Zygoptera on 8/7/2010 at 23:27
Quote Posted by Brian The Dog
I think the original Elite for the Acorn/BBC in 1982 was the first to ship with a full Novella, although I'll happily cede to ZB's knowledge of such things.
Elite was 1984. The novella is available online, I actually read it fairly recently when I stumbled across the Elite box.
Brian The Dog on 9/7/2010 at 09:27
D'oh, schoolboy error! Thanks for the correction, can't believe I got that wrong on one of my all-time favourite games :D
icemann on 11/7/2010 at 05:01
Sulphur: To answer your question, Mass Effect 1 had a huger storyline imo and told more of it generally with the missions/side quests + ingame big amounts of text you could read up on it by, compared to ME2 where things were more condensed and you spent more of your time off doing other things with non related other story lines.
You also had alot more to do with the alliance in the first game compared to the 2nd, and so there was alot more story told from other species point of view + the missions/side missions you experienced. Sure their still was some of this in the 2nd game, but not AS much. Not even close. To me, the first game has this real EPIC feel/vibe to it (ala Babylon 5) while the 2nd was more condensed and more action oriented (ala Stargate).
Jason Moyer on 16/7/2010 at 01:33
Surprised it hasn't been mentioned, but Prince Of Persia The Sands Of Time has to rate somewhere.
Sulphur on 16/7/2010 at 06:48
Historically important because of the narrative device? It was cute, but wasn't that about it?
Jason Moyer on 16/7/2010 at 14:26
I dunno if I'd call the narrative in Sands of Time "cute". Maybe you're thinking of another game?
I can't think of too many games where a.) the entire evil that's being overcome is the result of the protaganist being a total dick b.) the protaganist actually matures during the story c.) the entire game doesn't actually happen, and the ending is actually the part you see at the beginning and d.) the protaganist's mistakes are the result of him forgetting things when telling the story
Sulphur on 16/7/2010 at 18:13
Quote Posted by Jason Moyer
I dunno if I'd call the narrative in Sands of Time "cute". Maybe you're thinking of another game?
Oh, no, it's the game where you've got a prince being a dick and coming of age and wryly flirting with an Indian princess and then battling an evil vizier, right?
Quote Posted by Sulphur
Historically important because of the narrative device? It was cute, but wasn't that about it?
Quote:
d.) the protaganist's mistakes are the result of him forgetting things when telling the story
Narrative. Device. Cute, n'est-ce pas?
Quote:
I can't think of too many games where a.) the entire evil that's being overcome is the result of the protaganist being a total dick b.) the protaganist actually matures during the story c.) the entire game doesn't actually happen, and the ending is actually the part you see at the beginning
So all of those make for a great but derivative story that follows the standard coming of age template with a twist ending, but is it really the first time a) and b) was done in a game (hint: Ultima), and c) being what it is, is it the first historically important twist ending to elicit an 'ooh, that's clever!' response from players?
And furthermore, considering points a) to c) deal almost solely with the quality of the storytelling, is the quality of SoT's story enough to make its narrative historically important?
june gloom on 16/7/2010 at 18:18
Well, if we're going to do that, then I might as well nominate Final Fantasy VII because Cloud spends basically the ENTIRE game lying to himself and everyone else (including the player) about his getting into SOLDIER and what happened in the Nibeheim reactor, all because he was trying to impress a girl who was already all over his junk. The truth doesn't come out until halfway through disc 2 (aka 4th quarter of the game) when both Cloud and Tifa decide the imminent doom of the entire fucking planet is just the perfect fucking time to have their respective breakdowns.
Of course there's also a major character getting killed off. And you're never going to get her back.
Jason Moyer on 16/7/2010 at 18:54
Quote Posted by Sulphur
And furthermore, considering points a) to c) deal almost solely with the quality of the storytelling, is the quality of SoT's story enough to make its narrative historically important?
I'd say yes, but I think you could alternately argue that every gaming trope ever was done by Infocom by 1985. I guess I wouldn't call PoP:SoT historically significant, but unique and influential. Probably moreso than either of the Mass Effects, which I love, but are hardly groundbreaking narratively.
Sulphur on 16/7/2010 at 19:16
Yep, that's about right. Mass Effect's great and all, but the games are more an example of craft than inventiveness (ME1's more an example of hodgepodge than craft IMO, but charmingly created hodgepodge nonetheless).
I do wish SoT had been more influential in the end, and was hoping that Forgotten Sands would recapture the magic, but I guess it needs the creative spark of the original old-timer for that. What the hell IS Jordan Mechner doing these days apart from filing trademarks for the next PoP iteration anyway?
