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[deadeye]

Actually, I think the best stories for games are usually of the amnesiac variety: you start the game not knowing how you got into that situation, and the goal is to uncover that mystery. Examples would be Flashback and, of course, Amnesia.

Actually, I agree.  I know amnesia is totally clichéd and a really cheap way to build mystery, but I'm a sucker for those kinds of stories.  As long as they're done right.

[team_q]

I think it works since it ties into the whole getting/regaining abilities game play style that is quite common. I mean, forgetting how to grab ledges or block is pretty cheesey.

[moshboy]

Yep I'd also agree with the amnesia stories being among some of the best. There was an old game called Deja Vu (1 & 2) that I remember really sucking me in because it used this device.

[Montoli]

Yep I'd also agree with the amnesia stories being among some of the best. There was an old game called Deja Vu (1 & 2) that I remember really sucking me in because it used this device.

It's used a lot because it's so useful.  It means that the player knows exactly as much as the main character, so you don't have situations where the main character knows something the player doesn't, or vice versa.

Heck, even planescape used this device, for pretty much the reasons I just listed.


For that matter, anyone who hasn't already done so, and loves planescape, should go check this link.  It features some of the original design docs used from when they were making Torment, and they're a great read.  (Especially when you realize just how much of them made it through mostly unchanged.  Someone clearly had a strong vision for this project, and made it work.)  (Warning, some major spoilers, obviously.)

It also features the original, and final versions of the character script involving an encounter with a major NPC (Ravel), and it's fun seeing what DID change, too.  Great stuff!

[Calanctus]

Planescape: Torment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planescape:_Torment

Yeah, half of you saw that coming 300 miles away, I know. But it has to be mentioned that Torment is one of the very few games I've played that captures a bit of the feeling of storytelling in a (good) tabletop RPG. Enough text to fill an encyclopedia, all wonderfully well written, ability to have active control over your own character's personality, alignment and choices, great dialogue, a plot that escapes from most of the usual RPG cliches, and quite possibly some of the most well developed, original and loveable characters I've ever seen. I mean, a floating skull that flirts with female zombies and a succubus who gave up on sex? Can you get better than that?

Quite possibly my favorite game. I could go on for hours about how many things it does right, but I'll spare you guys the boredom and just mention one.

The guys who wrote that game understood evil. You won't find any of the comical, drowning-puppies-and-kicking-children, twirling-his-mustachio-and-laughing-wickedly kind of villainy you'd see in the likes of KotOR, Baldur's Gate, NWN, etc. Evil playthroughs of Torment are a lot like real-life sociopaths: outwardly charming, but inwardly he cares not one bit for the health or well-being for others unless it suits his purposes, and he's prepared to lie, cheat, steal, manipulate, and kill to get whatever he wants. I don't want to give anything away, but... that stuff with Deionarra in the Sensorium kills me every time. The stuff you (as a player) can do to Morte and Dak'kon is even worse. I've never actually finished a game as an evil character because it distresses me too much.

As a contrasting example: in KotOR, I just laughed when I made Zaalbar kill Mission.