I think "freedom" in games is overrated. When game designers focus on freedom, they necessarily sacrifice plot and character development. Games that offer the level of freedom of Fallout 1 and 2 aren't in high demand for the same reason that Choose Your Own Adventure books aren't regarded as serious literature, or even pulp fiction.
There's a certain novelty to being able to do "anything" in a game world, to be sure, but I much prefer games that offer small pockets of freedom within a strong linear narrative. Mass Effect is perhaps the best example, with its cinematic storyline and rich conversation trees.
The end result is often an either/or, but the holy grail is that you'd get at least some of both: a strong narrative that is still a strong narrative even after accommodating a wide range of freedom of the player, whose actions meaningfully influence the narrative. You probably need some better AI to do some runtime story management, though, since as you point out, choose-your-own-adventure style isn't too satisfying. Sort of the computer version of what happens in RL roleplaying games with a good DM--- they keep the story on track, but incorporate a wide range of player actions into the story, so there's both strong narrative and player freedom.
As an alternative, you can also view the lack of story in some games as a good thing, because it compels you to make up your own narrative.
"The answer is simple: Nethack does what computers do best - what computers were invented for. It hands you a symbolic representation of something, and lets you interact with it. The symbols are utterly mundane ... but the interaction is extraordinarily complicated. Interacting with the game of Nethack can be glorious, frustrating, hilarious, and satisfying. Like any great game, it's even fun to watch and talk about when played by others. There are probably more web pages of people telling their Nethack war stories than there are pages discussing the game itself." (http://garote.bdmonkeys.net/nethack/index.html)
Comments
I think "freedom" in games is overrated. When game designers focus on freedom, they necessarily sacrifice plot and character development. Games that offer the level of freedom of Fallout 1 and 2 aren't in high demand for the same reason that Choose Your Own Adventure books aren't regarded as serious literature, or even pulp fiction.
There's a certain novelty to being able to do "anything" in a game world, to be sure, but I much prefer games that offer small pockets of freedom within a strong linear narrative. Mass Effect is perhaps the best example, with its cinematic storyline and rich conversation trees.
The end result is often an either/or, but the holy grail is that you'd get at least some of both: a strong narrative that is still a strong narrative even after accommodating a wide range of freedom of the player, whose actions meaningfully influence the narrative. You probably need some better AI to do some runtime story management, though, since as you point out, choose-your-own-adventure style isn't too satisfying. Sort of the computer version of what happens in RL roleplaying games with a good DM--- they keep the story on track, but incorporate a wide range of player actions into the story, so there's both strong narrative and player freedom.
Interesting, I partly agree.
As an alternative, you can also view the lack of story in some games as a good thing, because it compels you to make up your own narrative.
"The answer is simple: Nethack does what computers do best - what computers were invented for. It hands you a symbolic representation of something, and lets you interact with it. The symbols are utterly mundane ... but the interaction is extraordinarily complicated. Interacting with the game of Nethack can be glorious, frustrating, hilarious, and satisfying. Like any great game, it's even fun to watch and talk about when played by others. There are probably more web pages of people telling their Nethack war stories than there are pages discussing the game itself." (http://garote.bdmonkeys.net/nethack/index.html)
Also have a look at the "Let's play" archive for X-Com on http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ptitle8zx0nomxzqc...