Support NeoGAF

[Africa's Toto]

I have, maybe, a combined 5 hours across these types of games. Definitely not for me.
But I wonder how they tell stories or reveal lore.

I'm pretty sure I've seen character lore trailers from Apex and Fortnite, and I know they have "seasons" or so. Destiny and Warframe seem to have traditional mmo-like narrative delivery, I think.

Is there actually a way to deliver narrative in these games, or are they closer to Carmack's porn analogy?

 

[OldBoyGamer]

Badly.

 

[Mistershine.]

Destiny has a campaign, playable either solo or as part of a fire team.

 

[cormack12]

Badly.

Yes.

Short answer: in-game collectibles, codex, scannables, disparate conversations, online grimoires, cards, lore tied to specific weapons etc.

 

[Boss Mog]

In Apex there's story videos they release on Youtube called "Stories from the Outlands" and story trailers for each season as well, they're interesting and well done. They also have in-game comic strips to read each season but it's more like poorly written gay fan-fiction than anything else sadly, so i just ignore those.

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

These games are about gameplay first, the lore is the add-on and not the other way around.

 

[Africa's Toto]

These games are about gameplay first, the lore is the add-on and not the other way around.

Yeah, I figure in traditional game development the two inform each other way more tightly, and are developed in tandem

 

[Lanrutcon]

I can't imagine caring about Destiny's story at this point, but I know people who do. I can't judge...I liked WoW's writing back in the day.

 

[Yoboman]

Through microtransaction

 

[Aion002]

Destiny after the end of Forsaken has become terrible in this aspect, they basically turned the game in a f2p low budget mmorpg... The story is all over the place and any sense of direction and continuity that they had before just disappeared.


As someone that loves D1 and D2, Destiny for me ended on Forsaken, everything else is just a terrible filler made to sell recycled content and season passes.

Now Apex.... Well, the story is just there to make the interactions between the characters fun.

 

[SLB1904]

terribly.

Through microtransaction

 

[a multicultural team of v]

The Warzone story is so fucking dumb it just makes me laugh. I don't even know why they bother, just say "hey these four new dudes want to shoot people in Verdansk" and be done with it.

 

[Warnen]

Destiny has campaigns, also the seasons have there own story lines (really picked up with the season Saint 14 came back). Current one vex has frozen the last city in an endless night and gotta get the help of the fallen to fix it. The story will play out over the season, a new part every week.

 

[Werewolfgrandma]

Apex gameplay is so tight they don't need lore.

 

[Shmunter]

Apex gameplay is so tight they don't need lore.

They’re pretty big on character sexuality and diversity

 

[bitbydeath]

I can’t speak for the others but Fortnite does it really well with end of season events.

Eg.

They are always a massive spectacle to behold.
Otherwise you also get trailers at the beginning introducing the new season to show what it’s about along with further ones throughout the season as the story develops.

Here’s the intro for the current season which was directed by the Russo brothers.

 

[Werewolfgrandma]

They’re pretty big on character sexuality and diversity

Very true and I really enjoy that. I love that the only "gay" thing about Gibby is he is attracted to men.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

I have, maybe, a combined 5 hours across these types of games. Definitely not for me.
But I wonder how they tell stories or reveal lore.

I'm pretty sure I've seen character lore trailers from Apex and Fortnite, and I know they have "seasons" or so. Destiny and Warframe seem to have traditional mmo-like narrative delivery, I think.

Is there actually a way to deliver narrative in these games, or are they closer to Carmack's porn analogy?

They give the player more unique choices during gameplay and attach it to a longer gameplay loop.

You're not passively watching Nathan Drake make a dramatic decision in a cutscene. You're making the dramatic decision during gameplay.

 

[Shmunter]

Very true and I really enjoy that. I love that the only "gay" thing about Gibby is he is attracted to men.

Perfectly fine. But there is lore, even if trying to be woke edgy

 

[Shmunter]

They give the player more unique choices during gameplay and attach it to a longer gameplay loop.

You're not passively watching Nathan Drake make a dramatic decision in a cutscene. You're making the dramatic decision during gameplay.

Both good approaches. But one is not a replacement for the other, just like apples don’t replace oranges. Both fruit.

 

[Wonko_C]

The way Honkai Impact does it is by releasing a story chapter each month, each chapter consists of a few cutscenes, lots of VN-style spoken dialoge and a few short battle stages in-between. They last for a couple of hours. But since this is a gacha game it has to keep the players engaged every single day for years and years, so they give you daily activities, leaderboards, minigames, side-stories, and a bunch of gameplay-only stuff to do ad-nauseum until you just stop giving a shit about the snail-paced grinding and only come back once a month for the next story chapter like I do.

I haven't played Genshin Impact as much, but its story is gated by gameplay-related progression. You have to grind a lot to unlock story chapters. Story is told in a standard JRPG fashion, only difference is it will be drip-fed over the years.

Phantasy Star Online 2 has its story so separate from the MMO part of the game that you could totally ignore it. Story is completely single player and cutscene-heavy, with just a few battles here and there. In its original Japanese release every chapter was slowly released over its eight year run. In the global release it took less than a year to reach its conclusion, so binging through it gets exhausting.

 

[Roxkis_ii]

Destiny 2 delivered it's story last season with seasonal questline that Bungie would add a new quest to weekly to progress the story. It was really good! It made me hype to go out and take down some baddies.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Both good approaches. But one is not a replacement for the other, just like apples don’t replace oranges. Both fruit.

I'd argue the opposite. Videogames aped movies + TV because it was a simple solution and that solution will always pale to TV + movies.

Narrative told through player choice just leverages the medium so much better. It builds upon what makes videogames special.

I played a game called Neptune's Pride a while back. It's basically Risk in outer space but moving your units to adjacent stars takes hours (sometimes 12+) instead of seconds. Games last multiple weeks, which means you can really communicate with opposing players due to a lack of time constraint. Betraying allies in that game gave me a feeling that Braveheart, The Wire, Goodfellas etc couldn't sniff.

Some people will always prefer passive storytelling in their games, but narrative told through player choice is the future imo.

Note: I'm just now seeing that OP might be asking a different question than I'm addressing here.

 

[ZywyPL]

Apex gameplay is so tight they don't need lore.

This. If the gameplay is good that's all a game really needs, you can build a story/characters/universe around it, but it's not necessary, but if a game focuses mainly on story/scripts/cut-scenes but has an average gameplay, no one will play its MP node for nore than a week.

 

[brian0057]

 

[MMaRsu]

Perfectly fine. But there is lore, even if trying to be woke edgy

Just bc a character is gay doesnt make it 'woke edgy' bro cmon

 

[Shmunter]

I'd argue the opposite. Videogames aped movies + TV because it was a simple solution and that solution will always pale to TV + movies.

Narrative told through player choice just leverages the medium so much better. It builds upon what makes videogames special.

I played a game called Neptune's Pride a while back. It's basically Risk in outer space but moving your units to adjacent stars takes hours (sometimes 12+) instead of seconds. Games last multiple weeks, which means you can really communicate with opposing players due to a lack of time constraint. Betraying allies in that game gave me a feeling that Braveheart, The Wire, Goodfellas etc couldn't sniff.

Some people will always prefer passive storytelling in their games, but narrative told through player choice is the future imo.

Note: I'm just now seeing that OP might be asking a different question than I'm addressing here.

That all great. But you forgot to add the most crucial sentence….”In my opinion”

 

[Shmunter]

Just bc a character is gay doesnt make it 'woke edgy' bro cmon

Maybe you’re right.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

Answer: poorly.

 

[ethomaz]

Well.

Destiny original has a great and deep lote but people hated the story telling.

So after that Bungie give up on Lore and just create set pieces to people says story telling was fixed.

Destiny 2 is the low standard of what Destiny was in terms of world, lore and narrative.

 

[JeremyEtcetera]

Well.

Destiny original has a great and deep lote but people hated the story telling.

So after that Bungie give up on Lore and just create set pieces to people says story telling was fixed.

Destiny is the low standard of what Destiny was in terms of world, lote and narrative.

Finally a real answer instead of an educated guess or funny jab.

I'll answer for Fortnite because I've actually played it:

Fortnite Save the World has a full on longform campaign and story that lasts up until you're level 100+

Fortnite Battle Royale has little story bites every season that you interact with like bitbydeath has shown an example of and a few quests here and there during BR that bring it along, but otherwise you're not being fed story on a regular basis. They're mainly good at events and advertising. It's kind of like how Overwatch presented story: you get shown a lot but still feel left with a little once you enter the game.

 

[Hawks Eclipse]

It's kind of like how Overwatch presented story: you get shown a lot but still feel left with a little once you enter the game.

Overwatch's way of doing it was very much to my taste. It doesn't intrude on the game (which is good for me) yet incidental dialogue hints at various relationships between the characters and are a treat to hear when they happen.

On top of that they tend to have preambles in levels that are tied to their history in some way, many of which are further explored in their YouTube videos. Heck, the levels themselves are portrayed as being in the wake of the events that occurred in those videos.

I wouldn't be surprised if Apex's way of doing it is inspired by OW.

Fortnite BR has only recently attempted to weave in some less abstract storytelling, with light relationships hinted at between some NPCs. It's moving along relatively slowly but it's a good start (this season in particular with the opening event) and unlikely to be abandoned like STW was.

 

[JeremyEtcetera]

Overwatch's way of doing it was very much to my taste. It doesn't intrude on the game (which is good for me) yet incidental dialogue hints at various relationships between the characters and are a treat to hear when they happen.

On top of that they tend to have preambles in levels that are tied to their history in some way, many of which are further explored in their YouTube videos. Heck, the levels themselves are portrayed as being in the wake of the events that occurred in those videos.

I wouldn't be surprised if Apex's way of doing it is inspired by OW.

Fortnite BR has only recently attempted to weave in some less abstract storytelling, with light relationships hinted at between some NPCs. It's moving along relatively slowly but it's a good start (this season in particular with the opening event) and unlikely to be abandoned like STW was.

I do think Apex's way is more OW's style but I can't confirm that since I didn't play it. I'm only looking at clips from the outside in.

Honestly for a multiplayer game, OW's storytelling style is just alright to me, and it's really a lot like how a fighting game presents story if you think about it. I guess I'm spoiled by things like GTAV multiplayer though.

Edit: Also STW wasn't fully abandoned. They just released a small pirate storyline for it. I think the difference is they're just adding bits and pieces of content to it instead of a full on new campaign.

 

[Kuranghi]

I downloaded Destiny 2 to check out 120hz on the PS5, I went through the first couple areas and the gameplay was like a bad Borderlands for me, I just generally shot in their direction and i didnt need to take cover at all. So if the gameplay is the great part of the game please don't show me the narrative/story.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

In Apex there's story videos they release on Youtube called "Stories from the Outlands" and story trailers for each season as well, they're interesting and well done. They also have in-game comic strips to read each season but it's more like poorly written gay fan-fiction than anything else sadly, so i just ignore those.

This plus voice lines between the characters for what happened throughout the seasons comic story whether the characters like or don't like each other. Only if you're in a team with them on BR mode though.

 

[Hawks Eclipse]

I do think Apex's way is more OW's style but I can't confirm that since I didn't play it. I'm only looking at clips from the outside in.

Honestly for a multiplayer game, OW's storytelling style is just alright to me, and it's really a lot like how a fighting game presents story if you think about it. I guess I'm spoiled by things like GTAV multiplayer though.

Edit: Also STW wasn't fully abandoned. They just released a small pirate storyline for it. I think the difference is they're just adding bits and pieces of content to it instead of a full on new campaign.

Good point, in terms of actual story progression, OW is very similar to some fighting games in that there's a lot of stuff set up but nothing resolved yet.

Actually, my bad, I'm probably conflating characters and storytelling. For me it was easy to self-insert into my chosen OW characters (well, maybe not Roadhog and Hammond lol) for the most part because their motivations are solid and mostly relevant to their gameplan. I do think that due to the nature of OW and any other games where level design is more prominent, as opposed to FGs, they're better able to weave in story elements that impact your experience through the level. (Smash Bros is arguably the biggest exception but that's also cause its level design is integral to the play).

Never played GTAV so I'm clueless about how it did storytelling in MP, sadly. Will check out some YT vids when I can.

I didn't bother checking it out but I assumed the pirate event was a rehash? The Willow event few months ago was new, the pirate stuff has been repeated more than once now, I'll have to check it later. (I do really like STW's voice work, though, not sure if BR will ever get that).

 

[Fbh]

As much as I don't care for Fortnite, I do think some of the things they've made are pretty cool.
As far as I know it doesn't really have some big narrative with a complex story or anything, but there have been lots of game world altering events happening live. You know stuff like there being a meteor which eventually falls live and changes parts of the map, or I think they even had some giant robot fight a giant monster live.



Seems like a fun way of having big events without it just being a big update with everything new just magically appearing

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

Following the story in destiny 2 is really annoying, you get a few bits of it, but then you are forced to grind some activities until your gearlevel is high enough so you can continue.
I jumped back in to for the story with beyond light, but the grind to progess with baby steps made me quit again.

 

[Warnen]

Well.

Destiny original has a great and deep lote but people hated the story telling.

So after that Bungie give up on Lore and just create set pieces to people says story telling was fixed.

Destiny 2 is the low standard of what Destiny was in terms of world, lote and narrative.

not really, the entire story of D1 was scraped pretty late in development and re done. All the Lore was out of the game.

destiny 2 focused all its lore into the game, and as of late has had the best story lines so far (even bring back stuff that was left loose in D1).

The year or so last season (particular the last and current ones) are some of the best story telling the game has ever had.

 

[Mistershine.]

Well.

Destiny original has a great and deep lote but people hated the story telling.

So after that Bungie give up on Lore and just create set pieces to people says story telling was fixed.

Destiny 2 is the low standard of what Destiny was in terms of world, lote and narrative.

The problem with destiny was that the lore wasn't in the game, you had to go online to view it. If they had an in game grimoire then most of the complaints wouldn't have happened.

 

[JimboJones]

Skip skip skip skip skip skip until your forced to watch one because season update so you go take a poo or have a sandwich or something.

 

[NullZ3r0]

I still have no idea what Destiny is about. I'm not emotionally invested in the universe at all.

 

[ahtlas7]

Using Tyrion Lannister

 

[EverydayBeast]

Those games have some sort of story still not traditional stories.