A Tale to be Told

We all like a good story right? Stories have such cultural importance for they are a form of entertainment and education. It's no surprise that story is treated as an important element in most video games.

Of course the very early games didn't have stories since games were primarily objective based. By the time when the NES was released only games with fairly basic story like features were developed. Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda are examples of games with basic elements of a story are present such as environment, events and situations (known as a premise) but lacked any narrative to form an actual story. 

It's never really explained why they are saving their princesses... Guess you don't need a reason

In 1987 Sqaure (now known as Square Enix) were in a tight financial situation and the game they developed which they thought would be their last was Final Fantasy. The director Hironobu Sakaguchi said before he started developing the game: "I don't think I have what it takes to make a good action game. I think I'm better at telling a story." Ironically the game turned out to be quite a hit and because of it's success it paved way for the development of games with a more structured and linear plot. Now the Final Fantasy games is well known for focusing around story as its selling point.

You know... Back then they had knights and mages and not a trace of any angsty pre-pubescent teens

But are stories really needed in every game? Are some just better off by keeping it simple and objective based? Certainly the Mario franchise has proved that saving the same old princess as the objective is all that is needed. Of course not all games can support a story, if all sports and racing games started having a premise let alone a story it would probably feel forced and unnecessary. However games that do and is focused around one can prove to be an enriching experience for those who play.

A relatively new game that I played a while is an example of a game that tells a story in a unique way. The Playstation Network exclusive Flower is a game where no words are used to tell the story. The game narrates itself through visuals and music alone, very similarly to Disney's Fantasia, and I was honestly mesmerised by it. It's nice seeing how in this day and age how these new innovative ways of storytelling in being introduced in games.

This game may not be interesting to everyone, but those who are brave enough or are willing to try out something new should get this