Quite often, an indie game throws together some common gameplay, like roguelike shooter patterns, with little to explain it. eg, “You’re here to explore for treasure!” Other times, even AAA games go this route, assuming most players won’t care about the base story premise.
But there seems to be a significant contrast to well-developed worlds; like seeing the progressive cruelty of the Nazis in Wolfenstein before you start stabbing them, or seeing the Gommage in Expedition 33 before heading out to fight nevrons. Even more eldritch action-oriented games like DOOM benefited from establishing a “mood” of the Slayer being angry at demons and anyone who ignored warnings of them using just a few quick cutscenes.
This can be a bit of divergence from a game being “story-focused” or building up detailed lore. Some such games are often bad at motivation because the “story” is so confusing to players, most would just admit “I’m just going wherever bosses are to advance the story.” Some very dialogue-heavy games don’t necessarily captivate players on this level, since motivation can often be very simple. It goes back to the age-old strategy of arcade Donkey Kong; having 10 seconds at the beginning of the game where DK captures a princess who calls for help. The early version of the game likely didn’t even have that, and the designer felt motivation was missing. (That decision spawned its own issue, the Damsel in Distress trope, but that’s another topic)
As more conceptual ideas, and especially more perpetual live-service games, become more popular, I see this element of gaming going missing at all ranks of game development - which is a shame, because I think when written creatively, there are ways to set up player motivation through relatively few voice lines and short cutscenes; something going beyond “You are an amnesiac! This voice is telling you where to go. Don’t die to The Corporation!!”
To drive discussion: What are some games you bounced off of, that you think may have been because they were missing motivation? What games found you putting up with a mediocre gameplay experience because you were invested in the given story turnout?
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I can’t stand open worlds with no clear goals, the shine quickly wears off the world itself and I’m just left wondering what I would even want to do it. Mile wide, inch deep content deserts just switch me off immediately.
I play games to escape the purposelessness of life, not simulate it.
I love open worlds, but I need some sort of goal / completionist aspect going on to actually have fun. Because yes, just wandering around quickly wears thin, unless a game map is exceptionally beautiful or has good environmental storytelling.
A goal for me might be a % map completion, collecting certain items, finding steps of a side quest - I guess just something to be able to say, ok I’m done, I explored/completed it all.
I played a thousand or two hours of Skyrim… never completed the main quest… but it was always there as an objective that I was maybe heading towards. Elder Scrolls have usually struck a good balance between “here is a big world to wander around” and “here are some key objectives and narratives to drive you forwards”.
It felt like a boring, endless fetch quest with combat. People tell me that my issue was playing it without mods.
I could never get into The Witcher knowing he was a mercenary. Same for Assassin’s Creed. Elex and Chernobylite are two that I really enjoyed even though they had their graphical limitations. These days I mostly just play Portal 2 community maps as a way to destress after a working day.
He was “abandoned” by his mother and raised by a group of monster hunters. Take that as you will.
Now that you mention it - I don’t believe I’ve ever stopped playing a game for lack of story. I’m ok with a game just spawning me in and having me figure out what I’m supposed to do if it plays well.
On the other hand, I can’t think of any game I powered through mediocre gameplay to see what the plot was.
Decent gameplay, bad story, that I left because of the story?
- Neptunia Rebirth 3. Plutia got on my nerves one too many times. I couldn’t stand it anymore.
- Rail of Mobius. The MC actually revolted against my attempts to save scum the story decisions. Then the MC gets himself killed because he’s a dumbass, and I made the other character not save him from his stupidity. This apparently was the wrong decision. I stopped playing because I couldn’t stand the characters anymore.
- I quit the Kiseki series in the middle of Cold Steel 4. Each entry (except Trails in the Sky 3) requires you to get points for useful gear by doing the right things in the story. I decided that I was done with using a guide to figure out what to do next, and quit.
- Noel the Mortal Fate. Revenge stories already bore me, and it felt like the story was going nowhere. The gameplay was fine, but not enough to keep me around.
- Forsaker DingDing & Blade. The story feels like AI generated nonsense.
- Siren’s Call Escape Velocity. I spoiled myself on the ending. It makes everything else feel like a complete waste of time, so I stopped early.
- Chick’n Mushroom Soup. Villain Sue.
- Blood Midnight Blossom. Villain Sue.
- キミが消えてしまう前に. I hate the main character. A simp, a pushover, and a moron. I couldn’t stand him anymore.
- Hundred Line Last Defense Academy. I finished all the quality routes, and only crap was left, which included the “canon” endings. Not gonna bother.
- 彷徨之街 The Street of Adrift. Purple prose, and the early story is dogshit.
- Anything by CyberStep. Indecipherable nonsense.
- Shadow of War. I got bored when the elf guy left.
Dang, so you don’t recommend 100 Line? It’s so highly rated. Hmm…
100 Line goes through a prologue, and then some routes of your choice when the prologue is done.
The Prologue is worth playing. When that’s done, you get to choose what routes to play next.
Thing is, some routes are pretty good (Death Game, Box of Calamity, Cult of Takumi, Slasher) while others are very very shit (Eva’s Route, Box of Blessings, SF, Conspiracy).
The game is also somewhat resistant to modding despite being the perfect game for it. I’ve tried it myself, and getting the game to cooperate with mods, much less multiple mods together, is very frustrating.
So I advise: Play it past the prologue, but when you reach routes that bore you to shit, switch to another route. If you run out of the good routes, stop playing.
I feel like if 3 of 6 paths suck, by that point it may be better to just watch the best content in someone’s playthrough. Well, thanks for the warning; it’s been on my wishlist but I only find myself becoming pickier with age, haha.
My dude. I’m with you on Neptunia 3. The plot does not move until Plutia does some S&M stuff to force it. Everything else takes a backseat to Plutia. I hated it.
I don’t finish
anymany games but something like the Mass Effect **trilogy was, by the end, a bit of a chore but I just wanted to finish off the storyline.Thomas Was Alone, I’ll be damned if I wasn’t getting those rectangles to freedom :D
It depends on the game. Some games may build up a world before putting you in, others lets you discover over time. Take Final Fantasy 7 in example (I’m actually talking about the original Playstation release in 1997). Game is heavily story and character based. You start a mission without knowing characters or the story. You are right in the action and details are explained along the way or afterwards. I really really like this. Having a slow start is not wrong either, its just different. Fallout 3 on the other hand has a much slower start. One start the game as baby even, learn the world you are in and so on. And both styles are appealing, as long as not all games have one style only. If not executed well, both styles can be boring or uninteresting.
For games that are not story heavy I don’t care anyway. Donkey Kong Country on the Super Nintendo in example. Some crazy dude stole bananas and now the gorillas are angry. Game starts. This is a game I’m interested into gameplay and challenges, rather than anything else (ok ok graphics and music too). The gameplay is the motivation for me, not a meaningless (or meaningful) story, for this type of game. I do not need any reason other than having fun to play and do the challenges.
I made a similar argument about this a few days ago and got lambasted. I personally think payoff is important. As an adult I have a lot less time for games. To just “do” something when there are so many things to do and even other games to play has to mean something. Not just a “stat” boost. I don’t need another fetch quest. I don’t need a pointless collectible. If I’m doing something I want to be rewarded for it. A bit of lore actually acted out or even better yet new gameplay I didn’t have before.
I’m not saying an arcade type game can’t be fun or worth time. But that gameplay loop in itself has to feel rewarding to me. And in a growing list of games feeling the game the gameplay loop itself holds less value. As 10 of the last 15 releases on Steam have that same damn loop.
This is clearly a subjective thing but I’ll say personally I need to feel some intrinsic value for my time. And lately I haven’t been feeling reward. As a result I am playing less and less games these days …
My motivation for games is to have fun.
If I’m having fun the game doesn’t need to motivate me because I’m already being motivated to have fun
This whole post is about going the next step in that line of thinking: What feels fun to you?
I generally won’t know unless I’m playing something and having fun. It could be any reason. I like games of all genres but small details could change whether I’m having fun with that particular game.
If I’m not playing something fun in a few minutes, I’m probably going to bounce off. I’m not here to watch a movie.
I don’t want to watch a long intro. I don’t want a lot of cut scenes and exposition up front.
The dark souls games have a little cut scene that you can skip, and then you’re off to playing. Perfect.
My thought is that if one of the main appeals of the game is (meant to be) the story, the story better be both good and well-told (which I learnt is not the same, see Genshin). For games where the main appeal is the gameplay, I’m more inclined to tolerate a barebones or trope-fest story.
What are some games you bounced off of, that you think may have been because they were missing motivation?
I think I only experienced this in point & click adventure games, where the story must be good to prop up the enjoyment value along the more lightweight gameplay.
What games found you putting up with a mediocre gameplay experience because you were invested in the given story turnout?
I think it’s usually the other way around for me lol, where I put up with a below-mediocre story bc the gameplay is fun. Usually if the story is so well-written that I really want to see how it ends, the devs put effort into making the game’s other aspects good too, so I haven’t seen the kind of imbalance you speak of in the genres I play. Maybe if I played shooters or platformers, it would be more prevalent 🤷
It depends on the mood. Sometimes I just feel like playing something and I don’t want history or cutscenes getting in the way, just gimme a good gameplay loop that is easy to get into and hard to master. Other times I’m looking for immersion, do not mistake with just some good history, it’s a mix of the right settings, art style, sound atmosphere and storytelling. Your example of Clair Obscur is the perfect example for this type of games and it also has incredible gameplay on top of it.
Usually I get into a game because I have a goal, which could be directly related to the storyline, or an explicit in-game objective (get all the collectibles, get an achievement, etc.) but other times I make my own goals, often like completing a challenge with different tools than the one the game expects a player to. Or in open ended non-story driven games I essentially figure out what I want to try to accomplish over one or more play sessions, tends to happen with factory builder games.
This is a fun question! Before I start ranting my opinions, I’d love to turn it back on you, where do you fall on the topic?
As for me, I think it’s important to start by saying narrative motivations are not necessary for me to enjoy a game. I can, have, and will play games devoid of them purely for the gameplay, story, art, fantasy, challenge, etc.
That said, I’ve absolutely played games where a strong narrative motivation enhanced my experience. I think this works best, at least for me, when the character and I share a motivation.
Some examples: not going Hollow in Dark Souls, killing Benny and taking over the Strip in New Vegas, gaining strength to kick Vile’s ass in Mega Man X, saving Ellie in The Last of Us, and feeding my Tamagotchi in… Tamagotchi.
On the flip side, when I can’t empathize with a character’s motivations, or worse, when they constantly complain about doing the things I want to do, it really kills my desire to play. That’s why I’m more of a Bartz fan than, say, Squall or Lightning.
So I guess my point, or TL;DR, is this: narrative motivations work best as a driving force when they help immerse me in my character’s role by giving us a shared goal. They’re not essential, but they can absolutely elevate the experience.
Motivation from a character often pushes me to prioritize one game when I have many in my backlog. A key example of this is the Ace Attorney games, especially when compared to another mystery game like Return of the Obra Dinn.
In both games you’re solving a mystery, figuring out what happened. In Obra Dinn, you see the “happen” and fill out forms for which person was who, and how they died. But you’re not going to stop anything terrible from happening - that part’s done.
However, in Ace Attorney, every case has the same premise: Some poor fellow has been accused by an overeager justice system of murder. Worse, circumstantially it does seem likely they did it - and no one believes their story. As their defense, you prove them innocent AND drag out the evil miser who landed them in that situation, solving the mystery as you go.
In one of my favorite cases of the trilogy, the defendant was photographed in the act of stabbing the victim by a witness who was behind a fence. The accused was the only person at the scene, arrested on the spot, bears a cut on her hand from using the knife. When questioned, she willingly admits to killing him. Only reason you take the case is that she has no apparent motive, and her sister begs you to do it, feeling she couldn’t ever do such a thing. And yes: She’s innocent. Unraveling that mystery is one thing, but unraveling the motives to figure out how to help these people is another.
I’m someone who can’t manage more than about 20 hours in a single player game normally. Only games I sink time into are online.
The only single player game I’ve actually put more than this into is civ5, balatro, mini motorways.
Story games just bore the fuck out of me and it feels like I’m in a vacuum. If I wanted to watch a cutscene I’d watch a movie.
Not even a little bit.
As proof: I love the first Borderlands game.
