Games with stories that take advantage of being a video game ASIDE from impact of player choice?

[deuxhero]

I've seen people mention creating stories fit for the medium at various points, but are there ways to do that other than player choice?

Only two examples I can think of off-hand are spoilery as hell

Custom Robo (GCN)

Spoiler

One central plot twist relies on how in a video game the player will just dimiss that there doesn't appear to be anyway in or out of the city because that's where the game takes place (while a movie/comic would look lazy not showing such and a book couldn't mention it without attracting suspicion). In reality, there actually is NOT any publicly known way in or out of the city, because it's the only inhabitable place on earth after the apocalypse.

Baten Kaitos: Origins

Spoiler

The changes to the battle system from the first game, removing or changing all abilities related to the Guardian Spirit among others, are all indicators that Sagi doesn't actually have a guardian spirit. What really hammers this in is that one boss DOES have a guardian spirit, which "speaks" by selecting lines from a dialog box like you did (complete with erratic cursor behavior), and uses these removed abilities against you in battle.

Are there any examples that aren't just playing with stuff dismissed as game mechanics or messing with the interface?

 

[Jick Magger]

"Raiden, turn off the game console right now"

 

[Haba]

Sharin no Kuni, Himawari no Shoujo (massive spoiler)

Spoiler

In almost all visual novels, the protagonist self-narrates his thinking and events around him throughout the game. After playing a few games in that genre, you get so used to it that you barely notice it happening at all.

In SnKHnS, the protagonist does this very obnoxiously. Eventually even the characters around him start making remarks about his habit. The player, probably still pays no special attention to that.

The big twist in the game, is that while it seems rather saccharine in the beginning, there is quite dark underlining to all. The game is set in what is basically a fascist dystopia. The government has special laws, especially when dealing with criminals (or the children of rebels...).

The worst of them is called "Obligation of the Maximum penalty", which means that no-one around you can acknowledge your existence at all (lest they infer the same penalty for themselves).

The big revelation is that the player character wasn't actually self-narrating at all. He was going around the law by voicing out his thoughts to a character who had been with him the whole time.

This is something that a player new to the genre might actually realize way before someone who has played games like this before.

Hotline Miami

Spoiler

Throughout the game you get orders to kill people. You have to kill them to complete the mission and progress the story. At certain point you don't get orders to do so, the player character is acting on his own.

There is a building full of civilians where you go. You probably end up killing them all out of habit, even when you don't have to.

In a violent game that talks about violence, this is a pretty smart moment.

 

[groke]

 

[Ebonsword]

"Raiden, turn off the game console right now"

Didn't you have to plug the controller into a different port to prevent Psycho Mantis from "reading your mind" during his boss battle in Metal Gear Solid?

 

[Cowboy Moment]

In recent memory, I quite liked what Mark of the Ninja did:

Spoiler

The game rather cleverly disguises your companion as a tutorial/exposition tool, when they're actually a paranoid delusion pushing you towards more and more violence. You are explicitly told that your powers come at the cost of impending madness, but it's easy to handwave it away as the game being edgy. The delusion is easy to accept because it reinforces the typical video game power fantasy - you're the one who's right, an innocent and virtuous victim to your master's lust for power - and conveniently his betrayal happens just after you've completed your mission and are supposed to commit suicide to protect the clan from your madness. I find it well done because it manages to put the player in a mindset similar to that of the character, which is why the twist and choice at the end are so effective.

And indeed, Ever17 and its ilk, to me, demonstrate that VNs qualify as their own medium. It's completely impossible to create a narrative similar to that of Ever17 in a book or movie.

 

[:Flash:]

Ultima IV.

The whole story only works because you play yourself. The story begins with you taking a walk in the forest and is generic enough to fit almost anyone. Then it chronicles how you arrive in another world, and how your behaviour in that other world shapes you. It would never work as a book or a movie, because if it was a random dude (and not you yourself) it would be pretty boring.

 

[The man who wasn't there]

Shade.

 

[No Great Name]

Hotline Miami

Spoiler

Throughout the game you get orders to kill people. You have to kill them to complete the mission and progress the story. At certain point you don't get orders to do so, the player character is acting on his own.

There is a building full of civilians where you go. You probably end up killing them all out of habit, even when you don't have to.

In a violent game that talks about violence, this is a pretty smart moment.

This reminds of me of the 1st Bioshock. While not the best game I've ever played, the story did take an amusing turn when it came to addressing player agency. Too bad that was the only interesting part of the story with the exception of the plastic surgeon who went mad.

 

[Jick Magger]

"Raiden, turn off the game console right now"

Didn't you have to plug the controller into a different port to prevent Psycho Mantis from "reading your mind" during his boss battle in Metal Gear Solid?

Yeah, but I mostly picked that one because it links back to one of the bigger themes the game links back to.

Spoiler

Raiden is written to be a text-book example of a player surrogate: He's familiar with the events of the first game and has trained all his life with "VR Training", he expresses annoyance at the beginning of his chapter at not being allowed to be called Snake, mirroring the player's annoyance at not being able to play as him, he's forced to go through basically the same events of the first game (which is later revealed to have been an elaborate reconstruction of the events of the first game), and his girlfriend expresses disturbance over the fact that outside of his career, he really doesn't have much of his own identity. Near the end of the game, his codec advisers are revealed to actually be part of an AI illuminati called 'The Patriots', who have been revealed to control most of the world (it's a longer story), and they start blatantly telling him that the mission is a sort of "Role playing game" and that he's expected to "Do his part" and complete it. The final three or so hours of the game is him learning that virtually every single aspect of his life has been set up and manipulated by an omnipresent force who's been preparing him to basically star in this game, and this is finally hammered home at the ending, where Raiden takes his dog-tags off and is disgusted to realize that his name isn't even on them; it's the player's name that they entered at the beginning of the game. He throws them away, declaring that he's going to make his own identity.

Since this also happens after said omnipresent AI has been corrupted by a virus, this is also the section of the game where the lines between reality and VR start to blur the most: your codec contacts start speaking gibberish, ranging from demanding you turn your console off to talking nonsense about infidelity and reciting lines from the past games, the arenas you go through have random bits of code floating around that you see when you play the VR missions in the first game, and the Snake, when asked about how he's going to look after himself in a firefight, literally just points to his bandana and says "Infinite Ammo", referring to the NG+ item you can get in the first game.

 

[felipepepe]

I have to admit that although Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is a over-hyped game, it did one of those pretty well:

Spoiler

You control 2 brothers simultaneously, each one with a analog stick. You spend 3-4 hours getting used to controlling both at the same time and walking them together.

At the end, the older brother dies, and you're left with only the younger brother, that you control with the left analog stick. This is really well done because you actually miss controlling the other stick together, it feels awkward, that something is missing. You feel the emotion through the controls, in a way I've never seen in any other game.

 

[DalekFlay]

I'm sure many of you will roll your eyes but Gone Home is a great example of telling a story in a way only videogames could. For example finding letters about a publisher refusing more books from the father, finding lots of alcohol in his office, then much later finding a reprinting of his book with a nice letter from a niche publisher about reprinting it, then finding a typewriter with a new book being written in it. That kind of shit can only be done in video games.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

S.L.A.I., a PS2 mecha game I like (recommended it in a PS2 thread some time ago), has a cool little plot for what is basically a series of deathmatches. There's an assassin going around killing participants in this tourney you just joined, where you and your newbie buddy meet some cool dudes who quickly became your buddies as well. While the game tries to convince you that the current champion is trying to get rid of those threatening his position, he eventually is murdered as well. After a while your friends start dying one by one, save for you and the newbie. All clues currently point that the dude in 2nd place (now the champion) is the murderer, probably saving you for last. If you are extra paranoid, you might suspect this is another red herring and the actual murderer is really your noob buddy, who just like you was "ignored" by the killer and acts as if he looks up to you despite being just as competent.

Spoiler

Turns out the murderer is an AI who doesn't even know you exist, and he hunted down your circle of friends for something they did before you ever showed up. You're always expecting an attempt on your life, which never happens. As a player you have been trained to believe you are the center of the world, so your suspicions are all based on that. You two only interact directly when you are trying to catch him at the end, but he's just trying to escape from the police after killing everyone he wanted to kill and is not the least bit interested in fighting you. He was always visible in the competitor roster you were constantly checking through the game, but you wouldn't pay him any mind since the AIs only get a small green tinted portrait next to the human pilots' huge and colored animated avatars.

There's also a funny moment at the beginning of the first Summon Night for the GBA (do not play, the first boss has Cloud's sword). You wake up and go down the stairs, but you trip and hit your head. Your mom walks up to you asking if you're alright. She isn't sure so she asks you what's her name, just as her name in the dialogue box disappears. Since she only had one line of dialogue so far (yelling at you from offscreen, downstairs), you probably weren't even paying attention to that. No matter which answer you pick, she'll react surprised and say that is not her name. She makes a serious face and the ambient music stops. Oh god, another amnesia plot?

...then the music comes back and she reveals she was just fucking around, and sends you on your way.

 

[deuxhero]

I just tried playing it (never heard of it before). The fake lag at the beginning manages really shocked the shit out of me (as PCSX2 taking a nose dive in frame rate in weird places isn't rare at all. Not sure it would be as noticeable on a real console). Games messing with the interface is always fun.

 

[PlanHex]

I have to admit that although Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is a over-hyped game, it did one of those pretty well:

Spoiler

You control 2 brothers simultaneously, each one with a analog stick. You spend 3-4 hours getting used to controlling both at the same time and walking them together.

At the end, the older brother dies, and you're left with only the younger brother, that you control with the left analog stick. This is really well done because you actually miss controlling the other stick together, it feels awkward, that something is missing. You feel the emotion through the controls, in a way I've never seen in any other game.

Spoiler

Plus the part where you have to use the big brother's controls to get the little brother to do the things the big brother used to do (pulling the big levers, swimming), to illustrate that he has to grow to fill the big brother's shoes. Really well done.

 

[Gentle Player]

I am surprised nobody has mentioned Dark Souls yet. Much of the narrative and subtext relies on video-game concepts such as item descriptions, item placement, spell usage and inventory. Typical abstract gaming concepts such as leveling up, dying, and even multi-player also all have thematic ties to the game-world and story.

I'd also like to second the virtue system introduced in Ultima IV.

Finally, an oft-overlooked example is Silent Hill - specifically Silent Hill 2 (though this could very well apply to other SH games, SH2 is the one I remember best). There were multiple endings based on the player's actions throughout the game; however, rather than basing these on the results of arbitrary text prompts that are disconnected from the rest of the game, as is often the case, it was the player's direct actions through normal gameplay (i.e. how the player dealt with monsters, managed healing items, and behaved during "escort" portions of the game), and over the course of the entire game, that determined these endings.
An example of this is that if one chooses to rush through in a reckess fashion as opposed to playing cautiously, tackling most monsters head on, and, as a result, spending a good portion of the game with low health; and, additionally, if the player examines a strange knife placed in his inventory an inordinate number of times (it seems arbitrary, but it's entirely probable for ordinary players to do this, perhaps whilst solving a puzzle to see if the knife has any application there, or simply out of curiosity as to what the knife may actually do) then it's likely he'll get the "suicide" ending, which is linked to the girl who gave the player the knife.
Not the greatest of examples, as its implementation is rather undeveloped and it only applies to the game endings, but in my opinion the concept is quite interesting - it both gives the player much more control, as his every action in game will contribute to his eventual fate, whilst, in another sense, giving the player no control at all as, without a guide or meta-knowledge, he will be ignorant as to the ultimate consequences of his actions until it is too late - very apt, I think, considering the nature of Silent Hill.

 

[Jick Magger]

I am surprised nobody has mentioned Dark Souls yet. Much of the narrative and subtext relies on video-game concepts such as item descriptions, item placement, spell usage and inventory. Typical abstract gaming concepts such as leveling up, dying, and even multi-player also all have thematic ties to the game-world and story.

This reminds me of the Dossier system in Alpha Protocol, in which the game actually rewards you for reading up on the people you work with and digging for information on them whenever you can by having Thorton be able to bring up their background and history during conversations in order to get an advantage over them,

Spoiler

i.e. finding out Marburg's past with Deus Volt allows you to bring that information up during your fight with him, and if you use the right speech option (i.e. the suave option, when he hates non-professionalism) will cause him to lose his cool and allow you to kill him, while if you didn't get this information, he just escapes after the fight's over.

This also applies to the conversation system as a whole: naturally, certain people don't like certain ways you can talk with them. Some hate hard-asses, some love it when you act like a psychopath, etc. Shame they really didn't flesh it out alot more so that you can see its clear effects on all the characters, as around one-third of the cast is only available for you to talk to for maybe two or three parts in the game.

 

[Abelian]

The last puzzle in Simon the Sorcerer 3D.

Spoiler

It requires the player to eject a CD in-game. The solution is to eject the CD from your computer.

 

[almondblight]

I thought Hide did a pretty good job.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I think Iji might apply, depending on how you define 'choice'. The story changes significantly if you play as a pacifist, but since it's ostensibly a sidescrolling platform shooter, that probably isn't a thing you're going to do on your first playthrough. The main character is reluctant about killing at the start, but after about 20 kills (which takes like all of 5 minutes given the kind of game it is) she's pretty fine with it. It's not until near the end of the game you find a journal log from a girlfriend of one of the soldiers you killed. A completely faceless character with the exact same sprite as dozens of others in a not especially important location. At which point it might occur to you that maybe you could have not killed that guy (or anyone else.)

 

[Murk]

Nice thread.

Not really story related but... I was always under the impression that the early Resident Evil and Silent Hill games used 'bad movement' as a means of conveying the sense of fear and helplessness a character might feel in those situations. In RE 1-3 you would turn in place and move forward by pushing "up" on the d-pad (not sure how analog sticks changed this) and many people HATED it because it was not intuitive given that most games had typical 'arrow = direction walked with auto-facing' functions. To me, it made sense, as you were a normal cop in way over your head and when a shambling corpse started walking towards you, you were afraid and reacted badly. I don't know how intentional that was or if it was worth it, but it made sense to me.

I want to say that game 'the world ends with you' had some shit about agency but I never played it.

Most of the MGS games had 4th wall break moments that specifically subverted video game expectations; switching controller ports to references to changing your in-system date so the old sniper died from old age.

I guess the Stanley Parable counts for something here but tbh I never really had 'fun' with that.

deuxhero your custom robo example is basically Dark City. It was a movie that had a major point ruined by the trailer that would just flat out posit "in a city that never sees light". If you never watched the trailer you wouldn't really notice the lack of daylight until the main character asks it, which then starts a torrent of other questions that really query the setting -- the technology makes no sense, locations are peculiar, and finally that there is no way out.

 

[deuxhero]

deuxhero your custom robo example is basically Dark City. It was a movie that had a major point ruined by the trailer that would just flat out posit "in a city that never sees light". If you never watched the trailer you wouldn't really notice the lack of daylight until the main character asks it, which then starts a torrent of other questions that really query the setting -- the technology makes no sense, locations are peculiar, and finally that there is no way out.

In Custom Robo

Spoiler

A big point is made of the fact that most people, who at this point have all been born inside the dome, go their whole lives and never even think about it, just like the player never did

as far as I can tell, that movie has a main character who knows there is supposed to be a thing as daylight.

 

[hiver]

Never played any of those games and i havent encountered any such examples myself, at least ones who were intentional.

But i always thought that Fallout, especially Fallout 2 since i played that first and more often, had several non intentional features and bugs that breached the reality borders in such ways. Meta but similar.
The retro sci fi pulp setting and the graphical art style and general look of the game always seemed indistinguishable from each other to me.
The early unpatched versions had several bugs that enhanced the sense of game itself being made in that retro alternate reality, as if its some early clunky game from Fallout world before the war itself.
The way that bugged out scripts for companion behavior would actually enhance the sense of character not fit for combat, or not capable of handling specific weapons - which would improve as they leveled up too.

The way the game would crash when you attempted to break down doors by kicking them, or planting explosives to blow them up, the way the trunk of the car would disappear, or would be the only thing left after you would come out of the desert.

... and fuck me if the game wasnt the GECK itself. A rare, unique, almost magical, mythical miraculous piece of old world technology and ingeniousness, with no one left to make another like it. Old knowledge lost in the apocalypse.

Or like most of us got to feel like Vault Dweller being forced to leave the Vault at the end, when bethpizda took over.

VD going off to make his Arroyo and live with tribals...


:looks around:

 

[Murk]

Spoiler

A big point is made of the fact that most people, who at this point have all been born inside the dome, go their whole lives and never even think about it, just like the player never did

as far as I can tell, that movie has a main character who knows there is supposed to be a thing as daylight.

He knows in the general semantic sense, as does everyone else, but no one ever thinks about it until someone who "sees the matrix" asks the question.

Not saying their the same, but clearly some overlap.

 

[chestburster]

Max Payne 1 and 2

A protagonist in a parody of a film noir, who loses his love and life to fate the player's control and is also unfortunately well aware of this.