Goals and Storytelling

[Ghieri]

@Aldigheri, what the player goes through is NOT a story,. it is meerly
one Facet of a Story, by focusing purely on the experience of one
characheter, all you have is a Need to Know version of what is
happening, this is limited and boring, and gives no reason as to why
exactly you are killing "evil russian general #487...or come to think of
it, who Evil Russian General #487 actually is, and thus, the final
battle is little more than a depressing anti climax.

That's why you integrate the story with the gameplay. Rather than going through a wall of text explaining why you kill Russian General #487, you put clues in the environment about who he is and what he does, maybe have him do a voice on the intercom system or something, then have him burst onto the scene. This worked amazingly in Bioshock, when they introduced the characters. They did this through audio journals, but also through interaction with them, and the environment they dwell in. Often they are tied in with certain objectives, that give you background on their character. Then you get to see what becomes of them as they help/hinder you. Really putting life into the game world and not distracting from the gameplay.

There's another level, though. It's not just about the larger story, which can be told through the game world(See the levels of Bioshock, L4d2, Portal 2, to get an idea of what I mean. Those games had to tell a story about survivors. Often, you were your only ally in those games, so they had to be a bit creative with the environments to give you an idea of the situation.)

It's about what the player does, it's actions affect the personal character story. What the player does in the game world affects what kind of character is being played. Are you a daring rogue, or a trigger happy lunatic? That is determined by the play style of the character. Guild Wars 2 took this into account, and actually let's you decide from the very beginning what your story is going to be like. AND IT TOTALLY IS AFFECTED. The starting missions you have to do are completely different depending on what you chose in the character customization.

So do I believe that story and gameplay are intermingled? Absolutely! Do I believe in sacrificing gameplay for the sake of superimposing a story onto the player through cutscenes? Definitely not.

On another note, right now I feel cutscenes really are the most
effective way to progress the story. This is not because cutscenes as a
mechanic are ideal and perfect, but because people in this age are
conditioned to connect to information presented in a movie-like format.
We're used to emoting to movies, so it's easier for us to respond to
cutscenes.

Most people I've seen try to skip cutscenes whenever possible. So it's wasted effort IMO, unless you make them unskippable...which is a pet peeve of mine. (I have so many.)