Narrative (no spoilers) (Destiny)

by Leviathan , Hotel Zanzibar, Wednesday, September 10, 2014, 12:18 (3734 days ago) @ uberfoop

I have quite a ways to go before my first thoughts on Destiny's narrative really start to form, but...

it feels like Halo CE - short bursts of story that provide a framework to your own personally-created narrative while slowly pulling you through different aspects of the universe.

Halo 1 does not throw very many details at you, but it has an extremely defined narrative, which all aspects of the game are tightly built around. Even in places where the game is "nonlinear" or "open," that openness is what the narrative wants you to feel. You can choose your exact trajectory to some degree, and it's certainly designed to make you feel like you're a driving force at times, but calling it a "personally-created narrative" seems strange to me. Sort of like people calling the Chief a "blank slate" in Bungie's games, when he strikes me as a simple but extremely well-defined archetype.

Although if we're simply discussion how it feels, I guess the description can make sense, and there's plenty of room for imagination. Maybe I'm just looking at your sentence from a different angle.

I think so. :) The main point I'd put out front and center is the RPG sourcebook and Gamemaster analogy. But we definitely only half-agree on the Chief element. He's not a blank slate, but he's an open slate. He's a well-defined archetype that you can immediately jump into. And in Halo CE he's probably the least defined. The Covenant are simply evil monsters who eventually get some religious references once Keyes learned Sangheili in his jail cell.:) So ultimately, the gameplay itself felt just as much of the story or more. Me escaping the Maw on the Warthog - that was the exciting adventure. That time I killed two hunters with nothing but smacks was my own personal action scene, etc. Anyways...

A tabletop game is another good example. It gives you fiction but just enough that it gets to be you who tells the story as you play. And it doesn't give you too much so that you can continue to enjoy the game as you play it over and over. When I play the X-Wing miniatures game, there is no role I have to constantly relive over and over, I just have a lot of texture and ambience to work with that makes the gameplay more exciting and flavorful.

Also, all these comments from me are half-cocked, so don't expect good metaphors for a few months. :)