Knight_Wolf
18-12-2008, 21:50
A problem that i saw with the narratives of both D1 and D2 is that they are quite weak, i was disappointed with the stories of both games, not the story itself cause yes there is a nice story of some sorts and there are characters and such but the way it was all laid out was very flat and bland and never tries to immerse you into the world or the lore, i have always wished for something interesting or involving to happen, for example in D2 when you met "Natalya" the assassin i thought that some interesting co-op quest will be given by her in which she fights side-by-side with the players to achieve a certain goal or recover certain info, but nothing, null .... after you complete all the quests in the area she is gone and never seen again as if she never existed ... makes me wonder was was she even presented in the first place anyway, just to tell you that she doubts Ormus and babble about the assassins order .. seriously ... D1 and D2 narratives really felt like loads of wasted opportunities at something bigger that never happens mixed with a bunch incomplete character introductions !!!
let me explain more.
In most modern RPGs of all types ( and Diablo is an action/RPG ) there are two approved ways to handle the narrative and integrate it with the gameplay and the game itself, in most Western RPGs they choose to let the player decide the story, the character has no history or certain personality, it is a clean slate that you use to make the choices and interactions that shape the world around you, and there is a degree of freedom and choices available to allow that ( Deus Ex, Morrowind, Fallout, Mass Effect ) on the other hand JRPGs opt for a different approach, they setup a strong story with plot twists and complex characters and let the player explore the world from the point of view of those characters who have backgrounds, history and interactions on various levels ( Star Ocean, Final Fantasy, Tales of the Abyss, Front Mission )
Both approaches are nice and each has its pros and cons, many people prefer the first and others prefer the second and others like to experience both ( like me ).
So were is the problem with Diablo Narrative, the big problem actually is that it took the worst of both narrating systems and put them together, it took the lack of real choices and lack of open world interactions ( found in JRPGs ) and combined it with anonymous characters that neither have any background, history, interactions or a voice, nor did they even for once spoke their minds or talked about any of their intentions or motives ( like in WRPGs ), and surprisingly didn't take any of the pros of either system which resulted in a bland and uninteresting narrative, you just run around systematically completing quests, bashing monsters and collecting items and you never care about what actually happens within the story or the world.
Before you argue that the world of Diablo is rich and has nice lore, i agree, it does have nice lore, but what's the use of good lore if it stays in the game manual or retail story books, it is very obvious that lore was never implemented well enough inside "Diablo" the game itself and it wasn't an effective part of the narrative, it was always elsewhere waiting for the player to go open the manual or buy the book, which in turn kills the immersion factor of the game.
And it is obvious that the D3 Devs noticed that, finally the characters will be getting voices, will be getting some personality and even in one example some history and background ( the Barbarian ... even though his history is not well fleshed out ), they even added the feature of class/character specific quests that supposedly will reveal some info about the character or class in question.
But still even with all that D3 narrative still needs more, it still falls short if compared to the well known narrative systems used in Western and Japanese RPGs, ironic is that a strategy game like Starcraft has a much more interesting narrative and characters than D1 and D2 which are RPGs .. a.k.a role playing games ( even though RTS games don't need a strong narrative to work well .. i.e Red alert )
Examples of a much more interesting narrative integrated into the game would be like this ..... What if the Barbarian had a quest in which you discover things about his youth and what drove him to fight Diablo, or what if the Wizard met the Sorceress from D2 and they turned out to have some history or even a score to settle, what it the Witch Doctor met the Necro and he teamed up with him to help him complete a quest in return for a favor the Witch doctor did to the Necromancers clan before.
And note that i'm talking purely about the Single player narrative, the narrative is irrelevant to the MP part of the game.
So what do you think can improve D3 narrative other than what the Devs already stated ( characters with voices and personality, class specific quests ) !!?
Would D3 be batter if we had the total freedom to shape the story and make all our choices by ourselves .... literally role play ( i.e Morrowind ) or would it have been better if it had a strong cast of characters with fleshed out backgrounds and a well written narrative that complements those complex personalities and shows the interactions that unfold between the characters ( i.e Final Fantasy ) , why does Diablo has to fall short between the two narritive style and lack any of the pros those system give to RPGs !!?
What do you think, did the action part of Diablo ( an Action/RPG ) overshadow its RPG part it became only about allocating points and collecting items even in SP where any RPG must have a strong narrative, but being action oriented is no excuse, many action games have strong narratives ( i.e Metal Gear ), and one of the fundamentals of any RPG game of any type ( FPS/RPG, Action/RPG, Adventure/RPG, Turn based/RPG ) is to have a strong narrative, so why did diablo fail in that apartment ?
let me explain more.
In most modern RPGs of all types ( and Diablo is an action/RPG ) there are two approved ways to handle the narrative and integrate it with the gameplay and the game itself, in most Western RPGs they choose to let the player decide the story, the character has no history or certain personality, it is a clean slate that you use to make the choices and interactions that shape the world around you, and there is a degree of freedom and choices available to allow that ( Deus Ex, Morrowind, Fallout, Mass Effect ) on the other hand JRPGs opt for a different approach, they setup a strong story with plot twists and complex characters and let the player explore the world from the point of view of those characters who have backgrounds, history and interactions on various levels ( Star Ocean, Final Fantasy, Tales of the Abyss, Front Mission )
Both approaches are nice and each has its pros and cons, many people prefer the first and others prefer the second and others like to experience both ( like me ).
So were is the problem with Diablo Narrative, the big problem actually is that it took the worst of both narrating systems and put them together, it took the lack of real choices and lack of open world interactions ( found in JRPGs ) and combined it with anonymous characters that neither have any background, history, interactions or a voice, nor did they even for once spoke their minds or talked about any of their intentions or motives ( like in WRPGs ), and surprisingly didn't take any of the pros of either system which resulted in a bland and uninteresting narrative, you just run around systematically completing quests, bashing monsters and collecting items and you never care about what actually happens within the story or the world.
Before you argue that the world of Diablo is rich and has nice lore, i agree, it does have nice lore, but what's the use of good lore if it stays in the game manual or retail story books, it is very obvious that lore was never implemented well enough inside "Diablo" the game itself and it wasn't an effective part of the narrative, it was always elsewhere waiting for the player to go open the manual or buy the book, which in turn kills the immersion factor of the game.
And it is obvious that the D3 Devs noticed that, finally the characters will be getting voices, will be getting some personality and even in one example some history and background ( the Barbarian ... even though his history is not well fleshed out ), they even added the feature of class/character specific quests that supposedly will reveal some info about the character or class in question.
But still even with all that D3 narrative still needs more, it still falls short if compared to the well known narrative systems used in Western and Japanese RPGs, ironic is that a strategy game like Starcraft has a much more interesting narrative and characters than D1 and D2 which are RPGs .. a.k.a role playing games ( even though RTS games don't need a strong narrative to work well .. i.e Red alert )
Examples of a much more interesting narrative integrated into the game would be like this ..... What if the Barbarian had a quest in which you discover things about his youth and what drove him to fight Diablo, or what if the Wizard met the Sorceress from D2 and they turned out to have some history or even a score to settle, what it the Witch Doctor met the Necro and he teamed up with him to help him complete a quest in return for a favor the Witch doctor did to the Necromancers clan before.
And note that i'm talking purely about the Single player narrative, the narrative is irrelevant to the MP part of the game.
So what do you think can improve D3 narrative other than what the Devs already stated ( characters with voices and personality, class specific quests ) !!?
Would D3 be batter if we had the total freedom to shape the story and make all our choices by ourselves .... literally role play ( i.e Morrowind ) or would it have been better if it had a strong cast of characters with fleshed out backgrounds and a well written narrative that complements those complex personalities and shows the interactions that unfold between the characters ( i.e Final Fantasy ) , why does Diablo has to fall short between the two narritive style and lack any of the pros those system give to RPGs !!?
What do you think, did the action part of Diablo ( an Action/RPG ) overshadow its RPG part it became only about allocating points and collecting items even in SP where any RPG must have a strong narrative, but being action oriented is no excuse, many action games have strong narratives ( i.e Metal Gear ), and one of the fundamentals of any RPG game of any type ( FPS/RPG, Action/RPG, Adventure/RPG, Turn based/RPG ) is to have a strong narrative, so why did diablo fail in that apartment ?