Some games have a story to tell. Stories that are entertaining, heart-warming, tear-jerking, nightmare fuel inducing, mind-boggling and etc. Yet despite such games like, in my opinion at least, the Baldur's Gate Trilogy, Planescape: Torment, Spec Ops: The Line, Silent Hill 2, Bioshock: Infinite, System Shock 2, Deus Ex and others that I can't recall, the stories I have made up in my head in games that leave such a blank space in those areas make an experience that is just as memorable.
Games like FTL: Faster Than Light, X-Com: Enemy Unknown, Shadow of Mordor and Xenonauts have a setting, a select group of randomly generated characters, a premise and a Random Number Generator (RNG) for certain events (not as much for Shadow of Mordor, I think) but yet possess this curious ability of being able to create a story of their own. A player-made experience created by the individual playing it. Granted these are stories in your head that may differ while being difficult to maintain due to the abrupt ending caused by a game-over but these are stories that have impact and pay-off, especially if you reach the ending.
Recently, I played FTL with the Kestrel starter ship. I remember how we lost the engine room guy due to a spider-filled space station though we replaced him with a Zoltan. Throughout the journey, my crew went through a lot and I began to imagine their characters and their thoughts with each person having a particular trait that allowed them to endure the horrors of what they do (i.e stealing supplies, killing pirates who surrender etc.) and when they died, I sometimes imagined the surviving crew thinking, "At least he doesn't have to live with what we've done... Though the scrap was useful!"
At the final battle against the Rebel Flagship, I ended up with my own little narrative despite not having a writer making said narrative for the game. I imagined that last battle with the crew at their stations except the captain who saw the presence of a teleporter on the enemy ship. He then sealed himself in the door compartment to protect the people in the other sections, knowing that he risked the ship's hull in the process. At the final stretch, with the engines damaged, the captain returned to his post to ensure that the ship could avoid the enemy's final salvo while the remaining crew sealed themselves in the med-bay to stay alive in a ship that was losing oxygen in key areas. One crew member stayed in the weapon station a bit longer though so that the weapons would charge at a faster rate. Once the targets were locked and the final salvo was launched, he fled into the med-bay just as the enemy intruders burst in through the doors. The final salvo struck their target, the flag-ship destroyed but not before they launched a final salvo of shield-piercing missiles at them. They prepared for the worst, the ship facing impending destruction but the captain did not give up. His skills ensured that precisely one missile missed its target. It was enough. The whole crew survived, the ship an inch from becoming space junk. The radio in the cockpit then flared to life and from the other side, the Federation declared, "The Rebels are falling back... We've won..." The entire crew breathed a sigh of relief and with the help of the Federation, made their way back to the main Federation planet for the celebration of a lifetime. My four surviving crewmembers wouldn't be celebrating with them though, they'll be together by themselves mourning the loss of the engine room man while silently celebrating the fact they survived. They might not have a happy retirement awaiting them with the potential PTSD but for that night, they were simply happy to be alive.
This is the kind of narrative that can be made from one playthrough and I imagine more could be made just by playing another new playthrough. Xenonauts also had one too. For me, it involved the final mission with 2 rookies sacrificing their lives, by keeping the Reaper hordes at bay. to ensure their commanding officers could kill off the head alien and save the world. That night, three people did not join in the celebrations; the two officers and the commander of the Xenonauts task force, all three of them making a silent toast to two rookies who made all the difference in the end. This is the kind of stories one can make up due to the uniqueness of each randomly generated sequence and characters which, while not being a credit to the writers of these games, are a credit to the design and premise behind these games. These are things that could lead to one favouring games like X-Com even if there is no actual narrative within the main game and why I enjoy these types of games.
Now, I wonder if I should restart FTL during my finals...
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