The “X” button on the Playstation controller is your most useful button, and its purpose depends upon the game you’re playing. If it’s a platformer, the “X” button is used for jumping; for a racing game, it’s likely allocated as the gas pedal. And for role-playing games (RPGs) during the Playstation era, it’s invariably the button designated to move on to the next line of dialogue, one out of thousands that will be coming your way.
That’s what the “X” button is for in an RPG: to punch out every last line of dialogue as soon as they show their stupid faces.
Storytelling in RPG video games is a vast undertaking meant to equal the complexities of RPGs themselves, games that share many common rulesets but differ greatly with their individual offerings. Featuring vast inventories, spell books, and bestiaries, the plots to these games are just as epic in scope, offering dozens of characters each with different motivations and alliances, opposing factions, and of course, enough betrayals and backstabbings to keep you guessing until the end.
And what an end that will be: unlike other forms of art, or even other video games, the playing of an RPG video game is expected to last anywhere from 20 to 50 hours and beyond. To facilitate this period of your life, the stories of these video stories aren’t going to be told to you; instead, in the same way that a gamer levels up or reaches another dungeon, it’s something that you’ll have to conquer for yourself—every last arcane reference dug out, every last winking foreshadow harvested, every last bit of humor mined.
Kartia: The World of Fate could have a good story; more likely, it probably has a good tacitical battle system similar but not better than Final Fantasy Tactics. But what is for sure is that it has a horrible introduction that explains nothing and distances its audience.
RPGs take advantage of its fans that become staunchly loyal to their investments. If you’re going to pay $60 on a game that you’ll need to shut yourself in the basement to enjoy, the game figures that you’re in for the whole hog. It makes no qualms about trying to fulfill its player’s requirements rather than good storytelling. And as new games were being developed, they kept getting more convoluted to fulfill the requirements expected of them.
Kartia: The World of Fate has a terrible opening about things that couldn’t possibly interest you because nothing is of consequence for the player, the one who is spamming “X” this entire time.
The disdain for storytelling is clearly evident here since this Kartia: The World of Fate has nothing to lose to its video game audience. And yet, if the game’s dialogue were presented in a leather-bound hardcover, this story would not be received as well—because a reader who just reads words won’t ever have the satisfaction of levelling up.
As much as I really enjoy the presentation in Kartia: The World of Fate of simultaneously using 3D polygonal characters with their anime portraits, it’s all irrelevant when all it’s good for is spouting needless exposition. But then, “show me, don’t tell me” doesn’t apply when thousands of button presses stand between a player and the ultimate satisfaction of reaching some conclusion dozens of hours later.
This doesn’t mean that video games all have bad stories, but it does mean that this medium of art (written here without quotation marks) must always adhere to the requirements that gamers have for it.Engaging storytelling isn’t always on top of that list.
As much as video gamers enjoy their video games, the enemies that they’re fighting against aren’t as adversarial towards the player as much as the story is. As important as story is to a video game, the story it tells is never as important as the story the player is telling for himself.
How far did I get in 20 minutes: reached the first battle, but have no idea how to continue. Grammar is involved?
The good: great use of two disparate mediums as a story-telling device
The bad: clunky story bogged down by lack of witty dialogue. Every Romeo needs a Mercutio.
Will I play this game again once this year is up: No. I’m folding this hand. As engaging as the argument is that “the story gets good around hour 19,” this game is a pass.
Days so far in Year of the Play-a-DayStation: 12
Play-a-Daystation 