Bittersweet Candy Bowl Forums

Ah, middle school. The time of the only fight in my entire scholastic career. Fun times. Won, though. Guess that's something.

@SpaceMouse: That's cool. I had no idea where those terms came from. Thanks!

Achievements don't make the gameplay any smoother or the story any more compelling, but they do make the overall experience more engaging. I'd have to agree that in general, they will make a game better. That wasn't were I thought I'd side on that suggestion at first, so kudos to typicalFeline for the good call.

Geist, on 22 September 2012 - 03:32 PM, said:

Here's our fundamental disconnect. If a game has a story, I feel it's part of what makes the game good or bad. The narrative and mechanics can be separated, but that's not the same as being unrelated or unconnected. A game with a narrative focus should have mechanics that reflect the narrative, or you get an unsatisfying disconnect between what is going on and what can be done. For example, if Crono were described as an excellent marksman instead of a swordsman, it would be weird that he used a sword. When you have narrative, it can hinder or enhance the gameplay experience despite not being a mechanical concern per se.

And for me, it really is the whole experience. I love to power level early on and crush later enemies like two bit thugs in a 64 bit world, and I love the feeling of beating a boss who was particularly wicked, and I absolutely adore the feeling of completing a game I get invested in the story with. (Particularly ones like Chrono Trigger that have multiple endings. Seeing all of them is pretty awesome.)

If the developers put so much emphasis on the story over the gameplay that you don't feel like you're playing a game, like with FF13 or Heavy Rain, then I can see the visual novel comparison being more apt. But not just because the gameplay is less of a draw than the story overall.

Thanks for the welcome. Now to find a cute avatar...