Are they serious?
https://gamerant.com/mmorpgs-best-storytelling-ranked/
Are they serious?
https://gamerant.com/mmorpgs-best-storytelling-ranked/
They also credit Illidan as "among the greatest video game villains of all time" despite part of Legion being devoted to how Illidan wasn't actually a villain at all, so that article's credibility is near zero.
Or Illidan as practically Sir-Not-Appearing-In-This-Expansion in The Burning Crusade.
Last edited by Edax; 10-26-2020 at 03:58 AM.
He's an interesting character for sure but for me he's not remotely the best villain I have come across at all. Not even among just the characters in WoW.
It's interesting how Star Trek Online is on the list. WoW requires you to know about events that happened before the mmo to truly appreciate the game's lore, but Star Trek...jeez you need to watch several seasons worth of the tv series and at least one movie to properly understand the significance of STO's story. Star Trek's lore is actually gigantic. Sure the game does say enough so you can follow the story but it's absolutely not enough to be able to really appreciate what happens there.
I like FFXIV's story for many reasons, but one of them is you are not required to have prior knowledge of anything in order to be able to fully appreciate it. Yes there are references to other FF games but that's all they are at most. Being aware of them is not necessary to strongly appreciate the story, and not being aware of them won't make you miss out on the importance of anything. This is not the case at all for WoW or STO, especially for STO.
The writer mentions that STO takes place three decades after the movie Nemesis...but even watching that on its own isn't enough. You'd be lost if you watched that without enough Star Trek knowledge.
This is why I don't put much emphasis on lore. To me, lore is the setting/background story whereas the plot is the main/foreground story. As long as enough of the lore is presented to understand the plot of the story, the rest of the lore is not necessary, though no less welcomed. Where an established lore is important is primarily to guide the development of the story, but of course, plans can change, hence retcon exists.
For example, in FFXIV, I wouldn't have minded had new characters in ARR had the same intro and extras as 1.0 characters because 1.0's story is just part of the lore that you don't necessarily have to know to appreciate the story post Calamity.
And as for STO, while I am a Star Trek fan (in as much as I've seen every TV series and movies up to the first few episodes of the first season of Discovery), I think not having that knowledge would still make me appreciate STO's story. It's just too bad I don't really have time to play it any more after FFXIV, WoW, and SWTOR even though I started with it.
I can't speak on how I would be because I went into STO already being a huge Star Trek fan since early childhood, but I did play it with a buddy who knew almost nothing about the franchise. And I had to explain so much to him. He didn't understand what was happening. Maybe the new player experience is different now? Maybe things are introduced better now? When I played with that person it was around nine years ago, I think. A long time ago anyway.And as for STO, while I am a Star Trek fan (in as much as I've seen every TV series and movies up to the first few episodes of the first season of Discovery), I think not having that knowledge would still make me appreciate STO's story. It's just too bad I don't really have time to play it any more after FFXIV, WoW, and SWTOR even though I started with it.
I played it 3 years ago, and I think, without previous Star Trek knowledge, you could take it as a generic sci-fi/captain-of-the-ship type story at the beginning. I didn't really get far since I started playing FFXIV about a few weeks later and got engrossed with that and never really looked back, but it had your standard combat/missions type of gameplay with ship combat and scifi jargons, so I didn't think the story was hard to follow regardless of previous knowledge, but it may differ with other people's experience.I can't speak on how I would be because I went into STO already being a huge Star Trek fan since early childhood, but I did play it with a buddy who knew almost nothing about the franchise. And I had to explain so much to him. He didn't understand what was happening. Maybe the new player experience is different now? Maybe things are introduced better now? When I played with that person it was around nine years ago, I think. A long time ago anyway.
You know, considering it's free to play (I think), I may just start playing it again from time to time, though I've deleted my account so would have to start from scratch, which is probably a good thing. I just can't stand the character creator, though, it's an example of sliders going too far.
Last edited by linayar; 10-27-2020 at 08:25 AM.
I don't think a single person could have time to fully invest themselves in the story of every MMO out there, so this is probably guesswork on their part. Maybe WoW wins because that's the game the writer has actually played a fair amount of.
In terms of story, warcraft can bring a lot more on the table regarding lore.
The downside is that this is less of a 'you' story in WoW than more of a tale of certain characters doing certain things.
FFXIV does it the other way around: Each part of the series is a different story, but the main focus of 14 will always be you, the Warrior of Light.
I've thought about this and I can't say I entirely agree.In terms of story, warcraft can bring a lot more on the table regarding lore.
The downside is that this is less of a 'you' story in WoW than more of a tale of certain characters doing certain things.
FFXIV does it the other way around: Each part of the series is a different story, but the main focus of 14 will always be you, the Warrior of Light.
WoW's 'lore' has been squandered by years of retconning, bastardized writing and has undergone utter ruination. I will concede that the original Warcraft series of games has a very strong, expansive and interesting lore to go by, but the majority of things added in WoW are entirely shallow (imo) in newer iterations of the lore. Up until roughly WoTLK, the lore, IMO, is still pretty solid because it utilizes the original games quite well. A huge part of it for me too is inconsistency in the writing for every character. Without or with little in-game justification or elaboration whatsoever, the major 'lore' characters of WoW change drastically every expansion to the point they sometimes do not feel like the same character, imo. There is a difference between character development and altering a character for the sake of plot convenience, which I think is something Blizzard's writing team do a lot. The game no longer exists to prolong and expand the lore. The lore merely exists as a means of explaining why you're doing specific raid of the week.
FFXIV doesn't escape all of that criticism either, ofc, but I think a lot of people would genuinely be surprised if they took the time to look at FFXIV's lore in-depth. There's quite a lot of it. It's just not blatantly fed to the player via the story.
That being said - while I do like a fair bit of FFXIVs linear story, it's by no means perfect, and I can't say if it would be a contender for the #1 spot. Regardless of style or approach though - I don't think modern WoW belongs in #1. Some of the zone stories, imo, for BfA were quite good but the overarching story and focus on wishy washy big lore characters is sinking the game for me, personally. Especially when you have DBZ-style story telling. Peacecraft Can do No Wrong Anduin Wrynn, Edgy Conqueror Lich King Beating Super Sylvy Windrunner, suddenly relevant Saurfang, 'vengeful' Tyrande, etc etc. All pale imitations of far better characters.
Call it elitist of me but I don't think the writer of that article has a nose for what I believe makes a good story or for that matter, what makes for good world building.
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