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Grinds my Gears! Games like Control/Returnal that are solid but you have to be on acid to understand the stories!

It seems to be becoming more of a trend. A high production game has solid gameplay but the story is something out of a L. Ron Hubbard novel. What makes them worse is many of these games do not have closure and the endings produce more questions than answers. The topic is just 2 examples but many many games use this same formula.

What happened to telling a story that makes sense while having some kind of conclusion to the story by games end? I am a simple man who wants to play my games, have a good story while playing, and feel satisfied by the end. Lately I have been playing games on my ps5/switch that just have me scratching my ass pondering what the story even means. Why do I have to tear my brain out to understand some of these stories while many are just open to interpretation?

Thinking is hard I understand. Have you considered banging your head against the concrete or a wall made of steel? Heard it really gets the brain going ;)
 
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sankt-Antonio

:^)--?-<
You can call environmental storytelling lazy and that’s fine. But that is how a huge portion of the story is delivered. So you can’t say the story is confusing if you’ve never read it. You have no idea. Your problem is the delivery, not the story itself.
Exactly. Never said I have a problem with the story just with the way its presented.

Imagine watching the Witcher Netflix series, it not making sense and at the end of each episode a text reads "to fully understand what's going on please read the Witcher book 1 chapter 3". That's what text and audio logs in video games come across to me.

I almost never read/listen to them, if a game director deemed that info important he would make it feature in the games main chunk of gameplay/cinematics etc. If he thinks its not worth his time, its not worth mine. Generally speaking.
 

Jigsaah

Gold Member
It seems to be becoming more of a trend. A high production game has solid gameplay but the story is something out of a L. Ron Hubbard novel. What makes them worse is many of these games do not have closure and the endings produce more questions than answers. The topic is just 2 examples but many many games use this same formula.

What happened to telling a story that makes sense while having some kind of conclusion to the story by games end? I am a simple man who wants to play my games, have a good story while playing, and feel satisfied by the end. Lately I have been playing games on my ps5/switch that just have me scratching my ass pondering what the story even means. Why do I have to tear my brain out to understand some of these stories while many are just open to interpretation?
I really liked the story telling in Control. It's disjointed because it reflects the setting of the game. There is an almost alternate reality full of hidden meaning and symbolism in Control. From the federal building, to the Oldest House and the objects of power being what we would perceive in this world to bbe mundane, everyday things. The refrigerator, a old school phone, a movie projector all symbolic of some of the greatest achievements of mankind...which in present day have been improved upon again and again. Notice the VR headset is not an object of power, the Fridge is like from the 40's or something. It makes a nostalgic surreal atmosphere that fits perfectly for the game.

In all honesty, the storytelling is nothing short of genius IMO. I love Control.
 

Mr Hyde

Member
Dude, dropping acid while playing Returnal is like the ultimate rush.

First you be like


Ps5 GIF by PlayStation


And then you go crazy choosing your weapon

Returnal GIF by PlayStation


Finally, you explode trying to figure out the story

head explode GIF
 

WitchHunter

Member
It seems to be becoming more of a trend. A high production game has solid gameplay but the story is something out of a L. Ron Hubbard novel. What makes them worse is many of these games do not have closure and the endings produce more questions than answers. The topic is just 2 examples but many many games use this same formula.

What happened to telling a story that makes sense while having some kind of conclusion to the story by games end? I am a simple man who wants to play my games, have a good story while playing, and feel satisfied by the end. Lately I have been playing games on my ps5/switch that just have me scratching my ass pondering what the story even means. Why do I have to tear my brain out to understand some of these stories while many are just open to interpretation?
Yeah, all those letters and words, they just confuse things a lot. GImme my cake and fuck off.
 

Kenneth Haight

Gold Member
Really moron? Going by your post history I doubt your IQ is out of the single digit range.

*Control spoilers ahead

The only thing explained clearly is Jesse and Her brothers details.

Who was the Janitor, what is the point of him?

Who or what is the board?

What exactly is the astroplane and what real advantage is there going there? Outside of the occasional OOP that only the director can control, it caused much more problems then its worth.

What the fuck happened to the best character in Doctor Darling? He just vanishes

Sounds like you’re dumb and you need to learn to use spoiler tags as well.

you’re dumb
 

SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
Yeah I loved Control, 9/10 game, but I have no idea what the fuck was going on with the story.
 

sankt-Antonio

:^)--?-<
Lol ok but the title of the thread is that you'd have to be on drugs to be able to understand it.
If only half the story is told in a conventional way, yeah you might not get the full picture. BB story for example is great (the concept) but how its handled in the game is shit, how you first experience it is shit (imo). Does it mean the story is shit? No, .... maybe temporarily XD.
 
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And in Control it's not just the fact that you need to read documents but that those documents are fucking boring. I don't give a shit about your rubber ducks doing weird stuff with half the page redacted. The Painscreek Killing is almost wholly told through documents and journals but those were the best part of the game because they were well written, they made sense and they don't have words redacted everywhere.
 

Hugare

Member
Control story was terrible.
Returnal story was so simple it hurts. Like cmon really this is the reveal
Wut?

It's so freaking complex and obtuse that there's no consensus to what the hell hapened during the game, only theories
 

rofif

Banned
Wut?

It's so freaking complex and obtuse that there's no consensus to what the hell hapened during the game, only theories
what do you mean?
All of it is in her head. Helios is the dead daughter, the piano boss is father, it's all guilt and imagination.
Really cool story but it's a verrrry obtuse way to tell a very simple story
 

Hugare

Member
what do you mean?
All of it is in her head. Helios is the dead daughter, the piano boss is father, it's all guilt and imagination.
Really cool story but it's a verrrry obtuse way to tell a very simple story
Nah, man.

You are completely eliminating Theia's importance from the story, for example.

Here's an excellent analysis about the game's story and themes.

 
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Duchess

Member
1. Control's story is basically a David Lynch movie in video game form.

2. The fake / twist ending was actually pretty good, and I would've been okay with it to have been the real one.
 

Shifty1897

Member
OP, most video game stories are bad and have been since video games started having stories. If you aren't enjoying the story of a game just skip the cutscenes and enjoy the gameplay, that's how I get through every Ace Combat.
 
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