For as long as I can remember I have loved playing video games with a good story. It turns out that most of my favorite games are in the Action/Adventure genre or more specifically the Platform style. These range from older game franchises like Ratchet and Clank and Jak and Daxter to newer titles like Uncharted, Mass Effect, and Assassin's Creed. I am interested in the research of this because there have been several times where not only does the story of the game have a good message behind it, but it can really boggle your mind with science fiction possibilities.

My personal experience with video games seems to differ from most people. Sports games bore me as well as some FPS games. When I devote my time to a game I want there to be a story within it that can only be lived out through the game. Instead of playing a sport game, you can just go outside and play it in real life. I have played Destiny since its launch date it's essentially all out warfare on aliens. You can't tell me I can go outside and do that in real life like a game of football.

By no means am I a hardcore gamer. I merely love a good story that's only possible within a game. Perhaps a mystery, or puzzler, or finding a treasure lost to time such as the Holy Grail or Shangri-La. The Jak and Daxter took place in an entirely different universe for example as well as being filled with time travel and a deep story that couldn't be fully grasped until the final installment of the trilogy. I could tell you the story behind every game I listed at the beginning of this paper plus several more.

 Clearly the most noticeable difference in the generation of games are their graphics. Start with the 8-bit game Pong on the Atari. It was a marvel for its time but as game engines and processors improved, so did the details available in games. Nowadays people will complain if the game isn't in 1080p at 60fps. It's hard to believe how far things have come just since the 80's. For the past few years it seems as if the detail in games double yearly.

Another huge change that games have undergone is how they are developed. Most are based off of engines that are owned and improved upon by the companies. On top of that the games of this generation go through intense reviews before they are even launched. This can immensely help of kill a game. Game developers of past generations didn't have to worry about this nearly as much. Now, the key to success is great reviews from 

Games that have lackluster marketing and so-so reviews will most often get overlooked. Sources from 2013 say that good marketing and reviews are the key to great sales so I am sure that three years later this is even more important. It's hard to imagine that if Mario had originally gotten poor reviews that the series may be completely different today. Every year there are games that are given unjust reviews that might have killed a great game or helped an awful one. 

Another key factor in the evolution of action/adventure RPG games is the community hype. If the developers make an outstanding game, regardless of reviews, the community will respond. In many cases games have been over hyped and thus it seems like a disappointment to the consumers.

These previous points are so important to the development of future games because these lead to profits for the companies which in turn leads to more games that are hopefully better than their predecessors. So the text time you are playing your 8-bit Super Mario or 1080p Fallout 4, remember that these games will continuously develop and evolve over time so long as people play them and the companies earn profit. 

As long as there are games with good stories I know these developers will be getting my support. Which is why this is an arguable topic. Everyone has their own opinion of what they like, maybe its sport games or no games at all. Perhaps it's just a different outlook on how the games have evolved. Either way all of this is entirely relative and is totally up to each person's own interpretation.


