Is Lore a total bore?

[Nishizono Shinji]

A point was made in another thread regarding lore within video games so i thought i'd pose the question.

What are your opinions on reading through the lore of a videogame, do you like to read everything or are you the type to skip it all and get on with the gameplay?

Personally i enjoy reading through all the lore within a game i possibly can, it helps me fully immerse myself into the world in which the game is set. In particular the Elder Scrolls games, the Mass Effect and Dragon Age games have extensive lore material and I find great pleasure in taking my time and reading through as much as possible.

[lolin]

I mean, I think it fundamentally depends on what you wnat to get out of a game, really. Some games I can get crazy into the lore even if I don't think it's very interesting (Disgaea, for example, of which all lore is ridiculous) or not get into lore when it IS interesting (Dark Souls for example, has specks of lore hidden throughout, ready to be pieced together).

I think today, a lot of people are trained to go from point A to point B in games, so lore takes a backseat. Only some games I still get into lore on, I guess. Elder Scrolls have always had interesting lore, but I find I'm more receptive to it when it's presented as dialogue instead of a giant paragraph like Morrowind did it. I feel like you can still present good lore even without giant blocks of text, and while some may like that, I think that style is starting to fade a bit with some games. I haven't gotten caught up with FFXIV yet (still working on ARR mainstory) but I enjoy the lore presented there so far, possibly because it's just segmented more into dialogue and the giant blocks of texts aren't as necessary.

[Nishizono Shinji]

I think Mass Effect did a great job with its codex, it was read out to you which made it easier for people to go through rather than reading blocks of texts and added to the sci fi aesthetic

[toshioa]

It really depends on the game; some designers do go a little OTT with the lore and it does become endless scrolling or button mashing to get through it all but overall, I'd say lore is an integral part of any good game

[Nishizono Shinji]

I've not come across a game where the lore has been too much (at least to my tastes) does anyone have an example of a game where the lore was a little OTT?

[Teeny]

I mean, you've probably seen the lores I post in the DBD thread, I think it depends how into the game I am.
If it's a game I enjoy, I like to get the most out of it and I'll read lots into it and little details actually make the game better.

[toshioa]

I've not come across a game where the lore has been too much (at least to my tastes) does anyone have an example of a game where the lore was a little OTT?

I found Mass Effects to be a little bit too long in places as well as Oblivion and Skyrim. Granted a lot of it was optional but I did find it a little 'too' much.

[Kairi]

Depending on how well the game pulls me in, will dictate if i delve more into the lore... Some games have a good story, but that's it.. they don't really have the allure to make you want to find out more. Whereas there are games like Dark souls, which barely gives you any info on the lore and i love hunting it out, because it's a hidden gem.


Some lore in video games can make absolutely no sense and haven't been though through properly and others just make the world even better and immersive, so to answer the question, yes and no... it all depends on the game.

[Moulders]

I never found the lore of Dead or Alive Beach volleyball to get in the way of a great sports game.

[toshioa]

I never found the lore of Dead or Alive Beach volleyball to get in the way of a great sports game.

Wait... there was lore??

[Kairi]

I never found the lore of Dead or Alive Beach volleyball to get in the way of a great sports game.

Make lore for it!

[Rysiu]

To me it heavily depends on how the lore is written. Lets say TES has great lore and a lot of it but it's all written in the same manner. There's no dsitinction if you read a note from the bandit, a peasant's diary or a scholar's essey. It all lacks emotion so as far as the lore itself can be interesting it might be a bore to read through.

[toshioa]

To me it heavily depends on how the lore is written. Lets say TES has great lore and a lot of it but it's all written in the same manner. There's no dsitinction if you read a note from the bandit, a peasant's diary or a scholar's essey. It all lacks emotion so as far as the lore itself can be interesting it might be a bore to read through.

This is very true - I did find the lore on Skyrim particularly seemed to be written in the same voice no matter who had wrote it or what you reading! I did find myself skipping huge chunks of text come the end of the game as it was just too much!

[Tanya]

Games should definitely have lore that are presented in a story. For some games Lore isn't expected and annoying if it has it. The Lore in some games is better than others.

Some Lore is a bore. Lore in which is about a world but seemingly has nothing to do with the part of the world your character is in and what your character is doing can get tedious to read because it's ties are weak to what's going on. This can provide some rich background but can be considered overkill anyways. Still it's great to have this Lore when you want to learn a little bit more about the world.

Some Lore is quite interesting. Lore about characters, places, things, or events your character involved is quite interesting because it's a dive deeper in what you are doing and is almost always good to have.

How the Lore is presented does matter, usually Lore presented in a variety of different ways is preferable to me. Lore presented as images, statues or objects is visual. Then you have Lore that's presented in quests or in the main story line which helps enhance the story or quests because this learning it by doing. Quests with weak stories can be boring especially if their just run around tag quests. Then you have Lore that's dialog which is nice because you you learn more about it by listening. Lastly you have Lore in which you read which can or cannot get a bit over bearing and this Lore depends more largely on how well it is written. Sadly most Lore in games in which you read are not written in a way which makes it sound interesting, its presented like history is, but that's fairly normal, but another way to learn.

That all said Lore is presented in a variety ways in games, games sometimes only employ one of these methods so it depends.

I can say it depends on if I want to learn more about the Lore of the game or not if I want to know it. Some games, I just don't care, while for others I find the Lore fascinating.

[Tanya]

[mention=20855]Naughty Kitty[/mention] What are you saying no to?