120°

Dark Souls taught me to enjoy piecing stories together

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and Final Fantasy XV featured some of the best stories in video games, and James thoroughly enjoyed them. However, when he speaks of how great their stories are to others, they act as if these games had some of the worst stories in their respective franchises. This phenomenon had him stumped until recently, when he realized why he found the stories of games like these to be so appealing: Dark Souls had conditioned him to piece stories together in order to see the grand picture.

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csgmagazine.com
TheOptimist2690d ago

I'd suggest you play Nier Automata as well then.....

PlebeGamer2689d ago

If it weren't for Breath of the Wild, Nier Automata would be my lock for GotY.

TheOptimist2689d ago

It still is my GOTY of 2017.... Regardless of BOTW.

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Silkside2689d ago

Bs, the game would have been way better with a coherent story.

Don't give me the less is more bs, imagine a deep story line to go along with the immaculate gameplay.

LoveSpuds2689d ago

I can appreciate what you are saying but for me, it was the fact that you have to invest so much effort to get the most out of the story that drove me to explore every nook and cranny, to analyse every piece of dialog and item description....I just found that story telling so different and interesting.

I love the different interpretations you come across in the community.

Rangerman12082689d ago (Edited 2689d ago )

"Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and Final Fantasy XV featured some of the best stories in video games"

Uhmm....no. Final Fantasy 15's story felt bland and confusing for the most parts and and the only way to understand the story is to watch the anime, watch the movie and maybe play those short dlc episodes. In other words, it felt rushed on purpose, or just felt as if you were watching/playing a sequel without even seeing the first. Personally, Final Fantasy 6 and 9 has the best stories.

And as for MGS 5? Wasn't the story criticized for being almost nonexistent? I know most MGS games' stories were at times nonsensical or ridiculous but personally, MGS3 and 4 had a fantasic story, and seeing that MGS5 focused too much on gameplay and an uneccesary open world than on the story disappointed me a lot.

LoveSpuds2689d ago (Edited 2689d ago )

I was just about to post the exact same thing, of all the titles ought there with great stories it's odd that the author chose those two. In particular, FF15, I didn't know what was going on half the time and the other half I didn't care. I don't think it was a case of the story being somehow obfuscated like the Souls games, it was that the stories were simply weak and the lore uninteresting in FF15.

I do however, agree with the sentiment in the article, the way the lore of the world you are playing in is delivered in the Souls and Bloodborne games really does add to the mystery and magic of the games.

PlebeGamer2689d ago

The point of the article is that those stories require the conditioning acquired from Dark Souls to piece them together, and once they are pieced together, they are good stories. The article even points out that FFXV is a disjointed mess, and the need to piece the story together isn't by design, but poor story telling.

The article is saying those two games have two great stories that were told like a busted mess, and they're saved because the author learned to like piecing broken stories together through years of Dark Souls conditioning.

LoveSpuds2689d ago

@pleb

I know what the point of this piece was, I read it too. My point is, the story in FF5 was not there in any capacity, I personally don't believe that the story was hidden and there if you looked hard enough. Just my personal experience though squire, I guess the writer of the article is better at picking out obfuscated story beats than I am.

PlebeGamer2689d ago

@spuds

Many people were confused about the plot, so that alone tells me there was some puzzling out that had to be done for it.

The story itself is pretty straightforward. Without giving outright spoilers: The villain has a clear cut and downright reasonable motivation. The oracle and the king were the ones that loved Noctis the most, and they had to live with the secret of his destiny, and when you think it through the revelations are soul crushing man. The game also has the has the most original ending to a Final Fantasy ever.

Do all of the story elements stick the landing? No, but it's a great work overall and it's timeless.

Not to mention the characters are the most human I've seen in a video game period. Yes they dress like some jersey dbags, but they're good people that you want to cheer for. Noctis even manages to buck the trope-y stereotypes you'd expect from his character design. He's not an uppity prince, he's not perfect, and he's not an edge lord, emo bishounen. Noctis is just a nice guy that hates mornings and really, really likes fishing, that just happens to be a king with a hard ass destiny to live up to.

showtimefolks2689d ago (Edited 2689d ago )

Ranger

Mgs 5 had the weakest story hidden behind cassette tapes and like you said FF 15 story is hidden behind animated movies and game director himself admitted they rushed some areas

I don't like stories where you have to find hidden items to find the whole story because that becomes a chore

70°

Brace Yourselves, Tarnished: Revisiting the Greatest Soulsborne Boss Battles - Part I: Dark Souls

With Elden Ring's DLC Shadow of the Erdtree coming this month, JDR takes a look back at the greatest Soulsborne bosses. To start with, those of Dark Souls.

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jumpdashroll.com
210°

Metal Gear Solid 5, Nearly After A Decade, Is Still A Timeless Classic

The Metal Gear series, led by Kojima, pioneered the stealth genre, creating a masterclass in storytelling and gameplay.

SimpleSlave110d ago (Edited 110d ago )

No. But MGS5: Ground Zeroes might actually be one of the greatest Game Demo ever, if not the best.

xHeavYx110d ago

I know a lot of people didn't, but I actually liked that story twist at the end. The game was fun and all, but I wouldn't call it a timeless classic.

Cacabunga109d ago

Metal Gear legend stopped with number 4.
MGS5 needed a year or 2 more of development to be maybe among the classics.. it was clearly rushed, especially at the end. The story teaches us absolutely nothing new.

just_looken110d ago

A demo is free that was a $40 cry for help as later we would know konami did not want to fun hideo and his team anymore that is why we got the unfinished phantom pain.

-Foxtrot110d ago (Edited 110d ago )

Meh

Great stealth gameplay but the game was just average.

Bland open world that felt lifeless, the story felt shoehorned in, unfinished story etc. The whole thing was just average to me compared to the other main titled games.

I would have rather preferred it if they kept Ground Zeroes for the main game as the opening and the rest of the game turns into a Metal Gear 1 & 2 remake to bring things full circle.

just_looken110d ago

If you dig around they had old behind trhe scenes of phantom pain vids and books wrote around the time.

Before funding was puled the main idea was to keep peace walker coop it was in the games early builds and that end game were your building your base that was suppose to be metal gear one.

You as the fake big boss was going to make your own metal gear one map aka your base (outer heaven) then me as sold snake use the mode that is in the game invade/defeat the base even fight your current version of metal gear that was in the game but not finished.

So your idea was on the table bit got canned.

CrimsonWing69110d ago (Edited 110d ago )

Like hell it is. That was the first time I became aware of being sold an unfinished game and was blown away about blind fanboys saying it was some perfect game.

Yea, the first few chapters were great until they do that thing halfway and make you replay all the missions again. Then little things like capturing animals but only seeing a JPEG unlike 3 where everything was modeled out. Areas were massive, desolate, and boring to look at.

Game was a massive let down for me and the potential was so high for it. Honestly, this was one of the most disappointing games I ever played. What’s worse is it starts off brilliant. You literally play through until you get to the point where you could tell they just stopped developing and then quickly used glue and construction paper to “finish” it and then sold it. Quite frankly, that’s insulting to consumers and fans.

Inverno110d ago

People have selective memory. This game had huge drama attached to it, what Konami did to Kojima and this game was horrible. Now they praise Konami cause they revived Silent Hill, even though SH looks half arsed too.

CrimsonWing69110d ago

I dunno if they’re getting much praise after the Silent Hill 2 debacle. Makes me scared sh*tless for the MGS 3 Remake…

Michiel1989109d ago

I don't wanna defend konami, but Kojima had 7 years to make the game, it's not that weird for a publisher to expect a game to be finished in that amount of time.

Also no one is praising konami from what I've seen, they're just excited that a Silent Hill game is releasing

CrimsonWing69109d ago (Edited 109d ago )

@Michiel1989

You’re absolutely correct. Look, the dude is a visionary and has brought us some incredible games, but he constantly would go over budget and could never stick to a deadline. I don’t know if people remember the MGS 4 trailers but it became a joke when you’d see a release date and then they crossed it out in the next trailer to give another.

What a lot of people don’t know is there’s a certain amount of money given for development and marketing. When you go over the budget and add additional marketing over the deadline it isn’t cheap. MGS GZ and V were laughable to me for the amount of time he had to develop them and he spent even more time on the engine that wasn’t anything revolutionary to me. I mean, GZ was nothing more than a demo and they released that art like $40 I think, probably to further help fund V. He then spent money for Kiefer Sutherland who did nothing for the character, which I think Kojima just wanted because he’s a fan.

Konami just had enough and said this is the deadline and you’re done after this. It’s business, but fans took it personal. I mean look at this Overdose game he’s been doing.,, like when is that ever coming out?

Michiel1989108d ago

I kind of forgot about overdose but yeah exactly my thoughts. He has made some of the best games out there and definitely deserves time to create his new masterpiece, but it's not a bottomless well.

This is pure speculation but I imagine he got around 4 years to make the game excluding pre-production. If after those 4 years the game is nowhere near being done, the relationship will be strained between them one way or another.

about the konami being praised thing, if let's say blizzard announces world of warcraft 2 today I'll be excited as hell for the game, but that doesn't mean my opinion of blizzard changes only a tiny bit cause they're still trash.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 108d ago
Yui_Suzumiya109d ago

Yeah, it was the only MGS I didn't play and this is coming from someone who got back into gaming after skipping a generation due to MGS4 back in 2008. It just seems to be the complete opposite of the MGS I always knew and loved (1-4).

JEECE110d ago

Yes and no. In many ways in was a great game; there's a very strong argument that it has the best gameplay of any MGS game, and that it is one of the more interesting open world "playgrounds" we have gotten, in terms of how the world operates. But as an MGS narrative, it is pretty far down the list, for many reasons.

Storm23110d ago

I don't think there is any argument. The gameplay was incredible. But yeah...disappointed in the rest. Could have been incredible but...well...we all know what happened...

JEECE108d ago

I don't think there is much of one either but apparently some people found the world very boring compared to the more linear structures of other entries so I didn't make a definitive statement in order to acknowledge the outliers.

DarXyde109d ago

The thing about Metal Gear Solid is that the narrative is what determines which is your favorite because the gameplay had ALWAYS improved with every mainline entry. It's amazing.

If it was gameplay, we'd all say The Phantom Pain, but the story is what truly sets them apart.

For me, that's Snake Eater, which is also my favorite game of all time.

JEECE108d ago

That's my favorite too, particularly if we are talking about the subsistence version with camera control.

Fishy Fingers110d ago

For me, best gameplay, worst, everything else.

Storm23110d ago

Yeah...gameplay was so damn good.

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140°

Here Are The Games Leaving PS Plus Extra & Premium In May 2024

Here are the games that will be leaving the Extra and Premium tiers of the PS Plus subscription service in the month of May, 2024.

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twistedvoxel.com
gold_drake160d ago

crazy, glad i own the ones i wanted to revisit and play

ChasterMies160d ago

Absolver Downfall
Abzu
Adrift
Ashen
Elex
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VIII Remastered
Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy X | X-2
Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age
Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition
How To Survive 2
I Am Dead
Jotun
Last Stop
Minit
Moster Jam Steel Titans 2
My Friend Pedro
Observation
Sundered Eldritch Edition
The Artful Escape
The Messenger
This Is The Police
This Is The Police 2
World of Final Fantasy

Asterphoenix160d ago

Glad that I absolutely can't stand subscription services.

Petebloodyonion160d ago (Edited 160d ago )

I don't recall Sony forcing you to subscribe like nobody forced you to go to Blockbuster to rent games instead of buying them.

SonyStyled160d ago

Pay-per-view was almost cheaper than the cost of gas and rental fee from Blockbuster. Blockbuster doesn’t exist today. Are you being sarcastic?