Best Game Story / Plot
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I really have to catch up on Half Life. Never played any HL except for 1.
Orange Box, I'm coming.
Orange Box, I'm coming.
For starters, Silent Hill 1-3. They had plots that had me so interested (and confused) I play through them twice in a row just to make sense of every little detail, and it was definatly worth it!
Now, I am openly going to disagree with what ingsoc said about Half Life, now I am going to start by saying in all fairness I've only played Half life 1 and Half life 2 (none of the episodes). The plot in all cases is largely quite confusing, firstly, it is never quite explained what the purposes of the experiments at the begining of HL1 are or what a 'resonance cascade' is so when you do have the leigons of the bizzare stalking the hallways of the facility it comes across as being somewhat random and can only really be explained by the fact that this is in fact an FPS and they need to slide enemies in somewhere. Secondly, now moving to HL2, other than the occasional referance to a '7 hour war' in newspaper clippings in the lab at the begining it is not explained why aliens (who you never see) have dominated earth, and other than instant situational plot points such as where you are and what you are doing, you are largely in the dark. I'd hate to be the one to break this to Valve but maybe they should stop high fiving each other over the physics engine and remember it is in fact a game they are trying to make here.
Now I can put ranting aside, up until Code Veronica, Resident evil also had a pretty good plot going which, suffice to say, has made me play through most of them time and time again.
Now, I am openly going to disagree with what ingsoc said about Half Life, now I am going to start by saying in all fairness I've only played Half life 1 and Half life 2 (none of the episodes). The plot in all cases is largely quite confusing, firstly, it is never quite explained what the purposes of the experiments at the begining of HL1 are or what a 'resonance cascade' is so when you do have the leigons of the bizzare stalking the hallways of the facility it comes across as being somewhat random and can only really be explained by the fact that this is in fact an FPS and they need to slide enemies in somewhere. Secondly, now moving to HL2, other than the occasional referance to a '7 hour war' in newspaper clippings in the lab at the begining it is not explained why aliens (who you never see) have dominated earth, and other than instant situational plot points such as where you are and what you are doing, you are largely in the dark. I'd hate to be the one to break this to Valve but maybe they should stop high fiving each other over the physics engine and remember it is in fact a game they are trying to make here.
Now I can put ranting aside, up until Code Veronica, Resident evil also had a pretty good plot going which, suffice to say, has made me play through most of them time and time again.
FF7 can go to Hell, I'm tired of everyone shitting bricks on how amazing the story is. Such whiney, boring characters that I never grew attached to, with the exception of Biggs and Wedge but only because of the Star Wars reference.Terramax said:
I have played Shadow of the Colossus.
A good portion of Half Life, Half Life 2 but not the episodes.
Psychonauts, Grim Fandango from Tim Mah BOOOIIIIIII
Finished MGS 3 and am currently slugging through MGS 1 alongside Persona 3.
From the Blizzard front, Diablo, Starcraft and most of Warcraft 3 without the expansion
Nothing, I repeat, nothing comes close to Ever17 in terms of plot. The sheer amount of relevantions in Coco's route is just... it has to be read to be believed!
A good portion of Half Life, Half Life 2 but not the episodes.
Psychonauts, Grim Fandango from Tim Mah BOOOIIIIIII
Finished MGS 3 and am currently slugging through MGS 1 alongside Persona 3.
From the Blizzard front, Diablo, Starcraft and most of Warcraft 3 without the expansion
Nothing, I repeat, nothing comes close to Ever17 in terms of plot. The sheer amount of relevantions in Coco's route is just... it has to be read to be believed!
I've never understood the (increasingly rare) opinion that games aren't a good storytelling medium. It just seemed obvious to me from the start that great stories and wonderful characters suited games to a T. And I think that's because one of my earliest games was Star Control 2. It has some of the best character design and is set against one of the most epic background narratives you'll find in games - hell, even in books or movies - even today.
It's a game you can play through with cheats and not feel like you're missing out, because the point was never really to harvest resources - the point was to explore, to make friends and enemies, and to uncover how the intertwining threads of their stories made up the tapestry of the galaxy's history.
In Star Control 1, the Ur-Quan were just evil. In Star Control 2 you find out what made them evil, and how much more evil they could have chosen to be, and suddenly you empathise with them. You empathise with the homicidal multi-tentacled spider-octopus overlords who seek to enslave every race in the galaxy, who look like this [http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/2369/urquangx7.gif].
Outstanding.
(To this day I would pay a whole dollar to find out what really happened to the Androsynth!)
It's a game you can play through with cheats and not feel like you're missing out, because the point was never really to harvest resources - the point was to explore, to make friends and enemies, and to uncover how the intertwining threads of their stories made up the tapestry of the galaxy's history.
In Star Control 1, the Ur-Quan were just evil. In Star Control 2 you find out what made them evil, and how much more evil they could have chosen to be, and suddenly you empathise with them. You empathise with the homicidal multi-tentacled spider-octopus overlords who seek to enslave every race in the galaxy, who look like this [http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/2369/urquangx7.gif].
Outstanding.
(To this day I would pay a whole dollar to find out what really happened to the Androsynth!)
I personally liked the storyline from War craft 3, I loved all the characters and out of all the evil going around I wanted to see who would be victories.
I probably got really attached to it because it took me a year to beat the Frozen Throne, but hey at least it has some original material!
I probably got really attached to it because it took me a year to beat the Frozen Throne, but hey at least it has some original material!
Well, quoting myself "Don't hate it because it's popular". FFVII does have its flaws which are ignored by the masses of fanboys... Thus making everyone else hate it. This has happened with other franchises, too.JulioCortez said:
Still, that fanboys' over the top, unconditional love for the game is not really more stupid than hating a good game because of them. Perhaps even less so - at least they are enjoying themselves.
Or the you just don't like FFVII, which is your opinion...
I don't think it's been mentioned yet, but The Longest Journey and it's sequel Dreamfall. Both games were started with the intention of plot first, and have amazing writing and incredible voice acting--seriously, some of the conversations are funnier than Portal. Although, The Longest Journey is a point and click adventure game, and Dreamfall isn't much more than that, which turns a lot of gamers off. Also, Longest Journey came out in '99 I think, so it's not cutting edge graphics(800x600 is highest resolution I think, but each background is handpainted and looks amazing despite it). Dreamfall on the other hand, looks absolutely beautiful. There's a free demo for Longest Journey through Steam last I checked.
Mass Effect was the first game I'd ever played where I reached a point at which I thought, "This is something amazing that I've never seen in a video game before." I'd never been driven to complete a game out of desire to see the conclusion of the plot before.
BioShock is a work of genius because you know EXACTLY as much as the protagonist the whole way around. The big plot twists that happen around 2/3 of the way through the game made me cackle with glee at the brilliance of it all. Plus I've read Ayn Rand before, and I really like what she has to say. That was a fun bonus.
There's probably an RPG or something that I'm missing, but these two stand out in my mind above all other games in the plot sphere.
BioShock is a work of genius because you know EXACTLY as much as the protagonist the whole way around. The big plot twists that happen around 2/3 of the way through the game made me cackle with glee at the brilliance of it all. Plus I've read Ayn Rand before, and I really like what she has to say. That was a fun bonus.
There's probably an RPG or something that I'm missing, but these two stand out in my mind above all other games in the plot sphere.
Most recent example was Persona 3.
At first it isn't really that unique although you have good voice actors and fun gameplay to keep you going. But about half a huge turnabout surges and I found delightful how characters initially reacted to everything.
At first it isn't really that unique although you have good voice actors and fun gameplay to keep you going. But about half a huge turnabout surges and I found delightful how characters initially reacted to everything.
Planescape: Torment is in a totally different league to anything else that entertains the idea of a 'plot' or 'story'. I haven't played every story driven game out there but I seriously doubt any other game can even match the qualities of Torment (you'd know if you'd played it through). No "Save The World" nonsense, no "Bad Guy", just a uniquely dark story, intriguing characters, a sharp and absorbing script, a rich world and its twisted ideas. There's very little that can and, I would hasten to admit, will match it (unless gaming makes a U-turn into riffing on literature instead of movies)
Having recently finished FFVI, I was amazed at how much love it garners. In its day I'm sure it was seminal but now, aside from its soundtrack and well developed characters it felt well trodden and lacking what punch I expected it had in its day. FFVII's cinematic camera angles, rewarding cut scenes and epic soundtrack enhanced its otherwise irritating characters and now, familiar plot.
Bioshock was spectacular for the most part despite practically identical elements borrowed from its largely superior forefather System Shock 2.
Vampires: Bloodlines I found a let down not because of its bugs but because it seemed to have aspirations of greatness but never really delivered them. Anti-climactic ending, infuriating and over emphasis on combat (the conversations were more fun), sophomoric and misogynistic.
Having recently finished FFVI, I was amazed at how much love it garners. In its day I'm sure it was seminal but now, aside from its soundtrack and well developed characters it felt well trodden and lacking what punch I expected it had in its day. FFVII's cinematic camera angles, rewarding cut scenes and epic soundtrack enhanced its otherwise irritating characters and now, familiar plot.
Bioshock was spectacular for the most part despite practically identical elements borrowed from its largely superior forefather System Shock 2.
Vampires: Bloodlines I found a let down not because of its bugs but because it seemed to have aspirations of greatness but never really delivered them. Anti-climactic ending, infuriating and over emphasis on combat (the conversations were more fun), sophomoric and misogynistic.
the Halo games,
the Diablo games,
Star Wars KOTOR (just the first one, didn't play KOTOR 2)
All of these games have incredibly deep, interesting, and immersive storylines. Playing these games was like being the main character in an unbelievably good blockbuster movie.
The story of the Soul Calibur and Dead or Alive games suck ass, but so does all fighting games stories, and the gameplay (and fineass chicks) of both of those particular franchises more than make up for it.
the Diablo games,
Star Wars KOTOR (just the first one, didn't play KOTOR 2)
All of these games have incredibly deep, interesting, and immersive storylines. Playing these games was like being the main character in an unbelievably good blockbuster movie.
The story of the Soul Calibur and Dead or Alive games suck ass, but so does all fighting games stories, and the gameplay (and fineass chicks) of both of those particular franchises more than make up for it.
goldeneye: rogue agent is great
starcraft and its expansion, the best story yet but lacking in graphics lol (i still play it sometimes)
and the prince of persia series
starcraft and its expansion, the best story yet but lacking in graphics lol (i still play it sometimes)
and the prince of persia series
I found Killer7's storyline to be engaging and multifaceted, especially if you pay attention and listen to the cryptic dialogue of the other characters (like Iwazaru, Travis, Yoon-Hyun, Kun Lan, Harman Smith in the wheelchair, etc). Also, the courier pigeons provide a wealth of background on the different personas and bits of plot, and later, you get a such a twist in learning more about Garcian Smith. The fragments of popular culture, Japanese politics, and the blend of East and West traditions make it worth while for me.
The Bioshock story line is very complex and deep, I really did believe there was a lot of thought in it and that the story was overall satisfying and imaginative. The only problem is the player cant really feel a part of it.
