Best Written Stories in Gaming

[Alex_P]

For video games, I'm gonna say Torment. And that's it. Only Torment.

Everything else just doesn't compare. There's some good stuff out there, but nothing else has really done "great" story. Games like Deus Ex and BioShock also play with some big ideas, but they don't do it with nearly as much nuance or depth as Torment -- mostly I feel like they're just alluding to better stuff. Games like KOTOR and Jade Empire do a great job of creating some interesting characters (though usually all but one or two are pretty flat), but their chief focus is genre emulation, so they're very simple thematically. Lots of other games slather on tons of plot but it's just chatter and melodrama -- that's not really good writing, just a lot of it.

-- Alex

 

[jboking]

Metal Gear Solid, anyone?

only the first one. the 3rd one was too ridiculous and the 2nd and 4th ones were made to intentionally make no sense.

Wait, how was the third any more ridiculous than the first?

There's only one answer outside the realm of RPGs and JRPGs for this, and that is Halo. Before anyone starts, take a look at the backstory. The Halo series has the largest EU I've ever seen in any media outside Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Warhammer. Honestly, I have to say Halo wins this thread straight away.

While I will give you, Halos story is easily better than Killzones and possibly on par with MGS, it far from wins this thread. There are games like Bioshock, System Shock, Shadow of the Colossus, Deus Ex, Legend of Dragoon and Half-life that beat Halos story easily.

Notice that some of those games don't have large EUs. Big =/= Good

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

Metal Gear Solid, anyone?

I agree.

Please. Kojima needs to fix his verbal diarrhea. Snake is evidently a complete idiot who has to repeat everything someone says to him. "Metal Gear?" "YES, SNAKE! METAL GEAR! You blew one up last game, remember?" Gah!

 

[G-Mang]

Metal Gear Solid 1 and 3 (2 is just silly, and I don't have a PS3). 1 was solid throughout, and I loved 3's ending.

Half-Life 2: Episode 2, in my mind, had the best, well... everything of the HL series. When the hunter gets Alyx, when you get to talk to G-Man again, the ending... fantastic.

Grim Fandango has great story and presentation. Psychonauts had great characters, but I don't think the overall plot was as good.

I've never played most of the RPG's mentioned, nor System Shock and Shadow of the Colossus (both of which I'd love to play). FFT I did play, however, and its story was definitely great.

 

[Christemo]

Titan Quest
God of War
Heroes of Might and Magic 3-5
Age of Mythology
Battle for Middle-Earth 2

 

[PirateKing]

Metal Gear Solid, anyone?

I agree.

Please. Kojima needs to fix his verbal diarrhea. Snake is evidently a complete idiot who has to repeat everything someone says to him. "Metal Gear?" "YES, SNAKE! METAL GEAR! You blew one up last game, remember?" Gah!

This is about story. Not dialogue.

 

[Alex_P]

This is about story. Not dialogue.

The thread title indicates that it's also about writing. Although with MGS you've also got translators gumming up the works.

While we're at it (and this isn't directed towards you, although I do think MGS is guilty of this): "story" isn't just about plot.

-- Alex

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

Metal Gear Solid, anyone?

I agree.

Please. Kojima needs to fix his verbal diarrhea. Snake is evidently a complete idiot who has to repeat everything someone says to him. "Metal Gear?" "YES, SNAKE! METAL GEAR! You blew one up last game, remember?" Gah!

This is about story. Not dialogue.

This is about writing too, and that includes dialogue. Either way, Kojima's characters are evidently morons who forget everything between conversations and games. Also, recessive genes do not work that way, Liquid! You are a f***ing idiot!

 

[n01d34]

Planescape Torment
Dark, bizarre, and endlessly inventive. If you're even remotely interested in video game storytelling check it out.

Mother 3
I only recently finished this. Hands down the best jRPG I've ever played. Equal parts comic and tragic it's something worth experiencing.

 

[Blank Verse]

I think the writer for Oblivion's Dark Brotherhood quests should be given stupid amounts of money and sex.

 

[PirateKing]

Metal Gear Solid, anyone?

I agree.

Please. Kojima needs to fix his verbal diarrhea. Snake is evidently a complete idiot who has to repeat everything someone says to him. "Metal Gear?" "YES, SNAKE! METAL GEAR! You blew one up last game, remember?" Gah!

This is about story. Not dialogue.

This is about writing too, and that includes dialogue. Either way, Kojima's characters are evidently morons who forget everything between conversations and games. Also, recessive genes do not work that way, Liquid! You are a f***ing idiot!

Could you give me an example of them forgetting things? I'm drawing a blank.

 

[Alleged_Alec]

Okay, I'm just going to list some of the games I played with a great story.

Grim Fandango- awesome presentation, awesome story, awesome setting and well... awesome everything really.
Warcraft 3- a very epic story, well told through great cutscenes.
The Longest Journey- what is there not to love about this game? Great humour, good story.
Dreamfall: Longest Journey- Even though it's not as good as it's predecessor and the gameplay had shat itself inside out, it was still a great game with an awesome story.
KotOR
Assassin's Creed
Final Fantasy X (what? I liked it...)

And a special mention goes to Halo, for having a really bland story arc at most points, but having an awesome backstory (look for the terminals in Halo 3 for example) and a good EU as well (the books are actually quite good).

 

[Calax]

There's only one answer outside the realm of RPGs and JRPGs for this, and that is Halo. Before anyone starts, take a look at the backstory. The Halo series has the largest EU I've ever seen in any media outside Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Warhammer. Honestly, I have to say Halo wins this thread straight away.

hate to burst your bubble, but most RPG's in general have better writing than Halo. Mass Effect, Baldurs Gate I+II, Planetscape Torment, Deus ex, and Star Trek all have deeper backstories behind them than Halo, it's just halo has the money to expand upon what it created (but it still can't beat Star Trek in terms of sheer detail...)

Halo is fairly good ground work but doesn't have enough GOOD backing (in my opinion) to make it a heavy weight contender.

 

[Woe Is You]

Whatever I was going to say about Torment has already been said by Alex_P but I had to post to say how much I agree with the guy.

 

[SnakeF]

I'd have to say that the earlier Bioware games had the best stories to them, Baldur's Gate 1 easily had one of the best stories, one that kept me coming back to it, and Baldurs Gate 2 was truly epic in it's story. The Icewind Dale games also had a good story to them if you payed attention. I don't think that their newer games had as good a story as their older stuff, KotOR in particular I found to be lacking in story.

 

[AbsoluteVirtue18]

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 has a great story just for the fact that LOVELESS was a great parallel to the story. That and the characterization was great.

Oh god, this post is SO terrible. Did you actually like the whole GIFT OF THE GODDESS GIFT OF THE GODDESS GIFT OF THE GODDESS GIFT OF THE GODDESS GIFT OF THE GODDESS GIFT OF THE GODDESS GIFT OF THE GODDESS GIFT OF THE GODDESS GIFT OF THE GODDESS GIFT OF THE GODDESS GIFT OF THE GODDESS GIFT OF THE GODDESS blabbering?

I just can't bring myself to playing through a New Game+, just because of that one guy's pointless and ANNOYING blabbering.

*clears throat*....yes. I did not get annoyed by it at all since I felt it fit the scenario, and the character. Honestly if I can read through things like Shakespeare and enjoy it, LOVELESS was a fun little piece of writing.

"Infinite in mystery is the gift of the Goddess. We seek it thus, and take to the sky. Ripples form on the waters surface. The wandering soul bears no rest."

I liked it. I agree it did fit well with the story.

 

[El Taco the Rogue]

Nominates Grim Fandango, The World Ends with you, and Beyond Good And Evil

 

[mokey91]

Anything made by BioWare has a great story.

 

[Corpse XxX]

Metal Gear Solid, anyone?

Agree.. MGS 1 had the best story ever..


Also kinda liked Resistance 2 for some reason..