. If you read a book or watch a film you are a passive observer.
But in gaming you are the protagonist.

I enjoy games where I just do what I want or find ways to subvert it to my own narrative.

That's why I enjoy games like HZD, I did most of the story quests just to get skills and gear, now Aloy is off adventuring. Same wth Arthur, RD2, dumped the boring gang, went rogue.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

We've had some previous discussion on this, if you search this forum up top for 'story' and tick the 'In title' box.

Big difference for me is a game is where I write the story, rather than being served someone else's—that's one of the big strengths and differentiators of games, and probably why gaming has surpassed all but TV, even tho the production values are not yet as good.

If I want a pre-written story, I'll go for any other medium.

So you probably don't like Assassin's Creed, then, do you? If you get too far off the story, you just lose synchronization and have to try again until you get it right.

 

[Brian Boru]

you probably don't like Assassin's Creed

I started Origins last year, but haven't continued—if I recall correctly, it's 3rd-person, which I can only stomach in small doses.

I should like it and Odyssey otherwise tho, have had an interest in old civilizations 'forever' Again if I recall correctly, one of them has a sort of educational tour built it—assuming it is educational rather than History Channel grade, I definitely want to 'play' that.

If you get too far off the story, you just lose synchronization

I guess you mean that the game won't let you progress too much without keeping the main story chugging along? That's okay, I'm used to that in games and accept t as necessary to get all the other good stuff.

I enjoy games where I just do what I want or find ways to subvert it

Right.

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."

 

[WoodenSaucer]

I guess you mean that the game won't let you progress too much without keeping the main story chugging along? That's okay, I'm used to that in games and accept t as necessary to get all the other good stuff.

Assassin's Creed games are weird. In the games, you're actually a modern guy who works for a company that uses some crazy VR-like tech that puts you back in history. Your job is to go back and kind of inhabit someone's body from the Assassin's Creed back in time, and basically take video footage of what actually happened so that other "tourists" or whatever can experience the VR footage of those events without being in danger.

But you take the footage by living the events (playing the game). If your actions get very far from what actually happened in history with the real person you're inhabiting, you lose synchronization with the tech you're using, and it starts you over to try again. There are some open world parts where you can do what you want, but if you're following a story, you have to stay right on it, or you'll get reset. It's especially a pain in the backside when you're doing a quest where you have to secretly follow someone without them detecting you, and you get caught in a crowd, or something, and they get a little bit too far away from you.

 

[Slasken]

I like some of the AC games, but I personally don't see the point of the whole "VR" thing. I don't think it adds much to the story. You are basically playing a guy who plays a videogame.