What makes a good story in a rpg?

[mgsgod]

Yeah i guess your right but still if the story is to generic i.e amnesai i cant stand it! :dead:

 

[Rey_JJJ]

Ya know, I fear you and I have basically restated the problem rather than resolving it (see: name of topic and last 2 posts by us 2)
Also, amnesai? If you mean amnesia (which you probably do), then to be honest I haven't seen that story starter much anywhere. At all. :huh:

 

[mgsgod]

I have seen it random gba and ds games. The sad thing is those games have more speaking than most other games  :dead: And to solve the other thing i can agree a rpg needs BOTH good story and gameplay. Happy

 

[Super Judge Bro.]

I think it just depends on what a player likes and wants to see. Everyone is different, and there's plenty of different rpgs out there for everyone.

I personally always keep an open mind. I don't find myself hating or too criticizing of games, nor stories. If it looks interesting and fun judging from the summaries and screenshots, I'm likely to play it.

 

[RPG Messiah]

In my opinion, a lot of those kinds of realism complaints are nitpicky and defeat the purpose of why people play games in the first place. I'd rather not worry about having to shit while I'm kicking the shit out of some baddies.

haha, I hear ya on that. Realism, up to a point, is good but going too far becomes more of an annoyance than anything.

I think a more effective villain is one that the player fears.  Ultimately, though, a successful and interesting villain is believable, one that elicits some kind of emotional response from the player, good or bad.

That is so true. That's the way my friends and I feel about movies as well e.g. horror flicks. It's so hard to find scary movies anymore because the "villain" is not believable. Stuff that messes with your mind is a great way to depict some kind of emotional response.

 

[Rayne Aven]

A good villain is incredibly essential to a good storyline. Just look at the Dark Knight. Would that movie have been half as good without Joker? The same thing goes for Sephiroth and Final Fantasy VII.

Also, plots should be episodic. In other words, the story should be divided into chapters, each with their own subplots. One of my favorite RPGs (and arguably, one of best RPGs ever made), Super Mario RPG, was such an engaging experience because you weren't just finding the seven star spirits and killing Smithy: you chased a dinosaur with a purple top hat around, saved a mole child from a cave, got lost in a forest, stopped a wedding, beat the living crap out of a monster cake, got Bowser and Peach on your team, fought some pirates, fought some power rangers, and then killed smithy (and I've only scratched the surface). Having an episodic story takes your game from just being something playable to an adventure. It's what gives people that satisfying feeling that they've done a whole lot.

 

[Dewoor]

How to write a story.
Show a bit of the good days in the beginning before everything got screwed up. That's good because then the player will know what did he lose when went on a journey because something.
And tell the reason of everything. That sucks when out of the blue somebody is evil, and out of blue, YOU must stop him/her. That sucks, and this works on everything else. Why did they met, why does she trust him, why is the hero there where he is?
Think about these.

Oh, and Rayne Aven is right too. Episodism.
Think about FF games, for example, 3. First you had to get outta a cave, then found out about your destiny, then you found a ghost village, then went on a journey to know how to save them. Then a castle, dungeon, cave, boss. You saved the day, rewards, next town. Got it?
Give everything a reason and put looong episodes in your game.
That should work.