6 replies to this topic

[Narcidius]

This is an interesting quotation from an interview between an IGN editor and Aonuma-San of Zelda fame:

This (the time shifting in OoT) wasn't a process that started with the objective of creating an epic story; rather, it was a process in which the gameplay elements gave birth to an epic story.

Miyamoto has said similar things throughout his career, about gameplay elements driving story creation, and it strikes me as rather similar to the approach of movie companies like Pixar: create an engaging thought experiment, and then explore it until a story emerges.

My question is this... do you think that Nintendo has succeeded in generating interesting stories by this method, as of late? Personally, I thought that Metroid:Other M was not compelling in this regard (perhaps because it abandoned the formula, but that's up for debate)... and I am hard-pressed to think of a recent big N game that captivated me to the extent that Ocarina did. But maybe I'm just getting old and losing my memory... anybody that can help refresh me?

[Camcam281]

Yeah, I bet they ave. Nintendo is a company many look up to and look to towards designs. So I bet they have.

[Paper Isam]

Here's a few games with really good stories I can name off:

1. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
2. Paper Mario
3. Fire Emblem games allegedly have good stories.
4. Metroid
5. The recent Pokemon Black and White games had very enrapturing stories, in my opinion at least.

There are more, but I'm too lazy to type.

[AMAC]

The Pokemon games I've played have had pretty good storylines. I don't know if it counts as Nintendo (it's developed by Level 5 but exclusive to Nintendo), but the Professor Layton games have good, if a little far-fetched, storylines.

[AWB]

I think the Zelda series has always had the best story lines.
I think that Skyward Sword is going to have a very good story because it seems a lot like a movie right now in terms of the plot.

[Epic Kirby]

"Ende and Ceres who live in the Elysium kingdom on the continent known as Graecia. Ceres is chosen to sing at the kingdom's harvest festival, but monsters begin to attack when she goes to perform. Ende later finds her unconscious as the army comes to take her because she witnessed the beast. A merchant named Graiai helps the two escape into a tower. Later, they find out that Ceres has been cursed, and in order to lift it, Ende must use the Orichalcum Chain to obtain the flesh of the beasts that live in the tower."

Pandora's Tower is Nintendo, that looks like it might have an interesting story, I usually play Nintendo games for gameplay rather than for storytelling. Pokemon games have always had good stories, though

[Jabob]

Yeah Zelda has had a pretty decent story, and the silliness of Mario stories really do something for the game.