Storytelling in video games

     I don't play video games very often. When I do it's usually just for an hour or 2 a few times a week. So when I get hooked on a game it's usually because it has a very engaging story. I almost don't like these kind of games because I get so hooked I spend hours at a time playing. The most recent 2 I can think of are Mass Effect 3 and Fallout 3. I beat Fallout New Vegas about a year ago I think, it had a decent story, I loved the world they created. The characters were fairly engaging and the amount of subplots was fun. The idea that depending on what I said and who I attacked would change the game across the whole game world was amazing. The world was huge, you could walk and walk and not know where the end was. There were good and bad that came with that. It took forever. Not because I was bad at the game, I was and died a lot, but you have to walk to places before you can fast travel there. That takes a long time. That may be my only complaint. The story didn't have me enthralled, it kept me playing but it was nothing I'd recommend or tell people about. It was a fun time with an interesting world that had tons of quests and characters.

Fallout 3 has an extremely similar layout, however instead of taking place in the desert, it mostly takes place in the subways of DC. I prefer the openness of New Vegas, the close quarters of Fallout 3 make me a little claustrophobic.

     The game I really want to mention here is Mass Effect. I bought the game for 5 bucks on steam because, hey, it's 5 bucks. I had heard the game was good years ago and decided I may as well try it out. I bought Mass Effect 2 at the same time because it was also $5 and I figured I may as well not pass up on the limited time deal. Mass effect had a slow start. I don't like spending a lot of time in an inventory menu, which is something that bugs me a lot about Fallout, so this game was hard for me to get into. The story was intriguing enough to keep me playing. I started out as a low ranking soldier. I commanded a small squad. That was all. They introduced soon after you begin playing a rank in the universe known as Spectres. These guys are basically above the law and trusted to do the right thing. There are several alien races which all use the mass effect relays to travel between solar systems. There is a race or rogue AI robots that has been causing trouble on the border planets, so you go check it out. You see a spectre betrayed by a fellow spectre, but the alien leaders refuse to do anything about it. You find out about something called a reaper and begin investigating. Long story short, you're eventually promoted to Spectre status. During the game, you get dialogue options, you can choose the good or 'paragon' option which is considered the generally peaceful or correct way or a 'renegade' option which is the tough guy rebellious choice. The game keeps track and if you are consistent it occasionally gives you addition options in dialogue that you wouldn't get if you were inconsistent with your choices. It had a great story, and at the end forces you to choose between 2 teammates that you can save. You cannot save both, and whichever one you choose will be alive in the next game. Never have I seen that in a game. It was incredible. The choices I made the first game actually carried into the next. I finished the second game which was by far the best game story I have ever played and the best ever made. After finishing it I was so happy to hear a 3rd and final addition was being made. For the first time ever I actually pre-ordered a game. Like I said, I don't play that many games and I sure don't get so into them that I pre-order them, so this was a big deal. I beat the 3rd game in 2 days, which meant I played it for way too long in a short amount of time. However it was cool to be able to beat it so quickly because I could remember every part of the story thus far. I finally came to the end. The battle for earth, I couldn't believe that a game was causing me to feel emotion for fictional characters even more than I have in any movie. The way they created this world and its characters was top notch, it was playing Mass Effect 2 and 3 that I realized that video games have the potential to be a far stronger medium for storytelling than movies because they aren't passive but interactive. I won't go on my rant about the ending of the series. With so many variables they must have tried to funnel it down into 1 option for all and that really pissed off a lot of people. So much so that EA was actually voted worst company in America, even over Bank of America. Back to my point, I actually considered changing my focus in digital media because of the franchise. I would still love get involved in storytelling through gaming. Maybe one day.