Everybody claims to want a story mode but I have a question for you. How many story modes in wrestling games have you actually finished? And how many of those did you finish because you were having fun and not just because you had to finish it in order to unlock things?
I've finished every story mode in a wrestling game, usually only the once.
And it's only because of unlockables/just to check it out. If it's only to check it out - and there's no need to unlock - I probably wouldn't finish them. Smackdown! SYM was a real stickler like that; there was so much to unlock - a positive - but it was all hidden to be unlocked in storymode - not such a positive. It had a decent storymode, but still..
It's still all about Exhibition to me. I don't care about a career mode that spans from Jesus' birth and his favourite wrestler - all the way up until today, if the gameplay in exhibition isn't right.
I played Smackdown 2's storymode for a good 6-8 months beyond freeing up everything once I'd created a handful of my own characters. Mitsuhiro Matsunaga as World Champ!
Personally, I've only ever finished WrestleMania 2000, No Mercy, Day of Reckoning, and Legends of Wrestling 2 (dug the old school territory system) and in each case it was because I was having fun (some more than others). WM2000 is my favorite so far. It was simple and straightforward and the title matches actually felt like they meant something. Winning the final title match against Undertaker at WrestleMania is one of my top five gaming moments ever.
I started playing through 24/7 mode in Smackdown vs. Raw 2008 just to unlock Sabu and I hated it at first. I just did not have the patience to deal with all that training and skill management. But now that I've been playing it for a while and just passed the Vengeance PPV I'm actually starting to enjoy it. Once Piper showed up as my tag partner it peaked my interest again. I know they force the Legends into the story modes but it's a good idea for old guys like me who don't really care about most of the current roster. As long as they don't go too crazy and start bringing them back from the dead like Andre the Giant in WrestleMania 21.
I'd appreciate a Story Mode style (kind of a hybrid of the VPW2/WM2k "wrestle every week to get ranked" way and the No Mercy "branching story arcs" way) of defending/winning any titles, created or default. It'd serve one major and VERY IMPORTANT purpose, besides an entertaining way to determine championship contenders, and that's to be a good user-friendly look into the actual wrestler-side business of wrestling, not too far off from Adam Ryland's "Wrestling Spirit" sibling game series to the "Total Extreme Warfare" series.
Of course, there would/could/should also be a Final Fire Pro style "Management" Story Mode, with technical input from any actual independent wrestling company owners (for accuracy), that would show you an honest, frank, and still entertaining look at the Booking/Management side of pro wrestling. I know the demand is there, because that's the ONE thing EVERYBODY who played FPA2 wanted from the Japanese FFPW (while some people wanted the JP-only wrestlers not replaced, and others liked the US-only wrestlers) to be ported to the US FPA2. That "Match Maker" mode in FPR was pretty lightweight (though still fun) compared to MMoR in FFPW.
I've finished story modes in all the games I've played. WM2k's was rather fun, most of what they put in the two Smackdown games I've own was not. No Mercy's was kind of in the middle. If it wasn't quite a chronic fixed path and you didn't have to lose to see all the options, I would've liked it more. But WM2k's was the one I played over and over and over again. Something like that with some storyline elements added would be great.
I liked WM2k and Here Comes the Pain... in fact I LOVED Here Comes the Pain because it mixed your CAWs in with the regular roster and you could sit back and watch things unfold. I had a great time watching one of my guys in a cage match against the Undertaker for the title in a set-up I had nothing to do with!
I echo what a few people have already said.. You don't need a story mode because your imagination will fill in the blanks. They tried it with No Mercy and it didn't really work as well as WM2k. Keep it simple and get the CAWs involved I say.
The Smackdown series has taken a real nose dive in this department. Here Comes the Pain was the last Smackdown I enjoyed playing the story mode on.
The only story mode I truly enjoyed was from Wrestlemania 2000 & WWF No Mercy. I enjoyed these so much i must've played them through at least 25 times. At least these story modes wasn't about throwing construction workers off of platforms lol.
I liked SYM's season and really liked HCTP. Mostly for putting my CAWs in and having the opponents be fairly random in most storylines. That gave it far better replay-ability than SVR's story modes. Given the choice, I would prefer a more randomized season mode with some basic story elements to spark my imagination than a linear detailed story mode.
I did play through the story modes in both Day of Reckoning games; I thought they were rather well-executed (though I did have to wonder about the duplication of storylines between Raw and Smackdown in DoR 1; they even had to make up a stable out of whole cloth just so they'd have an analogue for Evolution. The New Ministry... *snicker*)
That said, I don't usually play a wrestling game's story/season mode that much. But I do think it's important for PWX to have one, simply because the characters are all original, and if we don't get a chance to see their gimmicks in action, we won't be able to understand the characters. And you want the audience to understand (and bond with) the characters. Plus, it gives us something to do when we don't have a bunch of friends over to play games.
Story modes are one of those things where I'll slug through it if I have to, but I would really enjoy if it is done well. Anything that has 2 on 1 handicap match where you are mostly just floundering on the ground, incapable of doing anything is automatically a slug fest.
[quote][cite] samcclung65:[/cite]I liked SYM's season and really liked HCTP. Mostly for putting my CAWs in and having the opponents be fairly random in most storylines. That gave it far better replay-ability than SVR's story modes. Given the choice, I would prefer a more randomized season mode with some basic story elements to spark my imagination than a linear detailed story mode.[/quote]
I LOVE the idea of a career mode/story mode. The problem is that they usually aren't very good, at least how I would like them. My dream career mode would be where you start as a backyard wrestler and literally have to work your way to the top. Although this idea has been used in many games, you usually rise to the top within a year. In real life normally it takes several years to be on the top.
Also, I want to be able to have LOTS of choices and have lots of things happen when choices are made. For example, if I am walking around the locker room and come up to a wrestler, I want to be able to talk to do a number of choices: say hello, shake their hand and walk off, talk in a friendly way, talk in a rude way, or just attack them. Each of these choices have an effect to the "big picture" of your career. A respect system could also be implemented to go with this.
But, anyway, yes I do play and beat all story modes/career modes. I do it in hopes that it will be up to my standards. Unfortunately, more and more they are becoming less to what I want. This mainly applies to the Smackdown games, though. Every year they are more concerned with the visuals and voice overs than anything else.
I have finished all story lines except SDvR08; a very tiresome game even by Yuke's standards. What I really love is the idea of working one's way up from a Jobber to a Main Eventer. I don't need a bunch of pointless cutscenes with the boss in his office, or my vilest enemy waving at me as I walk by. The story should be told in the ring, many old-schoolers say, and the storyline should be about the story being told in the ring. Will you get a push? Depends on your performance, not necessarily your win-loss record. I would reward players who didn't use the same moves over and over, and take a more "real-biz" approach to out of ring experiences.
I usually only finish the story modes for unlockables (smackdowns story modes are very repititive) but i think its just how no game has had the right ideas for a great story mode.I do think pro wrestling x needs a story mode though,if you want to be a true alternative to other wrestling games then i think you need to come up with something new and origanal in story mode as a unique selling point.
As fullMETAL said wrestling spirit games could be a good blueprint for the story mode in this game. Let a wrestler start off a rookie working for differant indys rising to the main event scene in the bigger promotions. Have each promotion have its own style - sports entertainment,puro,deathmatch,lucha ect. that way even if you did get bored of 1 part of the story mode you could just jump to differant promotions which would force you to change the wrestling style that you've become used to,imo thats a good way to increase the lenth of story mode without it getting boring. Maybe if there was wear and tear on your wrestlers body as he gets older so you'd have to change his moveset would make things interesting aswell,think high flyers who are aging so they have to adjust there moveset to avoid further injury. Also trying to make titles mean something in a wrestling game would be kinda original..not just the main event titles,ALL the titles.
I'm sure if you were looking for original story lines for a story mode in your game most people on this site would be more then happy to come up with a few story lines and send them onto you - id say every wrestling fan would have the ability to come up with at least 1 interesting story for a wrestling rivalry
I agree with a lot of the others about wrestlemania2k. I too really loved HCTP's story mode because of the fact the you could have your created wrestlers it there with the others. This would make every season different thus making the replay value very high.
HCTP was the greats with all the stuff they said. I could get a belt with my charecter and start over to see my charector defend it own his own. It should be HCTP pain CAW interaction + NOMercy branching + W2K's epic final battles (For titles at main events) I want it to be that you can be the bottom of the card jobber and still have the story moving about (Or just have them keep fighting until they get to mid card thens storylines kick in)
Oh I beat about every story mode in a game I had and I like something about everything.
Addittude-You started from house show (cool)
W2K- You rise up the card and fight toward WM (epic battle)
No Mercy- Choose roads(or titles) and it branchs down (untill you become jobber)
Smackdown 2- Sport Season asoect with a story here and there even if you're not involed
Smackdown JBI: Build up to Wrestle Maina Showdown (epic but easy battle)
Smackdown SYM: Free roam!!!!
Smackdown HCTP: CAW interaction
SVR:This game was butt
SVR 06: It's a main story and then it the real good side stories (ECW, Eddie & Taker & JBL title chase) I played this sory mode hella times
SVR07: locker room creation and more interaction with roster (cell phone)
SVR08: Little side missions
WM XIX: Backstage crap was crap but the Vince battle at the end was the hardest thing since I played Sonic Adventures final boss.
I think I've finished every Smackdown title with the exception of 08, and the Day of Reckoning games.
While I do enjoy playing the single season story mode, I really liked Smackdown 2 where you were pretty much free to add in up to four players and make them a stable (though it didn't have a huge game play effect)
So yes I expect a story mode in my game but I really want one where A) It can be modded so I can download a new user created story or make my own to upload. B) I'd like more of an open career game play where the story may not be as developed but you can work your way through the rankings and then continue defending any title you may win. C) And this might be the most important thing to me personally. I want it to be ok to lose. And what I mean is in a lot of games if you lose you have to keep redoing the match till you win. (Can't remember which game but trying to win the royal rumble was a nightmare in one of them) I would like it so if my CAW loses a match ok well it branches off into another area and maybe at this time I'm not going for a world title, maybe my focus changes to the tag belts or whichever. And then down the road work my way back up, or in a lot of cases losing a match doesn't destroy someone's title chances just makes the road more difficult.
Overall the biggest thing is yes it has a story mode. (I'm buying uprising regardless to show support. hell I bought take out weight curling for support lol) And I want the ability to customize as much or as little that I want.
I know you guys are going to do a heck of a job either way!
While I haven't yet gone through a 24/7 Season in SvR 2008 for anything other than WWE Cash, I think they're ALMOST KIND OF SORT OF headed remotely close to getting on the right track with their seasons.
And I think EVERYONE here can agree with me when I say that there will almost NEVER be a more satisfying moment in WrestleMania 2000 than when after you beat Undertaker at WrestleMania with Austin, you face HBK, and then WIN after countering a kick with your Special Kick Counter Stunner, almost PERFECTLY duplicating the WrestleMania 14 finish and unlocking both Shawn AND the Smoking Skull Belt at the same time to end your Season with a *GLASS CRASH* ...and cue the Austin theme.