ITT: Why do fighting games suck at telling stories?

>>388437379
Because it's not their priority.

Because the plot has to incorporate a 1v1 fight.

>>388437481
That and having to keep like 20 characters relevant plot-wise

Because for the longest time, overarching story was not a priority in fighting games. At most, you got character-specific stories when you play a character through arcade mode and get an ending unique to them.

And as >>388437481 and >>388437537 say, you have to provide opportunities for larger-than-life characters to get into fights on a regular basis, if you're going to tell an overarching story. Sure, that's what rival fights are for, but that's only a small piece.

>>388437379
Because conveying a decent plot is tough when the main medium is fighting game mechanics with visual novel dialogue portions. You're honestly better off just telling the entire story in more detail through the latter. Plus this applies way too much too >>388437537 Blazblue in particular didn't really need that many characters. I think Tekken 7 was the only one that really pulled off a cinematic but still really stupid final boss fight in its story mode.

Bullet didn't need to exist

>>388437379
You buy fightan for the gameplay. The cutscenes and story are in the way of the gameplay.

>>388439675
>Amane didn't need to exist
ftfy

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>>388439675
So is half of CP characters. Azrael is borderline comedy in how sudden the fucker enter the story
>dude I just want to punch shit lmao

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>>388437481
That's why the best fighting game story doesn't even have gameplay.

The only fighting game that kind of told an okay story was Def Jam FFNY, and that's not even really a fighting game.

OP here. I know there are games that have good stories. My problem is the presentation and way it's told. I like Blazblue's plot, but Jesus if it isn't boring as hell to play through.

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>>388441052
YOU WILL BE DESTROYED

YOU WILL BE DESTROYED

HAHAHHAHAHA

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>>388440749
this

>>388440256
Pretty much.
>>388440114
Amane becomes the next. Rachel.Just by context he's semi important

>>388437379
Because you have to take into account a cast of 30+ somefucks with superpowers duking it out and somehow it coming to nothing with the universe of the setting.

>>388437379
Cause all of them are made by ching chongs

>>388437379
because it's not easy to make a good story when every character has to be a fighter and have to fight each other. Your options are very limited.

>>388441224
>I like BB's plot
It may be the best fighting game story but that's not saying much and going as far to say that you like it is pretty telling you have shit taste.

>>388446469
The first 2 games' plot is sorta decent. Not much worse than the average JRPG

>>388437379
>Alot of characters
>Often not the reason the games are bought and just a side story even in games with longer stories with more effort put into them like GG/BB
>Its more important for movesets/mechanics to work for most fighter devs then to create a story.

And also if its a game like BB they have to continue to keep shit vague because of how many games there are so they can keep penciling in a story mode.

>>388437379
>game
>story
not every game needs to pander to plotfags ffs, leave this mediuem alone.

>>388437379
Blazblue actually has a fun story though, because it's disconnected to the fighting game.
Each new instalment of Blazblue comes with a visual novel with branching paths with bad ends and gag reels. It's great

I have no idea why the abomination that is MK9 story mode gets so many accolades.

>>388446725
Yeah. I'd say that CP is where is started to go down hill too.

>>388446469
>shit taste
Just let people like things.

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I want a Soul Calibur reboot and I want Yoko Taro to write the fucking thing.

>>388447285
If a game is going to bother to have a story, and not an excuse plot, then it should be presented well.

>>388448035
why the fuck would he do that

>>388447487
I like BB's story. But, it's pretty telling I'd rather read a wiki than actually play through it. I only buy the games so the creators don't get fired so I can continue to read the wiki for the story.

>>388448219
I dunno. I'd like it though.

>>388448442
you sound just as retarded as the "platinum should make everything" people

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>>388437379
mortal kombat games seem to do it fine

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>>388448727
>Fucking Mortal Kombat (and a DC Comics fighter) of all games pushing forward fighting games as a storytelling medium
What fucking universe am I living in?

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>>388446373
>because it's not easy to make a good story when every character has to be a fighter

Not really. You just need to have say a goal or an object everyone wants, maybe say a magic sword. And then you have the characters all gather around while questing for said magic sword for their own motivations and well, the rest kind of writes itself

Honestly by all logic fighting games are the easier to write for because they're the most simplest and direct vehicles for creating conflict. Even people on the same side may have to face each other over a plot item or if it's a tournament.

>>388448518
I just want a SC reboot desu
A good story never hurts a game and I'm a sucker for that man's works and suffering in general, so

>>388448840
mortal kombat has had a story mode for a lot of there games and a lot of lore

because they only have 2 options for story telling
make the main villain so shallow that everyone has a reason to fight him at the end (Street Fighter)
or have the villain only have a beef with a select few of characters, leaving most of the cast doing nothing (King of the Fighters)

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>>388448951
Fighting games are THE place for character-driven narratives, because fighting games are nothing without their characters.

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KOF has a lot of story but I always felt Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting did it best.

In Fatal Fury you have the two brothers out for revenge on Geese for killing their pop. Their buddy Joe joins them and they fight in a tourney for their chance to take a shot at Geese. In AOF Rob and Ryo go fight a bunch of guys to get Yuri back.

It's all very 80s action movie stuff but it gives them all the motivation and justification to fight. It's not about turning your game into a G.R.R Martin novel but all you have to do to give a character a reason to be there is well give them a reason to be there.

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>>388449408

Is that really a bad thing though? In your own examples Bison despite being EXTREMELY cartoonishly evil is still generally always pretty charismatic.

And as for relevancy? Well that's okay too so long as the character can be likable on their own. This are at their core CHARACTER based games. Like a good example is Guilty Gear's Jam. She has fuck all to do with the games MAIN plot but has a charisma that's all her own. even if she's just their to pad out the roster she's not without her own motivations, she forms relationships with other characters and is still memorable.

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>>388448840
Comics have been used to juggling dozens of characters for events for decades,.
You can always give Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman something important to do even while there is an overarching plot that mainly involves the Green Lanterns or someone else.
There are 80 years of source material they can use.

While in something like Street Fighter lets say Guile, Chun Li, Cammy and Nash are out fighting Bison. That's some important shit
>what's Ryu doing?
training? but then he decides to fight Bison?
>what's Ken doing?
well he has a wife and kid, and he likes to train..
>what's Juri doing
she's being a spy or something
>what's Alex doing
probably waiting for Tom to get hurt
>what's Zangief doing
well wouldn't it be funny if he was training R. Mika?

etc. etc. Fighting game characters just don't have much stuff to work with. It's not their fault, they were only made to fight each other

>>388450492
yeah, it doesn't really matter. you shouldn't come to a fighting game expecting every character do have complete arcs and stories they need to tell

>>388448840
Mortal Kombat has been telling a story since the very first game. Each character had fucking walls of text in the earliest games that were actually relevant to their character, motivations and place in the universe. Every game, each character is given something to do, whether it is directly related to whatever endgame threat or some side goals, and they carry that shit into following games.
It ends up being a huge selling point, establishing a world and the people in them that are gradually explored further with each game. Compare that to most Japanese fighting game stories where eighty percent of the cast don't really have any relevance and quite often are just hanging out while you get a focused character story in a relatively static world.

Guilty Gear and BlazBlue have big stories, the former experiments a good deal but the latter very strictly sticks to the status quo. The rosters will get bigger, but the characters will not change significantly, the world will grow slightly if at all. Most of the time in the Arcade Mode, most secondary characters accomplish something personal that doesn't really go anywhere or isn't really canon.

KOF sort of has their own thing with progressing storylines like Orochi and NESTS and yearly releases/updates, but will rarely do away with the many existing characters/teams (besides bosses in each game who are canonically killed) who show up because there's always a KOF tourney to fight in.

Besides MK, Street Fighter is about the only one that dares to change things up every now and then and present totally new stories, often to negative reaction when it doesn't have Ryu front and center (also see the reaction to Soul Calibur V). However, SF is by far the one that has the most unrelated characters doing nothing but being a selectable fighter. MK will change up a lot between games and doesn't shy away from pruning the roster every now and then (though you'll always have a "Sub-Zero" even if it's his brother).

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>>388450893

I guess in a way it's true that STORY doesn't matter but that's from the same thing as saying CHARACTER doesn't matter, which is what I think most people generally really mean.

Take for example SC5. The people who like it say up and down it's one of the best MECHANICALLY. Are they right? I dunno I haven't played a lot of it but Ill give it to them. Outside the competitive crowd though almost nobody liked 5. Like at all. Why? Well a big reason is because they dropped a huge chunk of the series staples, characters who have been around since Soul Blade for a new pack of literal whos and didn't even bother to explain who they where and what their deals where. They replaced my personal waifu Taki with a shitty bimbo female Naruto clone and well Ill be honest I just noped out and only dicked around with the character creator for a bit after that.

You know what the worst problem is though? I love the idea of Taki getting a student. If you're going to drop her from the game that's probably the best way to do it and honestly I just like knowing she's not somewhere old and alone or worse. But the game never endears Natsu to us. (plus the aforementioned Naruto thing but that's a separate issue about creativity really)

I know the game was plagued with a shitty release schedule and budget but I really don't think it would have been asking a lot to throw up some still art after clearing an arcade mode with a few paragraphs explaining things.

People LIKE characters and it's not hard to endear them to us. Not in a fighting game.

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>>388437379
>Game has the usual" overarching plot but isn't the main focus"
>Stories told through arcade mode, etc.
>Game finally puts in a "story" mode in the next release
>Just covers events leading up to the present plot
>Lot of background info on the roster, but doesn't actually cover a whole lot in regards to the main story
At least Chronicle Mode was fun, but I'd really like to know more about what the fuck is going on right now.

>>388452932
>>Just covers events leading up to the present plot

You know that's already enough because that's what I was drawing the most blanks on. Under night has this weird idea that Im already familiar with what the shit is happening. I feel like Im playing a sequel without the first

>>388437379
injustice 1 and 2 are pretty good

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>>388453226

they get points for trying but Im really tired of DC/WB trying to EDGE UP their heroes. Like we can't just have a normal Justice League game we have to have the edgy evil alternate universe Superman "because superheroes are lame and for nerds and not cool grown up badasses like us"

>>388453226
As a film, yes. As a game, no. Playing the story ,mode involves playing a match, and then putting the controller down for another fifteen minutes or so.

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>>388452932
They're probably still trying to find a way to make a lot of the arcade run-ins and dialogue as understandable as possible. There's a lot of shit going on during that big Hollow Night
>>388453134
I can level with that actually. The reason it feels that way is because the creators regularly conversed with fans to elaborate on the more mundane aspects of the character's lives before and after the game's initial release in nipland. They explained how they drafted a pretty different story when they were starting out but something tells me they've got everything down

>>388453564
>we have to have the edgy evil alternate universe Superman "because superheroes are lame and for nerds and not cool grown up badasses like us"
And yet two of my favorite heroes to look at in Injustice 2 are Jay Garrick, the Golden Age Flash, and John Stewart - the black Green Lantern.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDi-WOJFCso
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbTgQahosY4

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>>388453134
Fair enough, although I wish they advanced the main plot a little bit considering it hasn't progressed past its current state after [st]'s release, and the next time something new plot related will happen is like 2 or 3 years from now when the next version comes out.

>>388453903
UNI is still technically in it's "first game" with 2 subsequent upgrades so maybe we'll finally see a sequel sometime after the crossover.

>>388453862
What game is this?

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>>388454283
Under Night In-Birth

>>388454502

Which Ill be honest is one of the worst titles for a game I think Ive seen. I like it but christ.

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>>388454830
How about Melty Blood: Actress Again: Current Code: Hologram Summer Again, Tri-Hermes Black Land

I have a friend that unironically loves Blazblue's plot. He's 28. Some people just never get taste, no matter how old they are.

>>388437379
>he thinks fighting games suck at telling stories
>he hasn't played bushido blade

>>388455009

touche

>>388454502
I might actually have that from ps+. Is the story enjoyable?

>>388455442

Kind of? There's ZERO front loading of any kind so it's hard to get what's happening and what's at stake really in the grand scheme of things but some of the characters are neat

Why is Uno such a shit medium for telling stories?
Why does Chess have such difficult problems setting up over-arching narratives?
Why does Solitaire struggle so much to bring insights on the nature of human existence to the table.

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>>388455442
>PS+
You're probably still on UNIEL instead of the newest iteration, UNIST. The story mode mentioned in >>388452932 is in the latter. Story is pretty bare bones since you'll mostly have to glean info from every arcade mode.

>>388455938
>Why is Uno such a shit medium for telling stories?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1XQduS6IfA

>>388455964
Well, Sion will carry the game for me, I guess.

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>>388456117
Her story mode is just her complaining about why Melty Blood HD doesn't exist and breaking the 4th wall. Sion and Akatsuki literally don't exist in the story.

>>388437379
Because the plot has to lead into 1v1 fights where characters should not die so they can appear in the next game.

>>388456049
>Even has the girl muttering MC's name
Nice