Talking Point: Do You Want More 'Narrative-Adventure' Games Like The Last Of Us 2 On Xbox?

I don't want Xbox to be dominated by narrative-adventure games, but for the sake of variety I definitely want more games like that on Xbox.

Wow silly question as most people on here are die hard xbots who hate anything sony does good, but as someone who owns all three consoles though I will have to say no, I don't want xbox, playstation and nintendo making the same kind of games. Nintendo for its uniqueness and fun games, playstation for its blockbusters and jrpgs, xbox for its Western feel games and its arcade style shooters

And in all fairness xbox need to concentrate on delivering the games they have shown/promised so far first.

I want less narrative adventure games on PlayStation, not more of them on Xbox.

They have their place, but we're crossing a line where video games are no longer about becoming better video games, video games are becoming about evolving the format of cinema to an "active observation" activity, to coin the phrase from the report. What's celebrated is not games becoming better. It's games becoming an evolution of film, and leaving the traditional "game" behind as the child's toys they were conceived to be.

Xbox has a near-monopoly on WRPGs. They have a narrative niche. Call it "choose your own adventure" if you will, as it did descend from the pen and paper RPG adventure book-games. Let Sony Pictures/Columbia/Tri-Star evolve their films by merging them into video games. Xbox can tell its own stories by evolving video games as an original medium without using cinema as a baseline.

The last paragraph quoted in the article is the very illness that infects the entire game development culture in the modern big studio world. The idea that the product is such an accomplishment of their intended artform that that's more important than the player liking it or having fun....that's wrong in every way. It reminds me of the formula for winning an Oscar. A film made by film makers to please film makers, regardless of if it actually has an audience outside their own creative culture.

Uhh no. Keep that stuff on Playstation, I prefer Xbox for many good reasons, the games are one of them. Those ND style games never do anything for me, I always thought of them as being massively overrated.

Not really. I like RPGs etc but I also like crazy experimental games. Xbox finally has an opportunity to get away from the Shooter image let’s not get pigeon holed again.

If I'm playing through a linear game, I want a big co-op adventure. If I want to play single player, I want a big RPG adventure, like Elder Scrolls, Fallout or Horror game like Evil Within.

And I prefer most of my story telling to be done through the environment. I think the only kind of single player narrative I'd stick through is one like Bioshock, but that still told a lot of its story through the environment, rather than stopping the gameplay for sake of the story.

I would like Microsoft to try at least one.

I mean, with all the studio's under the companies belt, I would think at least one of them could give a narrative-driven action/adventure game a whirl.

I don't want Microsoft to suddenly become Sony, though. I like for each of the "Big Three" to have their respective niche. However, there is nothing wrong with spreading one's wings a little.

It was easily one of the best narratives in a video game.. ever. Who care's if it was a PlayStation 'style' game or whatever some people above me are complaining about.

Its a pretty silly question to ask if you want to have the option to play a 'game of the year' level title on your device of choice.

I would love it. As someone who is mainly a single player some nice story driven games will be great. Bit miffed that they are looking into making next bioshock open world. Love me a game with interesting story, gameplay and linear. Don't get me wrong love other types of game as well but with the amount of time I actually get to play now a days it's nice not to have an open world to get lost in for every game in my collection.

I mean its more "game" than the visual novels...

However, I wouldn't be opposed to an Xbox exclusive that put the story above gameplay BUT it's not what I'd want from the majority of their output.

The thing is that Microsoft isn't known for one single genre anymore. They're striving towards offering as many different kinds of games as they can in order to enrich Game Pass. They are making so many acquisitions that they can afford to have some studios work on narrative-adventure games. Variety doesn't mean excluding certain types of games, it's about having all of them in order to appeal to as many people as possible, which is their goal with Game Pass.

Saying that Xbox should receive less narrative-adventure games because that's "Sony's thing" is like saying that you want less platformers on Xbox because that's "Nintendo's thing". Doesn't really make sense if you're trying to be all-inclusive.

I wouldn't mind a few sprinkled into the line-up.
I wouldn't want too heavy a focus though as they tend to be 'one and done' style games, so obviously for Game Pass that's not ideal.

Story>any multiplayer game ever. There's like not even a chance. I barely remember anything from multiplayer games but the stories always stick with me

Of course. As if you ask the Playstation owners whether they like games like Gears or Halo or not.

I'd like more story based games but more like Xenoblade instead. I'm way fed up of the full open world trope in games, semi-open world like Xenoblade and linear are much better. Even with Tomb Raider, while the reboot trilogy games I've played were good (Shadow doesn't run well on OG XB1 so waiting for Series X) they weren't as good as earlier games like The Last Revelation for PS1 and Legend for 7th gen consoles.

I love all consoles. Game industry's most valuable things are - Experiments. The example is Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Personally? No. I don't like these games. In general? Yes. More variety is always good for the ecosystem.

No thanks if I want to watch a boring film there's Netflix

@NEStalgia Fwiw I don't recall ever playing a Mario game because I could sway the outcome. True there's barely any story to speak of but clearly a lack of agency doesn't need to be seen as a detriment. And including a rich, character driven story doesn't need to be the evil that you paint it to be either.

Or take Metal Gear as another example. Cut scenes for days but calling it an interactive movie is disingenuous.

I just want Microsoft to have variety in their portfolio. Then I'll be happy

Absolutely, there have been some great narrative driven games. Those saying they don't want XBox to "become Sony" and only do narrative games are deluded - all the other genres are there to be enjoyed on PlayStation, just as they would be if XBox did them. It's just that these are high profile, tentpole games that grab a lot of attention, and often for good reason. The Last of Us, God of War and Uncharted sell millions for a reason, and they are more than just "boring films"

@NEStalgia Well said. That whole quote near the bottom just reeks of pretention. It reminds me of the kind of statements I would see from snooty film majors when I was into film, the kind of people who were always focused on what they think gets praise from critics and will win awards as opposed to what makes movies fun and entertaining. Same deal here, we now got all these video games as film/art snobs that think pretentious ideals and being condescending towards what video games have been is a way to show off how sophisticated they are as video games industry figures, but the end result is basically the same as the countless people who have tried that in the film industry. It's just people with massive egos who think entertainment needs to be something more so they can feel more important.

Personally I just always enjoyed video games for what they have always been, fun interactive experiences that let me do a variety of things. It's like if I want to race and modify cars I can do that, if I want to play a sport I can do that, gaming seems to work best when you just focus on the simple act of doing something as that is essentially what it's all about.

When it comes to subjects like presenting a story I felt like novels and film always did a better job of that. Video games can no doubt have good stories but it always seems to work best for me when it's just a part of an interactive world, like you just sort of create/tailor the story around your actions. When games just give you this really linear approach to story telling, where you are on a linear path and just doing what the writers wanted you to do to develop the story the way they intended, it often feels to me like "paint by numbers gaming." Like, you aren't really playing a game so much as you are just going along with the motions, taking control in ways where you just do what the developer wants you to do. I run into this issue a lot with story based games, where I simply don't feel like I can do things that I want to do, and the developer keeps me on such a path that it's like I might as well just watch someone else play the game. When I question why I am even bothering with playing a game, I know something is wrong.

The question is not "Do we want Narrative-Advneture games", but "Do we want quality games"? Answer is yes of course.

I just want great games. I'm not SUPER into games like TLOU because I don't like personally enjoy games with a million cutscenes. But as long as good games are coming, I'll be happy.

I want less agenda pushing ***** in my games. Bigot sandwich’s 😂

Not holding my breath for that happening anytime soon though.

Variety is the spice of life so yeah, it's the one genre that they are a bit lacking in. I don't want them to focus on only this but adding more titles wouldn't hurt.

No i dont they dont tend to succeed on xbox Quantum break is the kind of single player game they would make on PlayStation and it didnt do very well on xbox

let PlayStation do thier thing and let xbox do their own thing rather than copying them

They could maybe do one series a bit like that, but they shouldn't go as far as Playstation, who have way too many of that genre.

Nope. Sony have definitely got the market covered with narrative driven third person action games. However I prefer a more diverse range of games, I most certainly don't want Xbox to lose its diversity simply copying what Sony already do. I find Sony's focus on cinematic games to be too much as it is, with games like God of War 2018 being too cinematic for my liking already, last thing I want is more games following suit.
First party Year 1 Games for Series X include a Turn Based Strategy Game, A Flight Simulator, A first Person Shooter... Xbox isn't doing anything wrong. Game genre diversity is a good thing.
Besides, they already have Ninja Theory working on Hellblade 2 for the cinematic Xbox game fix anyhow.

Also kinda feel like this should have been a poll. Y'all do those over here right?

Yep. Last of Us 2 and Ghost of Tsushima are some of the best games I've ever played, would love to have games of that quality on my preferred platform of Xbox.

Absolutely I want these types of games! But also I want them to not lose sight of the current games they have, so not go the Sony route of every single exclusive being an over the shoulder story driven game, but 2 or 3 successful titles would be nice. But I’m looking forward to Fable and Perfect Dark as they will be Microsoft’s style of adventure games with good stories.

I wouldn’t mind an Uncharted style game though.

I had on my PS4 Pro, Spider Man, The Last Of Us 2, Uncharted Series, Horizon Zero Dawn, God If War, Detroit Become Human, Days Gone, and I only ones I played through are the Uncharted games and TLOU2, and I played some of Days Gone but that felt a bit like a rip off of Dying Light and Stare Of Decay 2, but I played some of the others and I just felt like I’m playing the exact same game just with different characters, Sony has literally carbon copied the genre to death and it’s bloody dull and boring for it! And there are many more Sony exclusives just the same.
I don’t have my PS4 Pro hooked up anymore, still have it though, but my Series X has taken its place.

@JayJ Well said, all the way around.

@zupertramp A Mario game is nothing but agency. The whole game is continuous player agency at every button push and nothing interfering other than the time. It's pure "game" without "presentation" playing much role at all. It's the extreme opposite of the TLoU rubric.

MSGS1? Sure, that's not merely a movie. MSGS4 and beyond? Kojima might as well be filming live action.

Are we really comfortable saying that "the big tentpole games that only platform owners can deliver" have to be interactive cinema, as though it's the only genre that can define a top quality game, and without steeping the platform in that genre it's lacking something? It really is Sony's thing, not that other studios don't try to imitate it. Even if Sony did not sell a console and was just a multiplat publisher, that genre would be their specialty the way point and click adventure was Telltales (until they abandoned that genre, then went bankrupt....) However Sony's focus on that genre is all to quickly turning into a parody of how MS's focus in the 360 era was FPS, FPS, FPS. One trick ponies are bad for...well...ponies... MS has moved into expanding their genre diversity just as Sony has moved to quash theirs in favor of repeating the huge success of one winning combination.

If I wanted to play those exclusive snoozefests I would have purchased a PlayStation.

I think it's inevitable that a MS first party studio will go down this route and why not? The more variety on every console the better. Not everyone can afford a PS5 and Series X let alone a Switch too. It makes sense that every type of game exist on each platform.

No, games like Fable/Prey or other RPG or FPS where you have choice and consequences. I like games like Witcher 3, not movies of someone's imagination of drama.

These comments are something else. 😳

@GunValkyrie I think the issue is how this article was angled. By asking "Do you want more narrative-adventure games like The Last of Us 2 on Xbox", some people will react negatively as they think the question is if they want to see more PlayStation games on Xbox. And since this is an Xbox site, people tend to not like PlayStation that much. If however the question was "Do you want to see more narrative-adventure games like Hellblade on Xbox" or even the recently announced Indiana Jones game that MachineGames is working on that's most likely exclusive on Xbox, then people will react more favourably. It's all about how you direct your questions to people and I think that was the problem here. I'm sure most people would love to see more of all kinds of games on Xbox. Why would anyone say no to more games like Hellblade, Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider and so on, as long as they are kept to a moderate amount that is.

Keep anything that TLOU2 has away from any other game.

I would definitely prefer alot of story driven games on Xbox.. Were already gonna have alot of MP games like Halo, Cod, and a million others MP shooters..

I’m down as long as long as the story isn’t too full of divisive story turns. A strong, fresh narrative in a classic style would be great.

Sony make blockbuster games and some of their games are better than what Hollywood produce, BUT games like God of war and TLOU still are 90% gameplay, most of you make it sound like they are FMV games. You lot aren't going to like hellblade, final fantasy or scarlet nexus if you can't deal with cutscenes

I’ve played uncharted 1-3, currently playing uncharted 4 and also played the last of us with no interest in playing 2. I have not enjoyed any of them but it is clear that for some reason other people do, so Microsoft should attempt to make a game to bring those people to their ecosystem. If anything, instead of trying to imitate naughty dog, I would prefer Xbox should try to imitate team ico or giant squid and make games that are smaller in scale with beautiful visuals, are fun to play, and are focused on the overall experience rather than the narrative itself.

@Johnnel why are you playing uncharted 4 if you didn't enjoy 1-3

@UltimateOtaku91 when I bought my ps4 it was bundled with uncharted 4. I bought the nathan drake collection because I wanted to try the whole series for myself. If I didn’t already own the games, I probably would have stopped after beating 2. I played 1 and thought it was ok and then played 2 to see if they made any improvements to the sequel. It might be a little better but it felt like more of the same. I played 3 because like I said I already owned the game but also because I remembered hearing that they made some changes to the gameplay that some people liked and some people didn’t. Uncharted 3 was my least favorite game in the series. I started playing 4 because I owned it and felt the need to finish the series and I’m glad I did because I like 4 the most out of the series. I think it’s the rope that gives combat some extra mobility that makes me like it the best. Overall, the series is not my thing but I’m still glad I played them. Sometimes you need to experience games that you don’t like to better understand the games that you do like.

@GunValkyrie Think you will find PlayStation has the game genre diversity problem and not Xbox nearly all PlayStation Exclusives now are the same template narrative driven single player game not much variety

If xbox also wanted to have narrative focused games while also try to expand into the Japanese market, I would also like to see games that have more visual novel elements than hollywood blockbuster elements. I love games like zero escape, danganronpa, and ace attorney and would love to see games like those or even those series specifically come to xbox. I recently played ghost trick and it quickly became one of my favorite games of all time.

Edit: thinking about it a bit more, those series might be considered more character focused than narrative focused. Ace attorney and danganronpa are probably more well known for their interesting and wacky characters than their interesting plots. Zero escape is probably closer to narrative focused than the other two. Either way, I would still like to see more games like those on xbox.

What is all the drama about either console having a genre diversity problem 😆 neither do.

I want more narrative games in the line of Assassins Creed or Grand Theft Auto.

Open worldish, non linear, with story missions driving the story and plenty of side activities in the world.

I don't want TLOU style games where everything is just an over-the-shoulder corridor where the main obstacle is how to clear or pass the next room.

Edit: I want more rpgs! The JRPG kind.

No.

The industry has to go back to psx & ps2 times.

Depends really. I love how Microsoft has always offered a lot of content in their main franchises. Gears of War and Halo for example are packed to the brim with content. You have coop, pvp, story, pve, and usually splitscreen. I don't like SONY's approach with just having a singleplayer. I don't find those games worth $60, and especially not $70. They still haven't released Last of Us 2's multiplayer.

Also, Xbox has tried similar games in the past like with Remedy's Alan Wake, and Quantum Break. I personally love those games, but didn't buy either of them at full price. I think content is king. With so many companies nickel and diming us with DLC, loot boxes, skins, and other additional content it's nice to get a game with a lot of content right out of the box.

I want to see more games done like Halo and Gears. A good to great singleplayer story, coop, PVE, and PVP content. It gives the games SO much longevity. I and many others go back to these games constantly because they are so replayable.

@NEStalgia Agency over the story I mean. You're attempting to get the Princess back from Bowser (usually). You're locked into that path the same way you're locked into a path in Little Nightmares or Halo or frankly any game that isn't a choice based game. And most aren't.

Because while that wasn't your specific complaint, that seemed to be the argument against narrative based games in the article:

"That the player doesn't have the ability to greatly influence or determine the outcome of the narrative might prove anathema to many players and how they view their role in the video game experience."

I mean that's most every game. Adding amazingly rendered cut scenes shouldn't negate everything else a game has on offer.

To be clear I don't want every game to be narrative driven but I also don't see anything wrong with their existence, or prevalence. At the end of the day there's hardly a strict definition to what a video game is.

If i want a good story i would read a book series or watch a US TV drama. For me gameplay was, is and will always be king. When i listen to a podcast and an idiot goes on about "the story" i just laugh my head off. Pac- Man Championship Edition and the sequels are the best games i've played in years. Pure gameplay.

@zupertramp fair, byr there's a difference between narrative driven and the interactive cinema genre Naughty Dog (and Sony more broadly) specialize in that the critics go gaga over. Baldurs Gate is "narrative driven" (and by implication, Avowed which is descended from Pillars of Eternity which is descended from Baldurs Gate and Planescape.). You make some choices but generally you don't affect the narrative. Yet it is based upon totally different storytelling premise than film. It develops very differently, it's paced by the player rather than literally puppeteering the cast in a movie. Modern critics and devs both seem to now reflect the ideal that the closer to being a movie you interact with, the better the game.

Ironically that thinking, with Spielberg and Lucas on stage, was part of x1's reveal meltdown.

"...ultimately outweights whether or not everyone 'likes' it or even if everyone has 'fun' playing it."

If it's not fun, then what's the point? I might as well go clean the attic or mow the lawn. Video games are a hobby people, not a chore. Let PlayStation be acclaimed and keep Xbox being fun. 👊🏼💚😎

Uncharted 2 is my favourite naughty dog game I have played. I have uncharted 4 and LoU2 still to play. Maybe il start one of them after I have finished with Ghost of Tsushima, but was hoping for 60fps patches first

@GunValkyrie So very very very true. Cannot wait for Fable as it will be something different to another FPS.

@GunValkyrie If Fable has the level of story telling as TLOU 2, then frankly Microsoft can take the game and shove it where the sun doesn’t shine… your example has the worst story of any game in a long long long time. You should have said TLOU. However I have every faith that Fable will have a brilliant story full of humour.

Did anyone else read the comments and go yup he never played The Last of Us or the second one…you can tell by how they talk about the game as if its a movie…same goes for the main article what makes TLoU fun is its story and the gameplay, Yes they nailed the story i mean totally nailed it but they also nailed the gameplay… The environments tell the story as much as the characters…This game is the exception thought as they nailed everything on it… there are games a lot of them that think the story is the only thing that matters or the gameplay is the only thing that matters and Its why i think so many have a negative opinion on this game as they never played it and are judging it by their other experiences….The Last of Us and the TLoU2 are the only two games i have ever beaten in one straight sitting ended up taking days off from work to finish them.

Short answer YES MS needs to do something different as the XBOX is looked at as a “dude bro” machine aka shooters, sports and driving games.. its needs story driven games(NOT ALOT) AND they need to be good.

Personally I thought Uncharted 4 was a better game but sure if they can make great single player games why not…?

I enjoyed The Last of Us 1&2 and would love to have games like them on the Xbox.

Imo these are the best games and the reason Playstation make the best games. Like a HBO series in video game form. Sony do make movies so maybe that’s why they’re so good at these games. Xbox should def do the same!!