• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

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

Gamer79

Predicts the worst decade for Sony starting 2022
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?
 
Last edited:

skit_data

Member
I can agree that Returnal has a more vague/cryptic plot that let you interpret aspects of the story but Control is pretty clear, at least once you get further into the main story even if some of the concepts are a bit out there.
 

iHaunter

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?
Returnal story is incredibly simple. You unlock more info the more you play. i.e. the further you get, the more it makes sense.
 

Rest

All these years later I still chuckle at what a fucking moron that guy is.
What was hard to understand about the story in Control?
I think you might just be dumb.
 
Never played Returnal, but the only story told in this format I actually enjoyed was Bastion. You had very little idea what the hell was going on until nearly the end of the game, but damn what a ride.
 

Gamer79

Predicts the worst decade for Sony starting 2022
What was hard to understand about the story in Control?
I think you might just be dumb.
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
 

jaysius

Banned
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
Probably more stuff for a sequel.

Control tried to be a Twin Peaks type thing. It wasn't very hard to follow though.
 

rofif

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

Rest

All these years later I still chuckle at what a fucking moron that guy is.
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
Aww, did I hut yor wittle feeewings?
 

Tschumi

Member
I like your take :) still like the games, but yeah experiencing their story is somewhat secondary to just completing the things
 

Neilg

Member
The background lore of control was intentionally vague and it was also really shitty and boring to consume.
The setting was good and the main plot was basic.
 
Last edited:

TonyK

Member
It's because that I liked so much Uncharted scripts, because stories where simple and well told, that's it. But usually, game writers try to write a masterpiece (in their minds) that later will be narrated like ass. At the end, in my opinion, the 99% of game scripts and narrative is pure trash, trying to be books or movies but with the quality of toilet paper.
 

MHubert

Member
Bloodborne is way more cryptic and fever inducing than both those games. If done right, open ended story telling can be an incredible experience.
 

GymWolf

Member
I enjoyed control story more than returnal.

I didn't really enjoyed returnal story other than selene voice acting and some unsettling moments in the house.
 
Last edited:

bender

What time is it?
Understanding the Story?

Fuck that...point gun, shoot.

That's all the story you need.
america-hurricane.gif
 

TexMex

Member
My only guess is that you bypass the environmental storytelling. If you actually read the documents/listen to the audio logs - then I can’t help you.
 

sankt-Antonio

:^)--?-<
My only guess is that you bypass the environmental storytelling. If you actually read the documents/listen to the audio logs - then I can’t help you.
Imo things like these are a lazy way of storytelling. Especially in story driven 3rd person shooters / action adventure games. They are great for Easter eggs or some smaller world building things, but the main story needs to be told by the mediums primary interactive tools.

But that’s just me, if I wanted to read stories I’ll read a proper book.

Worst offender is BB, where you need Item descriptions to make up the story. Game of the generation for me, but that aspect of it was just bad. Especially since the actual story (YouTube video break down) is great and I would have enjoyed my first go around even more if I knew what was happening, at least at the end.
 

SCB3

Member
I don't either was that bad or confusing, you did have to do some digging though

Go play Kingdom Hearts, you tell me what happening there
 

dem

Member
Haven't played either, but I agree in general.

Just give me a basic fucking story. And if I'm getting story from reading/listening to stupid logs strewn about your game... go fuck yourself.
 

kyussman

Member
When a game has really great fun gameplay but looses me with the story I just keep on going without caring tbh.
 

GrayChild

Gold Member
If you have trouble understanding the stories of Control and Returnal, then I really don't know how you'll get Death Stranding (or any of the other Kojima games).
 

Bartski

Gold Member
If you have trouble understanding the stories of Control and Returnal, then I really don't know how you'll get Death Stranding (or any of the other Kojima games).
The biggest difference here is death stranding, as convoluted as it is, is perfectly explained throughout and the story literally leaves no stone unturned. When final credits roll you know all the answers.

Returnal however is deliberately written so it's open for interpretation, there is no "definite" truth about what happened.

 

TexMex

Member
Imo things like these are a lazy way of storytelling. Especially in story driven 3rd person shooters / action adventure games. They are great for Easter eggs or some smaller world building things, but the main story needs to be told by the mediums primary interactive tools.

But that’s just me, if I wanted to read stories I’ll read a proper book.

Worst offender is BB, where you need Item descriptions to make up the story. Game of the generation for me, but that aspect of it was just bad. Especially since the actual story (YouTube video break down) is great and I would have enjoyed my first go around even more if I knew what was happening, at least at the end.

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.
 

Guilty_AI

Member
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.
Audiologs and text documents aren't enviromental storytelling. They can at best complement it.

Enviromental storytelling is exploring the site of a radioactive disaster and seeing this:

71162342-room-full-of-gas-masks-with-a-doll-on-a-chair-in-the-ghost-town-pripyat-in-the-chernobyl-exclusion-z.jpg
 

TexMex

Member
Audiologs and text documents aren't enviromental storytelling. They can at best complement it.

Enviromental storytelling is exploring the site of a radioactive disaster and seeing this:

71162342-room-full-of-gas-masks-with-a-doll-on-a-chair-in-the-ghost-town-pripyat-in-the-chernobyl-exclusion-z.jpg

We’re being pretty pedantic about the definition of that term but sure.

Doesn’t change the fact that a story you don’t read shouldn’t be labeled as confusing.

It’s like me saying I find The Godfather confusing because I’ve never watched it. Or I don’t understand The Grapes Of Wrath without opening the cover.
 

AJUMP23

Gold Member
I played Control, and I didn't find the story confusing. I thought most of it was pretty well explained.
 

twerkouting

Banned
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?


All of this is why you should pay attention during lit class.
 
Top Bottom