where is the best place to start a story?

[Dredge]

a) small town
b ) island
c) Kingdom
d) other

 

[GraveBusta]

a) small town

b ) island

c) Kingdom

d) other

well Kingdom is usually the last one I would pick but it can work well tbh, I would have to go with a small town because so many legendary game use small towns to build plot

 

[starlord]

actually it doesn't really matter.. what matters is the design and the quality of the story you're writing.. you can turn cliche locations to fresh by creating the story that will surely get your players hooked into it.. (but if you'd let me choose, I'd choose a city or outer space, because these are my interests of course but in your situation, i'd pick an island, I've already thought of a story in that.. that's the easiest for me.. but its still your choice.. ) 

 

[Tarsus]

The location of the start of your game should be determined by the story and the playable characters situation and background.

One thing to note is that most games tend to pick small towns or other small locations so it won't overwhelm the player with huge complex maps early on.

 

[Matseb2611]

"Where is the best place to start a story?"

In the middle of action. Start with a BANG and grasp the player's attention.

 

[Shuji]

"Where is the best place to start a story?"

In the middle of action. Start with a BANG and grasp the player's attention.

Yup, I agree with him. The place doen't really matters. 

 

[Ms Littlefish]

The where is dependent on the what. Story should be in the driver seat. As much as I like seeing unique and refreshing start locations, I think what is happening will often have a bigger impact then where it is happening. 

 

[captainproton]

It depends on where the character is going. If the character goes from tiny village to a tiny village--meh. If the character goes from a kingdom city to a kingdom city--a little less meh, but still meh. However, going from a tiny village to a big city or vice versa equals a big change in environment, and thus is an adventure.

Ralph: "ah, it's good to be back in the city of dragonport after my arduous adventure. "

Elmer: "ralph, you're back! Where did you go?"

Ralph: "all the way to redrock city!"

Elmer: "wow, what was that like?"

Ralph: *looks around* "er...just like this, actually."

 

[whitesphere]

I think the best place to start a story is where it is the most fun for the player.  Personally, I think it's great to have it right before or after a major point in the story.  To me, the story is all that counts.  If that turning point is at a castle, so be it.  If that turning point is in the middle of a swamp, so be it. 

I like to start in the middle of the action, without a long text crawl or cutscene.

My current work in progress starts right as the MC and a friend refuse to destroy a town --- and, after being begged by their brothers-at-arms to repent (they refuse, naturally), they get attacked by their former brothers-at-arms for defying the Church.  So they start out in a tiny town they have no affiliation with.  But, it works for this particular story.

If you look at successful RPGs, there is no one place they all start.  They pick somewhere significant to their particular story and go from there.  Chrono Trigger starts at his mother's house, for example, as Chrono wakes up.  Final Fantasy IV starts as the Red Wings take a Crystal from Mysidia.

In these RPGs, story is king (or queen if you prefer).  Everything else should be defined by it.

 

[Paladin-Cleric of Awesome]

The best place to start a story is at the end. That way you know where your going to end up.

But for other people entering the story, the beginning works better.

If its location your referring to however, it entirely depends on the characters and the overall story. I mean, if you had a theif as the main character, then a large town with lots of people to steal from would be better. If its a knight then the kings city. If its a simply teen, normally small farm villages work.

 

[Reaper10119]

All of them have been used in books/movies/tv shows and video games to good effect. personally id prefer the kingdom setting myself.