Dax01 said:
Yeah, I read it. Who said that I wanted this "intricate" storytelling to be done through "traditional methods of storytelling?" I certainly didn't. Something like audio diaries would be perfect for a co-op game that ODST looks like it will be.
With regards to cutscenes: any of the players can just press "A" or whatever, and its done and over with.
Falagard said:
I think they should continue to put in cutscenes that you can skip, as well as add in-game story exposition through character dialog and things like the terminals where if you want you can explore more story elements (without the convoluted crap please).
Wouldn't that suit everyone?
Cutscenes are the laziest form of storytelling in a videogame, especially non-interactive ones. Half-Life does a good job because it never takes you out of Gordon's body, are almost all interactive (at the very least control of where you're looking), and those that the player can't move in are explained away because Gordon is trapped in something. That said, a open-world co-op game is as far away from Half-Life as you can get.
I don't want to miss the storytelling (skipping a cutscene), I want to experience it in a way that is most suitable for the medium. Audiologs, while potentially better than a showstopping cutscene, would still be bogus in a co-op game. Would they honestly expect all the players to stop communicating in order to some scripted monologue to play through their speakers?
Dax01 said:
I remember reading in one of your post that you don't really care much for the story of Halo. You've changed your mind?
Like I said I loved the universe CE created. Right now I'm separating story and universe, I don't know if those terms are appropriate but let me explain what I mean by each using CE. The universe CE painted consisted of the unique ring-world environment, a superhuman, the deadly aliens with a ton of personality set on exterminating humanity, the mysterious Forerunner who left only their creations (environment) and robots behind, and finally the flood who posed a threat to everyone. I loved that shit. That was all Bungie had to give me, and I know this would be an unpopular and unrealistic desire but I'd have liked it if they cut the series off there.
Then there's CE's story. Humans wanted to stop the covenant from discovering a weapon and at the same time wanted to find the weapon which they could potentially use to turn the tide of the war. They find out the weapon destroys all life and the ring hides the flood. MC decides they have to destroy Halo and escape. Then there are a few characters: Keys, Johnson, 343, Cortana, and the chief. They all do stuff.
There was very little to Halo's story and I could've even done without a lot of it. The "universe" was much more prominent in CE then the "story" was. They are both ways of storytelling.
2 & 3 added a bunch of shit about the politics behind everything, characters whose roles even I, an avid Halo fan with exposure to the extended fiction, forget. The story just gets too bloated when the cast goes from that select handful to a list like this:
Master Chief, Cortana, Johnson, 343, Gravemind, Ms. Keys, Arbiter, that half-jaw guy, Prophet of Truth, Prophet of Regret, Prophet of Mercy, Admiral Hood, Tarturas, and that heretic leader dude. Then there's also the increased amount of settings with various explained-away purposes such as High Charitry, the Ark, Delta Halo, the... other Halo. I'm probably missing some but God damn, more story doesn't mean better story.
I'm not knocking anyone that wants to invest the time to memorize who's who in some space soap opera but I shouldn't have to do the same to get anything worthwhile out of the storytelling.
