Are today's video games being led astray by cinematic narratives?
At the end of the last century and the beginning of this century, the game market has always been the world of Japanese games, such as NAMCO's "Legends" series, FALCOM's "Legend of Heroes" series, SE's "Final Fantasy" series, Nintendo's Legend of Zelda series, etc., to name a few.
An ancient and eternal legend
The latest Tale of Daybreak in the Legends series
Legend of Heroes 3: The White-Haired Witch
The most familiar to the Chinese people is the heroic legend of the empty track
Final Fantasy VII Original
Final Fantasy VII Remake
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
At that time, Japanese games had some overwhelming advantages in gameplay and story, and it can be said that they were in full swing, and manufacturers in other countries, even European and American manufacturers, had classic "Red Alert", "Age of Empires", "StarCraft", "Diablo", "Fallout", "Baldur's Gate", "Prince of Persia", etc., but in terms of breadth and depth, it was difficult to pry the hegemony of Japanese games.
Things changed after the new century, with the popularization of network technology, a number of multiplayer online games based on computer networks began to work, and the game market at this stage was gradually occupied by Korean online games and European and American online games.
Korean online game Lineage 2
When it comes to online games, World of Warcraft must be mentioned
At this stage, Japanese online games, not to mention nothing, but basically do not have much achievement. Although there are still many stand-alone masterpieces, at the market level, Japanese games have shown a steady decline.
In the game market after 2010, many manufacturers in Europe and the United States realized that they have a very mature film industry, which can provide a great boost to the game industry, in order to win the market competition with Japanese games in stand-alone games, and at the same time build a technical wall that is difficult to overcome, cinematic game pictures and narratives began to rise, in this era, the word 3A was mentioned.
The essence of 3A is actually that European and American manufacturers use their mature film industry level to expand into the game industry. In the past, small game studios and talented game producers were gradually eliminated by the industrialization of these games.
After all, small studios, independent producers, can't compare to the large-scale game industry in terms of productivity, after all, they have a visible advantage in more detailed modeling, better game graphics, and cinematic script storytelling.
The advantages accumulated by these industrial capitals are given the name of 3A.
The poster child for cinematic storytelling The Last of Us
Call of Duty Modern Warfare
Red Dead Redemption 2 with extreme graphics
In the 3A era, Japanese games have basically collapsed in this regard, and they cannot pose a threat to European and American manufacturers in terms of capital and cinematic pictures.
And in terms of storytelling, Japanese-style games are also a bit disappointing, yes, it's the same "royal blood story".
Come on, the game is no longer just for kids, and many adult gamers won't be interested in your "royal blood story".
However, in terms of gameplay, Japanese games still retain that advantage, and they still have a place in the art style that is different from European and American games (art is not graphics).
Breath of the Wild is unique in terms of gameplay
P5, the world's No. 1 in art style and storytelling
A wolf that is equally powerful in terms of art style and gameplay
But I have to say that it is difficult for Japanese games with independent Japanese games to fully compete with the European and American games represented by 3A, although the honor is still there, but it can't cover up the decline at the market level.
But even in this prosperous scene of cinematic pictures and narratives, it is difficult to hide the lack of storytelling and gameplay, which has to be said to be a big regret in the game industry today.
That's right, it's you, the canned Assassin's Creed series, which is full of map logos, which makes people's livers ache
The graphics are good, but the gameplay is poor
But there is always hope, and in a forgotten corner, the importance of gameplay is still remembered.
Regardless of the rhythm of the game, purely in terms of gameplay, Taigo Picture Scroll is still quite good
The story and gameplay are both good and long-lived
Edited on 2023-12-14 08:51
354 upvotes
share
Favorite collection
Collapse