Middle Earth: Shadow of War provides a fun and exciting experience that builds on the groundwork of it's predecessor, Shadow of Mordor. I haven't quite beaten it yet, and I expect that I won't do so for a while with SSBU coming out next Friday, but I do like it a lot. But as I discussed in my post earlier, I value story and gameplay equally, if not putting story slightly ahead (Only occasionally). I really felt like SoM struggled to tell it's genuinely interesting story, what with same-y, 2D, boring characters, without much of an arc. It was all over the place too, and I got confused at times. But War builds upon Mordor in almost every way; except for the story.
You start back in square one, except this time, Talion, the main character, changes from grim, serious, cool protagonist trope to a grim, serious, cool protagonist who's obsessed with saving Gondor. We do have a little more diverse cast this time around, but they all fall to Talion-itis; they're all grim, serious, tropes. But where the main cast fails to amaze, the Orcs succeed. The Orcs, not only serving as your best friends/worst enemies, also add some much-needed humor into the overall dark game. You have your run-of-the-mill, regular guys, but then you occasionally stumble across hidden gems. Some speak in rhymes, while others sing about the various ways they'll mutilate you. Some you kill over and over, only coming back with injuries and scars, eventually getting to a part where their very existence is agony. While they don't affect the overall narrative, I do appreciate them. The story's a bit more cohesive now, and I can understand what's happening. The game itself is fun, but the overall lackluster narrative is kind of detracting from the whole experience. Of course, not so much that it makes the game not fun; it's just barely passable is all I'm saying.
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Game stories are often hard to make, and even harder to tell. In the best of games, each player is told a unique story, based around their choices and experiences. In the worst, and most common, cases, you have games that are nothing more than a book. They lead you from cutscene to cutscene, holding your hand in the areas between. Now, these games aren't bad to many, but I like to judge my games based on their storytelling capabilities (Most of the time- I do like Breath of the Wild, after all). But then there's that big grey area in between- Where a game makes some steps in the right direction, like with an intriguing premise and interesting characters, but then falls flat on it's face in the endgame.
One of the main things that holds a story on it's own is it's ending- You can have a lack-luster one (Breath of the Wild), or a satisfying one, wrapping up all loose ends, and giving the player peace of mind, like in, I dunno, a Mario game. Of course, there may be cliffhanger, setting up a sequel, but these should never be too obvious, detracting from the satisfaction of finally beating that game. Instead, I like little hints of lore or something, letting the player just figure out that "oh, hey, here's a potential loose thread that could lead to... The next game?!" or something like that. Sequels are hard for me. I love it when they're cleverly teased, but it takes a master to perfectly do so. I'd also like to touch on alternate endings. They're nice, and reward the player for making their own story. Games shouldn't be linear, run-of-the-mill, un-unique experiences, like books. They allow you to put yourself in the protagonist's shoes, they allow you to create your own fantasies, and alternate ending extend that feeling that your experiences in that game are unique in every way. Characters may be the most important things in a story though. With most games (minus Ashen, of course), the characters are pretty much the same across all games. Of course there's variation, but it's safe to say that most characters' general personalities and quirks remain the same over most playthroughs. And so what I like to do is to take a trope- say, a big, hulking dumb brute side-character, and flip it on it's head. Lead the player to believe that that's all the character is- a common and overdone trope. Then I flip it on it's head, and subvert their expectations completely. It turns out that the big guys actually really nice- he likes reading romantic books beside the fire in the evenings, and long walks on the beach. I like it when people flip around tropes like that, especially when it's done right. Stories can be hard to implement into games, but it's far from impossible. Just be original. Allow for some player choice and freedom, and give them a couple branching paths. And don't ruin the ending or make the characters flat, boring pieces of talking wood. Remember, most people think that they don't care about the story. But they're the backbone of countless games, supporting otherwise (occasionally) monotonous gameplay. Even Minecraft has a story- kinda. But remember, above all, do not forget this, for even a second: Don't be Destiny.
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AuthorHi! I'm Thomas MacDougall, a sophomore at DSA. Here you can check out my thoughts and recent activities. Please note that the views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not represent those of Durham School of the Arts or Durham Public Schools. Archives
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