Jaffe Ditches Games With Stories

1up reports on David Jaffe's latest post to his blog, where he rails against games with stories, claiming that moving forward he'll be all about play for the sake of play. From the article: "Jaffe goes onto explain his thesis, believing many modern cinematic games don't properly play upon the raw 'real' emotions videogames can elicit: tension and release, fear and anxiety, triumph and defeat, and confusion and joy over challenges. We're wondering how Jaffe intends to make us cry without playing up the story elements, but we're interested in seeing him try. Maybe Project HL will simply feature an extended Path of Hades sequence ripped from God of War. I simply loved climbing those spiked poles for over an hour."

Comments

no story? Baloney

[AcidLacedPenguiN]

Good luck. I normally lose interest and never finish games if they have no story.

Re:no story? Baloney

[AKAImBatman]

If a game has mediocre game play (the vast majority of them do) then the story is what saves the game and makes it worth while.

I hate to be cliche, but go read a book. Life is too short to play lousy games just to "experiece" a thoroughly rehashed story.

Re:no story? Baloney

[AcidLacedPenguiN]

You can't sit there and tell me there's no story in Street Fighter (maybe initially, but by the alpha series there was a shitload of backstory) and to be honest I did enjoy most of those games (don't try and tell me that STUN Runner or SFRUSH are good games though)

I though impulsively that they'll make FPS games with no story, and no that we've seen close to a bajillion FPS games, the only thing now that can really make one better than another is story. Story and Gameplay. and if someone like Jaffe could make a game chock full of gameplay w/o the story, don't you think it would have been done already?
Also fun never had anything to do with what I said earlier. I had a shitload of fun playing GTA2, but did I ever finish that? hell no.
GTA3 and Vice City though, had me hooked enough on the story to actually want to finish them. same with HL 1 and 2. Not the same with Doom3. . .

And one more thing I wanted to bring up is that, all those games are old school. Try and find a good storyless game like those in the past 5 years? Did you? I didn't think so.
Old school games are fun because that's all they are, old school games. They were often hard or challenging, which kept you saying "Just one more level" or "I just need to hold on to the spreader until the boss."
Now however, videogames are just as much digital expression of either technological advancement or creative expression as they are games now.

Re:no story? Baloney

[AKAImBatman]

You can't sit there and tell me there's no story in Street Fighter

I can and I will sit here and state that Street Fighter II was without a story.

don't try and tell me that STUN Runner or SFRUSH are good games though

Don't try to push your personal preferences on everyone. STUN Runner and SFRush are awesome games. Just because you don't like them doesn't change the fact that millions of fans would agree with me.

if someone like Jaffe could make a game chock full of gameplay w/o the story, don't you think it would have been done already?
[...]
Try and find a good storyless game like those in the past 5 years? Did you?

Allow me to introduce you to my good friends Sid Meier and Will Wright. Say hello guys! Hey, can you tell us about your great new games like Civilization IV and The Sims? How many millions of dollars did these games net you? You know, I hear that you guys managed to pull off these games with no storyline what-so-ever! That's just incredible! I've heard about games like Roller Coaster Tycoon, but your offering take the cake!

Isn't technology incredible? Now back to AcidLacedPenguiN for a gloomy weather forecast.

I dunno, he's got a point

[voice_of_all_reason]

My favorite types of games lately are dungeon crawlers (Grandia Xtreme, Diablo 2, Dynasty Warriors sorta). I've tried Oblivion but the payoffs are simply too few and far between -- I can only finish maybe one quest a sitting for a grand total of like 43 gold and some rat meat.

For me, FF7 was a good blend of story and action (I've read several references to it being the first "boss rush" game). If only they'd let you skip cutscenes entirely (not just fast-read through 5 or 10 minutes worth) I'd be a happy camper.

Re:EA will rejoice

[winmine]

What do you want to sell a game with if not story?

What about gameplay? As in, the expansive decision making process that defines games as a distinct art form?

What's the huge difference between Half Life and Doom if not the story?

You're being aggresively ignorant; I don't see how it's possible not to see the difference between Doom's constant survival action and Half-Life's paced and thoughtful puzzle mechanics intermixed with unique and hectic battles. They're practically polar opposites from map architechture to the underlying mindset the game expects out of its players.