Why do many MMO players not appreciate the story?

[chakkar]

Here's why I don't give a flip about the story.

 

It's as good as any other MMO's story. That is to say really, intolerably bad. The class story plots are simple and uninteresting. Plot twists can be seen from miles away. Characters are bland with bad back stories.

 

All of that would be ok if VO conversations didn't take so damn long. Especially in Black Talon and Esseles. You're in conversations longer than you're killing mobs in those FPs. Ridiculous. Side quests shouldn't have been voiced over. It simply takes too long to pick up and complete quests.

 

So because you have ADHD, they should not have VO and cinematics in the game?

[FerrusPA]

Not anymore. Dragon Age 2 was crap. The stories in SWTOR are average at best. If you want a good story, read A Song of Ice and Fire.

 

Agreed. The stories I've played to the very end so far are about 70% uninspired dross. Some situations are awesome (Sith Warrior Act 1 Ending) but they hardly make up for the rest. It's not just that the stories are bland, it's how they are obviously hammered into a standard MMO quest scheme.

 

Every story will have you go to a planet just to kill a guy. That's not how you build a story, or tensions, that's how a bad GM in a real PnP game would railroad his group.

 

Edit: And don't even get me started on the "story" in DA2. At times it wasn't just bad, it was downright sexist.

Edited January 30, 2012 by FerrusPA

[CogitoErgo]

So because you have ADHD, they should not have VO and cinematics in the game?

 

Is that what I said? I don't remember saying anything even remotely resembling that.

 

You also didn't address my point on how awful the story is in this game.

 

Fail troll.

[Orkayl]

I've plaYED MMO'S for about 10 years now. I think I know an MMO when I play one, and TOR IS an MMO.

 

"MMO players Don't give a crap about story". Thats a pretty broad statement. It just makes you look like an idiot for saying it.

 

I have to ask....why are you still subbed to this game you hate? That is pretty stupid.

 

I've played MMO's for 14 years and this one is a joke. I feel pretty sad that in those 14 years I've seen MMOs go from virtual worlds designed with as many possibilities as they could possibly code and it was for you to decide what to make of it, to this 100% strait linear single-player game with coop dungeons at the end and WZs on the side.

 

And I am still subbed because I'm not quitting until my RL buddy gets 50. Until I do unsub, I'm going to voice my opinion on the forums about what an abomination this game is to the MMO industry. It may even single-handedly kill the genre, who is realistically going to invest millions of dollars into an MMO after this game fails?

[chakkar]

Is that what I said? I don't remember saying anything even remotely resembling that.

 

You also didn't address my point on how awful the story is in this game.

 

Fail troll.

 

What do you want me to say about what you said about the story. You said they were "uninteresting and bad". I disagree. I am very engrossed with the Bounty Hunter story. I am also interested in my companions quests. IMO, the stories are not uninteresting and bad.

[kevlarto]

A large percentage here on the forums hate on the game and state that they don't give a crasp about the great story Bioware has put into the game. These are probably the same type of people who would play Modern Warfare, but feel they're a more sophisticated gamer, so they play MMO's....then constantly complain about them.

 

IMO, story is what sets this game apart. Ive only played bounty hunter so far and love the story and look forward to playing every class.

 

The Stories in this game are pretty cool, thats one of the things, I have enjoyed about Bioware single play games since Baldur's gate, there are plenty of mindless click and kill games on the market, and I am pretty board with them, at last a game with content, and good story, wraped around Star wars, for me this is a great combination, some folks just like simple games, nothing wrong with that for those folks..

[TheLightningLord]

So I gather you're not going to be getting ME3 then, yeah? You already know "bioware cant make a good story" so why would you waste your money on it?

 

Actually, no I'm not getting ME3. I hated ME2 and thought it was absolute rubbish. Not as bad as DA2, but rubbish nonetheless. SWTOR is the nail in the coffin for me, I'll not be buying another Bioware game. I've played Bioware games starting at Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, KotOR, DA:O, etc. And honestly, they've lost their touch.

[chakkar]

I've played MMO's for 14 years and this one is a joke. I feel pretty sad that in those 14 years I've seen MMOs go from virtual worlds designed with as many possibilities as they could possibly code and it was for you to decide what to make of it, to this 100% strait linear single-player game with coop dungeons at the end and WZs on the side.

 

And I am still subbed because I'm not quitting until my RL buddy gets 50. Until I do unsub, I'm going to voice my opinion on the forums about what an abomination this game is to the MMO industry. It may even single-handedly kill the genre, who is realistically going to invest millions of dollars into an MMO after this game fails?

 

oh, you got 4 years on me, guess that makes you better qualified.

 

What did you have in SWG? Leveling took FOREVER. I must have had to kill millions of animals to level my master rifleman. I will admit that I do miss the player run cities from SWG, and the Jump to light speed expansion did have a lot of promise, but was poorly executed.

 

Matrix online? THat MMO was so repetitive. EQ2 was good, but again, took too long to level.

 

I could go on. Every MMO has their strengths and weakness's.

 

For a middle aged guy, don't you have other things you can feel more strongly about instead of hating an MMO so much?

[krookie]

Actually, no I'm not getting ME3. I hated ME2 and thought it was absolute rubbish. Not as bad as DA2, but rubbish nonetheless. SWTOR is the nail in the coffin for me, I'll not be buying another Bioware game. I've played Bioware games starting at Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, KotOR, DA:O, etc. And honestly, they've lost their touch.

 

I was a huge fan of BioWare and played most of their games. ME is by far my most favorite IP, I just love the setting and the story. I'm still going to get ME3 because I want to see the conclusion but I am a little worried that the story will be as cheesy as this game.

 

Actually, I'm a lot worried...

[Orkayl]

The Stories in this game are pretty cool, thats one of the things, I have enjoyed about Bioware single play games since Baldur's gate, there are plenty of mindless click and kill games on the market, and I am pretty board with them, at last a game with content, and good story, wraped around Star wars, for me this is a great combination, some folks just like simple games, nothing wrong with that for those folks..

 

I would argue the exact opposite. I think Bioware has a track record with their SPRPGs (continued in this game) of extremely simple gameplay and mechanics masked with the oh-so-glorious story that I have never been terribly impressed by.

 

Good 'click and kill' games are good because they employ mechanics/systems that make combat fun, challenging, and engaging. Bioware games don't. They are linear in story, stale (to be kind) in mechanics, and bring virtually nothing new or innovative to the table.

 

I never thought I would see an MMO (or any other game really) that actually made WoW's combat/classes look imaginative and exciting by comparison. I mean these guys didn't even change the 'warrior' resources name: rage. All of the resources in fact are strait WoW ports. All of the classes are strait WoW ports only with about 25% of the versatility.

 

W/e man, not to rant at you in particular, glad you like the story. Personally, I'm constantly amazed at how half-asses video game stories interest ppl; I just read real books by real authors when I want an engaging story.

[sjwho]

Not anymore. Dragon Age 2 was crap. The stories in SWTOR are average at best. If you want a good story, read A Song of Ice and Fire.

 

Thats a book.............

[FerrusPA]

I would argue the exact opposite. I think Bioware has a track record with their SPRPGs (continued in this game) of extremely simple gameplay and mechanics masked with the oh-so-glorious story that I have never been terribly impressed by.

 

Good 'click and kill' games are good because they employ mechanics/systems that make combat fun, challenging, and engaging. Bioware games don't. They are linear in story, stale (to be kind) in mechanics, and bring virtually nothing new or innovative to the table.

 

I never thought I would see an MMO (or any other game really) that actually made WoW's combat/classes look imaginative and exciting by comparison. I mean these guys didn't even change the 'warrior' resources name: rage. All of the resources in fact are strait WoW ports. All of the classes are strait WoW ports only with about 25% of the versatility.

 

W/e man, not to rant at you in particular, glad you like the story. Personally, I'm constantly amazed at how half-asses video game stories interest ppl; I just read real books by real authors when I want an engaging story.

 

Thank you for expressing this. Expect to be flamed however.

[TheLightningLord]

Thats a book.............

 

Actually, its a series. But that was my point. This game doesn't have a good story, when you compare it to those books. And this entire game is based solely on story, everything else is pretty pathetic.

[krookie]

Thats a book.............

 

And what an amazing story those books have.

[Orkayl]

oh, you got 4 years on me, guess that makes you better qualified.

 

What did you have in SWG? Leveling took FOREVER. I must have had to kill millions of animals to level my master rifleman. I will admit that I do miss the player run cities from SWG, and the Jump to light speed expansion did have a lot of promise, but was poorly executed.

 

Matrix online? THat MMO was so repetitive. EQ2 was good, but again, took too long to level.

 

I could go on. Every MMO has their strengths and weakness's.

 

For a middle aged guy, don't you have other things you can feel more strongly about instead of hating an MMO so much?

 

Well, I'm 31 if that qualifies as middle-aged. And I didn't play SWG or EQ1/2. I played UO -> AO -> DAoC -> etc etc.

 

Honestly, I've spent a lot of time playing MMO's over the years and had a lot of fun in many of them. It's just really frustrating to me that developers think this crap passes as worth $15 a month. Honestly, this may be the last MMO I ever played because I don[t see anything on the horizon worth playing either. Maybe something will surprise me.

 

If you enjoy a product/service/industry and you don't like the direction it's going you should let it be known to the producers. Don't pay them and let them know you aren't happy. Otherwise you are just another complacent DB taking it on the chin from those producers and asking 'please sir may i have another'.

[JeremyDale]

As opposed to what?! I've soloed SWG, WoW and LOTRO, and Lotro had an epic quest story line. I've grouped and joined guilds too but you don't have to in alot of mmos, seriously learn about the genre before posting such nonsense, like Maybe playing another mmo or two

 

Both WoW and LOTRO were far more difficult to solo levels on in the beginning than they are now. You have to keep that in mind. Both games were dumbed down later to a huge extent to accomadate players who hate "grinding".

 

Also, both WoW and LOTRO both feel far more MASSIVELYMORPG than does SWTOR, which truly does feel like a single player game due to it's very linear and instance-heavy world. Azeroth and Middleearth offer players far more freedom to explore and go where they like than does the galaxy far far away.

 

So don't crap on that guy who said SWTOR feels more like a single-player game. Indeed it does, and far more so than some of the other MMORPGs out there. The fact both WoW and LOTRO are easy to solo on now doesn't change this.

Edited January 30, 2012 by JeremyDale

[Fredcat]

Because since EQ they have been trained that raiding for gear is the only reason to play an MMO. No doubt they don't read the quest dialogue in other MMO's either.

[Cynistra]

Honestly, this may be the last MMO I ever played because I don[t see anything on the horizon worth playing either. Maybe something will surprise me.

 

did you have a look at "The secret world"? It seems promising.

Edited January 30, 2012 by Cynistra

[Cynistra]

Because since EQ they have been trained that raiding for gear is the only reason to play an MMO. No doubt they don't read the quest dialogue in other MMO's either.

 

actually I do, and some questchain in WOW, but more particularly lotro, were up to par with the story we have here. I am not talking about ALL stories in wow and lotro of course, but not all stories in swtor are good either (i.e. Taris and the rakghouls!!!!!!).

 

The first time I do a quest, no matter what game it is, I take the time to read it because it gives me a reason to go do the quest other than simply kill/xp/turn-quest/reward. When I reach the end-game, it is a different game altogether tho, and Bioware failed miserably there by providing us with a mediocre, easy and buggy end-game (they won't even fix it either apparently).

 

To sum it up, story is what encourages me to level to cap, end-game is what keeps me playing after reaching the cap. If you can't achieve both, too bad my money goes elsewhere.

[Ignotis]

and Bioware crafts wonderful stories.

 

Dragon Age 2.

[Ignotis]

A good story doesn't justify:

 

A absolutely terrible and worst unoptimized engine ive ever seen in a MMO

The lack of basic MMO features.

The lack of a MMO feeling with excessive sharding

[GalacticKegger]

Actually, its a series. But that was my point. This game doesn't have a good story, when you compare it to those books. And this entire game is based solely on story, everything else is pretty pathetic.

Transferring books to anything (big screen, TV series, video games) usually ends up less satisfying for those who have actually read them. So all one can do is determine entertainment value. I find the game quite fun to play whether solo or in a group. Though a full group maintaining interest in each other's class stories can be difficult if even one doesn't play well with others. Which is why I play with RL friends who I know are playing the game on its merits and aren't in a hurry to uber out. We're all ex-hardcore raiders gone casual, so TOR is a perfect fit for us. Edited January 30, 2012 by GalacticKegger

[Ignotis]

I think it's because MMO players are so used to just ignoring the lame/boring quest text that most MMO's include only as an afterthought.

 

They started thinking that the real point of the game was to rush to max level and post on the forums, instead of enjoying the game.

 

In short, they forgot the whole RPG thing that used to come after the initials MMO.

 

And bioware, in short, forgot about the whole MMO thing in front of RPG. It's not really justified to play 59.99 + 15$ a month for a singleplayer game/internet rpg. This is not a MMO.

[Rasstavad]

Because all the flash of the story ends when you hit 50... then what?

[Walkiry]

Actually, its a series. But that was my point. This game doesn't have a good story, when you compare it to those books. And this entire game is based solely on story, everything else is pretty pathetic.

 

You know the feeling I get from this game?

 

It feels like the stories could have been lifted from the Fanfic section of the forums.

 

This is not a dig at the FF forum, heck I have.... Errr, had, before the forum wipe, my own fanfics posted in there. But usually what gets posted in there has less editorial oversight, corrections, changes, and general refinement than what one would expect from professional, published works. There is a fair number of stories with an at least passable storyline, it's hit-or-miss with the execution, and even within the same work the quality can vary greatly, specially on one-post-a-week or similar serialized works that are not written all in one go.

 

That's what FF is, we're not pros and even when we put a bit of our heart in our stories and characters, we're not necessarily spending months and months editing, re-editing, or even scrapping entire works when they don't pass a very high quality standard. It's more informal.

 

But that's the feeling I get when playing this. The overall "feel" of the Republic, quite frankly, annoys me, with a special place in hell for whoever did Republic Side Voss, the Jedi Knight is kind of OK, the Bounty Hunter is fun (props to the male voice actor there), the Jedi Consular bores me to tears (and the giant lizard doesn't help at all), Vette is pretty cool... It's all highly irregular, and gives me the same hit-or-miss feeling as the fanfic forum. It's like they didn't really spend that much time with it, they had KOTOR 3-8 to crank out in one go, and by golly they had to put those words down on paper, come hell or high water... NaNoWriMo style.

 

Difference is, I don't pay $15 a month for the FF forum, it's just a bunch of us having some fun. If the game wants to make Story the pillar that separates it from the herd, and charge regularly for it, it really needs to step the quality up.