Warframe storytelling

[(PSN)Tara-The-Tigress]

Hello dear community,

Warframes story is not bad, it has a lot of potential, but the way it is presented is not good. The storytelling feels like it was written by a hardcore nerd or genius who thinks 90% in his head and tells 10% to the audience. These 10% are usually some weird dialogues that come out of nowhere with no context that lead up to these dialogues. (I bet some girls here know what I mean. There are guys out there who can start a relationship in their imagination without you even knowing that you are a couple in their fantasy. They think if they believe hard enough, it will become reality. It is like they are trying to disable gravity just by thinking they disabled it.)

Imagine you look the movie Django Unchained, but not from the beginning, it just starts where the doctor is saying: “You owe me 200 Doller”, then skips to another scene that makes no sense without the previous ones, just like the new Star Wars movies for example. If you have no idea what I am talking about or never watched these movies, then you know exactly how I felt while playing the story missions of this game.

During the quests you can hear some voices in the background who are mumbling about something you don´t really understand or care anyway, because you are too busy shooting things, looking for loot, enjoying the scenery or missing context to fully understand what they are talking about. For me, it started to get interesting during the first encounter of my operator. That was the time where I started to search the Warframe wiki for additional information regarding the story, because the game does not tell you anything. Keeping some parts a mystery can be thrilling, keeping too many things a mystery is confusing, keep the mystery up for too long and it can stay a mystery, because nobody cares anymore.

Unfortunately, no character which I have met is as memorable as Doctor King Schulz from Django Unchained. Why? Because all the bosses are doing is threatening and insulting me. There is nothing emotional or reasonable about them. Once I reach them, they go down so fast, I can´t even remember who they are. I am always saying to myself: Just another big mouth who can´t live up to his words. The only memorable boss encounter for me was Valkyr. She did not say anything, just screamed and made me feel mortal again. She really surprised me. That was the first time I thought: Finally, not a big mouth, someone who can fight without just increasing durability and damage stats! She was the reason why I even kept playing this game. All of the other “quest givers” are just that, “quest givers”. Can I call some of them my close friends or just friends? No, they are just some random strangers who hired me for help without engaging in any sort of deep conversations with me. You can feel that they have more to tell, but they don´t tell you a thing.

I still like this game, the gameplay is really fun. It has a strange free felling to it. Maybe it is because the warframes are so overpowered. You feel like a god who is bound to only a few limitations (e.g. chatbot in region chat) and you can do whatever you want. (The design of the warframes is a bit weird and abstract, but I am not going to argue about taste here.) Sorry, I just had to say all this, even though I know that they will not change the storytelling.

Best wishes Tara

[bad4youLT]

 

 

 

 

[(PSN)Tara-The-Tigress]

Thanks for the videos, i already know them, but it is good to have them all in one place. Also, that does not change the way the story was presented in-game or my opinion about the depth of characters or the interaction with them. Imagine you watch a movie that is only 30 min. long, but in order to fully understand it, you have to watch explanations about it in multiple youtube videos.

[bad4youLT]

11 minutes ago, (PS4)Tara-The-Tigress said:

Thanks for the videos, i already know them, but it is good to have them all in one place. Also, that does not change the way the story was presented in-game or my opinion about the depth of characters or the interaction with them. Imagine you watch a movie that is only 30 min. long, but in order to fully understand it, you have to watch explanations about it in multiple youtube videos.

warframe story telling is much like in dark souls , it doesnt hold your hand and it isint dumb down like in most new games , I prefer much more

[(PSN)robi191291]

hace 17 minutos, bad4youLT dijo:

warframe story telling is much like in dark souls , it doesnt hold your hand and it isint dumb down like in most new games , I prefer much more

Warframe story telling is nothing like dark souls. Need to be more like dark souls in fact. 

Warframe great story, but little lore. 

And a lot of thing are outside of the game. Old events, prime trailers, video comics... etc  

[(PSN)guzmantt1977]

2 hours ago, (PS4)Tara-The-Tigress said:

Hello dear community,

Warframes story is not bad, it has a lot of potential, but the way it is presented is not good. The storytelling feels like it was written by a hardcore nerd or genius who thinks 90% in his head and tells 10% to the audience. These 10% are usually some weird dialogues that come out of nowhere with no context that lead up to these dialogues. (I bet some girls here know what I mean. There are guys out there who can start a relationship in their imagination without you even knowing that you are a couple in their fantasy. They think if they believe hard enough, it will become reality. It is like they are trying to disable gravity just by thinking they disabled it.)

Imagine you look the movie Django Unchained, but not from the beginning, it just starts where the doctor is saying: “You owe me 200 Doller”, then skips to another scene that makes no sense without the previous ones, just like the new Star Wars movies for example. If you have no idea what I am talking about or never watched these movies, then you know exactly how I felt while playing the story missions of this game.

During the quests you can hear some voices in the background who are mumbling about something you don´t really understand or care anyway, because you are too busy shooting things, looking for loot, enjoying the scenery or missing context to fully understand what they are talking about. For me, it started to get interesting during the first encounter of my operator. That was the time where I started to search the Warframe wiki for additional information regarding the story, because the game does not tell you anything. Keeping some parts a mystery can be thrilling, keeping too many things a mystery is confusing, keep the mystery up for too long and it can stay a mystery, because nobody cares anymore.

Unfortunately, no character which I have met is as memorable as Doctor King Schulz from Django Unchained. Why? Because all the bosses are doing is threatening and insulting me. There is nothing emotional or reasonable about them. Once I reach them, they go down so fast, I can´t even remember who they are. I am always saying to myself: Just another big mouth who can´t live up to his words. The only memorable boss encounter for me was Valkyr. She did not say anything, just screamed and made me feel mortal again. She really surprised me. That was the first time I thought: Finally, not a big mouth, someone who can fight without just increasing durability and damage stats! She was the reason why I even kept playing this game. All of the other “quest givers” are just that, “quest givers”. Can I call some of them my close friends or just friends? No, they are just some random strangers who hired me for help without engaging in any sort of deep conversations with me. You can feel that they have more to tell, but they don´t tell you a thing.

I still like this game, the gameplay is really fun. It has a strange free felling to it. Maybe it is because the warframes are so overpowered. You feel like a god who is bound to only a few limitations (e.g. chatbot in region chat) and you can do whatever you want. (The design of the warframes is a bit weird and abstract, but I am not going to argue about taste here.) Sorry, I just had to say all this, even though I know that they will not change the storytelling.

Best wishes Tara

😓

The story was very straight forward in my opinion. I didn't ignore the dialogue, but some of it was a bit tough to follow because of the accents and what for me is, the occasional bit of weird syntax. 

Now don't take this the whole way but I had extreme difficulties following what you wrote. It could be that your usual style of communication is just naturally more convoluted than our storyline and that's why you don't really fancy it. 

 

 

[Loza03]

I mean, if you're not invested in the characters, of course the story won't feel meaningful.

I, personally, am very invested in the characters DE has written. And, therefore, I love the story and listen enraptured to their every word. So I think the story is honestly pretty great. I deeply enjoy listening to Vey Hek's screeches and Tyl Regor's insane ramblings. I am honestly invested in Lotus's tribulations, Ordis's tortured backstory and Ballas's allegiances or lack thereof. I'm even pretty interested in my Operator at this point and am eagerly awaiting the New War less for the potential new gameplay and more for the story.

[xX-Kuro-Xx]

The main problems IMO, are (a) the excessive playtime to learn about the story, and (b) the lack of predictable installments.

For me, the first compelling story is the war within, which i reached at 80 hours of playtime. Most friends i try to bring into the game give up long before then.

They should move many of the cutscenes from quests to the planet junctions - and introduce the shadow villain in under 10 hours.

This would dramatically improve story based motivation, as one would have inventive to reach the next planet junction to get another tidbit of story.

Edited December 16, 2018 by xX-Kuro-Xx

[(PSN)Tara-The-Tigress]

On 2018-12-15 at 12:49 AM, (PS4)guzmantt1977 said:

😓

The story was very straight forward in my opinion. I didn't ignore the dialogue, but some of it was a bit tough to follow because of the accents and what for me is, the occasional bit of weird syntax. 

Now don't take this the whole way but I had extreme difficulties following what you wrote. It could be that your usual style of communication is just naturally more convoluted than our storyline and that's why you don't really fancy it. 

 

 

Ahhh.... "my communication is just naturally more convoluted." Now I feel so big and smart! :]

(Don´t let it get over your head Tara, don´t let it get over your head,… DON`T LET IT….

“You're simply the best
Better than all the rest
Better than anyone
Anyone I ever met!”

hm hm hmmhm hm, woo! :o )

*cough* ... Uhm, seriously though, English is not my native language, so that could be the reason why it is a bit hard to follow. ^^´

 

[(PSN)guzmantt1977]

12 minutes ago, (PS4)Tara-The-Tigress said:

Ahhh.... "my communication is just naturally more convoluted." Now I feel so big and smart! :]

(Don´t let it get over your head Tara, don´t let it get over your head,… DON`T LET IT….

“You're simply the best
Better than all the rest
Better than anyone
Anyone I ever met!”

hm hm hmmhm hm, woo! :o )

*cough* ... Uhm, seriously though, English is not my native language, so that could be the reason why it is a bit hard to follow. ^^´

 

I'd guessed that, but in my country, people are known to talk in a convoluted manner as well, especially when giving directions. For many of us, especially the older generations, it's a perfectly natural way of telling someone how to get where they are trying to get to. 

For others it's confusing as all heck and asking for a GPS coordinate is a million times better. 

The story is fairly cut and dried, for people who are used to more convoluted tales, it might seem to be far too little to make for a good story. 

 

That's what I meant. 

[(PSN)Tara-The-Tigress]

On 2018-12-15 at 1:01 AM, Loza03 said:

I mean, if you're not invested in the characters, of course the story won't feel meaningful.

I, personally, am very invested in the characters DE has written. And, therefore, I love the story and listen enraptured to their every word. So I think the story is honestly pretty great. I deeply enjoy listening to Vey Hek's screeches and Tyl Regor's insane ramblings. I am honestly invested in Lotus's tribulations, Ordis's tortured backstory and Ballas's allegiances or lack thereof. I'm even pretty interested in my Operator at this point and am eagerly awaiting the New War less for the potential new gameplay and more for the story.

“I deeply enjoy listening to Vey Hek's screeches and Tyl Regor's insane ramblings.”

You must be a WWE fan haha. I would like to tell you a small story:

The wheelie of life

Part 1:
You, a Ninja bicycle, wake up on a garden world in a strange new galaxy. A young strange looking woman with a big bicycle helmet starts talking to you and tells you to get out of your current place. Some ugly aliens try to stop you, but you are a strong bicycle, all the aliens fall victim to your super cool wheels. But one of them manages to put a weird reflector on your rear wheel. You get rid of all the aliens and escape to your flying garage. After removing that beauty imperfection, you feel like yourself again. A stealthy, proud Ninja bicycle, who avoids traffic lights.

Part 2:
Now you do some missions. With spectacular visuals, crazy moves and an insane amount of various bicycles and gear you are unstoppable! Driving everything over that crosses your pass. You are the god of the Wheels. Nobody is save from your terror. Unfortunately, all of the boss guys you encounter hardly tell you more than insults and the good guys just ordering you to kill the bad guys. You are not even sure that the bad guys are really "the bad guys". You have no idea what is going on. You are here to SEE fantastic things and since you are a bicycle, you can´t READ a story BOOK or the codex. You feel empty and depressed, but it so fun to drive everything over that you decide to continue your journey.

Part 3 (Spoilers!):
Countless missions later you discover a shocking truth, someone was riding you the whole time! You are not a Ninja Bicycle (------- dramatic pause  --------), You are a Bicycle Ninja! 😮 And now the real story begins!

(Consult literature and youtube videos for additional information regarding the amazing story of the bicycle Ninja.)

As you can see, Part 2 is the problem. How can you get hooked by such a presentation? If I compare for e.g. Final Fantasy, Mass Effect or The Witcher to it. All the conversations where you really started to care about your companions, quest givers and surroundings. They actively interacted with you and triggered some sort of feeling. All these little details, like small running gags which made memorable moments. I know, I know, i can´t really compare these titels, but still.

By the way, getting invested in the characters still does not change the way of their presentation or interaction with you. They would have to show me more in order for me to invest in them.

 

Edited December 18, 2018 by (PS4)Tara-The-Tigress

[Loza03]

1 hour ago, (PS4)Tara-The-Tigress said:

“I deeply enjoy listening to Vey Hek's screeches and Tyl Regor's insane ramblings.”

You must be a WWE fan haha. I would like to tell you a small story:

The wheelie of life

Part 1:
You, a Ninja bicycle, wake up on a garden world in a strange new galaxy. A young strange looking woman with a big bicycle helmet starts talking to you and tells you to get out of your current place. Some ugly aliens try to stop you, but you are a strong bicycle, all the aliens fall victim to your super cool wheels. But one of them manages to put a weird reflector on your rear wheel. You get rid of all the aliens and escape to your flying garage. After removing that beauty imperfection, you feel like yourself again. A stealthy, proud Ninja bicycle, who avoids traffic lights.

Part 2:
Now you do some missions. With spectacular visuals, crazy moves and an insane amount of various bicycles and gear you are unstoppable! Driving everything over that crosses your pass. You are the god of the Wheels. Nobody is save from your terror. Unfortunately, all of the boss guys you encounter hardly tell you more than insults and the good guys just ordering you to kill the bad guys. You are not even sure that the bad guys are really "the bad guys". You have no idea what is going on. You are here to SEE fantastic things and since you are a bicycle, you can´t READ a story BOOK or the codex. You feel empty and depressed, but it so fun to drive everything over that you decide to continue your journey.

Part 3 (Spoilers!):
Countless missions later you discover a shocking truth, someone was riding you the whole time! You are not a Ninja Bicycle (------- dramatic pause  --------), You are a Bicycle Ninja! 😮 And now the real story begins!

(Consult literature and youtube videos for additional information regarding the amazing story of the bicycle Ninja.)

As you can see, Part 2 is the problem. How can you get hooked by such a presentation? If I compare for e.g. Final Fantasy, Mass Effect or The Witcher to it. All the conversations where you really started to care about your companions, quest givers and surroundings. They actively interacted with you and triggered some sort of feeling. All these little details, like small running gags which made memorable moments. I know, I know, i can´t really compare these titels, but still.

By the way, getting invested in the characters still does not change the way of their presentation or interaction with you. They would have to show me more in order for me to invest in them.

 

That much is fair - we don't really have much exterior lore I suppose. I'd like something like Destiny's lore system, possibly tied to some kind of reward to get people begin. Maybe some kind of 'legendary' weapons and a Warframe from the Orokin era that you can only uncover by seeking out some lore stuff that explores the culture of the universe, so that once you meet characters related to that culture, you know what it is, and you can thus get excited. The story can still be enjoyed and understood without it, but it helps those who don't overanalyse stuff like I do get into the world for when the story gets going.

[VigilanteXII]

I don't think the problem is with the story or the lore per se, but with how it is implemented. The main storyline works well enough, but everything else feels like someone ripped a book apart and hastily put the pages back together again. I'm sure most of it made sense at some point in time, but it's almost impossible for a new player to follow the story along with all those timed events disappearing, things getting shuffled around and the fact that quests basically need to be played in order they were released, but not in order they are presented in the UI or are are unlocked on the star chart.

For example (spoilers ahead), I had no idea who Alad V was when he popped up during one of the main quests. After some googling I found out that I apparently killed him on Jupiter (I did, but I didn't even notice), but that didn't explain why he apparently owed me or why he was still alive. Some YouTube videos and reading up on the Wiki later I now know that I apparently had some run ins with him before (I didn't, those were timed events), and that I apparently helped him in a quest (Patient Zero), which I can't even unlock yet. 

At this point I just try to explain it away by my Tenno's brain being just so completely addled that he can't keep things straight anymore. I just wish we could spam our orbiter with Polaroids and tattoo random text on our skin ("DON'T TRUST HER"), because that would really help to sell the illusion.

[Chaemyerelis]

I agree OP, good story but I noticed characters who I didn't know were just thrown at me without me realizing who they were or where they've been such as Alad V and Teshin.

[DeDraKun]

I think the biggest problem about the story is that most of it happened in old, one-time events. I could only check it on the wiki. It would be great if there were some short mini-quests that reintroduces these bits of story that happened years ago and won't be returning. Like getting them at the junctions as others before me said. I believe people like me would be hooked hard if there was some more mini-quests about the world and the characters early game.

[(PSN)teacup775]

On 2018-12-14 at 2:08 PM, bad4youLT said:

warframe story telling is much like in dark souls , it doesnt hold your hand and it isint dumb down like in most new games , I prefer much more

Good story telling is just that. Leaving out conceptual threads or simply hinting at them to leave the audience to grovel thru a wiki or YouTube to fill in the blanks enough to care absolutely neuters in game experience. People come to be engaged and entertained not be given a research project.

When Warframe dropped on console way back when I played for a couple days, and left because I need more than game play to stick with a game. War within put a fat anchor into playing, but DE could do so much more to weave all their threads together.

Compare to The Witcher series, Fallout 1 or 2, The Last Of Us.

or Randevous with Rama. Clark told plenty and left plenty to wonder over. 

Conrad’s Heart of Darkness never made explicit his thesis but he made plain he wasn’t going to show in detail. At the end you knew why.

[Chaemyerelis]

This is nothing like dark souls lore. As some people mentioned newer players missed out on events which created gaps that make the stories of some characters feel like patchwork.

Dark Souls tells its story through the environment and item descriptions.

[Elementalos]

2 hours ago, DeDraKun said:

I think the biggest problem about the story is that most of it happened in old, one-time events.

This absolutely. There was a lot of story, directly or indirectly, delivered through old events and as a consequence you'll have characters pop up and the game treats them as if they're a big deal even though a newer player would have never actually seen them before. 

Because of this a lot of the villains from the earlier parts of the storyline don't have a lot of weight to them unless you got to play all those events.

[(PSN)Tara-The-Tigress]

20 hours ago, Loza03 said:

That much is fair - we don't really have much exterior lore I suppose. I'd like something like Destiny's lore system, possibly tied to some kind of reward to get people begin. Maybe some kind of 'legendary' weapons and a Warframe from the Orokin era that you can only uncover by seeking out some lore stuff that explores the culture of the universe, so that once you meet characters related to that culture, you know what it is, and you can thus get excited. The story can still be enjoyed and understood without it, but it helps those who don't overanalyse stuff like I do get into the world for when the story gets going.

That reminds me of my Destiny 1 experience. I finished the game in less than an hour. After the intro I was able to select missions on a star chart. I chose a planet, finished the giant boss and …. END OF GAME. It was the last mission! I did not even now. And it definitely did not feel like a grand finale. Then some guy in a planetary refused to tell me the lore and other characters acted like close friends without any real interaction with me, e.g. the robot lady, who came out of nowhere and went somewhere. And I will never forget the genius sentence by my little ghost, synchronised by Peter Dinklage from Game of thrones, who is known to have one of the best dialogues in the history of movies. He said: “If you see something flying, you have to shoot it!” -.-´ Sorry, but I really hope the story of this game never becomes like the story in Destiny.

[(PSN)Tara-The-Tigress]

19 hours ago, Chaemyerelis said:

I agree OP, good story but I noticed characters who I didn't know were just thrown at me without me realizing who they were or where they've been such as Alad V and Teshin.

Yes! Absolutely what I am talking about! The interaction with Teshin during the second dream was kind of irritating. My operator acted as if she was a student of Teshin or something, Like they have known each other for a long time and had more than just a simple relation. I was just thinking: Did I miss or skipped something? Teshin is the master of conclave, so I guess he is something like a sensei or trainer (先生) for the the operators. And I think thats about it.

 

[(PSN)Tara-The-Tigress]

16 hours ago, Elementalos said:

This absolutely. There was a lot of story, directly or indirectly, delivered through old events and as a consequence you'll have characters pop up and the game treats them as if they're a big deal even though a newer player would have never actually seen them before. 

Because of this a lot of the villains from the earlier parts of the storyline don't have a lot of weight to them unless you got to play all those events.

What events? The only ones I know so far are: Stop a gigantic flying object from destroying a relay, hunt some stalker like looking warframes and build a relay. There was no real story or characters I care about in these events. And somehow, I doubt that the old, one-time events are any different, are they?

Monster Hunter World has a cool way of bringing special quests back DURING new events. Maybe it is possible to do this here as well.

[(PSN)guzmantt1977]

2 minutes ago, (PS4)Tara-The-Tigress said:

Yes! Absolutely what I am talking about! The interaction with Teshin during the second dream was kind of irritating. My operator acted as if she was a student of Teshin or something, Like they have known each other for a long time and had more than just a simple relation. I was just thinking: Did I miss or skipped something? Teshin is the master of conclave, so I guess he is something like a sensei or trainer (先生) for the the operators. And I think thats about it.

 

But Teshin is known to us. Or at least he should have been by that stage. We had access to the relay, and should have had multiple chances to visit him. And he refers to us as his pupils. 

[(PSN)Tara-The-Tigress]

7 minutes ago, (PS4)guzmantt1977 said:

But Teshin is known to us. Or at least he should have been by that stage. We had access to the relay, and should have had multiple chances to visit him. And he refers to us as his pupils. 

I think i could get to this quest without ever going to the relay or playing conclave, so i would also never meet Teshin.

If someone you have just met refers to you as his/her pupil, you think you have a special friendship and know that person? If you say hi to the president and he refers to you as his citizen, does that makes you close friends?

[(PSN)teacup775]

23 hours ago, (PS4)Tara-The-Tigress said:

The wheelie of life

You’re hired. \o/

[Chaemyerelis]

23 minutes ago, (PS4)guzmantt1977 said:

But Teshin is known to us. Or at least he should have been by that stage. We had access to the relay, and should have had multiple chances to visit him. And he refers to us as his pupils. 

I talked to him once at conclave but then months went by when i finally did the war within. So i had no clue who he was. It wasn't until i decided to go to the wiki and read up on the lore that I realized that he was the conclave npc.