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Overused Story Traits Plaguing Games

Video games are one of the high points in entertainment today, and like movies there's originality in them. But also like movies, the makers of such games seem to be running out of ideas. I've been seeing way overused story traits in video games today. To name one: a person who works for a company and/or government and then finds out things out about them that they didn't know and turns against that company. While overused things may be bad, some people have managed to use them in a way where you don't think its been used before. For example, the Metal Gear series.

Both Solid Snake and his predecessor Big Boss/Naked Snake worked for their government and also went against them, but in quite different ways. Big Boss trying to set up a nation for Soldiers and Solid Snake trying to rid the world of the mobile nuclear equipped bipedal tank, Metal Gear. While both are Enemies they are also enemies to the nation they once served even though Solid's intentions are for the betterment of mankind.

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Qbanboi - contributor
Published: 54 days 12 hours ago | Article | PlayStation 3

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ReaperXL7 - 54 days 11 hours ago

1 - This piece is accurate to an extent

Games today do rely on many overused ideas and the stories are usually the first things to be labeled as "recycled" with good reason, but what you have to remember is that there are many developers out there who are working to change that, Team Ico,Irrational Games,Hideo Kojima, Insomniac, and Double Fine(Tim Schafer) are all examples of this.

The truth though is that we as gamers allow this to be the norm because even though these games are similar we still buy and praise them, I personally feel that Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto 4 while very good is highly overrated in alot of different aspects. Yes the Story is very well told but alot of the series flaws have never really been fixed, just one example that I can give is the gunplay, it's very awkward especially when you consider other games with similar styles of combat, and the cover system seems to have just been thrown in to make it seem like more than it really is.

We need to really push for the people who try to craft original experiences because it's the only way that more developers will take those risks, Okami was a fantastic experience but due to poor sales capcom closed Clover down and for me they will be missed.

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DARK WITNESS - 53 days 16 hours ago

1.1 -

what you say it true, but also remember the publishers have a big say in this as well. there have been some great game and story concepts that we know if been canceled, only for the devs to be told to work on a...... FPS.

The other thing is us gamers. We go on about how we want change, we want something new, then when the dev's go in a new direction and do something new, we moan and cry like babies and go on about how good the old one was. why did they change this, why did they change that !

this sucks, that sucks.. etc

are we really ready for this sort of moving forward ?

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Expy - 54 days 11 hours ago

2 -

There's one VERY overused story... Aliens attack and a masked hero tries to defeat them.

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hotshot127 - 54 days 11 hours ago

3 - yes thats why mgs series is awarded with some of the best story traits in videogame history

because its unique(along with the gameplay)

and it's also why many stealth games dont get the same recognition because thier stories are always average compared to mgs.

the problem is that people can only put out of themselves what they put in. and when all they see is aliens and demons, they can all only mitch match but thats the most they can do. people need to read alot more and expand there mind to new things.

actually this article makes me want to go read some more because im actually working on a story right now that im always feeling dissapointed with. i'm more of a perfectionist and i can never seem to get my work the way i want it to be.

thats why i love hideo kojima and his work because he reminds me of him and his story as a game developer really inspires me. maybe some of you guys should go read up on his history, its a pretty inspiring story. espicially for anybody looking to go into the gamedesign buisness. or the story scripting

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Fallen_Angel - 53 days 15 hours ago

3.1 -

MGS has horrible story and there is nothing creative about it. It just done in a very complex way with a lot of weird japanese fetishes add into it.

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angel604 - 53 days 13 hours ago

3.2 -

maybe its because the story is to advanced for you? I admit it can be pretty confusing at some points im a mega fan and still dont get some parts. But its still better than 90% of the story in games today probably only final fantasy, god of war, and oblivion and a few others on par with it

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Tmac - 53 days 4 hours ago

3.3 -

Your right Fallen_Angel, maybe people like you should stick to Halo.

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hotshot127 - 54 days 11 hours ago

4 - and the part about people doing something other then fps's is definetely true(although i dont know what that has to do with story)

but its usually the american gaming devs that keep releasing fps's because thats where there money is at and we all know how much people love there money.

its always blood, gore, shoot, rinse and repeat. another reason why i like japenese games over american games.

the god of war series however is an exception......

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lociefer - 54 days 11 hours ago

5 -

rofl ye , the aliens attack story is more occuring than a fine told story like metal gear , u never get to see a story as deep as metal gear nowadays , and seriously , if i see another aliens invading story im gonna blow , enough is enough , how many heroes do we need to get rid of aliens anyways ?

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The Closing - 54 days 10 hours ago

6 - Just one more confirmation

that the Haze story is shallow, and predictable. If you can't even write some decent dialogue then how do you expect the story backing it to be up to standards?

MGS has set the standards is more than just the stealth genre, but also is the highlight of gaming stories done right. All hail the king!

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AngryXbot - 53 days 16 hours ago

7 - shut yer whining.

You want to be overwhelmed by incredibly deep stories? There is an answer for that. Its called RPGs.

And if the RPG didnt deliver, than it was crap to begin with. You get what you pay for.

You get what you pay for. You get a game like Unreal 3. Who the fk plays Unreal 3 for its story lmao.
People dont play FPSs for their stories.

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DARK WITNESS - 53 days 15 hours ago

7.1 -

ummmmm...

I do...

FPS games and rpg's tend to be the same price as well.

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AngryXbot - 53 days 15 hours ago

7.2 - So what?

The point is, you know what you are getting.
Dont expect a puzzle game to have an outstanding storyline or visuals. As the point of such game is not story nor visuals.

Same with FPS. You know FPS have weak storylines. So why the whining?

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Fallen_Angel - 53 days 15 hours ago

7.3 -

so you saying that rpgs do stortytelling right while calling FF7 and like 90% of the jrpgs out there crap ?

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Bathyj - 53 days 16 hours ago

8 -

Metal Gears story is over used but every Mario game made has you rescuing the Princess. Why cant she get some FKN security?

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Qbanboi - 53 days 15 hours ago

8.1 -

xD. Best comment ever.

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Tempist - 53 days 15 hours ago

9 -

I don't really agree with his examples. There are only so many themes one can use for a story. The Metal Gear Series uses betrayal a lot to be fair, but there's a lot of other elements being used in the story, it has some depth.

Depth is something that separates a good game from a memorable game.

The writer should be clearer on what he's trying to get across.

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Fallen_Angel - 53 days 14 hours ago

10 -

I think the 2 most creative stories ever in a video has to go to Mass Effect and Bioshock. Both names seemly have a very good striaght forward plot to start out with. They both have great twist to their stories. There are lots of great game with good stories but not to mean that are really creative. Guardian Heroes had a very interesting take on its story telling. Depending on your replies the end bossed changes there was like 5 different bosses at least and depending on you replies that boss can be good or evil. Planescape on the pc had a great story to it. The Panzer Dragoon games have good story.

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The Closing - 53 days 4 hours ago

10.1 - Bioshock?

Bioshock barely has a story at all. Bioshock's a great game an all, but the story isn't what made it so great. It was the art direction, and the atmosphere, which made it a great game.

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