-
18 votes
-
What are some RPGs that really capitalise on player choice and branching story?
I keep seeing a lot of complaints surrounding Cyberpunk 2077 that it's not a particularly good RPG, because the story is pretty linear and the player choice doesn't really amount to much. I'm not...
I keep seeing a lot of complaints surrounding Cyberpunk 2077 that it's not a particularly good RPG, because the story is pretty linear and the player choice doesn't really amount to much. I'm not yet done with the game so I don't know how accurate that assessment is. But either way, with my limited knowledge of programming and game design, I assume that doing this sort of thing well is a significant technical challenge.
What are some games that rise to this challenge and make the most of player choice and branching story?10 votes -
How should we evaluate narrative tension in videogames?
I recently played through 2013's Tomb Raider and it was a delight -- a wonderful reboot that modernized a series whose originals I loved but that are quite dated by today's standards. In the game,...
I recently played through 2013's Tomb Raider and it was a delight -- a wonderful reboot that modernized a series whose originals I loved but that are quite dated by today's standards.
In the game, Lara, the main character, is in peril constantly, and she is driven into worse and worse situations in an effort to save her crewmates and friend. The narrative of the game demands immediate action -- any dawdling risks all of the characters' lives.
Of course, we know that games' timelines aren't necessarily time-driven but character-driven, so it is trivial for Lara to stop at any point in the game and not advance the story. The killers who are prepared to murder your friends will patiently wait around as long as necessary. Furthermore, the game gives you plenty of reason to do so! There are collectibles to find and story and lore bits scattered about the levels that you have to go out of your way to encounter. Finding these gets you more XP and resources which unlock skills and weapons that make the game easier. The game lets you fast travel back and forth to different areas as needed, and I spent a good amount of time at the story's height of tension not resolving that tension by advancing to the climax but by ignoring it and scouring the island for all the things I missed instead.
I use Tomb Raider as an example here, but I'm sure you can think of plenty of other examples where the game directly incentivize actions that outright subvert its story. What I find interesting is that, on paper, I should care about this discrepancy, but in practice I really don't. In fact it's customary for me to do this in nearly every game I play, as I find that I like "checklisting" and cleaning things up rather than advancing the plot (of course -- do I actually like that, or do I merely like that I get rewards for doing so?).
I don't have a singular question to ask but instead have some jumping off points for discussion:
- Is this undermining of narrative tension an actual issue, or is it just part of the suspension of disbelief embedded into the medium of gaming?
- Have you felt that particular games were made worse due to this issue? If so, why? If not, why not?
- What games are counterexamples -- games whose narrative tension is not undercut by their gameplay? What makes them work? Does that aspect benefit the game, or would the game be roughly the same (or better) without it?
- If you consider this an issue, does the "responsibility" for it lie with the developer of the game for incentivizing gameplay counter to narrative, or does the "responsibility" lie with the player for ruining their enjoyment of the narrative by pursuing other goals?
Also, don't feel limited by these questions or my choice of game and feel free to address anything else relevant to this idea that you feel is important or relevant.
15 votes -
Hitman 3 - Critical consensus
7 votes -
Antitrust: EU Commission fines Valve and five publishers of PC video games €7.8 million for “geo-blocking” practices
8 votes -
Lenna's Inception post-mortem
13 votes -
Revisiting Poptropica a decade later
4 votes -
Hyperbolica devlog #5: Non-euclidean 3D modeling
5 votes -
Derek Yu's top ten games of 2020
5 votes -
Capturing reality and the art process behind Project: Mara - Dreadnought Developer Diaries Episode 3
3 votes -
Inside Cyberpunk 2077's disastrous rollout
19 votes -
Steam - 2020 Year in Review
11 votes -
Xbox’s “instant on” feature could consume four billion kWh of energy by 2025
15 votes -
Lucasfilm Games announces that Ubisoft's Massive Entertainment is developing an open-world Star Wars game, the first non-EA Star Wars game since Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012
15 votes -
What puzzles and poker teach us about misinformation
6 votes -
Game soundtracks: Listening to them outside the game and how they impact the game itself
I was curious how many people on here enjoy listening to game soundtracks outside of the game. I personally love when a game has a great soundtrack as it really adds to the atmosphere and overall...
I was curious how many people on here enjoy listening to game soundtracks outside of the game. I personally love when a game has a great soundtrack as it really adds to the atmosphere and overall immersion in the game. I also like collecting physical copies of them as well.
If you do, which ones are your favorite? Personally I love Shin Megami Tensei, Final Fantasy, and Blazblue soundtracks the most.
19 votes -
Magnus Carlsen expects to start back on the winning trail – Norway's world champion aims for yet another first prize at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament
6 votes -
Awesome Games Done Quick 2021 roundup - What were your favorite runs, and why?
Post your favorite runs, why they were your favorites, and ideally with a link to the VODs. (/r/speedrun VOD thread, for reference)
18 votes -
Former workers allege YouTube channel GameXplain was exploitative workplace
8 votes -
Fifty years of text games: Rocket (1972)
5 votes -
Cyberpunk 2077 - Our commitment to quality and future development
11 votes -
Military historian breaks down medieval weapons in video games
3 votes -
Dead Cells: Fatal Falls DLC | Gameplay trailer - Releasing January 26
5 votes -
Lucasfilm Games and Bethesda announce new Indiana Jones game, being developed by Wolfenstein studio MachineGames
4 votes -
What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them?
What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.
11 votes -
Ray tracing performance deep dive: AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT vs. Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080
4 votes -
What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them?
What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.
13 votes -
Tildes Game Giveaway Thread: Welcoming a New Year
Important: This will be a noisy thread. If you do not wish to see it in your feed, please use the "Ignore" feature to hide it! 2021 Enough has been said about 2020 — let’s put some good out into...
Important: This will be a noisy thread. If you do not wish to see it in your feed, please use the "Ignore" feature to hide it!
2021
Enough has been said about 2020 — let’s put some good out into the world in the form of game giveaways as we welcome a new and hopefully brighter year!
Gifters
Post your available games, the platform and method of delivery, rules for your giveaways (e.g. first-come first-serve, random draw, etc.), and any additional info or requirements. Feel free to get creative!
Giftees
Request giveaways according to the gifter's guidelines!
Rules
Anyone can choose to be a gifter, giftee, or both! Giveaway rules are set by individual gifters, but there are handful of guidelines everyone should follow:
-
No grey market keys! Only giveaway games from reputable sources. If you're not sure what this means, please ask.
-
Requests for games should be done in the thread, but if the gift is a key, those should be delivered by PMs only. Please don't post keys publicly, even obfuscated ones.
28 votes -
-
Awesome Games Done Quick 2021 event schedule (Jan 3 - 10)
20 votes -
The rise of Sierra Online wasn’t exactly a fairytale. Founder Ken Williams opens up about his new book, video game design in the late 80s—and his regrets about selling the company.
8 votes -
Eurogamer's list of games they're looking forward to in 2021
6 votes -
Sorry, wrong apocalypse: Horizon Zero Dawn, Heaven’s Vault, and the eco-critical video game
6 votes -
How much does multiplayer population matter?
4 votes -
Monster Hunter digital event - January 2021
4 votes -
Roblox raises $520 million at $29.5 billion valuation, cancels their plans for a traditional IPO and will go public via direct listing instead
5 votes -
Fifty years of text games: The Oregon Trail (1971)
4 votes -
Action Button reviews Tokimeki Memorial
6 votes -
The man who invented more than eight hundred iconic toys and games
6 votes -
Both sides claim victory in massive EVE Online battle
17 votes -
Developer of over thirty macOS ports on why they are discontinuing future macOS ports in favor of Linux
22 votes -
What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them?
What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.
17 votes -
The Steam Awards
10 votes -
What were/are your favorite flash/browser games?
Flash is gonna die for good in a few days (dec 31st) so I felt this is a good time to ask this question. (Although obviously, there have been large efforts to preserve these when the developers...
Flash is gonna die for good in a few days (dec 31st) so I felt this is a good time to ask this question. (Although obviously, there have been large efforts to preserve these when the developers did not. And even then, HTML5 means browser games will continue to exist, even though mobile games have mostly replaced browser games anyway.)
Mine personally were (taking away some of the more well-known ones):
Basically a game of celestial golfball. Had a level editor, which was quite fun.
Bonk.io (although this one has a sequel that's not in flash)
Pretty popular for a flash game made in 2016. Basically a game where balls need to "bonk" eachother out of the playing field.
Effing meteors (Definitely one of the games that I probably remember being better than it is.)
Basically a game where you clump up small meteors into bigger meteors to destroy stuff.
A game where a rabbit and frog are fused together and need to bounce like a pogo to the end.
A mountain climbing platforming game.
A game where you need to eat sushis quickly. Also has cutscenes.
An aesthetic racing game? Not entirely sure.
A game where you drill through the planet enough times to move to the next level (man, I had some weird gameplay preferences.)
A game where you need to time your descents to pick up speed in the hills and fly.
An 8 bit game where you as a dinosaur need to outrun extinction.
A power-up racing game I remember playing quite a bit. Definitely designed for children, even if that's not very surprising.
17 votes -
Fifty years of text games: A 2021 journey from Oregon Trail to AI Dungeon
5 votes -
The history of Super Mario Bros. 2 world records
4 votes -
Epic Games Holiday Sale 2020 - One free game per day for fifteen days, discounts, and limitless coupons for $10 off any $15+ game
24 votes -
What were the best games you played this year?
The question is NOT limited to 2020 releases (though they are certainly included). What were the best games you played this year, and why were they standouts?
31 votes -
Metro: Last Light - Redux free on GOG for <48 Hours (requires mailing list opt-in)
9 votes -
Spill your RPG character's secrets that the other party members don't know!
I'll start: the party knows my character is a veteran of the war between the elves and the humans, but they don't know that she was duped into helping develop a type of biological warfare and...
I'll start: the party knows my character is a veteran of the war between the elves and the humans, but they don't know that she was duped into helping develop a type of biological warfare and becoming an accessory to war crimes.
What are you hiding?
18 votes -
The JRPG startup cost, part 3 - An analysis of how long it takes to reach various gameplay milestones in classic JRPGs
6 votes