Man if it looks like an info dump, structured like an info dump, and runs its mouth like an info dump; it's a damn info dump.
Besides that's Irrational's brand of story telling to begin with. They don't use cutscenes where you don't control the player very often between their last 2 games. It's just how they do things. If she's not that, she at least becomes full Deus Ex Machina status with how she solves every mother fucking thing and understands the secret to life while she's at it at the end.
Well, yeah. I'm just saying it was kind of necessary. There's no way to explain something that complex without explaining all of it at once. That bit could have been structured better, but at least it fucking made sense.
I'd also add that BioShock Infinite tells a deconstructionist story, and thus rules of what makes "good" or "bad" narrative structure are purposefully manipulated or done away with (though you can still have your own opinions on the matter, of course). Halo 4, on the other hand, tries to spin your typical epic sci-fi yarn. Though made unnecessarily complicated, its story is (in its most basic sense) pretty damn simple, and it makes no point of toying with storytelling convention in the way Infinite does, thus making its narrative issues a lot more glaring.
I agree. Especially once you add in the Episodes, it's a much more thoughtfully constructed multi-character story than GTAV. And each of GTAIV's storylines goes out with a bang, unlike GTAV which has a pretty terrible ending. And it's not as obnoxious about its humor and "satire." And there was actually a strong underlying theme. And there were interesting and even sympathetic characters.
Halo: Reach is the second best in the franchise, next to CE. Halo 4 is probably my least favorite game in the series. I still don't consider it anywhere close to bad though; any game with that set of core mechanics is pretty decent in my book.
Well deserved, I'd say. I don't know if it's my personal GOTY, but it's far and away the best AAA game released this year.
@biggest_loser said:
Doesn't this say something about what a letdown GTAV was? You'd think for all the hype and the development time it would have swept everything. It just wasn't a particularly good game.
Yeah I was just thinking that. GTAV was certainly a well-crafted game in a lot of respects, but I think it's pretty difficult to come away from it feeling particularly impressed given the issues with GTA Online, coupled with the fact that the game's writing is just so damn abrasive (and its ending was incredibly underwhelming).
I doubt Persona 5 will be out in the West in 2014. Though maybe it will due to the series' huge increase in popularity after Persona 4.
Anyway, I'm really looking forward to Dark Souls II, The Witcher 3, Dragon Age Inquisition, Pillars of Eternity, Barkley 2, Child of Light, and Cosmic Star Heroine. And assuming it mixes in role-playing elements like Bastion, Transistor easily makes the list as well.
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