MEWD'S PROFILE

Chrono Trigger:

Lucca would probably have been switched to a zany older professor. The only youthful male inventor in RPGs I can think of is Jeff from Earthbound, and Lucca's personality is a bit too loud for that type of character.

Marle probably wouldn't work. If an ancesstrol KING had been abducted, the kingdom would pretty much be taken over right there.

Robo is technically gender neutral anyway.

Ayla would probably be turned into an Umaro style character. Pretty boring.

I don't know that Frog would work. A swordswoman like frog would be pretty awesome, but I dunno that he'd be as trusted as he is in that society. I didn't get the impression that warrior females were a social norm.

Magus would probably be more comical, and have that generic evil anime girl laugh. 'Ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!' Which would pretty much put Flea out of a job.

Lavos would have a pretty, pretty pink bow.

Here's the thing: I absolutely ADORE that handful of games that integrate story into games well.

I'll concede that games do no need great stories to be a lot of fun, and that bad gameplay is more likely to break a game than bad story, but I firmly believe that great writing can add a whole lot to a game. It's about telling a good story that FITS the medium of game, as opposed to just cramming a lot of flowery text into a game.

Video games are a interactive medium. They have a special potential when it comes to telling a story BECAUSE they are interactive. You are the one putting the effort forward to accomplish the ingame goals. If the story is well told, you will CARE about completing your objectives. It's more emotionally involving because you are investing visceral effort into the course of events.

It certainly won't replace books or film, especially when a game can be a very limited medium in terms on story telling. You need more interaction than story most often because, yeah, hammering the confirm button to proceed can get pretty dull.

Stories in games are not the MEAT of the experience. The story can be an effective FUEL to compel you to play. You can get by without it, but it is very enriching to have all the same.

I'm inordinately fond of Lucas Arts adventure games. They've a tendency to be brimming with more personality than you find in just about any other game. Some Sierra adventure games also manage this, but typically aren't quite as polished.

Games like Prince of Persia: Sands of time, Super Metroid, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, Chrono Trigger, Silent Hill, ICO, Starcraft, The Neverhood and Psychonauts do not necessarily have fantastic stories in and of themselves, but are made much more glorious by how well the story flatters the gameplay.

Super Metroid has a powerful narrative, and doesn't speak a single word after the intro. ICO gets by with a few more scraps of text, but the world you are in speaks volumes more than any exposition would have.

Then there's stuff like Max Payne, Sanitarium, Callahan's Crosstime Salloon, Zork: Grand Inquistor, and Starship Titanic. Stuff that uses story as a driving force. I love these sorts of games, even though they're largely unappreciated. The gameplay in Max Payne is extremely monotonous, but the personality and story telling help make it highly enjoyable for me in spite of that.

I may just be in the minority, though. I know a great many people were disappointed with Final Fantasy 9, but it happens to be my favorite just because the characters are so well realized and dynamic.

I'd like to add that Odin Sphere has one of the more powerful RPG plots I've seen in years, which makes it the hideous slow down that gets cropping up much more bearable.

Plot shouldn't replace gameplay, but I do think it's an invaluable and under utilized aspect to the mix. Writing in games can stand to get a lot better, but that requires that people start writing for games as games instead of writing for them like they're books or movies.

Right.

I'm not really suggesting that one do disservice to a story in question, mind. It's good to give everything the time it needs. I WOULD suggest, though, that spreading an idea too thin is just as bad as cutting it too short.

I don't resent long games, or think that people should stop making them, I just think that short games are under-rated.

It always boils down to quality.

Something I like is to just ditch combat all together and just focus on dungeon design entirely.

Mainly because I have a hard time making combat interesting. I'd rather have interesting environments.

But yeah, this article covers the alternatives to random encounters very well.

author=kentona link=topic=44.msg752#msg752 date=1182134187
I tried FFTA (huzzah for emulators) but the game seemed really ghey after playing for 15mins. Was I supposed to be sympathizing with the bullies or the sappy tools they were picking on?

The saps, of course. Although Mewt REALLY wasn't doing himself any favors.

I did not enjoy FFTA that much. The cutscenes were really lame, and I just didn't have any compulsion to finish the game. The gameplay was pretty alright, but got EXTREMELY monotonous. I never bothered to finish it.

Although, I will admit that the game has a really poignant message about trying to escape from reality. But it was still pretty boringly presented. Silent Hill managed to convey the same sort of message and be interesting about it.