Earlier this year I wrote about my love of lore in any game I play. As I was digging around my painting area, I unearthed my old Warhammer Fantasy starter box that still had most of the dwarves and goblins rattling around inside. As I cracked it open and briefly looked inside, all I could think was "Man, I would love to play this game."
Keep in mind that I know nothing about Warhammer Fantasy other than that units move in a brick rather than in a more organic looking spread of figures - and with that, I dislike 100% of everything I know about Warhammer Fantasy. And yet it still calls to me, begging me to try it out. Part of it has to do with my love of the figures (especially those dwarves!), but I think the biggest part goes back to when I played Warhammer Online, a multiplayer game set in the Warhammer universe.
When I played that game, I tried several classes to find what I liked since I planned on playing one class, rather than 10. In this game, each race had 3 or 4 unique classes to choose from, so pinning down just one was tough. A few things stood out to me mechanically (Marauder, Squig Herder, Shaman), but I kept looking. When I got to the dwarf classes, I played the Ironbreaker, Runepriest, and Engineer not because I liked how they played, but because the entire dwarf experience was intoxicating (they're drinkers, so that's a humorous statement).
The dwarves were just this enduring race that were constantly battling the greenskins (orcs and goblins), slowly watching their culture die. They were fiercely traditional, and everything they did had purpose. Their weapons were peerless, and they'd come so far along that while their enemies were besieging them with catapults, the dwarves were retaliating with rifles and cannons. They had a very Tolkienesque feel to them (especially in terms of dwarven pride), but felt unique at the same time. The story of the dwarves made me proud to be one, and the Ironbreaker quicky outpaced my goblin Shaman; not because I liked playing him better, but because I loved the lore of him so much.
The major fault of Warhammer Online is that it wanted you to get to maximum level so you could engage in Player vs Player combat, but getting there quickly required you to do meaningless quests in a world with a threadbare story. My dwarf stood strong in PvP battlefields, but I quickly suffered burnout from questing because I no longer felt like a dwarf, but a mindless peon. I quit the game, but I always have that inkling to go back just to be an Ironbreaker, with his huge shield and warhammer, once more.
As I said in my original post, I love lore in a game. But today, as I found myself browsing through all the Iron Kingdoms books that have been released to deepen the story of Warmachine, I realized something else - to me, a game lives or dies by its ability to engage me in the story. I'll admit, it's been a month or two since I've fielded a Warmachine army. Part of it is limited time, but even when I've gone to my gaming night I've been happy to sit on the side and watch/taunt my friends while they play. It's also been a few months since I've read any of the Warmachine/Hordes fluff, thus sparking my normal pattern.
While I enjoy playing games of any kind (Xbox, tabletop, card games, board games...), a game only truly holds my dedicated attention for as long as I'm invested in the story. Below are some examples of fantastic games that lost my interest as soon as I stopped paying attention to the story.
- Deus Ex: Human Revolution. This game series is all about conspiracy, and I was so excited for it to finally release. I was in love with it for the first 3/4 because the story never stopped unfolding, and I couldn't wait to get more. At one point you get to an area that is a bunch of mindless running around through a pretty weak portion of storytelling. Game makers usually have to do this just to give a game some artificial length, sending you on missions that feel rather unimportant in the grand scheme of things. I mange
- Magic. While I still enjoy the occasional game, and there are other reasons why I first fell out of the game, the catalyst to it all was when I stopped reading the novels that were released alongside the most recent set of cards. I loved playing my Rakdos deck and knowing how absolutely insane the Rakdos guild was. But when Lorwyn hit, I got so bored with the novels that the game soon followed suit.
- Hero Academy. This game is one of the best strategy games I've played against another person, but it has 0 story to it. I enjoyed it in my Rest Time Review, but the game just fizzled because I had no compelling reason to care about what was happening.
- Malifaux. To be fair I've never actually played the game. I fell in love with the idea of Malifaux because of the models, and as usual I started digging more in to the actual story. The more I read about the story, the more my excitement waned. It's not that it has a bad story, but it still hasn't quite resonated with me, and as a result I still haven't pushed to play the game. From comments made by the community I understand that this is an evolving part of an otherwise fantastic game, so I'm quite optimistic as they prepare to release a new version of the rules.
I would counter all that with a list of games I picked up because of the story, but I'd probably list nearly every game I've played except Call of Duty (which did actually start because I heard CoD 4's story was good) and...Dance Central 2?
As I write this, I find myself really wanting to pick up a Warhammer Fantasy novel and learn more about my dwarves. But I know if I do, I'm screwed. I'll buy some dwarves (probably from Mantic because I don't own an oil field), paint them after a Warhammer theme, and then of course I'll have to play them (probably through the more lightweight Kings of War, also by Mantic).
I don't mean to sound like I have no impulse control, but I think many of you can relate to how a story can make you excited to play the game its related to. Despite not enjoying the game, I still find myself wanting to play Warhammer 40k any time I read the stories or browse through a wiki. Dark Souls, a game I've beaten more times than any other game, still draws me in when I see a lore video on one of the YouTube channels I follow. World of Warcraft? I still get drawn back to it any time I read a novel or spend an insomniatic night reading through a weekly lore column on WoW Insider.
Am I alone in this? Is lore that important to you that without it, the game crumbles? Are game mechanics enough to keep you actively engaged, or do you need to have a story tied to the pieces you push around the table, the character at the other end of your joystick, or the beautifully-illustrated cards you draw from your deck? If you're with me, let me know so I feel a little less awkward, And if you think I'm crazy, keep quiet and I'll assume it's silent agreement.
[No really, comment anyway. I can take it!]
See you tomorrow!
I am also a lover of lore. It's probably why I own rulebooks for about 12 games but almost never play them! Warhammer's lore is waaaaaaaay better than the game. It's very broken, imho.
ReplyDelete