To me, Oddworld Inhabitants. They're obviously responsible for the Oddworld series if you don't know what I'm referring to.
Best video game company for story telling
- Thread starter DK412
- Start date
Recommended Videos
Obsidian, specifically the Chris Avellone stuff. Also Black Isle, for the same reason (except their dead now).
They specialize in stories which are both easily accessible and yet incredibly complex. So anyone can get into the story and enjoy it for what it is on the surface - like a Bioware plot - but there are extra layers there for anyone who wants something more substantial (see KOTOR 2 and Mask of the Betrayer).
They specialize in stories which are both easily accessible and yet incredibly complex. So anyone can get into the story and enjoy it for what it is on the surface - like a Bioware plot - but there are extra layers there for anyone who wants something more substantial (see KOTOR 2 and Mask of the Betrayer).
At this point, I'd pretty much consider myself a Bioware fanboy, but I still kinda have to agree with this. When you look at their main plots closely, they're not very amazing. I wouldn't say they suck, but they pale in comparison to a lot of the subplots.subtlefuge said:
They definitely create some of the best characters. I prefer to think of the overall story for Mass Effect... not in terms of a Reaper doomsday invasion.. but as the story of Commander Shepard.
No. For an example, see Planescape. The main plot is only bad if you refuse to do anything other than "save the world from ancient evil!" and even if you do want that it doesn't have to suck as much as Bioware's main plots do. You shake things up by say giving the bad guys a motive or not revealling the whole plot in the first hour. Or if you really want to push the boat out throwing in a plot twist or two.lucky_sharm said:
Infocom
The Zork series was the best, no other game company has told a halfway decent story since.
The Zork series was the best, no other game company has told a halfway decent story since.
May fave would be Obsidian, hands down. The range of choice, the variety of outcomes, the many leveled depth of plot...
They're certainly not as polished as Bioware but that's to be expected as Bioware have essentially been rewriting the same story for around a decade now.
They're certainly not as polished as Bioware but that's to be expected as Bioware have essentially been rewriting the same story for around a decade now.
Team Silent (of Silent Hill fame), for dealing with subjects such as rape, murder, depression, suicide, mental breakdown, difficult moral choices (is it ever right to kill?), avoidance, while wrapping all of that in a pretty shitty survival horror game with incredibly stupid puzzles. That takes balls.
Obsidian. Yes, their games tend to have bugs crawling out of every orfice, but nobody here can deny that they don't know how to write great games. I'm especially fond of KotOR2, which despite being less of a "star wars game" than its predecessor still had amazing character development, and moral choices that weren't exclusively of the asshole or knight in shining armor variety.
I though about including Bioware, but it just occurred to me that the last time any of their games had a decent story was with KotOR, and even that was endemic of the Bioware plot syndrome: wake up, have tutorial level, big bad reveals him/her/itself, go on overly long fetch quest, have intermittent fight with big bad (possible big reveal), finish overly long fetch quest, prepare for final fight with big bad, fight big bad, win, have orgy. Oh wait, orgy comes before fight with big bad, sorry...
Obsidian. Yes, their games tend to have bugs crawling out of every orfice, but nobody here can deny that they don't know how to write great games. I'm especially fond of KotOR2, which despite being less of a "star wars game" than its predecessor still had amazing character development, and moral choices that weren't exclusively of the asshole or knight in shining armor variety.
I though about including Bioware, but it just occurred to me that the last time any of their games had a decent story was with KotOR, and even that was endemic of the Bioware plot syndrome: wake up, have tutorial level, big bad reveals him/her/itself, go on overly long fetch quest, have intermittent fight with big bad (possible big reveal), finish overly long fetch quest, prepare for final fight with big bad, fight big bad, win, have orgy. Oh wait, orgy comes before fight with big bad, sorry...
Hey, cool, another Homeworld fan! And you're right about the... um, launching a story (I didn't want to say "you're right about the genocide", that sounds a bit weird).meece said:
*cough* [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/Homeworld-fans-group]
I honestly think Valve's story telling ability is superior.
They create environments drenched in story with very little narritive; you learn about the world through playing the game. Team Fortress 2 and the Left 4 Dead series come to my mind as excellent uses of this type of story telling. The character quotes in both examples and the grafitti in Left 4 Dead are what gives the world it's depth. There's never the text heavy or endless cutscenes that other companies use to develope their worlds.
They create environments drenched in story with very little narritive; you learn about the world through playing the game. Team Fortress 2 and the Left 4 Dead series come to my mind as excellent uses of this type of story telling. The character quotes in both examples and the grafitti in Left 4 Dead are what gives the world it's depth. There's never the text heavy or endless cutscenes that other companies use to develope their worlds.
I always liked the way that Team Silent, Valve, Troika and Ice Pick Lodge did stories. They have my favorite games.
Who do I think is the BEST Dev for story telling (as in the title)? Well Bioware obviously... I mean they don't always get it right but above all other developers they are the ones to whom the story comes first and they are the ones who will put the most effort into the story.
Who takes the MOST RISKS? I think Ubisoft for Splinter Cell DA (my favorite of the series). I'm a bit cautious because no-ones mentioned this before so I hope I'm not being an idiot, but some of the moral choices you can make are seriously controversial. Potentially nuking a cruse ship full of innocents to ensure your cover, or possibly disrupt it then blame it on an ally. Then near the end deciding weather or not to kill a main character whose been with the series since day 1 (who's also your superior officer) in cold blood. I did not find any of the decisions I made in that game easy to make.
Sorry to go off topic a little bit but I honestly think that SC
A has the only genuinely great example of a moral choice system in a game, for two reasons...
1) It is not a simple, Peter Molyneux style, choice between good and evil, there are several morally grey options. Each with a sensible justification for choosing it, but also very well balanced consequences.
2) It is not a simple matter of choosing a 'good' or 'evil' stance and following it to the end. You have to keep the trust of both the Terrorists and th NSA which means you have to carefully balance the choices you make. So you may end up later on making a choice that you didn't want to make because it is the only way to keep one factions trust, and who trust's you most at any given time affects your loadout for the missions and so alters the way you play. Imo it really is very well thought through.
Who takes the MOST RISKS? I think Ubisoft for Splinter Cell DA (my favorite of the series). I'm a bit cautious because no-ones mentioned this before so I hope I'm not being an idiot, but some of the moral choices you can make are seriously controversial. Potentially nuking a cruse ship full of innocents to ensure your cover, or possibly disrupt it then blame it on an ally. Then near the end deciding weather or not to kill a main character whose been with the series since day 1 (who's also your superior officer) in cold blood. I did not find any of the decisions I made in that game easy to make.
Sorry to go off topic a little bit but I honestly think that SC
A has the only genuinely great example of a moral choice system in a game, for two reasons...1) It is not a simple, Peter Molyneux style, choice between good and evil, there are several morally grey options. Each with a sensible justification for choosing it, but also very well balanced consequences.
2) It is not a simple matter of choosing a 'good' or 'evil' stance and following it to the end. You have to keep the trust of both the Terrorists and th NSA which means you have to carefully balance the choices you make. So you may end up later on making a choice that you didn't want to make because it is the only way to keep one factions trust, and who trust's you most at any given time affects your loadout for the missions and so alters the way you play. Imo it really is very well thought through.
Warps.
D was a slow moving, unconventional, boring, short 1st person rail-road adventure.
However the reason you keep playing it is how it just hand's you the story.
It slowly gives you the details, and you want to keep going on to get more of the details, so the details you have actually make sense.
EDIT : The D trilogy was a short, boring one indeed, but with the exception of D.2 the games storytelling is probally the best a studio could ever do.
R.I.P Warp games.
EDIT No.)2 : I guesse I also like Team ICO. You can just tell by the box art something like this going to happen : "You are going on a bleak adventure going through gorgeous and bland enviromen't in order to save the person you love." and it doesn't just say "You love this person 'cuz 1 Theres nothing else to drive the plot 2 We say you do 3 She's the only thing here that is 1) Female 2) Not a giant rock monster."
D was a slow moving, unconventional, boring, short 1st person rail-road adventure.
However the reason you keep playing it is how it just hand's you the story.
It slowly gives you the details, and you want to keep going on to get more of the details, so the details you have actually make sense.
EDIT : The D trilogy was a short, boring one indeed, but with the exception of D.2 the games storytelling is probally the best a studio could ever do.
R.I.P Warp games.
EDIT No.)2 : I guesse I also like Team ICO. You can just tell by the box art something like this going to happen : "You are going on a bleak adventure going through gorgeous and bland enviromen't in order to save the person you love." and it doesn't just say "You love this person 'cuz 1 Theres nothing else to drive the plot 2 We say you do 3 She's the only thing here that is 1) Female 2) Not a giant rock monster."
Eh, the usual suspects.
Bioware for story through dialogue and characterization.
Valve for story through environment and scripting.
Team Ico for story through visual design and symbolism.
Irrational Games for story through being awesome.
And a few other that I really don't care about.
Bioware for story through dialogue and characterization.
Valve for story through environment and scripting.
Team Ico for story through visual design and symbolism.
Irrational Games for story through being awesome.
And a few other that I really don't care about.