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[SeriousConcentrate]

Add a zero if the unskippable cutscene is one of those faux-interactive ones such as the Gears of War walk-n-talk or like that one near the end of the original Dead Space where you can walk around while being talked at but you can't actually do anything meaningful.

[itisnotlogical]

I'd personally have an "audiolog tax" where you have to pay a flat fee for every time you replace effortful storytelling with a collectible audiolog. Additional fees may apply for audiolog cliches such as hiding a password in an audiolog, a series of audiologs where the speaker becomes a zombie/other monster, an audiolog where one of the mooks talks about their wife and kids, etc.

I specifically mean audiologs as in a collectible in the world that plays an audio clip, or represents some other kind of journal entry. FNAF's phone calls aren't audiologs in this case, since A) they play regardless of player action and B) they're not technically necessary if you know how to play the game.

[CABL]

I know that someone has ranted about the topic, but there it is:

Motion fuckin' blur and depth of field:
Dear game devs, why even bother with such... "things"?! Those two "technologies" can easily win 1st place "most pointless invention in the entire universe" nomination. I don't think anyone can defend those two graphic settings because nobody likes getting shampoo in the eyes, and that's what those two things are. A low-quality shampoo which hurts your eyes when you look into your monitor. Thankfully almost all games I've ever played either have the option to turn those settings off or (if it's some crappy port) don't have that much blur anyway. The only time it's (kinda) realistic is when you get hit with something heavy in the head, or if you are under the effect of tear gas. So it would be good if game devs included blur only in those two instances, but no, they need to waste time and money on adding those two settings in such amounts, that your eyes bleed.

[Neonivek]

A HUGE problem with motion blur and depth of field in anything but a POV shot is simple...

I have my own dang eyes!

It is kind of unnatural the majority of the time because the game is basically taking over for your own eyeballs. This is the worst in 3d movies where your eyes can go to anything on screen and it is blurry because of the POV.

If this game was a Karaoke machine it would be playing back someone else's voice as I sing instead of my own.

[muldrake]

I know that someone has ranted about the topic, but there it is:

Motion fuckin' blur and depth of field:
Dear game devs, why even bother with such... "things"?! Those two "technologies" can easily win 1st place "most pointless invention in the entire universe" nomination. I don't think anyone can defend those two graphic settings because nobody likes getting shampoo in the eyes, and that's what those two things are. A low-quality shampoo which hurts your eyes when you look into your monitor. Thankfully almost all games I've ever played either have the option to turn those settings off or (if it's some crappy port) don't have that much blur anyway. The only time it's (kinda) realistic is when you get hit with something heavy in the head, or if you are under the effect of tear gas. So it would be good if game devs included blur only in those two instances, but no, they need to waste time and money on adding those two settings in such amounts, that your eyes bleed.

Film grain in games is also horrible.  It makes them look terrible and is completely pointless.  On the good side, most games with it allow you to turn it off.

[Iceblaster]

I'd personally have an "audiolog tax" where you have to pay a flat fee for every time you replace effortful storytelling with a collectible audiolog. Additional fees may apply for audiolog cliches such as hiding a password in an audiolog, a series of audiologs where the speaker becomes a zombie/other monster, an audiolog where one of the mooks talks about their wife and kids, etc.

I specifically mean audiologs as in a collectible in the world that plays an audio clip, or represents some other kind of journal entry. FNAF's phone calls aren't audiologs in this case, since A) they play regardless of player action and B) they're not technically necessary if you know how to play the game.

Why is an audiolog bad? I think they're pretty nifty. Fallout does them pretty well. But I mean. I guess they'd be completely useless with that definition

[hector13]

I'd personally have an "audiolog tax" where you have to pay a flat fee for every time you replace effortful storytelling with a collectible audiolog. Additional fees may apply for audiolog cliches such as hiding a password in an audiolog, a series of audiologs where the speaker becomes a zombie/other monster, an audiolog where one of the mooks talks about their wife and kids, etc.

I specifically mean audiologs as in a collectible in the world that plays an audio clip, or represents some other kind of journal entry. FNAF's phone calls aren't audiologs in this case, since A) they play regardless of player action and B) they're not technically necessary if you know how to play the game.

Why is an audiolog bad? I think they're pretty nifty. Fallout does them pretty well. But I mean. I guess they'd be completely useless with that definition

I dunno man, Fallout is an open-world RPG, and the audiologs are, for the most part, entirely optional world building stuff, so they kinda work in Fallout, but less so in a game like Dead Space, which needs a good atmosphere. Listening to an audiolog takes you out of it.

[Darkmere]

I loved the bioshock ones. Probably because they're one of the extremely few sets of VA recordings that are actually directed well and sound really good.

[itisnotlogical]

I just feel like there are ways to tell a story more subtly or more sensically than to hand you an MP3 (or .txt in the case of diary entries) that tells you exactly what happened.

[Silverthrone]

Most of them are fairly badly written, of course. Usually very obvious We_Found_Strange_Spikey_Thing_Probably_Harmless.ogg or HELP_THE_WALLS_ARE_COVERED_IN_KEBAB.mp3.  Most of the work an audio log endeavours to do could be done by having an old news broadcast or public announcement play in the background.

But then again, I adore all those books in the Elder Scrolls. Those books about ancient heroes and what-not that have very little to do with the story of the game (and a lot of the times not at all). But then again, it is never really necessary to read them. They are there if you wish to, and the ability to choose your own immersion is always rather welcome. An entirely optional little flavour book in Oblivion is probably not comparable to a bad case of the audiologs in, say, Dead Space.

[Arbinire]

Most of them are fairly badly written, of course. Usually very obvious We_Found_Strange_Spikey_Thing_Probably_Harmless.ogg or HELP_THE_WALLS_ARE_COVERED_IN_KEBAB.mp3.  Most of the work an audio log endeavours to do could be done by having an old news broadcast or public announcement play in the background.

But then again, I adore all those books in the Elder Scrolls. Those books about ancient heroes and what-not that have very little to do with the story of the game (and a lot of the times not at all). But then again, it is never really necessary to read them. They are there if you wish to, and the ability to choose your own immersion is always rather welcome. An entirely optional little flavour book in Oblivion is probably not comparable to a bad case of the audiologs in, say, Dead Space.

This leads to my current pet peeve with games in general these days.  Writing obviously no longer being a concern in story driven games.  I understand most games aren't going to be masterpieces of the written word talked about at Shakespearean levels in 600 years(which Shakespeare would probably find humorous himself), but at least put as much passion into your writing as you are putting into other areas.  Can we stop with the "space gods" and "twists everyone saw coming before game was even announced" already?

[Silverthrone]

Yes. A lot of video game writers tend to bank on hideous space creatures being crippingly frightening by themselves. "Oh, look how tiny and insignificant you are, a tiny speck in the void, and et cetera, et cetera". Lovecraftian fear is not quite what it is blown up to be, and it is not the sure-fire ticket to fear that it is presented as, certainly not in an age where one is thought the sheer scale and emptiness of the void, and so forth, in science class in school.
That said, it is possible to make a fairly simple and boiler-plate story stimulating and engaging in itself, if some care and affection is given to it. One can try too hard, but in a lot of cases, the trouble is having tried too little, at least I believe so.

[itisnotlogical]

I don't play many horror games, but I wish all the "poorly-lit walking simulator"-style horror games would die in a fire.

[Neonivek]

Lovecraft did quite a bit more then just put a giant creature in the story and expect it to be scary on its own.

If you want a game that does the whole "I am an insignificant being subject to the whims of dark gods who care nothing for me" then you want Earthbound.

But the whole insignificance wasn't always very pressed deep in Lovecraft... in fact it almost never is. The idea of being "Insignificant and small" was used to sort of paint even the greatest triumph as nothing.

[Darkmere]

I don't play many horror games, but I wish all the "poorly-lit walking simulator"-style horror games would die in a fire.

Oh my god, you hate Amnesia too?!

RE: game stories:

I have nothing to back this up but I suspect the problem is twofold: AAA companies makes "we need one of those" games, just to get something out there that's popular so they can cash in. Story kind of takes a backseat because you've already got the basics you want to sell, so the high points are mostly set.

Indies seem to fall into "art projects" which are more about story presentation than gaming... which is fine but lends itself to (in my experience) lackluster gaming. The other end is coders who want the idea for game mechanics out there, and while they may be cool the devs aren't really writers.

This kinda thing takes a lot more analysis than the average yokel can afford to put in time-wise (and still have time to do the tremendous workload a game requires) so stories tend to kinda fall by the wayside in those.