Wow (Gaming)

by Ragashingo , Official DBO Cryptarch, Monday, May 11, 2015, 23:49 (3275 days ago) @ Robot Chickens

I was just about to write something about how mystery is the WORST way to get people into your story, and it's something Bungie tries a lot. Interesting that's the first piece of advice. Coming soon.

I dunno man. A good mystery almost always works as a hook for me. For instance, Halo:CE was great because we were trying to figure out what the ring was and why it was built most of the game. Then, even when we figure out the main plot, there are a ton of unanswered questions still looming in the background. That is a good thing. It builds communities that speculate and invest in the game. Now look at 343 and the way they have taken all the mystery away. Much less compelling.

Marathon does this well as well. Who is the main character? How do all these pieces fit together? I think mystery has been working for Bungie pretty well.

It worked to draw me into destiny too. Bungie just erred in the direction of not explaining enough, or anything really. The mystery is good, just poorly executed.

Right. The core mysteries of what happened to our Golden Age and to The Traveler are interesting. Then you have all the smaller mysteries. What's the whole story behind The Fallen, Cabal, Hive, and Vex? Who are The Nine? How did The Awoken come to be and which side, if any, are they really on? Who created the Exos and why? Who is the Exo Stranger and what is her goal? And, of course, I still want the full story behind The Last Word and Thorn. I can't wait for "Yours, not mine." to be spoken again!

All of those pieces have potential to be interesting... If Bungie expands on them...

I agree it is good to have mysteries, and Destiny has plenty, what it needs is a tighter here and now story to hang it's mysteries off of. Halo had the discovery of the ring, the rescue of Captain Keyes, the release of the Flood, the Two Betrayals, and the destruction of the ring...All very well done. Destiny, too, has a story, but it has very little weight because it is mostly told in fifteen second clips of narration, sometimes by characters we never even see, with only a couple cutscenes providing any solid structure.

Unfortunately, all we can really do right now is sing Hope for the Future along with Sir. Paul... :p