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Further proof GL has lost his mind... Clone Wars — Page 3

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Pakka said:

Much like the movie industry, technology allows for more over the top, showy effects, which are then used to hype the product to power-hungry teenage boys. Whatever story might be involved is completely overshadowed by the awesome powers and physics simulation in the game.


Bullshit. You either don't play a lot of games or you believe the hype. The only games in the past 10 years that came out that had very little story and still sold well were the Quake series. That pretty much ended with Doom 3 though. It had amazing graphics, but the "story" and gameplay sucked absolute ass and it's referred to as a $50 tech demo.

LFL could easily make a stunning game from the OT. They just don't care to. There are plenty of characters and a huge galaxy to explore. Hell, Bioware did an awesome job with KoToR. I know it's not the OT, but it's not the PT either and it was a great game. There's no reason something similar can't be done with the OT. I still haven't seen a game in the spirit of Dark Forces where you play on the side of the Empire. The closest they came was Republic Commando. Some people want to be a stormtrooper attempting to put down the pesky rebellion. Maybe at some point you can even choose to defect if you want.

The point is, LFL can easily make a visually stunning, modern game based around the OT. I'm sure it would sell very well too. GL just doesn't want anything to do with that era anymore.
F Scale score - 3.3333333333333335

You are disciplined but tolerant; a true American.

Pissing off Rob since August 2007.
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Hey, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they debuted an awesome OT game when (or sometime after) they finally get around to giving the movies the ultimate treatment. It's just that right now they're doing a Shadows of the Empire style, self contained story. On a larger level, it's all just a pawn in the larger scheme of being a step towards the live action series (yes, the dark side analogy is indeed very fitting).
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What do you call a bastardization of a bastardization? Because that seems to be what we have here.

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lordjedi said:

Pakka said:

Much like the movie industry, technology allows for more over the top, showy effects, which are then used to hype the product to power-hungry teenage boys. Whatever story might be involved is completely overshadowed by the awesome powers and physics simulation in the game.


Bullshit. You either don't play a lot of games or you believe the hype. The only games in the past 10 years that came out that had very little story and still sold well were the Quake series. That pretty much ended with Doom 3 though. It had amazing graphics, but the "story" and gameplay sucked absolute ass and it's referred to as a $50 tech demo.


Most games have some sort of storyline but the emphasis is always on the powerups and super-abilities and razzle-dazzle (obviously, they are video games after all) and I think thats the point being made. Few games, preportionally speaking, have the depth of character and storyline that say, the Final Fantasy games have, and even there a big part of it is upgrading your powers and abilities into ever-more-grand preportions.
(Not to mention, there are millions of games without much story, from Smash Brothers to all the Capcom games to stuff like Twisted Metal)
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zombie84 said:

lordjedi said:

Pakka said:

Much like the movie industry, technology allows for more over the top, showy effects, which are then used to hype the product to power-hungry teenage boys. Whatever story might be involved is completely overshadowed by the awesome powers and physics simulation in the game.


Bullshit. You either don't play a lot of games or you believe the hype. The only games in the past 10 years that came out that had very little story and still sold well were the Quake series. That pretty much ended with Doom 3 though. It had amazing graphics, but the "story" and gameplay sucked absolute ass and it's referred to as a $50 tech demo.


Most games have some sort of storyline but the emphasis is always on the powerups and super-abilities and razzle-dazzle (obviously, they are video games after all) and I think thats the point being made. Few games, preportionally speaking, have the depth of character and storyline that say, the Final Fantasy games have, and even there a big part of it is upgrading your powers and abilities into ever-more-grand preportions.
(Not to mention, there are millions of games without much story, from Smash Brothers to all the Capcom games to stuff like Twisted Metal)


I tried playing a Final Fantasy game once. I found out that it's nothing but a huge cut scene with some play time in between. Anything with the words "Final Fantasy" in the title isn't my idea of a game.

The story might be thin on the titles you mentioned, but they also aren't using cutting edge technology. I used Doom 3 in my example because it did use cutting edge technology (a lot of PC gamers had to upgrade in order to play it) and it turned out to be a shitty game. Contrast that with Bioshock, which uses pretty cutting edge graphics and has an excellent story and sold well enough to warrant a sequel. COD4 is similar as well. Cutting edge graphics and a good single player story.
F Scale score - 3.3333333333333335

You are disciplined but tolerant; a true American.

Pissing off Rob since August 2007.
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I know, but the point is that preportionally the majority of games focus on the razzle-dazzle and powers. Thats not a bad thing, they are games. Factor in stuff like sports, racing and fighting games and it really becomes apparent that games where there are strong story and characters are really rare, especially outside of the RPG genre. And even still, in games with advanced gameplay, good characters and a highly developed story, a lot of times theres still emphasis on power-ups and upgrading your ability, which I think was the point being made--I mean I remember the Enter the Matrix game was fantastic for character and storyline while maintaining pretty state of the art gaming, but it too had a big emphasis on discovering new fighting moves and matrix bullet-time abilities. So I don't think its fair to say thats "bullshit" or that you don't know games, it seems more like you yourself are just selectively ignoring 90% of the market because of your personal tastes in gaming.

But I mean--what else do people expect in a video game? You have to design it around abilities because thats the actual gameplay. Star Wars games have always greatly embellished what appears in the movies, and usually to good effect--I mean as faithful as the old Super Star Wars series was, it was equally off-the-map. Its just a game. Either wake up or move on.
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The market actually ignores 90% of what's on the market. During the great Doom and Quake phase, 90% of what came out were just rehashed copies of those games. None sold well if at all. The gaming industry may be a billion dollar or more a year industry, but it has also gone through a lot of turmoil and consolidation in the past 10 years.

People want a game that looks good, has a decent story, and easy controls to learn. Games that don't implement those things are usually doomed to failure.
F Scale score - 3.3333333333333335

You are disciplined but tolerant; a true American.

Pissing off Rob since August 2007.
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I could have been clearer, I suppose, and will admit that I'm not terribly current when it comes to games. On reflection, what I was trying to get at is the contrast between "The Force Unleashed" and something like "Dark Forces". The development of Force powers in this type of Star Wars game (either first person, or third) tracks very closely with the technological advancements in gaming.

In the original Dark Forces, the player isn't a Force user, so it's all running/shooting/solving puzzles. As that series progressed over the years, Force powers became more central to the game and story.

Now, with "The Force Unleashed", the Force powers are not only center-stage, but are exaggerated beyond anything seen before, even in the PT. I'm not saying that the story won't be compelling, but I think it's telling that the video that was released on the day that the game's release date was announced focuses overwhelmingly on how POWERFUL the player will feel, along with lots of video of the massively destructive powers the player will have.

I just think it's interesting that, much as with the Star Wars movies, the focus of the story shifts as the technology available to the creative team grows in capability. This also ties in with Zombie84's comment about "not being a Star Wars fan any more" because the feel of what is now considered "Star Wars" is so different from what we loved about the early days of the OT. I happen to agree very strongly with that viewpoint, and I have some additional thoughts on that, but need to chew on them a bit more before posting.