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Re: Marathon 2004
Posted By: zudoDate: 1/25/04 3:38 p.m.

In Response To: Re: Marathon 2004 (Steve Levinson)

: It would be
: great to see Bungie go back to what was their crowning achievement - the
: best integration of story and FPS ever.

Have you had a look at System Shock 2? It's PC only, and it's getting on a bit ('96 vintage) but what it lacks in Marathon's depth it makes up for in technique -- the environments themselves tell the story, and audio emails and recordings you recieve/discover convey a storyi which truely seems to *live* around you -- and I'd assert is also the *scariest* game I've ever played. Genuinely frightening.

: But then your average gamer could
: care less about the story - if they do, they play the Myst-like games.

I'm not actually sure this is the case. Granted, a lot of people skip past the story in games when they can, but that's down to the average story depth in a game being akin to Resident Evil. This is a vector of conversation outwith the scope of this post, but I'm willing to chat about it if anyone fancies ;)

Now, back to my point. :P

The biggest problem as I see it is the lack of people in the games industry who take stories *seriously* -- and who are prepared to experiment with the form a little to try and marry the disciplines of gameplay and storytelling.

Storytelling is a very specific discipline, and storytelling in games even more so. Rarely do you find a designated story developer, however -- a lot of the time, 2 designers sit down and bash something out over just a few days that gives them scope for cool level designs *and nothing more*. It is important that the story and the levels meet in the middle, but at BEST the story is generally seen as a place to start for level designs, and at WORST story is nailed on at the end once the cool levels have been built. It takes a *lot* of work to
generate a strong story fo that direction.

I'd indicate that it's actually the average *developer* who could care less about storytelling, owing to cynicism and moral defeat.

[b]

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Pre-2004 Posts


Replies:

Marathon 2004paolo mk IV 1/24/04 2:39 p.m.
     Re: Marathon 2004Adam Ashwell 1/24/04 3:10 p.m.
           Re: Marathon 2004Wejam The Carter 1/24/04 11:02 p.m.
                 Re: Marathon 2004Todd 1/25/04 12:43 a.m.
                       Re: Marathon 2004Krazy 1/25/04 12:57 a.m.
                 Re: Marathon 2004Steve Levinson 1/25/04 4:08 a.m.
                       Re: Marathon 2004paolo mk IV 1/25/04 7:15 a.m.
                             Re: Marathon 2004Steve Levinson 1/25/04 12:42 p.m.
     Re: Marathon 2004the Battle Cat 1/25/04 12:24 p.m.
           Re: Marathon 2004Bob-B-Q 1/25/04 12:49 p.m.
           Re: Marathon 2004Steve Levinson 1/25/04 12:51 p.m.
                 Re: Marathon 2004zudo 1/25/04 3:38 p.m.
                       Re: Marathon 2004Elliott 1/25/04 3:57 p.m.
                             Re: Marathon 2004Andrew Nagy 1/25/04 8:43 p.m.
                                   Re: Marathon 2004the Battle Cat 1/26/04 12:08 p.m.
                                         Re: Marathon 2004zudo 1/26/04 1:56 p.m.
                                               Re: Marathon 2004the Battle Cat 1/27/04 12:19 p.m.
                                   Re: Marathon 2004zudo 1/26/04 1:57 p.m.
                             Re: Marathon 2004zudo 1/26/04 1:55 p.m.
                 Re: Marathon 2004paolo mk IV 1/25/04 7:12 p.m.
           Re: Marathon 2004Vid Boi 1/25/04 6:08 p.m.
                 Re: Marathon 2004Johannes Gunnar 1/25/04 6:12 p.m.
                       Re: Marathon 2004Aben Zin 1/27/04 6:11 p.m.
                             Re: Marathon 2004Andrew "Document" Nagy 1/27/04 8:17 p.m.
                 Re: Marathon 2004My Name 4/5/07 5:01 a.m.
     Re: Marathon 2004Clarke 1/25/04 11:59 p.m.
           Re: Marathon 2004paolo mk IV 1/26/04 4:38 a.m.
                 Re: Marathon 2004deathmonger 1/26/04 12:01 p.m.
                 Re: Marathon 2004the Battle Cat 1/26/04 12:02 p.m.
                       Re: Marathon 2004paolo mk IV 1/26/04 12:19 p.m.
                       Re: Marathon 2004Tycho_lives 1/27/04 8:40 p.m.
                             Re: Marathon 2004the Battle Cat 1/28/04 1:28 p.m.
                                   Re: Marathon 2004Adam Ashwell 1/28/04 1:39 p.m.
                                         Re: Marathon 2004paolo mk IV 1/28/04 5:53 p.m.
                                               Re: Marathon 2004Tycho_lives 1/28/04 8:27 p.m.
                 Re: Marathon 2004Clarke 1/26/04 4:27 p.m.
                       Re: Marathon 2004paolo mk IV 1/26/04 6:14 p.m.
                             Re: Marathon 2004the Battle Cat 1/27/04 12:38 p.m.
     Re: Marathon 2004thermoplyae 1/26/04 11:00 a.m.
           Re: Marathon 2004ukimalefu 1/30/04 2:17 a.m.

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