What's your impression about the story of the game? Is it deep or shallow? Is there a story at all, or is Knytt Underground really just all about platforming, exploring, and collecting (http://gameblinx.com/knytt-underground-review/)?
Nifflas was pretty clear about his intention for the storyline in the game: "Knytt Underground is the biggest game I’ve ever developed and is the first game where I feel that I have a story to tell." But the fact that one of its earliest reviews (linked above) could dismiss such a core element kinda begs the question how successful the game is about telling its story.
In KU the stories are told through witty text dialogues and funny item descriptions. Which is cool, but it also means that gamers who equate 'quality storytelling' with 'action-packed cinematic cutscenes' will likely glance over these text-based narratives, no matter how clever or deep those narratives are.
For example, to find out what really happened 500 years ago on the surface, we have to talk with NPCs who are only guessing at the events but lay down the background information. Then for the definite answer, we have to find an item called and read its nonsensical description Human miners used this to measure the distance to the surface. The device would click more rapidly the closer to the surface the miner was.
which reveals the truth in a creepy manner only if we recognize that the item is in fact a tube from a Geiger counter probe.
Compare all this effort and reward with the usual unskippable epic CGI that would shove all this info in your face in three minutes. If someone expects that sort of thing from a game in 2012, they won't find out like, 99% of stories here, and then no wonder that the game becomes really "just all about platforming, exploring, and collecting".
Besides this, I can think of only a few other reasons why some would miss out on the story: speedy playthrough or early quitting, for example.
Well, that's my two cents anyway. What do you think about the way the story is presented in KU?
Wow, that's something! But no wonder I couldn't get what it is, never saw a Geiger counter.
I liked the story and the way it's told. One thing that was confusing for me is usage of certain characters' names in dialogs, namely Miriam, Ezra, Hubert. I had no clue who they are, as I talked to them only once before or only heard of them.
To me, what made this game made it appealing to follow the story as much as possible, is how the humour is involved in the whole. All the dialogs are shown with a sense of humour.
So that aspect alone is what makes it a great story already. It manages you to not skip the whole story just to play the game, which I tend to do. The story itself is pretty well build up, especially since it starts in episode 1 where the gameplay is more linear until you get to chapter 3, so the foundation for the story is there.
The entire "collect bits and puzzle it together" is a good thing, because that alone makes it a good replay value. I've seen different movies (to name two, Memento, the sixth sense) that uses the same principle. When you watch this movie again, you start to notice more things and more things are starting to make sense. This game falls into that category. I bet if you play the game for a tenth time, you'll still get some aha moments for the story. Then, the many many secrets do tell some parts of the story too, though they are (as secrets are) bonus to the game.
So, for a first playthough, it may be that the story is not picked up much because of the beauty and atmosphere of the game, but given if you play it more than once (something that is actually stimulated by the game itself for the following reason) the story gets much more focus.
The fact that you can send both Dora and Cilla to a conversation and it gives awesome dialogs depending on what you choose