Story and Games

[A Black Falcon]

I don't care if it's 2D or 3D. 2D games can tell stories just fine. Using the "you need an imagination" speach to excuse lame methods of storytelling is, well, lame. BG is an example of poor storytelling. I don't care what you did to make it seem good, the fact remains that its storytelling method was very poor. Blame it on time or technology or whatever, but that doesn't change anything.

Then why do your main complaints about BG, or Torment, or whatever, seem to be about things that they couldn't help, and that are inherent to 2d games -- static conversations (this is just a fact of life in gaming, OB1, and not one that bothers me too much. Honestly, it bothers me more in a KotOR than a Baldur's Gate... KotOR looks like it SHOULD have something like that, but fails, while BG doesn't (look that way), and doesn't (have it), so it's not missing. BG compensates with well done text that conveys some personality and emotion, I'd say... though the first one is far from perfect, as I've said many times before. But hey, that's why you make sequels, to improve on things, and they did...), lack of graphical displays of emotions, the "boredom" of reading lots of text (you obviously think this a much greater problem than I do.), etc... none of those are things the BG engine could have done better! Or should have done better. It's a fantastic strategic 2d engine and I wouldn't want it any other way.

As I've said, Torment improves on BG by having larger graphics (the characters, etc. are bigger on the screen than in BG), many more clickable-description-areas (click on the slabs in the mortuary and you get various interesting descriptive messages), more text to read (fleshing out the NPCs with more to say so they can establish a style and more detail so you can learn more if you want), and just plain better writing... well, not to mention a better story. :) BG's is admittedly somewhat cliche. BGII/ToB is better, and is intersting, but it's still standard fantasy stuff... and if there's one thing Torment is not, it's standard fantasy stuff.

The 'imagination' thing is, admittedly, most true for text-based adventure games, not Baldur's Gate. But there is truth to it in a BG as well... not as much as for a Zork or Planetfall, but truth.


DJ: Hmm... you definitely should tell people the controls. Otherwise it just annoys people... really, what would be the point? In real life you know what expression you're going to make, so why would it be different in a game? Giving the player too much information is annoying, true, but so is giving the player too little... ever played an adventure game that turned into a tedious excercise in pixel-hunting (drag that mouse over every bit of every screen in the hopes of finding items to pick up!)?

Still, yes, it could be interesting... as long as it doesn't play like an FMV game. Those things are dead and buried for a reason. :)