Why are so many games stories the same

It seems like so many games story arcs are created Marlin style. How many times has your character had to find a futuristic yet ancient artifact tha was also sought by another with vast forces hellbent on causing the end of the world. You usually start off fighting normal forces of the vast second party till the final act where enemies are some kind of mutant. These stories are extremely predictable and so cliche ridden that it seems like they spend millions making a game and spend five dollars on the story. Why not make a game with a story that has some chance of actually occurring. I think games with believable story lines tend to do quite well but are hard to find. I feel like rockstar gets this, there stories are over the top but in the realm of being believable. Why can't in a series like uncharted can we just be looking for treasure not fighting supernaturally enhanced creatures in the final act. Please someone come up with a story that is desirable to unravel not one where you desperately claw a the controller to skip. Any one else have any thoughts? Please share your thoughts in this forum.

I feel you on this 100% but its seems like most gamers want this EPIC experience which all plays out the same and is rather detaching.

I don't have an issue with some games being based on fantasy. I guess there should be some consistency, though. I can see where you're coming from as far as Uncharted goes. But since the first game establishes that weird shit can happen in this universe, I wasn't bothered having to fight purple monkey things and demon hallucinations in its predecessors.

game storylines are just like game mechanics, it's hard to invent a new one but when someone manages it, it will be an eye-opener... there are many different aspects as well, for a game to be generally accepted it has to be politically correct, it should not touch moral issues, it should not be too gory, it should not be too "adult" or it will get the dreaded r rating... then there is the issue of game development economics, as we've seen advertisement budget is something that any "respectable" aaa game should have, sometimes more than the game development budget, since that much is invested, not many do take risks and we get the same old cookie-cutter recipe, or the game will fail, etc etc... so the tried and verified formulas do get minor tweaks and served to us... it used to be a couple of people having a good idea / story / game mechanic, which got developed by a handful of people and than published, but now it is a whole different industry, where you have to get voice actors, mo-cap actors, musicians, orchestras and the whole nine yards... this is why the independent scene is blossoming, however since they do not get the publicity, most of these small companies got eaten up by the "big leaguers"... on another note many gamers do want a "summer blockbuster" rather than an art film, so it's just economics... :)

100% agree!

Movies are the same too.

Same in music, always the same crappy subject with the same predictable sexy video clip

@dooku321: I agree to an extent but I love fantasy stories more because believable gets boring too fast. Like GTA. I love GTA's stories but they try too hard to keep it believable that they miss out on so many opportunities.

Saints Row answers that with a vengeance which is why I like Saints Row better than GTA. It knows its a game and doesn't take itself too seriously.

I love games for the fun and imagination to play with. Sure realistic games have their perks but nothing stimulates the mind more than being enthralled in another world.

As for the cliches... Well it's just too hard to be original since all the good ideas are taken. But regardless of this, every character handles situations differently so even if it's a similar build; the characters and worlds are always new. Originality comes in all shapes and forms but the quest for it can be a heavy burden. And so we should let it flow naturally.

this seems to be more about treasure hunting games than games in general, or more specifically uncharted. very few games i can think of outside that genre have that kind of story arc. assassin's creed maybe, although that story just reeks of a developer who make the story and the tenuous links between instalments up as they go along.

in general terms, i'm more interested in devs giving us an interesting, followable, coherent story from start to finish. originality can come after they manage that consistently

@Macutchi: @Macutchi: I love the uncharted games they are the driving force behind me owning a ps4 And I love fantasy games as well like Witcher and mass effect, but I feel like so many of the stories in a variety of games follow a very similar story arc I would love to see the same level of stories that you find in movies. I see games being an exciting new vehicle for storytelling. Things that could be tailor made to the person playing the game. I just wished I could be excited about what happens next in the narrative of a game like when I watch a good film. Games are so aesthetically pleasing that now I think we should enjoy seeing stories of the same or similar quality as in the theater. I just rarely if ever find that to be the case

Many reasons, and I'll list them because why not.

1. Coming up with a fresh story that uses the medium of video games well takes a lot of effort.

2. With the budget games have these days, bigshot developers can't take financial risks anymore. It's clear what sells, so they'll just keep churning out the same stuff.

3. Most people who play games either don't care about the story or have incredibly low standards for what makes a story good (see: people who defend anything about the story of Modern Warfare 2).

4. We have other, not as big companies and indie devs putting out high quality stories on a regular basis.