2D games with excellent writing

[EternalFacepalm]

Cave Story and Chrono Trigger. Both amazing.

 

[Nooners]

As for the 2D game I had the most emotional investment in (as a kid) ill say Phantasy Star 2, everyone always mentions FF7 as how Aeiriths death was so groundbreaking. PS2 did it first.

Have you never played Phantasy Star IV? I am dissapoint.

PS IV was an amazing game, and about the only complaint I have against it is that's it's just too easy. I went into the final boss' dungeon thinking, "I'll probably die before I even get to the boss, but at least I'll know how tough it is." I wound up beating the game, without much trouble...

Anyways, the story was great. Epic, tragic, funny in some points ("You old fart! Do you just give out my measurements to anyone who asks?!"), and loaded with some great continuity. Easily my favorite old-school RPG series, and it came to a fantastic end.

 

[Cogwheel]

Terranigma, FF6, Chrono Trigger, Iji, Cave Story, The Spirit Engine 2. Those last three are for the PC, and free. You should be playing them right now.

 

[Lukeje]

grim fandango and the broken sword games are my fave point & clickers, very good writting.

Grim Fandango was 3D. As was Broken Sword 3.

 

[nbamaniac]

I thought you were just talking about sidescrolling games, but you mean ANY 2D game EVER? OF COURSE there are lots of them with good writing!
*bangs head on wall*

Of course, most "games of old" that you mentioned were more concerned about gameplay and just being, you know, FUN. But still, there are SO many 2D games with good writing, both old-school AND more recent, that I don't even know where to start.

No, I genuinely liked the plot, setting and characters in the games I have mentioned. While their respective gameplays were superb, it's not what this thread's about.

EDIT: and please do tell.. you can try filtering out the excellent from the good. I wanna know what I missed in my childhood.

 

[Gammaj4]

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
I have NEVER RARELY laughed so hard at a game.

 

[TrevHead]

Odin Sphere. It is on the PS2,

Im playing this on the emulator atm, Art and story is very good, I like the way theres different characters with each story intermingling. Im not a lover of the cooking and having to eat to raise my exp, I see it more as an distraction that takes me away from fully enjoying the game. Luckly if you play smartly you can keep time spent on cooking to a minimum.

Muramasa: the demon blade (WII) is a much better game I hear.

Any lover of vanilaware needs to pick up Aquaria on the PC, Has a good story with narration. Plays like Echo the dolphin / metriodvania and borrows Odins Sphere's cooking and improves on it.

Have you never played Phantasy Star IV? I am dissapoint.

Ive only spent a hour on the emulator just checking it out. I plan on playing through all the PS games at some point (Ive done PS1) but theres just so many great games to play its hard fitting everything in.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Odin Sphere. It is on the PS2,

Im playing this on the emulator atm, Art and story is very good, I like the way theres different characters with each story intermingling. Im not a lover of the cooking and having to eat to raise my exp, I see it more as an distraction that takes me away from fully enjoying the game. Luckly if you play smartly you can keep time spent on cooking to a minimum.

Muramasa: the demon blade (WII) is a much better game I hear.

Any lover of vanilaware needs to pick up Aquaria on the PC, Has a good story with narration. Plays like Echo the dolphin / metriodvania and borrows Odins Sphere's cooking and improves on it.

I love Odin Sphere (even the food bits. I just hated the load times and lag. Those are console limitations, though), but I didn't like Muramasa at all. Too open, mythology I'm not familiar with, and it just seemed like a crappy spiritual successor. I'll look into Aquaria. Thanks for the recommendation.

 

[TrevHead]

Aquaria was made by 2 ppl one of which was Derik Yu aka Mr Splunky. It was him who did all the games art as he is a trained illustrator. I wish he would finish with Splunky which he has been working on for donkies years now and get back into an small indie dev team.

Imo Derik Yu is too much of a good artist to be squandered making games all by himself only finishing 1 game per 4-5 years. Just think of all the great games he could make if he teamed up with 1 or 2 like minded programmers with him doing the Designer / Artist. (or made the sequel to Aquaria since the story is set up for one)

BTW if you dont like playing with a M&K you can also play with a control pad and its still fun to play.

As for Odin Sphere im playing it on my emulator and it rarely slows down execpt when I attack 5 plus baddies in one blow. Thats the good thing about emulation, if you can get a game to run properly on it (many PS2 games have this problem), use an usb version of the original console (or buy an usb adaptor although most add lagg). The game can be run free of slowdown which was a problem with many PS2 games.