I think the problem is amplified in AAA games, in which writing takes a backseat and cheesy amateurish scripts prevail. This game is a prime example of lazy writing. When I first heard about the whole "filmic" focus of this game, I thought perhaps the game will tell an exceptional story because the developers are crafting a cinematic experience.
Little did I know that by "filmic" they meant your average summer blockbuster movie experience, an experience that is only memorable if you were fingering you SO during loud action scenes.
That's why it's weird. I mean, if they were going to take themselves so seriously I would hope they were at least as competent at it as, say, Penny Dreadful was on Showtime. But it doesn't seem to be the case. Everyone is saying it's exceptionally mediocre at best, but really bad and messy at worst. And most people seem to be leaning toward
worst.
They seemed to have really outsized confidence in their narrative talents and that just doesn't seem to be borne out in the work. It seems to be like Hugh Jackman Van Helsing level quality, which is not really where you want to be if you're trying to stand a standard.
Those graphics sure are sick though, right?
This. I have no issue with games that focus more on story - I very much welcome them, in fact. But the story has to really be something special.
I really hope The Last of Us doesn't go untouched in this regard in the coming years. It seems to be the new gold standard nobody else can reach at the moment.
Yup. Developers have to prioritize toward their talents. So far, narrative does not seem to be one of Ready at Dawn's talents. Clearly it's one of their aspirations, but it doesn't look like any of them are particularly good at it. So maybe they need to do some soul searching and determine if that's the path they want to continue to walk.
Because I've played their past games, they are clearly talented at making visual engines for the hardware they're on and obviously can competently handle gameplay as their handheld games all played impressively well and had compelling unique elements as well. But the stories were always pretty forgettable. I always thought that was because of the restrictions of having to work within the framework of a franchise already established for them, but now I see it's a broader issue. They're just seemingly not that good at it.
This is the biggest knock against it for me personally. I was totally prepared to enjoy this game like a Heavy Rain experience and be taken on a cinematic ride. I was totally prepared for the combat to be nothing special though hopefully engaging. But that was all on the condition that the story be really good. Almost everything about the game, even by the RAD's own admission, seems in service of creating a rich cinematic experience to tell a compelling story, so that part more than anything needed to be nailed or else it's not justified. Not in this medium at least.
My hope again is that Ready at Dawn does some internal navel gazing and honestly goes forward understanding the mistakes made, so that if the game does sell well enough to allow Sony to overlook the disastrous [for a AAA game] review scores, then they can really ensure their next game plays as well as it looks.
It's pretty damn hard. Not the script, the execution of it in the context of a "video game". If it were easy, everyone would be doing it. The best? A MGS once in a blue moon. Naughty Dog games. Halo in its heyday. With a few other exceptions everything else falls into mediocrity and crap. It's not easy. It's easier to fall back into proven genre's of "gameplay first" that have been proven to death. Got Dragon Age Inquisition yesterday and I am trading it in 40 mins into the game. Tired of that and it's a damn GOTY for many. Actually easier to fall back on proven genre and reiterate on that than trying to take on the task of story-telling at a very grounded level. Look at studios like DICE how they have struggled....masters at gameplay, suck at story-telling after numerous iterations.
I mean it's difficult because everyone has a different standard. Like, i think the Metal Gear Solid games are pretty much terribly written, certain elements of MGS3 aside. But you list it here as a standard. To me they're a hodgepodge of independent influences from Hollywood, not at all competently slapped together to form an incohesive whole. The upside is I always thought Metal Gear Solid games had good gameplay and was so over the top and bizarre it had attractive B movie allure.
