Amnesia story award

[Googolplex]

Why haven't the game (especially A Machine For Pigs) got an award for the best story? Which is in my opinion totally worth to get it.
Video games often wins several awards, and the story of Amnesia is by far the best and most intellectual. Not just a good fantasy story like Lord of the Rings, instead it illustrate the dark side of our real world. The game normally should be for instructive and scientific purposes.

It's not simply a horror game.

[eliasfrost]

Mostly because it didn't execute its story very well.

So this is the problem I have with AMFP, the story was good, on paper. But in the actual game it was told to you rather than experienced, which is why it fell short in my opinion. I think I wrote about this exact problem in a previous thread: https://www.frictionalgames.com/forum/po...#pid278775

I think when judging the story of a video game, its important to remember that a game is not a book, it should be judged as a game and games have the potential to give some extremely good experiences. A game that tells its narrative through its gameplay is something I admire greatly because it really capitalize on the very thing that make games unique: gameplay. Good examples of games that does this very well are 'Thomas was alone' and 'Brothers'.

In my experiences the best story bits come from games that give the tools to the player to create her own experiences, that's why I really like Skyrim and other Bethesda games, because they give all the power to the player to create her own narrative, and that's some really strong stuff.

That said, the plot of AMFP was great, not denying that, but as a game? it was very poorly executed and there are quite a lot of games that do story a lot better than AMFP. I'm even going so far as to say that the story in Plainscape Torment was fairly poorly executed as it could easily have been written as a book, the gameplay in Torment didn't reinforce the story, it actually held it back some, which was a shame. The plot is superb though, amazing writers, though again, it's important to remember that it's games we're talking about, not books or movies.

[Googolplex]

Yes, I know what you mean. But I can't agree here. It's true that the wise how the story gets told is at least important as the story itself, but AMFP does a really nice job in story telling. It's like a beautiful nightmare, where story and music merge each other.

Skyrim is a great game, but not because of the story. I think when the player can create his own narrative, there is no strongly vision to mediate. It's like play what you want and do what you want without a goal. Gothic for example does it much better. The story telling is similar to Amnesia, where you get thrown in an unknown and dangerous world without any information and you have to explore deeper in the game where the story build up slowly. There is a strong vision given by the game. The story content itself is not a masterpiece - it's just fantasy, but the way how the story get told is definitely perfect.

In Skyrim I often felt like there is absolutely no story, just the quests to solve.

But what I want to say is that the story of AMFP (and Amnesia in general) is by far the best. I also like the story of BioShock Infinite, but the game failed to tell it right (too much shooting and repeating stuff).

[CorinthianMerchant]

I can think of a few reasons:

-AMFP was too short to fully explore its story and themes.

-Characters were uninteresting/unrelatable.

-Goofy moments and plot points.(More pig, moooore pig!)

-The ending was pretty cliche.

[VaeVictis]

Mostly because it didn't execute its story very well.

So this is the problem I have with AMFP, the story was good, on paper. But in the actual game it was told to you rather than experienced, which is why it fell short in my opinion. I think I wrote about this exact problem in a previous thread: https://www.frictionalgames.com/forum/po...#pid278775

I think when judging the story of a video game, its important to remember that a game is not a book, it should be judged as a game and games have the potential to give some extremely good experiences. A game that tells its narrative through its gameplay is something I admire greatly because it really capitalize on the very thing that make games unique: gameplay. Good examples of games that does this very well are 'Thomas was alone' and 'Brothers'.

In my experiences the best story bits come from games that give the tools to the player to create her own experiences, that's why I really like Skyrim and other Bethesda games, because they give all the power to the player to create her own narrative, and that's some really strong stuff.

That said, the plot of AMFP was great, not denying that, but as a game? it was very poorly executed and there are quite a lot of games that do story a lot better than AMFP. I'm even going so far as to say that the story in Plainscape Torment was fairly poorly executed as it could easily have been written as a book, the gameplay in Torment didn't reinforce the story, it actually held it back some, which was a shame. The plot is superb though, amazing writers, though again, it's important to remember that it's games we're talking about, not books or movies.

I disagree. Personally, I like games that are akin to an interactive novel. But then again, I realize not everyone will appreciate that sort of thing. I will never cease to proclaim my undying love for the Legacy of Kain series in this regard, and I almost always point to it when talking about narrative games. Skyrim was a quest game with no definite ending, and AMfP had a beginning and end and was more story driven, so the two aren't comparable.
AMfP had issues, to be sure, but I don't think it was ever intended to be compared to games outside of its genre.

-AMFP was too short to fully explore its story and themes.

I agree. I loved both of these elements, but I feel it could have been better executed had it been longer.

[eliasfrost]

Awards are typically given when achieving something, not for good effort. AMFP didn't invent anything or do anything unusual, it merely had a compelling story. Now if it did something extraordinary to help move the genre or gaming forward, then an award would be applicable but it doesn't, so. That doesn't mean it can't be praised though, since the story IS good on paper.

And I agree, my comparison was a little too off to successfully convey my point.

I agree. I loved both of these elements, but I feel it could have been better executed had it been longer.

Interesting, I thought the game outstayed its welcome. Mainly due to its lack of gameplay and drawn out walk paths from storybit (note) to storybit (another note).

[Mechavomit]

I disagree. Personally, I like games that are akin to an interactive novel. But then again, I realize not everyone will appreciate that sort of thing. I will never cease to proclaim my undying love for the Legacy of Kain series in this regard, and I almost always point to it when talking about narrative games. Skyrim was a quest game with no definite ending, and AMfP had a beginning and end and was more story driven, so the two aren't comparable.
AMfP had issues, to be sure, but I don't think it was ever intended to be compared to games outside of its genre.

AMFP wasn't an interactive novel. Because it wasn't interactive. It was a walking simulator with the story being read out loud to you in the background. Not the same thing.

[VaeVictis]

Interesting, I thought the game outstayed its welcome. Mainly due to its lack of gameplay and drawn out walk paths from storybit (note) to storybit (another note).

It's been awhile since I played it last, so I'd have to go back to get better insight, but I think I understand what you mean. Like at the end when

Spoiler below!

you were ascending the pyramid structure long after the machine's speech ended?

If that's what you mean, I can see where you're coming from. Tension can out stay its welcome.
The space between the notes didn't really bother me, as I recall.

AMFP wasn't an interactive novel. Because it wasn't interactive. It was a walking simulator with the story being read out loud to you in the background. Not the same thing.

I guess. I played it with 'Dear Esther' in mind so that's how it came across to me. I won't deny that it was linear, but I still liked it.
(Also, welcome back).

[eliasfrost]

Interesting, I thought the game outstayed its welcome. Mainly due to its lack of gameplay and drawn out walk paths from storybit (note) to storybit (another note).

It's been awhile since I played it last, so I'd have to go back to get better insight, but I think I understand what you mean. Like at the end when

Spoiler below!

you were ascending the pyramid structure long after the machine's speech ended?

If that's what you mean, I can see where you're coming from. Tension can out stay its welcome.
The space between the notes didn't really bother me, as I recall.

Not just that moment but the entire game.

[VaeVictis]

Interesting, I thought the game outstayed its welcome. Mainly due to its lack of gameplay and drawn out walk paths from storybit (note) to storybit (another note).

It's been awhile since I played it last, so I'd have to go back to get better insight, but I think I understand what you mean. Like at the end when

Spoiler below!

you were ascending the pyramid structure long after the machine's speech ended?

If that's what you mean, I can see where you're coming from. Tension can out stay its welcome.
The space between the notes didn't really bother me, as I recall.

Not just that moment but the entire game.

Looks like I may have to play it through again. I remember a few areas of the game that were like that, but not the game in its entirety.
I do feel that the story deserves recognition, though, even if the execution didn't convey it as effectively as it could have. But again, I should probably refresh my memory.