We love a good protagonist. The integration of Aloy and the story world is truly an impressive writing feat.

@hamiltonrmcato

3 жыл бұрын

Such amazing stories from games in the last few years, but one character that keeps coming back to me is Arthur Morgan. His narrative arc is just so deeply satisfying. It would be amazing to see a video on rdr2.

@RedMartyrEntertainment

3 жыл бұрын

Didn’t play the game so not sure if it does, but the story world should also change along with the hero - that way it really becomes an extension to him/she, and the story becomes so much richer (even if only on a subconscious level for the player).

Michael: Fusing that character's personal journey with the story world can create a powerful and unique gaming experience. Misguided writers: *Every character and every event in the entire universe has to be related to the protagonist.*

This channel has incredible timing. I’m currently studying to become a narrative/level game designer and couldn’t be more excited for the career I’m going into :) these deep dives into narrative design and structure are so incredibly insightful and helpful to learn more about how story arcs develop!

@gingerale7729

3 жыл бұрын

I hoe you make awesome games

One of my favourite games from this generation. The story was actually one of the aspects from the game that surprised me the most. Wasn't expecting to feel so emotionally attached to a protagonist from a plot revolving around apocalyptic robot dinosaurs, but that's the power of great storytelling!

I really love that video game writing and artistic directing is getting as much attention as gameplay. If we want video games as a medium to evolve and be respected, this is such an important aspect. Andddd now I wanna replay Horizon Zero Dawn. So thank you ~

I also loved that Aloy's sex was never a benefit or draw back to her strength. She was strong and her actions supported that. Her sex or possible love interests were not a factor as well as that was not part of the hero's journey.

@SunlightGwyn

3 жыл бұрын

Almost every hero in every game gets a romantic relationship during or shortly after their world saving journey. Aloy deserved one too.

@paolomilanicomparetti3702

3 жыл бұрын

i love how king whathisname hits on her, and she tells him basically that maybe he'd like to reconsider his words and not jump into another relationship so soon after losing his previous love interest.

@_ozz

3 жыл бұрын

@@SunlightGwyn I really hate that trope. That HZD didn't have that was a huuuuge positive for me.

@gingerale7729

3 жыл бұрын

@@_ozz I love that trope, I love relationships in games. Family relationships or love interests

@nsalegit9482

3 жыл бұрын

I think it would be interesting for her to just be asexual. We've never really had a huge game franchise with an explicitly ace protagonist, and it would explain her consistent shutdowns of literally everybody that takes a pass at her regardless of gender.

Horizon Zero Dawn came outta nowhere and became one of the best games I've played in recent years. It checked all the boxes for me and then some. I loved it and I'm eagerly awaiting the sequel.

When I started playing this game I just couldn't get into it. The characters, the world didn't grab me. That is until the exact moment you pointed out: the first mentioning of Project Zero Dawn. From that point I was hooked. I fell in love with the world and the reasoning behind all of it. I thought it was a very creative take on the apocalypse, a *significantly* more extreme version of the worlds of Terminator or the Matrix where machines don't rule, they're all that's left because they've destroyed all life on Earth, human or otherwise. Going in, I expected Zero Dawn to be some contrived attempt at making an interesting sounding name, but it ended up being exactly what it says on the box, a new dawn to life on Earth built from nothing. I'm excited to see where Forbidden West takes the world next year.

@NeoLithiumCat

3 жыл бұрын

I agree! I'd say the only criticism is the story is just a little slow to reach that point which really hooks you by showing you the stakes - you do spend a not insignificant amount of time wondering where on earth the game's name came from.

It also helps that the game itself is so visually gorgeous, and the combat is so engrossing. Sunk in a lot of hours in the game (in a New Game+ playthrough on Ultra Hard, it's so good) + the DLC's great, too!

That was possibly the greatest commercial for HZD possible while also being incredibly informative and well presented on top.

Finally completed this a couple months ago on PC. Quite the masterpiece. If it wouldn't inevitably get bungled in the translation I'd say it would make for a good candidate for a feature film.

Great video and what a fantastic game, can't wait for Forbidden West.

One thing I do love about this game and its story is how the reveal that Aloy is a clone is something the audience can easily pick up due to the 99.47% DNA match between Aloy and Elisabet. However as you play the game, you understand why Aloy does not pick that up and simply ignores that important detail due to what Ted did with Apollo. While also making that detail vital to the story, as the only thing that H.A.D.E.S (and other rogue subsystems of GAIA such as H.E.P.H.A.E.S.T.U.S that are antagonistic) are afraid of is Elisabets genetic code due to the override failsafe only working for her (a selfish decision as she saw GAIA as her "child" and didn't want an override failsafe in the first place). To add on, whenever I get to the ending, when Elisabet is telling GAIA about what she would want in a daughter while Aloy finds Elisabets remains, I couldn't stop crying. It is nice how the developers made some of the AI's like GAIA and CYAN feel human. Even H.E.P.H.A.E.S.T.U.S, the main villain of the expansion pack (and might be a major villain in the sequel) is really just a "father" protecting "his" "children" from an enemy that actively hunts them down. Considering it was those very machines that made life on Earth possible again, H.E.P.H.A.E.S.T.U.S is kind of justified in its actions and motivations. However the methods it uses is what makes it an antagonist, such as tricking the lonely and technologically inferior CYAN into opening a communications network, with the intent of taking over like a virus and using CYAN as a cauldron to build robots that actively seek out and kill humans. H.E.P.H.A.E.S.T.U.S did this as it could not change the purpose of the cauldrons built for GAIA (while it could built robots with weapons of mass destruction, it could not program them to actively seek out and kill humans. Only attack humans if they feel threatened), and it couldn't hack into all of them. A detail that is stated in one of the datapoints when you manually hack one of the cauldrons. Also if you do the expansion pack before the main story mission when you enter the Zero dawn base, CYAN will say this same detail.

One of my favorite games from recent years, haven't watch the whole thing yet but I'm looking forward to it, cheers from Indiana!

Thank you for this video! I remember how cathartic this game experience was for me. I lost my mother unexpectedly in my early teens, and blamed myself for not being able to save her for many, many years. I was so determined to help Aloy find out the truth about her mother, and when the end credits began to roll, I cried nonstop for hours. This is my favorite game of all time for so many reasons.

Wow, I lived playing this game. And the story played a big part in that.

One great thing about HZD is the dialogue wheel. It isn’t weird like other RPGs where you choose to Help or kill them. It is more layered in that Aloy has made her choice but you the player get to choose which tone Aloy should use with the people (her heart, head or strength)

I remember this game blowing me away. I must have sunk at least 150+ hours into it, and The Frozen Wilds is the first expansion I ever bought. Thanks for giving me a reason to revisit this absolute gem :)

I actually played this for the first time this year. When I started reaching the story of the past i found myself so invested and intrigued. I couldn't stop becsuee I wanted to know what the hell happened. Boy was it a gut punch. That story made this game go from good to great in my opinion.

Thank you guys for this channel. For the last two weeks I'm playing Outer Wilds and I can't get enough of it!

@StoryModeOn

3 жыл бұрын

That’s so awesome to hear! We’re glad you’re enjoying it :)

@CaptainPilipinas

2 жыл бұрын

@@StoryModeOn 'Why the Hero Should Influence the Story World'. .... *[glances Hard at bungo]* exactly. Gameplay-wise. well, a bit anyways of a main Main character's influence.

Do you preferred "authored" or "non-authored" protagonists in your RPGs?

@watcher8582

3 жыл бұрын

The former, I mostly enjoy games for the story.

@rottensquid

3 жыл бұрын

I have to say, I far prefer authored protagonists. I dipped a toe into Skyrim and Fallout 4, but what happens when you play a non-authored character is all the interactions feel incredibly generic. You can spend an hour choosing what kind of character you want to play, and I'm sure for new players of Skyrim, the incredible variety felt amazing. But it soon becomes clear that your character's uniqueness doesn't much matter. Certain decisions of race and skill paths might have a small impact on the world, but for the most part, everyone reacts to you exactly the same no matter who your character is. All you really are is a pair of hands. Contrast that with Aloy, or Geralt of Rivia. In both cases, every interaction is specifically tailored to these characters. And because you play them, you become them. It's you the peasants insult under their breath in Novigrad, you who must choose between two spectacular sorceresses, you who give Ciri the fatherly support she needs. It's you who were born motherless, who travel the world in search of the mystery of your own creation. Aloy and Geralt's specific, authored characteristics come to represent who they are in the story. those specifics have an impact on everyone they meet. Whereas a generic, non-authored character makes less impact on the world. By making them anything the player wants, who they are doesn't matter. It would be impossible for a game to create specific interactions for each characteristic choice the player makes. No matter what you look like in Fallout 4, you get mostly the same interactions, the same adventure, designed for a non-specific, "insert name here" character. Whoever you decide you are, people react to you the same. You play a cypher. You say that the authored character creates distance, but I think it's the opposite. In traditional storytelling, any decent author will tell you that making characters "universal" is death. People don't relate to Joe Everyman from Smalltown, USA. We find a character's relateability through their specificity. It's the unique quirks, and how those quirks affect people, that let us see ourselves.

@Pablo-xp5je

3 жыл бұрын

authored definitely, I'm not smart enought to make a good story by myself lol

@essjaysea6452

3 жыл бұрын

Story Mode, would you kindly do an episode on Bioshock and Bioshock: Infinite

@HxH2011DRA

3 жыл бұрын

Authored

I never really considered what protagonist I played in games until this video. I will definitely say investigating the world, and connecting who Aloy was in it was one of the best video game experiences I've had. Those of you reading, if you like this story and haven't played Bioshock or Hollow Knight, definitely give them a try as well!

By far my favorite new channel I've subbed to recently. Keep it up!

Brilliant. Love this new channel. Thank you.

Brilliant! The HZD story is a really powerful one, and this is the first time I've heard someone be able to explain why in a way that makes sense to me. So glad I found this channel! Y'all are awesome.

Great work! Thank you for putting a lot of my thoughts on the narrative structure of this game into words.

I normally get fatigue playing open-world games but HZD is one of my favourite games of all time because of how engrossing the story, setting and characters are. Plus the gameplay was great and the music and cinematics were amazing too! Guerilla Games really spoilt us with this one.

Recently got into this game and was going through battle videos of this game when this video popped up. This game is really mind blowing. The story telling, gameplay, graphics, the environment is just so amazing. The machine behaviour is given so much detail.

Horizon is such a fantastic game; it has a very strong narrative that I was able to connect to really well. I'm looking forward to the sequel, but I do hope they will cut back on the busywork that's so typical for open world games these days.

Why does this channel not have more views its so good

Great video! Really loved it 🙏

This is such a fun game. It's a blend of good world-building and fun gameplay that caught my attention. I don't know why it didn't keep my attention compared to other games, but I will rectify that shortly 😅

I didn't know this game existed until a few weeks ago when my husband got it for me. It's so up my alley. I was taking a break from playing to eat some lunch and popped up youtube. I was so surprised to see this video! Great video about a really amazing game!

Such a fantastic game and video about it. Thanks!

Youre Movie Channel is great and now story mode wow im impressed

@StoryModeOn

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

One of my favorite games. Such a good story, lots of combat (if you want), gameplay, character development and evolution, the mix between tribal and tech, the soundtrack... 10/10! Can't wait for Horizon 2. Thanks for covering this team!

Fantastic channel. Really hope you delve into the Mass Effect series.

Oh boy I would go nuts if you guys ever tackled a Metal Gear Solid Game from literally any direction

This is amazing work, thank you

@StoryModeOn

3 жыл бұрын

Thank *you* for watching!

Thanks for making this video. HZD is one of my favorites PS4 games and I got really surprised with how good the story is. It clearly shows the effort the writers put in this game. It's hard to try saying anything without going into spoiler territory, but what I call the "discoveries part" when Aloy just goes into facilities listening and reading to past audio and log data without any major combat moments, just pure learning about the past, those were my favorite parts of the game.

I have never played this game but now I really want to play it because of this video

I really miss this channel. I ALWAYS cry watching this video (and Batman from LTFS) because I want so bad to be a storyteller.

One of my favorite games. Loved it so much

great video! now i really wanna replay hzd

@StoryModeOn

2 жыл бұрын

Me too!

Holy hell, Lessons from the Screenplay team making a video on Horizon Zero Dawn? Did someone ask me my dream topic from a favorite KZread channel would be and I never noticed?! This is fantastic!

Wonderful video-- always love getting to hear from the developers! And you can't ask for more beautiful B-roll than Horizon Zero Dawn.

This game was an unexpected gem, my partner bought it and I was so sceptical - the concept felt cheap "dinosaurs with cavemen but the gimmick is the dinosaurs are robots" but boy was I wrong. I was not expecting a great story or a great character alongside great gameplay

the story also works, because the mystery and backstory of operation zero dawn really is interesting and original, and as the writer says was able to "string players along to the next big reveal". It certainly did for me. I'm not saying the emotional connection of the character to this central mystery is not also important, but it wouldn't work for me if the mystery itself were not worthwhile.

This is one of my favourite game when it launch. Great analysis of the game. I wonder if you will do one for Nier: Automata. It’s also one of my favourite game in the same generation. It will be interesting to see your analysis of it and how it impact everyone who completed the true ending.

I came here after watching your video on Social Network. You're really really good. After I came across your announcement on Story Mode, I had to quickly check out hoping HZD to be on the list and man I am soo damn happy that you've reviewed this. Thanks so much! If you get the time, do review TLOU 1 and 2, God of War (2018) and Far Cry 3. Can't wait!

@StoryModeOn

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks Suhas!

@smtucker0419

3 жыл бұрын

He did do a video on TLOU 1

@manchest100

3 жыл бұрын

@@smtucker0419 link?

@smtucker0419

3 жыл бұрын

@@manchest100 I'm sorry. I don't know how to attach a link, but if you put Lessons from the screenplay TLOU in the YT search bar it will take you right to it. They did it about a year ago

13:42 Yoooo that’s Lance Reddick from The Wire!

Interestingly, Aloy isn’t *entirely* authored. There are some smaller decisions you can make by selecting an option based on one of three aspects of Aloy’s personality. This gives the player some agency, and also encourages them to consider what the emotional forces internally at work in Aloy’s mind are.

Please don't stop. I am sure you will find your audience.

I dunno what's different about the visual files you have of the game capture, but this video and your outerwilds video suffers from hanging visual where the audio continues but there's a frozen frame for 5-10 seconds when viewed on a TV youtube app. Occurs repeatedly throughout the video (at different points if I rewind). Doesn't occur during your end piece to camera or at all on Lessons From The Screenplay

My favorite open world game and currently the only thing making me consider a PS5.

This game was so unique. I love it

Love this chanel

I loved that during the game I was like: "Jesus, how did humanity survive this horrible thing?", and that the answer was (SPOILER AHEAD): "IT DIDN'T!" This is so cool. Not many stories have courage to pull that off.

I adored this game; visually stunning, the score was beautiful, the story was fun, Aloy was a gift. I can’t wait for Forbidden West.

What a phenomenal game. Thank you for showing us all these insights. Can't wait for Forbidden West!

You have to do disco elysium!!! :)

More please.

You should have more subscribers!!!!

I love your vids, mate! I would love to hear your thoughts on games like Nier Automata, God of War or Life is Strange.

Ken Levin. Bioshock.

Here's hoping you do a follow-up to your Last of Us video for part 2. A god of war 2018 one would be amazing too.

iam gonna play it first and get back here asap.

Horizon: Zero Dawn was seriously so good. I stopped playing it about 3/4 of the way through because the story drags a little, but I'm so glad I went back to it and finished the game. I think it deserves more praise in the Science Fiction genre.

my absolute favourite game🥰🥰

Can you please tackle the Mass Effect trilogy and why it works?

Good thing the main plot is so good because otherwise I would have never rolled credits

God I hope John Gonzalez is working on Horizon Forbidden West and that the story was thought out from the beginning.... not a "we have a hit....what direction should we go in the sequel.... any ideas?".

I think hes battling with covid guys stay strong man

Well... Time to play some Horizon

Haha, self replicating robots go brrrrrrrr

I really do feel text and audio logs are a poor, unoptimised way to tell stories in the medium of games.

@NeoLithiumCat

3 жыл бұрын

Agree - it says a lot that they considered them less important. Text and audio logs do balance in less glamorous aspects, though - they don't trap you into a cutscene. Text lets you read at your own pace (or ignore it) and audio lets you explore whilst still getting the information. They often feel clunky, but if you make a whole game the hologram equivalent you get The Last of Us (which is ultimately a design choice as to what fits the game you're going for).

@looler12123

3 жыл бұрын

HZD is one of my favorite games for its story and world, but I highly agree with you there. Many important details and great story moments were delegated to optional logs and felt disconnected from the tangible game world. Sometimes it worked (1) but most of the time, I felt that there wasn't an adequate enough reason for the text/audio logs to even be where they were, much less to give their information in a way that told Aloy exactly what she needed to know. I hope they take some notes on smooth environmental storytelling from games that did it better for Horizon: Forbidden West. (Never played it myself, but I hear Bioshock was great at environmental strytelling.) (1) if you played the Frozen Wilds DLC, there's a string of audio-text logs from two girls who were forming a band, but were the last workers in a place where robots were replacing them. The existence of the logs made sense as the two were documenting their last days together and the formation of their band, leaving them around their workplace before leaving for good. It told an emotionally resonant story with audio-text logs that felt like they made sense. This is unfortunately an exception when it comes to text/audio logs.

please do star trek 2 the wrath of Khan

The owner of the film rights for this game wants Jennifer Lawrence to play the lead role.

My only problem with the story is that it is beyond absurd that Ted Faro was allowed any input into Zero Dawn at all. All Elizabet needed from him was his money. If he refused any command from Elizabet, all she had to do was tell the world he was responsible for the apocalypse and he would have been executed. Yet somehow he snuck in his Omega level access above all the Alphas, killed them, and destroyed APOLLO. I wouldn't have allowed him within 200 miles of any GAIA facility.

@paolomilanicomparetti3702

3 жыл бұрын

I don't know, faro was providing not just his money, but his company's manpower, factories and expertise. They could've probably wrested control of it from him and kicked him out, but that could also have cost them precious time. Was obviously a mistake in hindsight, but probably Elizabeth just couldn't imagine how much of a psychopath he was. Also, I think Elizabeth was able to keep Faro under control. If she had not sacrificed herself to seal the facility and had been around to manage him, I think faro would not have gone quite that far.

@SunlightGwyn

3 жыл бұрын

@@paolomilanicomparetti3702 A mistake in hindsight???? HE DESTROYED ALL LIFE ON THE PLANET! Elizabet knew this from the start! Why on earth would you EVER let him make any decisions regarding the survival of the human race? Elizabet is portrayed as a genius and this is quite literally the dumbest decision I've seen in a video game.

@paolomilanicomparetti3702

3 жыл бұрын

@@SunlightGwyn Elizabeth thought Faro was an asshole, but he was repentant for his huge mistake, and his willing help may have been important in getting the project done in time. I think it's not out of character for her to have been ultimately unable to understand what a psychopath he was, and unable to imagine he'd do something like that. It's also not out of character in social terms for a giant secret military industrial complex operation in a crisis to lean onto the same ruthless military contractor that had caused the crisis in the first place.

John's ultra-SoCal accent makes me laugh. He's almost a Valley girl. I've been playing Zero Dawn a lot lately, and it's nice to have a face to put to the distinctive author stamp.

I just couldn't get in to the story of this game. Its premise and setup were great (I hated the parts of playing as a child, but everything else was good), and the reveals did not live up to the mysteries.

:)

I liked playing this game but I didn’t really care for the story. I found myself skipping cutscenes and then looking at my objective list.

Next video:- RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2

Next, Nier Automata

As much as I utterly love HZD, the actual story was underwhelming. You are somewhat mixing the story with the lore. The lore was incredible, but you "meet it" only from time to time (there is content for like 4 hours of the game). Most of the actual story was not as good (by a long shot). To expand upon it: John Wick wants to avenge the dog, Alloy wants to know who she is. The world of JW has murder hotels and gold coins, the world of Alloy has murder robots. The story is JW vs the Mafia, who he knows, what he does, etc... and the story of Alloy is her running around the cities, understanting the corruption, taking part in the war, etc. In other words, the story of Last of Us isn't about the zombie apocalypse and "flashbacks to Joel unleashing the virus" here and there wouldn't make it one. It's important because, again, the lore is perfect, the relation to Alloy is magnificent, but you won't get that for like 90% of your playtime.

@GonziHere

3 жыл бұрын

If I remember it correctly, the themes of the "world that was" lore are different from the themes of the actual story, as its stated in your "Designing The Witcher 3's Most Famous Quest" video.

Ya but Aloy is boring. She has no flaws = boring. Her mumblin voice actor = boring. Don't front, the intense battles with the machines made this game. If it was just Aloy runnin around doin Fable-like stuff I would have never played it, never mind a 3rd playthrough on ultra

Honestly, I don't like its story.Aloy is too perfect .

Your writing and analysis is excellent, but omg your narration is entirely obnoxious and automated