Story Collectibles & Method (Gaming)

by EffortlessFury , Saturday, January 29, 2022, 14:36 (1027 days ago) @ Cody Miller

Curiosity and wonder. So while you are playing a videogame, such aspects becomes aimed upon the gameworld as you move from play-space to play-space. Destiny #, Bioshock, Control... each are their own worlds, with their own game and styles of play. Each with collectables that act in different ways as mortar to the larger story beats, be it history of a before-you-entered, or a pending warning of what is yet to come. Curiosity should be rewarded, should it not?

Yes and no.

I actually thought Cyberpunk did this really well with its side missions. Not the finding of them (that involved just being radioed or going to a marked waypoint), but the doing of them. They enhanced the world, story, and characters in a meaningful way. Not coincidentally, the things you do in the side missions you do in the rest of the game! It's just an extension of the actions the game has you do elsewhere. Walk, talk, sneak, shoot, quickhack, whatever. There's no alternate "mode" for sidequests.

But in Control? Hold square, and the game stops while you read some text. Where else in the game but the collectables are you reading such text? It's in effect a separate "mode".

Contrast this with one of my favorite moments from Last of Us, where on exploring I found a poster of the movie Joel's daughter liked. Ellie makes fun of it, but Joel explains what it is in pretty great detail. Ellie asks how a grown ass man knows so much about a stupid YA Werewolf movie, and Joel kind of shuts up. Because we know it reminds him of his daughter, and his attempt to connect with her by learning about the things she liked.

Notice though, how you never leave the game for this to happen. You never lose control, and in many other parts of the game Joel and Ellie talk to each other while you navigate the world.

See how that's different? See how that's much more effective than text with a lore dump? That's how I'd like my curiosity rewarded and my worlds expanded upon.

You're free to prefer that, but it doesn't work in the context of Control's narrative and shoehorning in people and events to make it work is a disservice to the narrative they want to tell.

Jesse is mostly isolated. Few people are around and they're not able to follow you into the rest of the House. There is no one to provide context and clarification. Hell, not everyone knows everything.

Your example from TLoU uses the environment to enrich the characters. That makes sense; have your characters talk about what is seen. It is a smoother presentation where new "verbs" are not introduced. However, there's nothing inherently wrong with introducing new "verbs" that are orthogonal to others within the same game. Jesse, as a character, in the context she is in, would stop to read that document. Therefore, it is a "verb" that is inherent to the context.

That's the power of Video Games. Not just in allowing for "verbs" of interactivity but in being able to utilize them as needed to craft a specific environment.