The difference between Gameplay and Story

[McdD]

It seems there are confusion about elements of story and the gameplay:

http://www.capcom-europe.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31361

Other than the fact that Nero’s a lone wolf and sucks at teamwork, people of the Order dislike him also because of his usage of guns. They believe that battles should be fought gracefully and swiftly with the sword just as Sparda did. In case you’re wondering “what about Luce and Ombra?!” there are two possible explanations. 1) The Order really had no idea Sparda ever used guns. 2) Sparda might really have never used guns. I know, I know, “he” used it in DMC1 if you switch the character to “Sparda” instead of “Dante”, but who’s to say that man truly is “Sparda”? If you ask me that’s simply an alternate costume/model for the game, an unlockable, like Dante’s cosplaying as Sparda. If it truly and absolutely was Sparda he wouldn’t be alive to kick Mundus’ ass again and spilling Dante’s lines. And if Capcom removed the guns, it’s either the player would have to suffer or Capcom would have to create new moves specifically for “Sparda”, which they didn’t.

That quote above shows that people can't differenate Story and Gameplay. The point of this topic is really to enlighten you if your unsure about Gameplay and Story relations.

Let's take starting point in that quote above. It is said that people of Order disliked Nero because he used guns because it was a noisy weapon, and that the people of Order believed it was best to kill a enemy with a sword. And their reason for that is because Sparda used a sword. Then people who have played as Sparda from DMC 3 have said "Well Sparda had Luce and Ombra when you played as him in DMC 1, so that isn't right".

And it is here we must see the border between Gameplay and Story. A story consists of laws and rules, characters etc. That is what makes it a story.
Let's take an example Spiderman became Spiderman because a special spider from a museum bit him. So theoretically if a boy goes to same Spider, and let's it bite him he too should be able to become like Spiderman (become spidey like).

Gameplay does not have to answer to the story. Gameplay mechanics can be implemented into a game independt of the story. But if a gameplay mechanic goes hand in hand with the story then it will make the game better. Take Dante's demonic form. In story it's known as demon form, in gameplay it's called Devil trigger. But it's basically the same thing. The power Dante gets when he becomes in demon the story is equally great to the power boost players get when they unleash Devil trigger. And the appearance of is the same in story and gameplay.

Sparda was a costume to play as in DMC 1, and because Dante has two guns and a sword it was only right to give Sparda two guns as well. Even though according to The order from DMC 4 Sparda did not use guns. This shows that Gameplay is different from the story.
And that is the whole point of a Sparda costume. And since guns have a big role in DMC gameplay they gave Sparda two guns which they named Luce and Ombra. But does it mean that these two guns actually exists in the story? That Sparda has those two guns? No.

Let's take another example: Trish.
She is a demon that was created by Mundus, and Mundus gave her a human body instead of a demon one. That is why she looks human. But if Mundus had done otherwise and made a demon form Trish, she would have a form very similar to any other demonic form (Devil triggers, Mundus, Sparda etc).
Dante and Vergil are humans who have demon blood (half/50%), where as Trish is a demon with 100% demonic blood but her body is a human one.
So when Dante or Vergil uses their demonic blood, they turn into demonc looking creatures. A hybrid of human and demon. This is known as Devil trigger in Gameplay part of DMC.
But in Gameplay part Trish has a DT, why? Because DT is not only a transformation change, it is also increase in strength/powers. And it's DMC gameplay tradition that all characters that you can play with should have a Devil trigger.
In Trish's case the Devil trigger in gameplay is consistent with the story. Trish does not become a demon looking girl when you activate her Devil trigger when you play, but her power does increase. And the reason why she does not change form is because her body was made to be human.

0:47 Trish's Devil trigger


Story and Gameplay can go hand in hand but it will require alot of work. For example instead of a Sparda costume Capcom could have invented Sparda's own fighting style just like they did with Vergil. But as you can see here in this DMC 3 video of Sparda costume, he's using same attacks as Dante:

If Capcom did bother with inventing Sparda's gameplay then his fight style would be consistent with what DMC story says about how Sparda fights. And then gameplay and story would go hand in hand, and that would make the game better.

Is Gameplay and Story different things? Or is it the same thing but viewed differently by developers? I mean if Story says Sparda fights without guns, shouldn't the gameplay of Sparda reflect that? All i know is that Gameplay tends to bend the rules of Story or simply ignore it, and it may be because developers are lazy or because they don't have time nor money to develop a character's fight style so that it's consistent with story.


I hope you enjoyed reading and that it wasn't to boring. Thanks for reading

 

[McdD]

I think Story is use to map out or give a general idea of what the gameplay should be like. ​

HOWEVER you have to also take inconsideration of the tools & technology being used at the time.​

Where this story would call for amazing off the wall feats, your technology may not be able to handle that. ​

Where a story says Sparta is this powerful character that may have a vastly different fighting style, then that's additional code developers would have to write in order to stay true to the storyline.​

Take movies for example. ​

When Transformers began in 1984 or whatever, the story mapped out events of these gigantic transforming machines with epic battles. Don't you think a live action movie wasn't thought about? However limitations in technology may prevent directors from following the story the way it was written.​

​

So i don't think it's laziness on the part of developers, they could be limited by what tools they're working with.​

Of course.

But ask yourself is there really a technological limitation that stops Capcom from making Sparda's skills?

 

[V's patron]

i dont need the story to explain everything in the game because somethings are just gameply mechanics.