Captain Harlock

Seriously, I've finished Splinter Cell. Watched all the cutscenes. Tried to pick apart the story piece by piece. And I STILL have no clue as to what I was doing on the missions and why!. I know there's an Army, a Chinese guy, some sort of bomb and a Russian who's really, really . But for the life of me I can't tie any of the events together. And the ending did more to confuse than help. I said "That's it?!?! That's the best ending you could come up with?!?!?".

Really, this is not intended to flame or troll. I'm totally dead up serious. I'm really really dumbfounded here. Someone explain this to me!!

nickdawgy

who cares about the ending, the game was cool enough. You did play it twice, didn't you?

Captain Harlock

Yes I played it twice. It still dooesn't make me understand three very important questions;

1. Why I'm on the missions?
2. Who are the bad guys?
and....
3. Why I have to stop the bad guys?

Those newsflashes didn't help matters much either. I got MORE confused after seeing.

I've played it twice as you've asked. Will I play a third time? Probably not. It may wind up as a trade in at GameStop.

kegman

Not sure if this is correct but what I noticed in splinter cell when they gave you the reports about special forces units on missions for example Georgia it seemed to match up with the missions in ghost recon. Thought that was pretty neat.

Cusm

Look at this way, You are a splinter cell, your orders are need to know. You do not have to understand them, just carry them out.

The Franchise

I love it. People complain that MGS2 had a too deep and convoluted story and that Splinter Cell's was so skimpy on details that you can't tell what's going on.

Captain Harlock

I'm sorry, that's not good enough. Again it still doesn't help to explain the three questions I asked. It still feels like the designers threw together a bunch of random environments and situations then said "Uh oh! We need some kind of story to tie this together. Well we'll slap one together. No biggie."


I for one had no problem with the MGS2 storyline, because it did a couple of important things....

1. It kept the gameflow moving. By that I mean it makes you WANT to keep playing.

2. It gives the game continuity. You see events unfolding from A through Z to their inevitable conclusion.

and...

3. It's immersive. You get lost in the characters and story. At the same time it establishes some kind of connection with the player and the characters whether it's sympathy or hatred.

You have to admit, MGS2 story was fantastic and improbable, but you'll remember it long after you finish the game.
I'd rather have the convoluted story of MGS2 that at least leaves you satisfied than Splinter Cell's story that was treated as an afterthought.

Joshic

I played through Splinter Cell just once on my Xbox many months ago, and I thought the story was quite good, well-told, and intriguing. I was not confused one bit throughout the whole thing. I felt I knew why I had to do each mission, and why the mission goals were as they were.

That being said, I've forgotten a lot of the story by now. But I'll do my best to answer the questions:



Sorry I can't remember all the details, it's been a while.

Gallant Pig

Weird, I played the game and understood it pretty clearly on who was the bad guy and why I was there. I usually always skipped through the CGI cutscenes too. Joshic's version is what I remember.

nickdawgy

I was lost at some point on what was happening, but the gameplay made up for that. Totally cool stealth missions.

I didn't like the fact that you sometimes had only a certain number of alarms allowed to go off or you fail, though. Also, it was a pain to be far on a level only to have an alarm go off suddenly because someone found a body you hid 2 scenes ago. You have to hide the bodies perfectly it seemed, lol.

I thought the news flashes were really cool, though. I rented it and finished it in 3 days of off and on playing. Heck, I liked it so much, I'd buy it if it was cheaper

<3 diversion camera

nickdawgy

How can you skip cutscenes? I mean aren't you the least bit curious to what is going on?

Maybe I misunderstood you, perhaps you played through before? I'd skip them too on a second attempt.

Captain Harlock

If that's what the story was, then the fact that I have forgotten it twice even after playing it TWICE doesn't say much.

Still I think it feels more like a bunch of random environments thrown together with no common thread. The fact that it takes place over several days and in a number of different environments doesn't help either. I think that the events that were unfolding could have been conveyed better . The newsflashes could have been shown within the context of the missions, perhaps that NSA dude giving fishers orders saying "Fisher you need to see this" and patching the broadcast into the Opsrey's video screen. That might have conveyed more urgencey.

What Splinter Cell has in game play it lacks in what I call presentation. Which is a shame really. This series has alot of potential.