How Fighting Games Tell Stories
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 ก.ย. 2022
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#FGC #stories #FGContent
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Fighting Game Glossary: glossary.infil.net/ - เกม
Congrats Gekko, now you are doomed to make a musical theme analysis of EVERY new character in STRIVE from now on. :D
Sin's next!!
While it may just be an entire anime in the game for some reason, Ky and Sol freaking out about being inlaws will never not be great. And now I know where babies come from, thanks Sin
if sin was ever forced to teach someone where babies come from, he would 100% traumatise them
From your eye right?
@@velvetdraws3452 I mean, he might have traumatized May. Maybe Ram, too.
@@veryloudcat8839 dont forget the poor npc guard in the backround
Bridget: Being emotional and all
Also Bridget: *ultimate groovy*
ultimate groomy
"The dysphoria can't get to me iF I'M JAMMING HARD ENOUGH"
@@nermax7022 who asked
@@buzzlightyer2948 cry about it (plus u didn’t deny it)
@@nermax7022 "you didn't deny it" i am now, also that was just a straight up nitpick
I love how Daisuke just. Made two full length movies in Strive
One thing I think you missed is how death is an issue within fighting games. A character’s death can have massive implications within a movie or game where you don’t directly play as that character. However, because fighting games are all about playing a specific character, having them die can lead to a loss of fans of said character or finding ways to bring them back (MK). So now you’ve got this issue where a tool that can be really effective isn’t really an option or is cheapened because you know anyone can come back.
Cough Cough *Tekken* Cough
I think this could be worked around with creative thinking and the setting.
The Fate series already has a perfect setup to keep killing characters but still being able to bring them back without losing the weight of their scenes...
Just make the characters be already dead... Because the characters in fate are mainly people from the past that died a long time ago and have been brought up as heroic spirits to fight to accomplish their wishes.
Their deaths still have a lot of weight as they always make sure to make a difference in the different imes we see them just directly not having memories of their previous times they were fighting or that it was a different version of them that you will never see again.
You could do the same work around with a time travel setting. For example doctor who also did this with the character River Song. The first time the Doctor meets her its already the very end of her story and the Doctor and River are meeting in reverse time(the older river meets a younger doctor and the older doctor meets a younger river) so we still see more of River song as the doctor keeps meeting her from a time before she reaches her ending making their story very interesting due to the tragedy of their relation as he already knows how it will all end for her.
That's the most stupid one, why don't just make them no canon character with joke endings?
creating a character who plays like dead character bc lore reasons work like how lambda-11 was the nu-13 stand in for continuum shift
It needs clever workarounds, you could establish they have a family or students or friends who fight similarly could in future games replace that character if they die. It is veering a little into the "characters as functions" discourse from mvci, but by framing it as this other character honouring and carrying on the elgacy of the dead character fans would likely still be happy.
"In a theory that I'd like to call "What the fuck happened to Faust""
That got me gahdamn
I think the issue is the misconception that story = plot. But there are many elements to a story: characters, setting, themes, tone, and plot. Different genres do better at highlighting some of these then others.
For fighting games, I feel like characters are the best focus. Not just backstories or character development, either, but the dynamics they have with each other. Friendships, rivalries, sudden betrayals, unlikely alliances... I think fighting games are great at this stuff and should lean into it more.
but all of those things eventually become part of the plot. like, if the plot is what happens in the story, and what happens is what the characters do, then characters are indeed part of the plot.
if you want, i can elaborate on the other elements too.
SC honestly does this well especially 6 for every SC character has a story and tells ya bout them,their drives,loved ones,and motivation or rival,and some aren't even after the same plot but still get you invested in their story due to ties to others.
@@slkjvlkfsvnlsdfhgdght5447 plot isn't the same as story. Story could be as simple as "the mc fight his rival, the mc wins" or "the mc fight a villain because the villain killed the mc's parent".
@@third-ratedude4234 that's a story summary, not an entire story; or even just a premise.
@@slkjvlkfsvnlsdfhgdght5447 do you expect me to write an entire story with dialogue here? Lol
The point l'm trying to make is that story can be simple, while plot is a lot more complicated
IS kinda sad how many modern fighting games are not doing custom intros and vs songs that add so much in fighting games as a casual to love the characters even more. About story mode yeah visual novels are not best but I not gonna lie the ending of BB central fiction with Ragna and Rachel did reach my feels.
World tour in SF6 looks interesting but reminds that Rival Schools story mode and the japonese exclusive visual novel(almost like a persona game)is a cool idea.
Based Rival Schools enjoyer. Who would you pick to join the SF6 cast?
@@goodusermaadinternet6774 Daigo would be so cool!
BlazBlue Crosstag has 1 HOUR of intros
@@senritsujumpsuit6021 Yeah its a crossover so im glad they did that fanservice nowdays most of the game does custom lines but not animations.
@@Mclucasrv theirs just something about characters getting slightly bullied by other game fighters is just adorable
The fact that dissida final Fantasy has the best figing game story mode still astounds me
FOR THE LOVE GOD SOMEONE PUT THE OG DISSIDIA ON STREAM.
@@markanthonybowen9419 emulate it bro.
@@enrique7934 U rite U rite
Yar Yar fiddle deedee being a pirate is alright to be~
I emulated dissidia duodecim on my old laptop and played it on keyboard several years ago. Was still able to play my favs Kuja, Ultimecia, Lightning, Exdeath and Emperor with no problem at all. God that game was so good.
Soul Calibur and KOF have some interesting stories. Especially for FGs
A lot of SNKs games have hella story and personalities.
Rival Schools is pretty meta too.
(Underrated Capcom FG)
"what the fuck happened to faust"
"this can be something like growing a beard, getting a haircut or something very drastic such as losing your family or square one"
comedy gold
Anyone gonna show him PS1 GG videos?
No one?
Okay.
Lol
get my boy some motherfuckin therapy please
can you imagine how cool it would be for like some custom game feature in private lobbies where 2 players can fight one superpowered character, like the end of the gg arcade. It would be hard to make / balance and i cant imagine it would be super popular however i think it would be pretty neat for a casual mode
thats the thing. there wouldn't need to be balance.
Street Fighter Alpha 3 has a mode like that
Dramatic Battle and Reverse Dramatic Battle
I'm not certain if that supports multiple players though
I think games like Skullgirls and Soku worked in interactions for each fight, and TFH merged a tutorial + adventure + fighting game into its story which probably deserves a mention.
YOOO SOKU.
Them's Fighting Herds did a great job as well.
thf really did a great job and i think it can serve as a template for future fighting games
Skullgirls is a visual novel but its short sweet and sometimes bewolf kick my ass because for some reason his ai is good
@@miigi-p4939 dude his AI constantly gives me hell in ways hardly any other character does. Big Band too. when i lose to them i lose hard, when i lose to anyone else i can at least come close to knocking them out.
@@mayayamato7351 yeah like i dont know who decided to make his ai know how to play but props
bridget's story might be a good modern fighting game story, but to be honest i feel as though its still a little lacking. it still has a lot of symptoms of the main problems many fighting game stories have, at least in my opinion
this isn't to say the story doesn't work as is. it definitely functions and tells a complete arc. the problem i have moreso is *missed potential*. giving more time to have a look into bridget during her arcade mode would vastly improve its story as a whole. what if we had a mirror match where bridget literally fights her inner demons? while it is cliche, the opportunity to explore bridget's conflict more would add much more weight to not only bridget's decision, but goldlewis' and ky's actions at the end of the story as well, and this exploration is invaluable because at the heart of fighting games lies the characters, and would strengthen the development of those characters, dare i say, tenfold.
this leads into what is what i think is the main problem with fighting game stories -- the unfortunate _lack_ of exploration of characters. most of the methods mentioned in this video surround exploration of characters: ryu's shifting designs, character/stage themes, cinematic intros and dramatic finishes. the problem with these is that these relegate the story to the background, and while yes, this is more often than not the intention, it is what I think is the most unfortunate part of all of this: EVERYTHING is there to tell a good story, but it's almost always never done. characters clashing with one another provides *immense* potential in exploring motivations, initiating developments, and both building and deconstructing characters. my favorite example of this is urien's rival dialogue with gill in his arcade mode in SF3, and by extension Gill's SF5 story as well, because it dares to explore urien as a character. outwards he is a scumbag, an egotistical villain, but in his rival dialogue the writers dared to give the player a crumb of sympathy to him, by recontextualizing his mad desire for power as a desire for freedom and validation, rather than what was initially communicated as just, well, villainy. unfortunately, this is mostly it, this is the end of exploring the character's complexities, and it is such a shame. bridget's story falls into a similar category to this example, and I'll admit, what is in bridget's story is pretty good, and can definitely be considered better than a lot of previous stories! its just theres so much higher developers can go.
TL;DR, --play urien-- bridget is love but we need more of bridget's life for maximum story awesomeness. all of the framework and some of the parts are there, its just theres so much more that can be done. thanks for reading this rant and nice video.
Good comment and fair criticism of the story, and suggestions how to improve it. Although I would avoid having her fighting her inner demons in actual gameplay as it is too cliche like you've said (and could paint the wrong picture if not done well), I do also desire to see this story expanded upon more. It's a very important story and one that clearly resonates with a lot of people.
Acknowledging the arc itself is already complete is important, and I'm glad you mentioned that in your comment too. You don't need additional context to accept another human being for who they are.
Because it's literally a dumb retcon. Bridget was always meant to be a boy until suddenly they said he isn't out of nowhere lmao
@@SinclairLocke I mean, Bridget always had a trans themed story, its just explicit now lol
@@Jyleslow His story was about being a boy raised as a girl. A girl raised as a girl is a cis story.
@@SinclairLocke Except, that girl was born a boy. A girl who detransitioned to her birth sex due to pressure, then retransitioned later in life.
The execution is debatable (I haven't played through enough to know how consistent things are), but conceptually I like the way Under Night In-Birth handles story mode. Each character gets a small visual novel prologue to give you context to who they are, the people they know, and why they're fighting. The Arcade mode then tells the story set in the present from that character's perspective while also being focused on gameplay.
Also in this house we love and support Bridget for coming to terms with who she is.
I honestly think that Sol should stay in dragon install after his command grab super in Strive. Also throw in Ride the Fire for good measure.
"RADIOOOOO"
R.I.P to the comment section on this video
Honestly shout-out to Heihachi vs. Kazuya in Tekken 7. Though the story in that game is questionable at best, the actual final battle is genuinely a contender for the best final boss in any fighting game imo. A proper culmination of the Mishima feud that I don't think could've been done any better.
Tekken 7's story mode is great.... ... if all you've seen of it is Maximilion Dude's Boss Rage..
Actually playing through it myself, I appreciate just how many hoops he had to jump through to make that look hype.
The final fight is great and one of the best moments I've seen in the genre, but it fails to fix the rest of the 40 minutes of button mashing.. and no I don't mean the fights, I mean to skip the walls of text with multiple loading screens between the fights.
For real it felt impossible but it felt so good when you smashed through that wall
I think one of the best arcade modes in old fighting games is jojo's one
They have one cutscene at the start and after each fight, they are short, skippable and tell the story pretty well, every char has its own story mode (even tho some arent as flashed out as the others) and the fights arent very easy (including some minibosses that changes the gameplay drastically)
I have two words you didn't say during the entirety of your video dear Squirrel.
Subspace Emissary.
I think a Fighting Game that has a story that is slept on WAY too much is Soul Calibur. I genuinely feel it's the best story shown WITHIN the game overall.
Soul Calibur _is_ pretty underrated story-wise ngl.
True true true
KOF n other SNK games
as a trans woman that Bridget cutscene makes me tear up every single goddamn time
I’m glad I’m not the only one! I’ve seen it a dozen times now and every time I’m so happy for her :’)
x2, I wanted to buy KOF, but just for Bridget I’m this close 🤏 to buying Strive
@@delta8518 as someone who got strive for Bridget, strongly recommend, it's a damn fun game ^^
Same sister
I hope you get better man and get the support you need. Remember nothing will ever make you less of a man and were here to support you.
Thank you for enlightening me about Bridget, before i though it made no sense to make her trans, after reading her +r story, but now i actually see it how it is: good character writing.
Bridget being trans retcons her development to be manly and show those the superstition her hometown has doesn't mean anything.
Instead she gives into the grooming and becomes a girl due to societal pressure and ignores all her backstory.
That's horrifying and sad isn't it?
@@Strider1Wilco so lemme ask this, is it okay to groom someone into a femboy? they were treated like a boy in private by her parents
@@Strider1Wilco actually it doesnt. it just refocuses herself and makes her more confident, basically strengthed her character and turning her weakness into a strength(her weakness was her feeling uncomfortable with her real self. as soon as she stop being uncomfortable. its no longer a weakness but more of a strength.)
@@velvetdraws3452 No. Lemme ask you this instead. is being forced into being a girl a good trans rep?
@@Aes_Saru The whole point of Bridget's story was to find his true self, since the hometown basically forced him being a girl over a superstition. Turning Bridget into a trans character kills the whole point, since now Bridget just accepts the identity given to him, not the1 forged himself.
I hope this video at least brings up how KOF tells its stories
ya hate to see it
My favorite way of handling the story is the one seen in SoulCalibur VI.
Two story modes, one in which you take control of your own character and travel across Europe and Asia in a pseudo-RPG while you fight other characters and advance your own plot, and another with several stories (main story + every character's own story) with their own dialogues, battles and special battle conditions.
You can even tell how and when the different stories intersect or one continues another.
Also, there are A LOT of special dialogue lines: Intro quotes, outro quotes, taunts, time over win/lose quotes, ring out quotes, Soul Charge activation quotes, Reversal Edge Quotes. Hwang and Mitsurugi even have different quotes when activating Soul Charge one after the other depending on the order they did it.
Too bad the game's budget was little more than whatever Okubo could find under couches and vending machines at Namco, having actual cutscenes instead of an attempt at making a VN would have been great.
Great video! I think one title not listed that tends to do a lot with their story mode is Tekken. Tekken has beat em up sequences as it carries you through some absurd and elaborate plots. Whether it's fun to play or not is unfortunately a different story, however it has a really cool way of showing story that other games tend to stray away from.
Bro I can't wait for your channel to pop off
One small niche fighting game with a pretty good story is "Thems Fighting Herds". It's a horse fighting game but the story mode is just a top down rpg and is a genuine story. The story itself was ok, but the gameplay of the story showed a way fighting games can actually tell stories.
I fucking hate that game. It replaced smash bros spot at EVO. It makes me sad.
Edit: It was for 1 year.
@@giddymadman2687 And Smash Bros stopped Skullgirls from getting Evo main stage in 2013. Not to mention plenty of other years where Melee AND 4 were on main stage over possible other solid games. Your point? Smash is wildly successful and has had Smash-exclusive major international tournaments since at LEAST Genesis 1. Missing a single Evo (at least before they were removed from Evo entirely) really isn't a big deal by comparison.
tldr why are you so mad that the biggest platform fighter once got upset by an extremely niche ungulate fighter
@@giddymadman2687 What EVO are you talking about?
@@aramondehasashi3324 An old one. I half forget.
@@giddymadman2687 Considering it was only included for EVO in 2020 (which was cancelled) and 2021 (which was online), and both of those were during COVID-19 lockdowns so online games with shit net connection (read: Nintendo connection) were kinda out of the running... Yeah, you're probably thinking of 2020 where Smash was excluded because Ultimate has awful netcode and laggy people on WiFi around the world while TFH, Killer Instinct, Skullgirls and Strive all had rollback netcode and other included games at least were miles better than Nintendo's notoriously terrible online.
Being mad at a game because your favorite game wasn't included in a tournament is whatever but at least know the reasoning behind why you're mad. Maybe don't hold a grudge against a game because it managed to get a niche spot in order to maybe get some attention when it's an entirely indie game compared to games from juggernauts Capcom, Warner Bros and Nintendo.
Honestly hope moving forward with Strive dlc they actually follow what Bridget story did and not have Nago be involved. I get Nago the boss character of Strive but from the bits of arcade mode I’ve seen, he does not work for every character-main example is Testament, I’d really like to learn why they had such a huge shift in personality but their arcade mode is literally just them roaming around, even tho I think there’s a secret exchange with them and Chipp if you want around but I only briefly saw the clip once-the only character I really seen him work with is Chaos given there ties. (Chaos arcade mode was also good I’d say as it gives some post story context, especially with how it’s seemingly in some after life as he runs into the *real* I-No, but I think we all can agree Bridget’s is the best one as of now) Though knowing how Strive handle its story mode and just being allergic to characters interacting, it really could go either way but I’m just hoping Bridget is the start of something new to come.
I 100% agree with this, I hope they give us more arcade mode stories that provide something to the player. Bridget was a great improvement and I hope it keeps on improving after this
Agree with both of these comments.
"Testament, I’d really like to learn why they had such a huge shift in personality"
Honestly, it was just them being alone in the forest that motivated them to try living with humans. After Ky went off with Dizzy, they just didn't have any purpose, so they left the forest to live with some elderly couple and picked up all those hobbies trying to get in touch more with their humanity.
I might also argue they had a small convo with Slayer at some point, since his win quote against Testament in XX is "Take your time. You will find purpose in your life as you go."
which is basically what happened. Testament themselves also actually says what happened to them between the games. "People did. I was lucky to have found people who love and accept me."
I do agree though, that future characters should follow Bridget's example of more thematic and story heavy arcade modes.
Yup, agreed. Testament has a lot of great voicelines that were featured in their trailer signalling some very well thought-out character arc and self-actualization for them, and their general demeanor, design and attitude when playing as them is still stellar as far as that goes, but there was barely anything properly fleshed out in their story and it had the potential of being even more potent than Bridget's was due to them having a much more volatile backstory that includes a lot of trauma and death. The door is still open for more story around Testament so hopefully in the future.
The best Arcade that Nago was apart of was where Chipp called Anju a Gaisha and in Jack-O's ending he said he went with a Gaisha. This means ArcSys acknowledges that Anji is best girl
It fills my heart with pure joy hearing you say “Trans rights are human rights.”
Thank you.🥹
Okay actual Guilty Gear anime would be sick as hell though
I think Tekken 4 did it right. Arcade mode was unique to every character, and it was ALL cannon, except the endings. Good mix of gameplay and cutscenes with a great narrator to boot! Just missed things like unique character intros, though they did do some unique stuff in some cases iirc. Kazuya waiting for Jin is one example. Jin was captured by Heihachi, so Jin didn't make it to the fight, and that gave us a cutscene of Kaz standing around instead of loading into an a fight
6:01 Well, he has a point, a good point, the Visual Novel just have 61 hours of story
that isnt really an issue if its paced properly. Like how long do you think one piece is for example?
It isnt just visual novels that can do that. They choose to do it more frequently but it isnt the most necesary.
Blazblue went for longer and in a way that kind harmed the experience specially because you hace to go through 4 games and the summary skips a loy of details.
It was more an issue of execution with blazblue.
dude the fucking bridget section unironically made me cry like wtfffffff also wtf how are you THIS based
Tbh, if fighting games are gonna do the whole "game inside a game" story mode, why not make your story mode a character action game like DMC or Bayonetta? I mean, that genre is basically single player fighting games already, so it seems like a natural fit to me.
They tried that lol it didn't work
ideally yes but that would take an insane amount of resources
I think the main reason why the whole Bridget discourse happened in the first place was because of the fact that the story element was in the fighting game genre. If it were in any other medium, it really wouldn't be as much discourse. While I do think that she does need a bit more of storytelling in terms of the decision, I do see why it's hard to do that now.
Honestly, thank you for bringing up Bridget in this conversation because it helped clarify a few things.
I think that too. Despite me not liking the change myself. I do think that most of my disdain if not all my disdain for it, comes from the fact that due to Bridget being a fighting game character or rather a fighting game character that is locked behind fighting game story limitations. We don't really get to see Bridget's arc of the gender change from the beginning to end, rather skipping all the development and seeing what seems to be the conclusion, for me it feels downright sloppy, trying to tackle a really complicated issue and then just skipping to the conclusion like it really is that simple. A lot of people were happy with it and they certainly can be, i will not take away that happiness from them, but i would very much liked more time to develop this and accept that a character like Bridget who was pretty much defined by the fact that he was a feminine man now decides that he is not a man at all anymore and prefers to be a girl.
It's also just because they used that story on a character with a backstory that has unfortunate implications, and is also erasing a valid and underexplored identity to insert it
@@codyhax0995 I like my girlish boy more then this girl girl thing that happened after Twitter shit itself
am boing back to him messing with Yoyo's with Potemkin an serving tables with Jam
I don't think so if I'm being honest.
For example, I would bet big money that if, for example, Ferris from re zero came out as a trans girl, the same shitstorm would happen.
@@codyhax0995 one of the other issues for this is that there are 2 different endings to this from what I'm aware of. And only in 1 of the 2 bridget states I'm a girl. The other doesn't. And if we use the requirements you only get the girl stated ending if you lose more. That only muddied the waters further of this discourse.
this video does a great job at guiding the hand of a game developer, as a pseudo game dev myself i can say that this should have changed my ideas about how to make a fighting game story, but i am still going to make it a visual novel because its easy lol. also I love bridget with my whole heart
Ah a video with brisket in the thumbnail. Can’t wait to see the comments in a couple hours
grab the hazmat suits
The media illiterates, and bigots will be crawling out of the woodworks before long.
Idk I really enjoyed strives story mode both of them watching the story mode is the reason why I love happy chaos so much even though playing against him is eh
I've watched like an hour of the story mode and happy chaos is the only part I really liked.
@@Cassapphic yea im kinda neutral on strives story mode movie but happy chaos stole the show
Sometimes they can tell great stories of horrors raising up against the bad guys, the catch is that they can't afford to be long winded.
I espected to see a mention to alternative modes like soul Calibur edge master mode, chronicles of the sword and that wierd think tekken 5 and 6 did. They aren't perfect, but are a great way to experience part of the world more deeply
Trans rights!
Ah, but forgot the best kind of fighting game story! Where you make up a head cannon that’s better than what they actually went with!
I had a whole thing about Strive Faust and how it was a super great metaphor for depression and relapsing and it was awesome and it really helped me because I was going through some stuff at the time-
And then what do they actually go with?
Faust is just tired cause he made a big portal and he needs to take a nap and he might be dead but we don’t know because we see literally 2 seconds of him after he gets the red eye- oopsie daisy!
The canon one is better tbh, I would also be tired after creating a big portal
That's quite the simple way of looking at the canon story though...
This was actually just a very well written and clever way to talk about Strive music for yet another video lmao But fr great video as always and love the work Gekko ❤
Brisket
Brisket
Brisket
brexit
Imo for BB, Continuum shift had the best way to approach their story as each character had their own route with good,true,bad, and gag ends. And within those you’d have scenarios where the way you play your char can be fundamentally changed (jin and ragna losing their drive moves and using distortions too much as ragna can lead to a bad end). Which is why you generally see a big disdain for the lack of unlimited chars in CF as certain senarios would’ve benefited from having them
Great video and yeah your last line there gets you sub sir thank you for being a great ally
First of all...HOW did you made a video about stories in FGs and turning it into a "the meaning of Bridgets character theme"? - Still great work Gekko!
So for my second point: About BlazBlue's VN-styled story approached, imo it is overall the best story told in a FG, and that is also because the style they had chosen to tell it. VNs do have this strange mix of "why I read a book when I play a video game" and "well-written, complex, engaging stories".
And for BlazBlue especially if you add the two xBlaze VNs, which are connected to BlazBlue, the whole story is absolutly great. I literally re"played" all of those games, only because I wanted to read the story again XD
But since I know, that this style of game is not for everybody, I can understand why this seems odd, off and not appealling at all.
One key element of stories is conflict. By conflict here I don't mean the "let me punch you in the face" kind of confrontation, of course. I mean the clash of wants and needs, of character ideologies, doubts, fear, beliefs etc.
Whenever we talk about games expressing story through gameplay what that usually means is having some mechanics working together as a metaphor for a conflict in the story.
As we combine mechanics to build different metaphor, designers can make the game more interesting and more involved. The more mechanics we can get to interact to represent a conflict, the more design freedom we have and we usually end up with more interesting games.
That's the hard part about making a Fighting game story IMO: the fight mechanics LITERALIZE conflict to much! That makes it harder to make more nuanced metaphors and, therefore, more engaging stories. That's why Fighting games use cutscenes outside of gameplay a lot. On a cutscenes you can express different types of conflict aside from the LITERAL one allowed us by fighting game mechanics.
As someone who went through almost the exact same situation as Bridget (having femininity projected upon me before eventually realizing when i was away from that that i was actually a trans woman) her story is so deeplu impactful to me, and Im so happy to hear you talk about it. Bridget is singlehandedly making me wanna play Strive, and it makes me so happy to see people talk about how genuinely amazing her arc is, especially with the weird people ive been so exposed to who refuse to accept her being trans
Honestly the only fighting game story I even remember because it was kinda cool was (one of the) Bleach ds games, where you had to meet certain conditions in a match in order to get a new route, which was really cool!
Gekko, keep rocking my guy. 💙🤍💖
5:30 "I'm President of the World! Of the Earth! And of the entire Universe!"
completely agree with your last sentence
I don't know how you're gonna talk about movies in fighting game stories without mentioning Injustice.
I like games that has both visual novels and arcade modes
Like the main story and the sides especially if they keep it consistent
BlazBlue reels are a huge trip
@@senritsujumpsuit6021 Seeing Terumi and Relius getting married was a trip to be sure
So Blazblue
Ur easily my favorite fgc youtuber also no talk about MK stories? I was curious about your opinion on their effectiveness
Not many fighting game TH-camrs are fans of MK so im not surprised Gekko didn't mention it.
I don't care the fact that Bridget is trans, im just happy that i got to see the story, unlike testament that just... happend... out of screen... i feel robbed out of it
as a transgirl i got into this game because of brisket, i may not play her because shes not my style (cough millia cough) but her story hits me hard because its like mine, and i will not argue with anyone about this, she is a girl and shes proud ^^
In terms of an overarching story, always though maybe a route system could work. It's similar to a classic arcade mode, but in the beginning most of the characters are locked save a few. As you beat them, you unlock characters along the path of those which share a story, which may help provide additional context. Dunno if the idea is coming across well in my writing but has any game done something similar before?
There's stuff like Soul Calibur.
The issue there is that it massively bloats the story and makes it really difficult to follow. A player needs to beat the mode with every character to get the full narrative, and developers need to account for the order in which they'd be playing the game.
One of the issues with that sort of story is also that if a writer feels the need to give each fight a narrative purpose then it leads to characters hopping all over the place so it's hard to follow. Like imagine if you had a game with like 20 characters and a standard 8 fight arcade mode. That means you need to write a total of 160 interactions and keep track that they don't result in continuity errors. Though in that instance I think just doing intro stage, rival stage, boss would be enough if it's being done for every character. Having multiple bosses (or even boss versions of each character) would certainly make it a lot easier so that you don't need to push every character in a certain direction.
You sorta get something like that in Kof 13? (Im surprised kof wasn’t even acknowledged in the video) There’s a linear story to be told (20-30 minutes I think), but you get to pick which perspective is the story being told from, be it the Teams of fighters, of Ash Crimson the protagonist, of Adelheid, of Heidern’s agents, etc. it’s the same story but shown from different povs that lead to the same outcome to avoid confusion.
I really don't understand why people like the nrs mk story
never exposed to past mk games, fancy cutscenes, just being dumb
You mean the actual plot or just the overall story mode?
I like how NRS's story modes I think it does the best of combining gameplay and story. (though get rid of the three fights per character)
Now the actual plot itself is horrible. They had such good lore from the Midway era and they completely ruined it.
There's a huge lack of Tekken and KOF in this video. Sadge.
I'm just hoping that if lyrics make their way to BB themes they only dynamically activate on Overdrive or low health.
BlazBlue games if that's what you mean
already have some vocal themes
Weak Executioner L.A. Vocal version is a bop
@@senritsujumpsuit6021 I know, I mean the future themes for the next Blazblue fighting game that's totally happening.
@@TheKazuma410P I beg for a full Vocal Carl Clover song
an I would like a whole joke song for Sena an Luna god I love those three characters
0:55 Ah yes, Needy Girl Overdose. My favorite story telling game. Cultured choice
I'm thinking about writing a story set in the universe of a fighting game complete with weird fight centric corporations, tons of ninja's, dinosaurs for some reason, aliens and demons etc. It would follow a colorful group of international fighters with various backgrounds and play up on all the weird tropes. I want it to be as weird as Tekken at the most, Dead or Alive at the least.
I actually quite enjoy fighting game stories, they're very entertaining sometimes.
Just want to say you're doing a service. I have been off fighting games since Soul Calibur 2. In no small part due to your videos, I've been giving Guilty Gear Strive a solid attempt and am looking to get into Street Fighter 6.
MBTL is probably going to have the best story mode in a fighting game eventually. Even if it is a Visual Novel.
Mainly because of the fact, that the series made by a Professional Writer instead of Game Developer.
Same writer who basically inspired...a lot of popular modern things, like FFXIV. Believe Kinoko Nasu
...and mainly because one of the Pioneers of VN Style Storytelling was Melty Blood (alongside Guilty Gear)
Is that the ooblets ost in the end segment lmao
Bridget's pre-Strive story is very much a mixed bag. On the one hand, I do think it still "matters" since it do think it highlights how out of her control Bridget's life was pre-Strive. Bridget was always extrinsically motivated. She had to live as how her parents presented her to stay alive, then she had to assume the masculine role of bounty hunter in order to try and not have her village's superstition rule the rest of her life. It's only after she is free from both of them that she can finally become intrinsically motivated.
On the other hand, I don't disagree about the... crowd it drew to anime in general, not just GG.
I'm surprised you didn't bring up MK with its well meaning, but ultimately flawed approach to story and how its formula has been working against it.
BRIDGET!!!!!!
The GG rev story mode is really good, but it's more of a in game movie
Gekko can I request a dive into Final Fantasy Dissidia Duodecim? You don't even have to do the full game. Experience everything including the batch with Lightning, Yuna, Laguna, Tifa, Vaan and Kain plus an extra character of your choice just to see how the story progresses from there. Tidus has dodges and movement options implemented into his kit so he might be the best fit since you play Gio. I'd like to see how you think the game handles it's story, gameplay and maps. The maps itself actually matter in this game btw. It's not just a pretty background.
I’m sorry but GGST story mode is great and would love to see more of it
Would a beat em up game count as a fighting game story mode? XD
How about Rival Schools Story Mode??
I’ve heard it’s pretty good.
What are the songs that play
I want to know what plays at 4:00
One of my favorite stories in fighting game is in Shadow Fight 3 because is a single player fighting game,not a competitive game.
I was so frsutrated with all the discourse around bridget because of how much media illiteracy it takes to not get her story from both how SHE LITERALLY OUTRIGHT SAYS IT and how blunt some of her song lyrics are for how her story in strive is discovering her gender properly. When I first heard the town inside me it literally brought me to tears, it so well represented my own feelings when I was going through the same thing as bridget. It lead to me finally having enough motivation to properly get over my fear of fighting games, even if I found other characters I enjoy playing more than bridget (baiken and testament mainly) I love her so much for how her story reflected myself.
"B-but it it's in the bad ending!!!!!" *pisses shits cries*
Anyone who says this is honestly braindead cuz everyone knows guilty gear hss no bad endings
What was the first BG music from? I remember it so foundly but idk what game it came from
it says rivals of aether
Soulcalibur VI has a good story mode and separate stories imo
TOURNAMENT ARCS!!!
The zangief low kick in sf2 is unblockable when used by the cpu
IMO the semi-consistently greatest fighting game series to play for its story is Soul Calibur. Especially 3 and 6.
Imagine not having internet for a month, no-one locally ether.. Out of all the genres you *_don't_* want to be a fan of in this situation, Fighting Game is second only to MOBA.
This happened to me at the start of the year, and it really made me appreciate just how much Soul Calibur 6 is the exception to that. Including a multi-layered story-based RPG into the game, without detracting from the actual fighting game gameplay ether.. Meanwhile SC3 did something similar but with an Army-Tactics game.
You forgot the neatherealm studios story modes that are the opposite that the Blas blue story modes:
is a movie but the characters figth for every minimum reason
Yooo! You drink Fentimans gingerbeer? Fuck yeah! 😎
You play so much rivals of Aether music I have a feeling you were a smasher before being a STRIVER. 🤔
trans rights!!
I FUCKING LOVE BRIDGET GUILTY GEAR
I LOVE HOW SHE IS A WOMAN OUT OF HER OWN CHOICE AND NOT BECAUSE ANYONE TELLS HER SHE HAS TO BE ONE
everywhere bridget is mentioned i see you in the comments, may you have an amazing day bridgets biggest defender
I feel like Namco took the wrong lessons from Soulcalibur 3. The balance and game-breaking bugs needed adjustment. The single player content - the Create-a-Character campaign or the narrative Arcade mode with story blurbs, the occasional (sometimes interactive) cutscene, and split-path decisions between fights - that was all fine.
i have been playing fighting games since there were fighting games and i only know of one with an actual cohesive story and conclusion(s.) Also, Apocryphal is really the only style chosen by writers of Fighting Game stories because that's really their only *option.* Apocryphal is the style that you describe for Street Fighter. (WarHammer 40K is a celebration of this style as well.) i'm not really sure how else to tell that kind of a story. @ 8:40 As for Strive i think that story means more to you dependent on education, background and what about life is important to you. It's Philosophical, in other words. The reason i don't count Guilty Gear as having an actual *cohesive* story and conclusion is because of it's (like all Fighting Games save one) inconsistency and lack of ever having a full, satisfying conclusion. Strive came very close, it *is* an excellent story. Yet there is not only all that came before but that next season's on the way too..... :3
video about fighting game stories but kof doesnt get mentioned at all
I think you missed 1 series that has a multi year story the king of fighters it has more than only games it has several manga and other ways to tel it's story
I know you don't play mortal kombat but you can't make a video about fighting game stories without bringing up the only franchise that's been actually trying this whole time
Comments are still huffing copium from Bridget coming out as trans
"no but she was groomed" actually look into the lore and not skim over it for the love of god
True.
"bUt ShE wAs GrOoMeD, iTs WoKe, ItS nOtHiNg BuT tWiTtEr BrOwNiE pOiNtS"
Okay, buddy. Lol We get it, you hate trans people. You're doing a bad job at hiding it. Either that, or her whole story just went right over your head.
@@imarock.7662 yeah the whole "it's just because twitter complained!" point always confused me. like, it isn't, but even if that were the case... ok? the only reason women are allowed to vote was because suffragists complained. complaining makes cool things sometimes, so this point is either completely moot and unimportant, or you think being trans is inherently bad and that's worse lol
@@neverseemstoAsh True.
Ah yes, BlazBlue, the fighting game with a visual novel attached to it. Its strange, for sure, and it can /definitely/ go on for a bit too long, but i personally wouldnt want to lose out on its world and characters (i mean just look at my damn picture here. Noel for life BAYBEE)
Thank you Gekko for making this video, I've been yearning for someone to talk about how great her story and song are. Fantastic video!!!
It might have been cool if there wasn't 20 years of lore pointing in the opposite direction, but hey I guess gr--ming is a unique story to be tackled in video games these days so it's different at least.
@@justinsmyth1534 stop saying she was groomed, that is not what happened in the story, and if you DO think it was, she was treated like a boy in private, so was she groomed into being a femboy by her parents then?
Dragon ball super sonic warriors 2 for the DS has a awesome story mode,
is all the DBZ story but each fight is special or have diferent outputs and can make "waht if" sceneario,
like if you are with krilling you cant win a fight vs freeze, so your objective us to survive and time out him,
BUT if you do a PERFECT to freezee new story arc opens
Honestly I'm pretty impressed by Guilty Gear's writing ever since the series decided to actually commit to it. It's pleasantly surprising that it decided to have like, themes and shit when originally it was going "alright so India turns into a giant airborne city because I really want to make a Led Zepplin reference"
Impressed by retcons and grooming in Bridget's overall story?
@@rebeccarider6058 I see we're taking the definitive declaration of the writers extremely well
Also who mentioned Bridget, nerd? I was talking about Potemkin
@@rebeccarider6058 You don't know what grooming is.
@@rebeccarider6058 You don't know what a retcon is.
If I had to pick a fighting game that I thought the most people would know the story of it would be Mortal Kombat. Kinda strange that didn't get mentioned.
He didn’t really mention it but it falls in the same category of “this is just a movie” philosophy that Sfv and Strive adopted
Wait a video talking about fighting game stories and storytelling and not one mention of any of SNKs catalog of games?