The Digital Continuum: Can story supplant grind?
by Kyle Horner 
Feb 8th 2010 at 3:00PM
Filed under: Game mechanics, Opinion, The Digital Continuum, Star Wars: The Old Republic
Before now, I'd always assumed most choice elements within the story of any given class would be mostly binary. That was the easiest solution for BioWare, who has created quite the challenge for themselves with the premise of a full singleplayer storyline experience for each class within the game.
You see, before, I'd only really given thought to the difficulties of eight separate classes each having a couple possible plots. Now that presumption has changed, because in that developer diary on the Sith Inquisitor, writer Rebecca Harwick delivers a provocative revelation: you've got three choices.
Rebecca says it best here: "The Sith Inquisitor is about the individual at odds with the community, and whether to ultimately embrace that community, transform it, or act in defiance of it." Now, for me, that brings up a lot of questions. The biggest and most prominent of all these inquiries floating through my frontal lobe is how all the little in-between stories connect the beginning to the end. That leads into other questions about how it all starts and how it all ends.
We know how it starts -- if you don't, definitely read the developer blog by Rebecca. We also know the why behind the how, or in other words the Sith Inquisitor's motive. The big question arrives beyond the tutorial and starting area where "The Journey" takes over and Star Wars: The Old Republic is truly tested.
For me, an MMO isn't about any one feature. It's not about end-game or how in-depth the PvP experience goes. It's kind of like a car in that those pieces can -- and usually are -- immensely important, but ultimately it's about how enjoyable the ride feels. You can tell me a car's really pretty to look at but ultimately that doesn't make or break it for me. Story is more than looks, though. If I were to say what element of this metaphorical car story represents in MMOs, it'd have to be the ever-sought after fuel replacement.
In this genre, a game with actual worthwhile and meaningful story is going to kill. When I think on my myriad of past MMO experiences I always like to consider where the journey was at its best and where it began to fall apart. Generally, a journey begins strong and tapers off somewhere. It'll usually go one of two ways for me -- I muscle through the unsavory levels and get to the good stuff or I give up.
Sadly, when I think back to every MMO experience in my past I cannot think of a single game where I never felt like I was "Sticking in there!" at least once in a while. That just seems to be part and parcel of the whole deal, right? Well, maybe not.
Let's get back to the journey in SWTOR. If you like the Star Wars universe (and let's be honest, a lot of us love it) then you're probably going to be smitten with the game well past the tutorial and far into the end-game zones. That's only normal for the most hardcore of fans but countless other people require more, even if they consider themselves a fan. That's where the interactive story is really going to assist the game. Plus, it's all voiced, so hopefully people won't be tempted to skip everything. It's also got choice, so you'll at least want to know what's happening. Really, as long as there's plenty of quality story in SWTOR, the game could nullify the sense of grind and pull far more players through the entirety of its level than is typically seen in the industry. I really hope they share metrics on that, but I doubt it.
Whether or not story rises to define this game is for the future. Right now, lots of its pieces are looking pretty good. The depth of this game's story continues to surprise me, too. So long as BioWare doesn't just toss us some meaningful story between every few levels I sense great things in SWTOR's future. Great things indeed.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
ToyChristopher said on 3:29PM 2-08-2010
The only problem with a story instead of a grind, is that a story makes it feel like you are on rails, like there is only one way for you to go. I think it can really diminish the feeling of exploration in a game, and isn't exploring a persistent world what mmos used to be about?
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ethereal.wolf said on 3:54PM 2-08-2010
story doesn't have to be linear and single option. Fallout 1 & 2 and Deus Ex 1 had multiple outcomes. unfortunately bioware has been bad about making linear games with respect to story. so i think its more the fault of the developer and not the fault of story as a design consideration.
aurickle said on 3:20PM 2-08-2010
I suspect that what we're going to see develop is something fairly close to Mass Effect 2's implementation. Except that the loyalty missions from ME2 will actually be helping out your friends with their own class missions.
In short, you'll have your own story missions to work on which can skew your story in one of several directions. In the points between your own story missions you'll be helping out your friends with their own story missions. Those will be able to go in different directions as well. By the time you and your friends make it to the conclusion of the story (or at least, the launch portion of it) you will have had a game experience that is uniquely yours. It will have elements that are similar to everyone else's, but because each of those elements have different possible outcomes you can be sure that your own particular story is quite unique.
This is where it could actually exceed Mass Effect. Sure, you may have three possible endings to the storyline based upon your actions, but you will also have been involved with a few friends who each have their own very different endings of their own.
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LaughingTarget said on 5:14PM 2-08-2010
That would be a good idea. Maybe having separate experience bars for every player you meet out in the world. The more you quested with this individual, the more experience you gained with that character. Each experience level could generate additional bonuses for when you play with this character. Bonuses would also stack the more you add to the group. Further, special dungeons could be unlocked for players that have an appropriate group unity level. That should promote a social aspect to the game.
Timothy said on 3:48PM 2-08-2010
Because of Bioware's emphasis on story and each class has it's own, I will consider rolling many alts for this game. Most games I only have a main.
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Poe said on 3:52PM 2-08-2010
I'm a big fan of story driven MMOs but only if the content that they add over the course of the game isn't purely top heavy. If every expansion or addition to the game is going to be geared towards end game then people will just totally skip all of the story driven elements at the beginning of the game and not pay attention to it. Because if story driven games have a heavy end game then new players that enter the game a year or more after the release will feel the game is just one big single player game with a multiplayer end game.
Hopefully The Old Republic will be an amazing story driven event from the very beginning of logging in and be able to mix needing groups to progress the story from the very beginning until the end. Then as content is added they can add more things to the top game but also side quests and side chapters that will want players to create alts so that the front side of the game will always be nice and populated without people rushing through.
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stormwaltz said on 3:54PM 2-08-2010
I'm going to say no, story cannot supplant grind.
It takes far, far longer to create a good story than it does to set up a good grind system.
After you've gone through the story once, maybe twice, most people won't go through it again.
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interitus said on 5:22PM 2-08-2010
But if each class has it's own story you're talking about rolling 3 sith inquisitors. And if Bioware is any indication, choices you make during gameplay causes various outcomes. I can play Dragon Age or Mass Effect several times, and while some key elements will be the same, each playthrough can feel different.
This is especially true for Dragon Age which has more defined classes then Mass Effect, and which your class determines how people react to you and even how the game ends. I think this game has high replayability even within a single class
RogueJedi86 said on 9:39PM 2-08-2010
"It takes far, far longer to create a good story than it does to set up a good grind system."
Which is why TOR has been in the works since late 2005, maybe early 2006. TOR is going on 4 or 5 years just in development time, with a year to go, so the time it takes to make a good story is already there. BioWare isn't taking the easy road and just doing a "good grind".
Pingles said on 4:09PM 2-08-2010
Has any game ever really pulled off the whole "making choices" storylines? It always seems like either the choice is ridiculously clear and/or you are in a panic about making the wrong choice and screwing your character over.
I think I prefer the straight "go kill this" stuff.
The choice thing always comes off real gimmicky to me.
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Seare said on 5:15PM 2-08-2010
Have fun with that.
Kalex said on 9:55PM 2-08-2010
I actually agree with you.
To me the choices often lack the context needed to be enriching. Theirs just the A. Good guy choice, B. Neutral guy choice, C. Bad guy choice.
This is not entirely problematic in a single player experience, where you are essentially always in the hero role. But can a massively multiplayer game promote this psychology evenly? Can we all be the hero? Can we pick the bad guy choice every time we're asked and still have our guildmates think we're "sweethearts"?
I want to remain optimistic, but untill I really start to hear how bioware is honestly going to address the crux of these types of issues, i'm calling smoke and mirrors for now.
tamrielo said on 9:49AM 2-09-2010
@RogueJedi86
You're still talking about an MMO. MMO development takes 5-6 years *minimum*. WoW's development cycle approached 10 years, which is one of the big reasons it's the elephant in the room anytime MMO discussion came up. MMOs take much, much longer to make than other games, generally speaking.
Seffrid said on 4:56PM 2-08-2010
The problem of a story-driven game is mainly felt by those who prefer to group. LoTRO shows how difficult it is to get groups for story-driven multiple stage quests, and that could be an issue here. Bioware also need to avoid pursuing the linear route as a lot of people really don't like that in MMOs.
This game is getting an awful lot of hype, and it'll be interesting to see if it can be the first major IP MMO to live up to the hype. Bioware's established reputation is not, however, in evolutionary long-term games played online, and they have quite a lot to prove with this game. They have a reputation for quality, but they're operating outside their comfort zone with this one. I hope they succeed with it, but I'm not yet as convinced as most others seem to be before they've even seen the game. I also have some concerns as to what the final business model will turn out to be.
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jslim419 said on 7:53PM 2-09-2010
"This game is getting an awful lot of hype"
every major title game gets hype. that's why we have E3, and it's other game trade show cousins across the world. that's why we have (or had) the G4TV channel. Hype is part of the industry, it's how they muster up excitement for a title so more than five people know about it when it launches. stop complaining, and go back to your grind fest MMO that you love so much.
Werther said on 5:09PM 2-08-2010
I like the idea that every class has different stories, missions etc. Usually when I play an mmo it doesn´t matter if I play say a paladin or a warrior they will basically go through the same areas (except the starting one) do the same quests and so on.
This game will hopefully be good enough that I will WANT to level every class and not make it feel like a grind when you start that alt in your mmo.
Love the idea of not having to read quest texts also it takes away from the immersion into the game. Worst is Aion on this it sometimes has 3-4 pages of badly translated text that makes you cringe and will skip quickly.
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Averice said on 5:02PM 2-08-2010
@Pingles Bioware isn't about right and wrong choices, it's about the game letting you play as you want to, making the choices you want to. There's no clear choice or wrong choice. Though because of this if you ever play through the game twice, like DA:O, and you make a different choice but the Same thing ends up happening no matter what, it is rather obnoxious.
That's one thing about the article I didn't really get. So the Sith has 3 options, he can be good, neutral, bad. That's not 3 new storylines Bioware has to write, that's still just the Sith storyline. There are only so many major "flags", most of them will be minor about side quests. I mean, if you've played ME1, ME2, or DA:O, then you know what that dev blog is talking about and that it's not really a new revelation.
Especially DA:O, since it had six different origin stories that, in the end, put everybody in the same place.
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lethality said on 5:38PM 2-08-2010
BioWare has said their job is to provide the illusion of choice. Which to me just sounds like a lot of wasted effort. It's not going to be real choice or have real consequence. Even less so, given it's an MMO.
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lethality said on 5:41PM 2-08-2010
You think reading takes away the immersion? It's far worse having to sit through a digital actor say lines, in a voice you don't like, twice as slow as you can read them (at least.)
I prefer to play my games, not watch them unfold in front of me in cut scenes.
And remember, good story doesn't require digital actors... and they have a very good chance of ruining the story depending on how well its done.
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Brian! said on 5:54PM 2-08-2010
Funny, I hit level 20 in Guild Wars so fast, but then played the game for a year more. The story and quests were very engaging.
It is interesting how a game like GW has such a rewarding experience without making it an experience or gear grind. Sure, you can grind for special looking armor, but that armor isn't like WoW where you need the current purples to play the current content. The stuff you buy from the vendors works just fine too - even if it isn't as pretty.
MMO developers REALLY miss the boat when XP and item grinds are the defining "content" of the game. Weird to think that the first MMO I got into in a big way was Ultima Online, which wasn't a XP or Item grind. Granted people did macro skills up and if you wanted to be a crafter you grinded for raw materials, but it was not necessary to play.
Of course, when I mention UO it also brings up the FFA kill or be killed play. Which also added danger to the game. Although MMOs like Darkfall would like you to believe they captured the heart of UO - the real beauty was the feeling of exploration and the choice to live an alternate life in the Ultima world.
Good story brings the world to life. Now if developers could, once again, let players "live" in their worlds again instead of being lead on rails from one destination to another.
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