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I think as I’ve gotten older though and started to reflect more on myself, what it is I want out of games compared to how it was before I’ve started to enjoy more games but I’ve also become more concious about what I think is good game writing
I used to think that a video game that can enchant me with a good story was the most important thing. But I’ve started to wonder what is it that makes for good video game storytelling? Good writing isn’t enough anymore, because good writing can mean a lot of things when it comes to video games and so many people have different takes on good video game writing. For a game’s story to be good, or its writing to be strong, it isn’t just a matter of dialogue that sounds snappy, tha flows well there also need to be a concious effort to weave the writing/narrative into the game’s mechanics in way that they compliment each other. But on top of that There’s gotta be an understanding from the developers that their players aren’t stupid, and will be able to pick up on context clues they’ve provided for them.
Let the game speak for itself, but it’s easier said than done and developers are obviously very proud of all the work they’ve put into a game and of course they want their players to see all that work so sometimes there is this fear of players missing out on content or that they simply won’t get the story we are trying to tell, and how that might affect what they think of their game in a negative way.
Final Fantasy has done the “media as res” angle of telling a story that is already happening, a few times before. We are jumping straight into the trenches of a story that happens irregardless of our presence, and that to me is in a lot of ways the best way to approach game writing. I do not believe that good art, whether it be video games, books, film or television has ever benefitted from the medium’s artists wanting to make a piece of art that is intended to appeal to everyone or it has a target audience in mind. I believe the best video games, and by extension the best art, comes from creators wanting to make something that they themselves would love to play, watch, see and or read.
One of my favorite video games of all time Silent Hill 2 also happens to be a very definitive picture for an “artful” game. It’s a game that isn’t beating you over the head with cutscenes, exposition, it gives you a clear, short, introduction to what you’re doing by having its main character reminice to himself about a letter he’s received from his dead wife telling him to come to the eponymous town where she is waiting at their special place. It’s a very interesting and mysterious set up that explains why James would want to step as much as one foot inside what is clearly a haunted town, but also in how the dialogue is delivered we get an understanding of him as a person that he would be willing to entertain the thought that she might alive inside this town gives the impression that we are dealing with a man who suffers from depression. The game allows you o pick up on these things without ever directly telling you in a way that feels unnatural. A lesser story would have characters explain things in a way where it no longer feels like they are actually talking to anyone in the room they are in but instead talking to the player. That’s the path that video game writing has to tread, and when they do it well you get games like Silent Hill 2.
The Benefits of Encouraging Interaction over exposition dumping
But there is also the risk that if you don’t provide the necessary context of what the characters are doing or when it comes to Final Fantasy “saying” then you’ll lose them. And on that note there is not a better example for this than Final Fantasy XIII. In a lot of ways FF13 feels like a game that was made to test the idea of a FF7 Remake. It opens in almost the exact same way with a main character who looks really similar to Cloud from FF7 right down to her emotionally distant dimeanor and her side kick also happening to be a black man with the most 1980s ass Blaxploitation afro. FF13 failed to copy FF7’s ability to appropriately inform the player of the necessary information they need to understand the plight of Coccoon, its characters and also the dozens of made-up nouns that everyone is talking about like it’s the most important thing in the world, because in FF13: It is the most important. The game relegates a lot of info and explaination of nouns into a codex you have to read. And now, don’t get me wrong I generally like a good codex where the text is pleasant to read because if you want your players to read it is also important to make sure that the text being read flows well.
Listening to Neil Ross’s delightful pipes explaining to me what Mass Effect Fields are in Mass Effect can make for a fun little game session. The problem rises when it becomes a substitute for good world building. I didn’t need to listen to any of these codexes to understand what is happening in the game world of Mass Effect, the important things will come up naturally as part of the dialogue you have with its characters. FF13, however, is the equivalent of an attendant handing out pamphlets to all the Cinema goers getting ready to watch Tarkovsky’s Stalker. The developers knows that you’ll not get it unless you do some outside reading and that’s where the game writing falls short because good writing knows how to inform the player the way that only games can. By interacting with it.
I believe that FF13 would no doubt have been a better story if these things had been considered. Studios like Obsidian has integrated a unique system with their games like Pillars & Pentiment, which allows the player to highlight any nouns, or names that would make little sense to someone unfamiliar with the world. They provide short and concise text to explain them and somehow also don’t interrupt the flow of dialogue because you are never going into a menu to read. And a lot of these games that do this also happen to be CRPGs which are among my favorite genre of game. But I think the best video game to do it also happens to be the type of video game that is the hardest to make, sell and it is the Immersive Sim.
The Importance of maintaning the illusion of choice
Immersive Sims and CRPGs have a lot in common like more often than not they can be both. There are CRPGs that are also Immersive sims like Fallout New Vegas and CRPGs that are also Immersive sims like Baldur’s Gate 3. But their ability to channel the chaos but also the freedom of table top. Of course these being video games means that there has to be placed some boundaries on what the player can do but they are always so wide that the illusion that you are weaving your own experience is easier to swallow. Therein lies the important thing, making a compelling illusion where you don’t tell the audience the answer to the trick and they come up with their own ways to interpret how it works.
In the context of games like an immersive sim, by saying “yes, and” to the player enough that they can’t tell what is behind the curtain because they are being distracted by the illusion you’re selling, you’re golden. When I use the Gloo Cannon in Prey 2016 to make a makeshift staircase allowing me to get to the upper floors of Talos 1 where I’m not technically “supposed” to go yet I feel vindicated. I’ve clearly outsmarted the game by doing this because I used the tools I’ve been provided to come up with my own answers, and because of this my experience will feel special to me in comparison to other players who would have done things differently. That is the beauty of video games, where only video games can provide this sort of storytelling, and while it seems like you’ve simulated your own story it is still ultimately an illusion of choice provided by the devs it is just a less visible one. In games like Prey, Dishonored or Hitman World of Assassination there aren’t these types of invisible walls meant to corner the player into following a well trotted path laid out by the game’s developers. You can’t actually see that you’re in a done this time, and it makes your interactions with the game’s system all the more satisfying. But most importantly it makes the writing all the stronger and that brings me to my final point.
You don’t have to be an immersive sim or a CRPG to do these things. As mentioned earlier there are games of various genres that understand that sometimes less is more. The recently released Expedition 33, a big inspiration for writing this blog, succeeds at telling a story that doesn’t feel the need to explain itself with exposition dumps but you can simply see for yourself by interacting with the world and let the game provide necessary information through natural dialogue.
And that I believe is also the biggest take away one can get del what I consider to be the best video game genre that is Immersive Sim. Do not be afraid that your players will not get it by having to explain yourself too much, and don’t be afraid that your players will miss some things because good writing will translate to future revisits where players will see things with new eyes, and discover new things and that it’ll only emphasize the quality of the game’s design and writing.
FakePlasticTree
