Video Game Story Telling: Frontier's biggest strength.
- Thread starter koop26
- Start date
Sorry... My interest has reached zero now. Even the new base(s), for all their supposed depth just seem another variation of bring X and Y, press Z... When as much effort as is going into the visuals and audio also goes into the game mechanics and game play, I'll be interested.
For now, I'm more than happy watching the youtube video, and then moving on. I quite literally cannot even be bothered to start the game even given an alien base has been discovered! Surely this alone is a rather sad reflection on the nature of the game's story telling and more importantly the gameplay on offer?
In truth the gameplay/story just feels bolted on and niche. It doesn't feel like it's part of the ED universe but just the latest thing turned on to go and visit. Last month is was the generation ships to go and find out about (easier done via youtube or this forum), and today it's the Thargoid base(s).
For now, I'm more than happy watching the youtube video, and then moving on. I quite literally cannot even be bothered to start the game even given an alien base has been discovered! Surely this alone is a rather sad reflection on the nature of the game's story telling and more importantly the gameplay on offer?
In truth the gameplay/story just feels bolted on and niche. It doesn't feel like it's part of the ED universe but just the latest thing turned on to go and visit. Last month is was the generation ships to go and find out about (easier done via youtube or this forum), and today it's the Thargoid base(s).
Exactly, I'll watch his video(s) and feel like I've seen all there is to see, and sadly, even done all there is to do!
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I do admit that I am enjoying the story that is unfolding and I like that it is being told in real time.
In real life you either see or read about something in the news media, internet, or you hear about it in the local pub/bar from your friends or strangers at the next table.
It would be nice to have a virtual internet within the game, however, it would have to be restricted so only certain members can add to it otherwise it would just fill up with rubbish and end up not being very useful.
We don't have space legs yet or pubs/bars we can visit within the game so I treat the forums/reddit as my virtual local pub/bar within the game (although my local pub in real life isn't as salty
).
In real life you either see or read about something in the news media, internet, or you hear about it in the local pub/bar from your friends or strangers at the next table.
It would be nice to have a virtual internet within the game, however, it would have to be restricted so only certain members can add to it otherwise it would just fill up with rubbish and end up not being very useful.
We don't have space legs yet or pubs/bars we can visit within the game so I treat the forums/reddit as my virtual local pub/bar within the game (although my local pub in real life isn't as salty
).
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I am content with the way the story unfolds. I think it would help if as things were discovered they were added to a story board. For players just flying around they would get a message Thargoid base discovered in system, xx, co-ordinates. When they go to the galaxy map those discoveries are listed as places to fly to. I would also add them to a travel album as places to visit, as you visit them then the travel album fills in the visit. I would also consider doing the same with listening posts and other places that generate clues so that players can choose to follow the clues.
Elite: Dangerous' strength is in the size, and the community - the community itself is driving both the story and the markets.
I do agree that it needs a better basic economy, but in my opinion, the size of our playground and the story and lore, being both unfolded and written by the community, all make this game what it is.
Besides, in real life it takes time and money to do science and discover stuff. The fact that we spend hours, or days, in discovering something or decoding something is a big relation to real life.
If you can find Raxxla within our whole galaxy within 5 minutes, or even 1 hour, without help - you're either lucky or got help.
I bought E because of the space. I stayed for space, lore and community.
I do agree that it needs a better basic economy, but in my opinion, the size of our playground and the story and lore, being both unfolded and written by the community, all make this game what it is.
Besides, in real life it takes time and money to do science and discover stuff. The fact that we spend hours, or days, in discovering something or decoding something is a big relation to real life.
If you can find Raxxla within our whole galaxy within 5 minutes, or even 1 hour, without help - you're either lucky or got help.
I bought E
because of the space. I stayed for space, lore and community.
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But it feels bolted on.
Right now, most of the community know nothing about the most amazing thing ever discovered in the game. An entire Thargoid base. And how will they find out about it? Probably only by going to a forum or you tube? I've covered this before - https://goo.gl/yevI5g
Science? Waiting for the next cryptic morse code message to be given to us? Or the next post to get us back onto the trail of bread crumbs?Besides, in real life it takes time and money to do science and discover stuff. The fact that we spend hours, or days, in discovering something or decoding something is a big relation to real life.
If you can find Raxxla within our whole galaxy within 5 minutes, or even 1 hour, without help - you're either lucky or got help.
I bought E
That's good to know. Thanks for the tip. Rep++
I agree more should be posted on Galnet. Maybe going so far as having the weekly newsletter in there. Obviously it would require more manpower on Frontiers part.
After experiencing the alien base for myself yesterday, I now understand why the press trailer was not shown to us. More surprises like this would be awesome.
After experiencing the alien base for myself yesterday, I now understand why the press trailer was not shown to us. More surprises like this would be awesome.
The story telling in Elite is just terrible and not inclusive towards the majority of the player base.
1. Galnet - Full of pointless information for many which you should be able to filter out. You are not actually playing the game while doing this so beware of planets, star's and interdiction's while reading it as it is not on the main screen.
2. Forums - The Cannon thread is a barrier to entry. If anyone thinks that having all the games interesting features all mixed up in one thread is a good way to do things then please explain why we need anything more than just one thread for the entire game? I know the people working on the mysteries are having fun and finding out some great information but when it's all dumped together it becomes useless. I've railed against this approach before but got shouted down by people claiming it's fine and that this is how real science is done... Utter . The replies in this thread show what a terrible job is being done getting any of this information out to players. When I have seen a CMDR post a discovery in the main forum area I also see within one page them being told to post it in the Cannon thread - as if anything that is found automatically becomes the property of Cannon. I know this is not the case but how does it look to new players... Many PS4 players will be coming here to find out information on the game only to find that most of it is lost inside 40,000 pages of posts and a top down spoiler list of the discoveries made so far - All the mystery is removed when you read the list as it currently is.
3. Reddit - I like many others do not use that site for various reasons. That is not going to change so anything story related that goes there is never going to get seen by me and many others.
4. YouTube - Obsidian Ant is my story teller (Thanks for the dedication and hard work CMDR Ant) which is all well and good but not something I have ever had to do with any game before just to keep up with whats happening.
Of the above options 3 are not available in game. You have to leave the game to find out anything of interest, unless you are prepared to troll through page after page of pointless economic reports just to find something of interest. In short Frontiers story telling may excite some but it also leaves others feeling there is no story.
Personally I don't give a rats limpet about the Thargoid's arriving, I lost interest a long time ago when it became apparent that in order to participate in the UA/UP investigation you had to read a thread that was just a mess with no organisation or reason behind it... Good luck to any new player that tries.
TL;DR The Cannon thread killed the story for me.
1. Galnet - Full of pointless information for many which you should be able to filter out. You are not actually playing the game while doing this so beware of planets, star's and interdiction's while reading it as it is not on the main screen.
2. Forums - The Cannon thread is a barrier to entry. If anyone thinks that having all the games interesting features all mixed up in one thread is a good way to do things then please explain why we need anything more than just one thread for the entire game? I know the people working on the mysteries are having fun and finding out some great information but when it's all dumped together it becomes useless. I've railed against this approach before but got shouted down by people claiming it's fine and that this is how real science is done... Utter . The replies in this thread show what a terrible job is being done getting any of this information out to players. When I have seen a CMDR post a discovery in the main forum area I also see within one page them being told to post it in the Cannon thread - as if anything that is found automatically becomes the property of Cannon. I know this is not the case but how does it look to new players... Many PS4 players will be coming here to find out information on the game only to find that most of it is lost inside 40,000 pages of posts and a top down spoiler list of the discoveries made so far - All the mystery is removed when you read the list as it currently is.
3. Reddit - I like many others do not use that site for various reasons. That is not going to change so anything story related that goes there is never going to get seen by me and many others.
4. YouTube - Obsidian Ant is my story teller (Thanks for the dedication and hard work CMDR Ant) which is all well and good but not something I have ever had to do with any game before just to keep up with whats happening.
Of the above options 3 are not available in game. You have to leave the game to find out anything of interest, unless you are prepared to troll through page after page of pointless economic reports just to find something of interest. In short Frontiers story telling may excite some but it also leaves others feeling there is no story.
Personally I don't give a rats limpet about the Thargoid's arriving, I lost interest a long time ago when it became apparent that in order to participate in the UA/UP investigation you had to read a thread that was just a mess with no organisation or reason behind it... Good luck to any new player that tries.
TL;DR The Cannon thread killed the story for me.
There is a story. There is the flying about in space computer program (I am loathe to use the term 'game' for ED).
The two things, story & computer program, are pretty much seperate entities.
It's similiar to if I wrote a story about my toaster, printed it off and stuck on to the toaster.
The two things, story & computer program, are pretty much seperate entities.
It's similiar to if I wrote a story about my toaster, printed it off and stuck on to the toaster.
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verminstar
Banned
Why? I hear more about the story outside the game than I do in it...thats a failing on frontiers part not a strength. They barely even attempt to tell a story, just put more mysteries in and go into silent mode fer 3 months while everyone interested runs around the sites scratching their heads and guessing.
Thats not storytelling by any stretch of the imagination, and unless one knows its there, ye probably wouldnt even be aware anything exists. How is that great storytelling when nobody knows whats going on? Whats the story? I still dont even know because FD are rubbish at telling stories.
Unlike obsidian ant who literally is the storyteller...thats on youtube which has absolutely nothing to do with frontier. In all the games Ive played over 3 decades, this is the first game Ive ever played where the storyline is watched on youtube...while actually playing the game. And yet there are still a few who insist FD are great at telling stories...
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I'm going to have to concur with the OP. I'm not Canonn. I rarely get to do the story stuff. My favourite experience was in January this year with the ship.
I understand the criticism. But this isn't 'my' story. It's 'our' story and it shouldn't necessarily be experienced at the individual level. It shouldn't be something everyone can go out and randomly find and experience without research. It's something more powerful than that. It's communal story-telling, it's not MEANT to be experienced and solved by yourself (or myself). It's downright impossible for one player to do everything. The very criticism I'm reading here, you can't do or find these things without going to reddit, being part of the research team or watching youtube is for me the absolute greatest strength of this approach. I understand not everyone agrees with this but I have to beg FDEV to continue with this unique approach. And I'm saying that as a guy who doesn't have the time to do and experience all the things and so far has had zero moments of fame as the discoverer of anything. I'm just a guy. Standing in front of a games company. And asking it to... wait... wrong movie.
I understand the criticism. But this isn't 'my' story. It's 'our' story and it shouldn't necessarily be experienced at the individual level. It shouldn't be something everyone can go out and randomly find and experience without research. It's something more powerful than that. It's communal story-telling, it's not MEANT to be experienced and solved by yourself (or myself). It's downright impossible for one player to do everything. The very criticism I'm reading here, you can't do or find these things without going to reddit, being part of the research team or watching youtube is for me the absolute greatest strength of this approach. I understand not everyone agrees with this but I have to beg FDEV to continue with this unique approach. And I'm saying that as a guy who doesn't have the time to do and experience all the things and so far has had zero moments of fame as the discoverer of anything. I'm just a guy. Standing in front of a games company. And asking it to... wait... wrong movie.
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I agree in general, but in ED`s current state it is almost pointless to have animated characters and voice acting, because the framework behind it would be the same. What I mean is, this game is not becoming significantly better if some voice is reading out Gal Net articles for me, which are of no interest for me for 98% (and probably most other commanders) of the time.
verminstar
Banned
Galnet? I thought it got nerfed ages ago, aint seen it in months ^
I honestly thought this post was sarcasm when i read the title. Frontier has yet to implement a story that immerses me and makes me feel like the things i do matter for anything more than making money. The background story is as far off as a mountain range and is not relevant to my day to day activities. Even the Salome event was pre-scripted. Storytelling is frontier's biggest weakness.
Which essentially launches an in-game browser completely locking you out of the ship's controls etc.
Yeah, unsanctioned third party add-on, but useful
Still, a third party addon fixing bogus game design decisions.Fact. Also I think he actually should be on Frontier's payroll as the best ambassador there is...
On the contrary. You could influence large portions of the playerbase in the way I mentioned earlier - by giving us npc conversations in space bars or at least comms chatter here and there. To be fair they did something like that when the first alien occurences started, npcs chatting about something strange happening in Pleiades and it was AWESOME. Too bad it was too limited in scope, the proper breadcrumb trail would be going to pleiades and talking with the locals, maybe getting a mission or two to search for something, or as someone proposed, a regular mission with an unexpected outcome of stumbling over something... The possibilities are there, they just need to decide and code it in game.
Instead as many others have said, we get an easter egg hunt, and only selected few with proper knowledge and resources are able to participate. I am fine with that though, I accept that there are much more smarter people than I am, able to figure it out much faster. While I would love to be able to participate, I am not hell bent on it. It would suffice if I could somehow be notified in game about that by means described above.
Season3 of core improvements, you are our last hope,
At this point it feels like FDev are developing content exclusively for the folks who enjoy audio spectrograms and puzzles. At least they're satisfying someone.
To me personally, the story might as well not exist. This goes for any game: the moment I have to step out of the game to get the clues to do stuff is the moment the story and the way it's conveyed has failed. Until this changes I won't care about it.
To me personally, the story might as well not exist. This goes for any game: the moment I have to step out of the game to get the clues to do stuff is the moment the story and the way it's conveyed has failed. Until this changes I won't care about it.
I really really don't feel like this is correct at all. It's possibly (along with understanding that depth is better than bolting on yet more and more features) the thing they are worse at.
If it wasn't for YouTube and the forums, I wouldn't have a clue there was a story. Literally wouldn't even know it was there.
Yes. If Season 3 doesn't hit the nail on the head, I'll be gone.
If it wasn't for YouTube and the forums, I wouldn't have a clue there was a story. Literally wouldn't even know it was there.
Yes. If Season 3 doesn't hit the nail on the head, I'll be gone.