Games Need Subtle(r) Stories
Douglas Wilson from Gamasutra wrote an interesting editorial about the methods of story delivery used in most games. The piece features Super Mario Galaxy as its base, but I think the topic is highly relevant to games across all consoles.
Gaming is a hobby populated by a hard-to-please crowd of mumblers, half of whom cry foul over the fact Super Mario has been rescuing princesses since they were a gleam in their daddy’s eye (”Why can’t he do something new?“) and half of whom froth over Nintendo’s audacity when it includes a story in a Super Mario game (”Buncha high-falootin’ jerks don’t know their place, which is making games for my kid sister.”).
Yet Nintendo managed to nail a decent presentation for Super Mario Galaxy’s story, something even the most narrative-rich games out there struggle with.
The story for Super Mario Galaxy is told through, of all things, a storybook. Princess Rosalina, the seemingly vapid caretaker of a magical space station and dozens of star-creatures, will occasionally allow Mario to sit in on “Story Time.” Rosalina’s storybook tells a tale of adventure and deeper-seeking that’s not completely unlike The Little Prince. Everything is presented in pastel colours that are deceptively childish. It’s also a surprisingly emotional story with simple themes like family, homesickness and even death.
And guess what: You don’t have to read it if you don’t want to.
You can read Rosalina’s story, discover her motives and even develop a fondness for her. Or you can give it a miss and go on thinking she just ain’t right. It’s up to you.
Speaking for myself, this is the kind of choice I love to see in video games. Games are capable of telling complex backstories, but a developer who includes one runs a risk of offending people who just want to get on and play. If you were to queue up the number of gamers who play games for the stories, you’d have a mighty short line compared to the individuals who are all about skipping cut scenes.
True, Mario is still Mario. There’s a huge risk involved in incorporating narrative, and I think Super Mario Galaxy handled it well. It told the story. It kept my interest. I was not beaten over the head. I did not have to wait for hours to get back to playing.
Writers hear “Show, Don’t Tell” often enough to make a novice puke. Still, it’s a very valuable piece of advice that applies in a same-but-different way to movies and games. Do we know what rendered the human race infertile in Children of Men? If we did, it would suck a great deal of intrigue out of the film. Do we know what caused the downfall of Rapture in Bioshock? We get a vague idea if we piece together the narratives that we are responsible for finding.
Do we know about blah blah Sephiroth blah blah Cloud in Final Fantasy VII? Yes, because the game wouldn’t give us a bloody rest about yelling the story in our ears. And ten years later the highly-ridiculed story still doesn’t make sense, and I’ll warn you right now not to laud it as a work of genius that holds up to The Grapes of Wrath, because the end result of that act will have you slinking out of the Punishment Room with your backside stinging.
Ah, but even Final Fantasy VII should be credited for one almost-fascinating piece of storytelling: Vincent’s backstory, which is accessible only if you can find the hiding spot of Sephiroth’s mother, Lucrecia (or the spirit thereof…it’s kind of a muddy encounter). Given, it’s a heavy-handed bit of narrative, but compared to the rest of what the game offers, it’s worth sitting through. Or maybe I just felt good while reading it because it was a reward I received for being a thorough explorer.
I know games are capable of telling great stories. I have no trouble admitting that I was an avid writer of fanfiction, and I still indulge. I’d just like to see developers fine-tune their presentation. Yoshiaki Koizumi, the director of Super Mario Galaxy, has a background in film. I think it served him well for the game’s development.
Tags: Final Fantasy VII, Super Mario GalaxyRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Ranty McRantpants
2 opinions for Games Need Subtle(r) Stories
don incognito
May 8, 2008 at 11:24 pm
Thanks for the article and the link. It was an interesting read.
I think alot of modern games could benefit from more subtle stories, especially the ones currently being lauded for great storytelling. Bioshock had some neat ideas, but its storytelling was incredibly overwrought and pandering. It made sure to tell you exactly how to feel and what to think about every choice it presented you. I almost stopped playing the game when i got the chance to harvest or save the little sisters. That was one of the most awkward storytelling elements i’ve ever seen in a game. I thought maybe the game would redeem itself by the end, but the last boss battle was equally awkward, especially with the inappropriate Christ like imagery (and I don’t mean morally inappropriate, i mean its thematically silly to stuff christ imagery into a game based on Ayn Rand’s philosophies).
Nadia
May 9, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Bioshock’s story did get pretty weak by the end. The final battle was more or less pathetic. But I really did enjoy it up until the halfway point or so.
Interestingly, word arrived today about a movie adaptation! I’m curious to see how that will work out…if it works out at all.
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