Game With the Best Story? (For school assignment)

[PunkRex]

I think it depends greatly from game to game. SotC doesnt have all that deep a story, you summed it up in two and a half lines, its just really well told in the mechanics and the aesthetics.

Since when is the complexity of a story indicative of its quality or depth?

Shadow of the Colossus is a simple story told well, and with impressive emotional depth. Unlike the Mass Effect series, which is well told around and in spite of a simple (and rather silly) story, SotC bases a complex emotional narrative directly on top of its admittedly simple plot. To compare it to more traditional media, it would be like saying that The Old Man and the Sea lacks depth because it's just about an old guy trying to catch a fish. That's not an argument that's going to fly. Of course, I personally The Old Man and the Sea didn't care for the book at all, but I don't deny that it is a deep and complicated narrative, even though it has a very simple story.

So, yes, while the mechanics and the aesthetics contribute to my opinion that SotC is a work of art, I also consider its story one of the best told in video games, partially because of its emotional depth coupled with the simplicity of its plot.

Maybe I should edit my original post.

Im not saying SotC didnt have a great story im saying it was told differently. Im an aesthetics man, a game can have a story with a synopsis 10 words long and if it had the visual depth SotC had id love it to death.

I was trying to ask the OP what he was looking for, a story that could work in other media like Mass Effect or one that really needs that spectacle like SotC.

For the record I never actually played SotC, I watched my big brother complete it SIX times. It was epic, I ask him all the time to lend me it but my PS2 thinks its a DVD player.

 

[Agayek]

Shadow of the Colossus.

Your character is killing these creatures to save the soul of a girl, these creatures are not a threat, they only defend themselves, for you seek them out, and with every one you kill, you can see the toll it's taking on your character.

So much is told without words.

The best stories always are.

This.

1,000,000,000 times this.

 

[Arqus_Zed]

I just have to comment on this one.

You pretty much told yourself what is so amazing about SotC: "[it's] just really well told in the mechanics and the aesthetics."

Isn't that the whole point?
Isn't that what we should be striving for? To create a means of storytelling that can't be copied by any other medium?

It's the interaction with your horse, the slaying of the gigantic creatures and the search in the desolate landscape...
If a picture is worth more than a thousand words, than an experience is worth more than a thousand pictures.

SotC, Bioshock, Bastion...these are all excellent examples of using the medium of gaming to excellent effect in telling a story. But that's a little outside the boundaries of the OP's question. He wanted to know what, in our opinion, had the best story. Full stop.

I had already answered OP's questions a few posts above.

The later post I did was merely because I wanted to point something out to one of the other posters. Methinks that is kind of the purpose of a topic in a forum.

By the way, one I would like to add to my list about recommendations of classic storytelling:

- Braid (Most of the story is told through plain text, but the art direction and gameplay transforms it into something truly mysterious that can be left open for various interpretations.)

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

I know that NO ONE is going to agree, but I say Halo.

Not for the story being THAT unique, although it certainly isn't copied, it is interesting in that it is one of the first series to require a total multimedia following in order to find and understand the whole story.

But because everyone hates Halo for really dumb reasons, I'll just leave this here.

[spoiler/]

[/spoiler]

 

[Aetherlblade]

HOME WORLD :O BEST FREAKING STORY EVAH. just check the videos on youtube about the story lines in the games.

 

[Kiriona]

Well, I'm a huuuuge stickler for storyline in games... So let's see if I can help.

Portal 1 and 2
Metal Gear Solid
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door
God of War
Kingdom Hearts 2
Jak 2 and 3
Ratchet and Clank series
Zelda: Twilight Princess
Sly Cooper trilogy
Bioshock
Half Life 2
Phoenix Wright

And that's all I can think of for now...

 

[Kathinka]

i have no mouth and i must scream.

the story was written by the same guy who made the original short story the game is based on, it's as brilliant as it is depressing and scary.

other good choice: system shock 2. having shodan, maybe the most remarkable antagonist any game ever had. bioshock is just a watered down version of the system shock story really.

 

[Airsoftslayer93]

I personally view the Mass Effect series as being the best story

Watch the first series of spoiler warning on shamus young's website, blows holes in the story, escpecially of the second game, personally i think the story from either half life 2, or the stanley parable are the best.

Mention the stanley parable, it's story is actually about storytelling in games.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

i have no mouth and i must scream.

the story was written by the same guy who made the original short story the game is based on, it's as brilliant as it is depressing and scary.

other good choice: system shock 2. having shodan, maybe the most remarkable antagonist any game ever had. bioshock is just a watered down version of the system shock story really.

Pfft. That sounds like something a pathetic creature of meat and bone would say, panting and swearing as it ran through some corridors.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

So much is told without words.

The best stories always are.

Yeah, like the Godfather movies, Watchmen, A Song of Ice and Fire and the work of Shakespeare and Mark Twain. Not a single word in any of that.

Oh, wait.

I'm not saying words are necessary to the creation of a great story, but claiming that the best stories are always told without words is patently ridiculous.

Way to take something I said out of context.

I didn't say that the likes of the Godfather were bad stories, but in terms of games, a great story can be experienced with very little written or spoken words.

No further context was necessary. Obviously there will always be some larger context for every quote that's not included in the quote. It's impossible to quote everything a person said that led up to the quote, so the proper thing to do is to quote in such a way that the meaning of the quote is clear, and undistorted.

In this case, you made the absolute blanket statement that the best stories are always told without words. You did not specify that you meant the best stories in games, and I read what you actually said, not what you may have meant. I did not misquote you; you didn't properly express your idea. I can't quote something that was only in your head.

What you originally claimed was ridiculous. What you're saying now is an almost totally different claim that I personally agree with.

Feel free to be annoyed at me for my tone, which I concede was somewhat mocking, but don't accuse me of misquoting when I did no such thing.

Except this is a thread on a 'game with best story', so it isn't unreasonable to assume that's what I meant.

 

[Rathands]

Please don't start your paragraph like that, it leaves you with very little room to argue your case. D: Why not, instead of getting a subjective opinion from a website, use examples of games that take inspiration from artists, authors or even composers that your teacher may be more familiar with than a title they likely haven't heard of: Alan Wake is an ode to Steven King, Eternal Darkness was inspired by Lovecraft and (though I wouldn't recommend it for its story) Eternal Sonata is centred around the dying dreams of Chopin. Even a shitty game could be a good example providing you can research its concept.
After you've established games with links to other art, it shouldn't be too difficult to argue their own merits and influences on other forms of media .

 

[Arqus_Zed]

Shadow of the Colossus.

Your character is killing these creatures to save the soul of a girl, these creatures are not a threat, they only defend themselves, for you seek them out, and with every one you kill, you can see the toll it's taking on your character.

So much is told without words.

The best stories always are.

I knew this would be the first comment.

I think it depends greatly from game to game. SotC doesnt have all that deep a story, you summed it up in two and a half lines, its just really well told in the mechanics and the aesthetics.

I just have to comment on this one.

You pretty much told yourself what is so amazing about SotC: "[it's] just really well told in the mechanics and the aesthetics."

Isn't that the whole point?
Isn't that what we should be striving for? To create a means of storytelling that can't be copied by any other medium?

It's the interaction with your horse, the slaying of the gigantic creatures and the search in the desolate landscape...
If a picture is worth more than a thousand words, than an experience is worth more than a thousand pictures.

Yeah I mo, I didnt really state what I thought clearly did I.

I meant to ask the OP what he was looking for. Theres many aspects to a good story. Gaming does things well and other things not so well. SotC plays on gamings strengths and turns a story thats baically killing big boss monsters into something amazing. Theres a back story but it just doesnt really come up (your there because of what happened but your not told it), unless you want to start talking about ICO, or was that a sequel in story terms? Where as Bioshock maps out every little detail, YOU just have to look for it. Playing on another of gamings strengths.

They both work well but some would argue otherwise, is the OC talking about a story with a massive back story, where every little action and and detail leads up to this big emotional cluster cuse or a story that doesnt go anywhere past the moment but is so well told you dont really care... until youve completed it and MUST find out.

Im starting to sound like an ass hole so ill stop now.

EDIT: Oh one more thing, FF9 was the best of the lot, the parralel worlds, final boss mess was abit of a jar but the rest was epic, even if the story and the gameplay clashed abit. Training Steiner up after that long ass break he had from the story took looooooooooong!

Well, that explanation certainly helped.

And yeah, FF IX is awesome. Gameplay was indeed not the most inventive aspect, but at least it was solid. I just really liked it for all the things it did right: from Zidane's revelation to Vivi's arc as the child who overcomes his fear of death. Also, the women.

Beatrix as the female general who kicks major ass and has to find out if her loyalty outweighs the notions of right and wrong. Garnet as the princess character who actually becomes a queen halfway the games story - name one other game which does that! And last but not least, Freya as the female soldier looking for her boyfriend - not the other way around! - and staying strong even after her home gets overrun and many of her comrades die. She's probably the most amazing, since her story is all about love, yet she's not portrayed like some pretty-ass bimbo or sleazy cat-girl. No, she's a skinny rat wearing a raincoat. FF IX was both the first and the last game I ever played with such a strong female cast...

 

[Kathinka]

i have no mouth and i must scream.

the story was written by the same guy who made the original short story the game is based on, it's as brilliant as it is depressing and scary.

other good choice: system shock 2. having shodan, maybe the most remarkable antagonist any game ever had. bioshock is just a watered down version of the system shock story really.

Pfft. That sounds like something a pathetic creature of meat and bone would say, panting and swearing as it ran through some corridors.

T_T

guilty as charged^^

 

[foxlovingfreak]

The most recent ones for me that come to mind that I liked personaly are bioshock and red dead redmedption.

 

[bigredmnky]

it's plausible that I'll be crucified or buried, but I'm gonna go with brutal legend. the game has a great story, incredible scoring (I'm not a huge metal fan, but when Mr. crowley and that one dragon force song come on in the cut scene and game play moment respectively... that's magic, charles.)it's a really funny game, and it's accessible to almost everybody (pretend the pseudo RTS segments aren't there)

with visual flare, true dedication to subject matter, and the best sub story ever (the mythology of armagoeden or whatever the name was) it's a highly underrated game in every aspect and it's easier to explain than mass effect, dragon age, halo, call of duty, everything. explain to your teacher that you play a roadie for a terrible band who gets transported into a land that's a combination of lord of the rings and this is spinal tap, where a grand adventure unfolds.

I'd keep going but I'm gonna go play brutal legend

 

[Shirokurou]

Metal Gear Solid 3.
You can view it as a stand-alone from the series and the story itself stands great.
Also you can say it's an example of post-modernism and deconstruction.

 

[PunkRex]

it's plausible that I'll be crucified or buried, but I'm gonna go with brutal legend. the game has a great story, incredible scoring (I'm not a huge metal fan, but when Mr. crowley and that one dragon force song come on in the cut scene and game play moment respectively... that's magic, charles.)it's a really funny game, and it's accessible to almost everybody (pretend the pseudo RTS segments aren't there)

with visual flare, true dedication to subject matter, and the best sub story ever (the mythology of armagoeden or whatever the name was) it's a highly underrated game in every aspect and it's easier to explain than mass effect, dragon age, halo, call of duty, everything. explain to your teacher that you play a roadie for a terrible band who gets transported into a land that's a combination of lord of the rings and this is spinal tap, where a grand adventure unfolds.

I'd keep going but I'm gonna go play brutal legend

I agree, some of the gameplay clashed abit but the details made that game HEAVY!!!

 

[PunkRex]

Shadow of the Colossus.

Your character is killing these creatures to save the soul of a girl, these creatures are not a threat, they only defend themselves, for you seek them out, and with every one you kill, you can see the toll it's taking on your character.

So much is told without words.

The best stories always are.

I knew this would be the first comment.

I think it depends greatly from game to game. SotC doesnt have all that deep a story, you summed it up in two and a half lines, its just really well told in the mechanics and the aesthetics.

I just have to comment on this one.

You pretty much told yourself what is so amazing about SotC: "[it's] just really well told in the mechanics and the aesthetics."

Isn't that the whole point?
Isn't that what we should be striving for? To create a means of storytelling that can't be copied by any other medium?

It's the interaction with your horse, the slaying of the gigantic creatures and the search in the desolate landscape...
If a picture is worth more than a thousand words, than an experience is worth more than a thousand pictures.

Yeah I mo, I didnt really state what I thought clearly did I.

I meant to ask the OP what he was looking for. Theres many aspects to a good story. Gaming does things well and other things not so well. SotC plays on gamings strengths and turns a story thats baically killing big boss monsters into something amazing. Theres a back story but it just doesnt really come up (your there because of what happened but your not told it), unless you want to start talking about ICO, or was that a sequel in story terms? Where as Bioshock maps out every little detail, YOU just have to look for it. Playing on another of gamings strengths.

They both work well but some would argue otherwise, is the OC talking about a story with a massive back story, where every little action and and detail leads up to this big emotional cluster cuse or a story that doesnt go anywhere past the moment but is so well told you dont really care... until youve completed it and MUST find out.

Im starting to sound like an ass hole so ill stop now.

EDIT: Oh one more thing, FF9 was the best of the lot, the parralel worlds, final boss mess was abit of a jar but the rest was epic, even if the story and the gameplay clashed abit. Training Steiner up after that long ass break he had from the story took looooooooooong!

Well, that explanation certainly helped.

And yeah, FF IX is awesome. Gameplay was indeed not the most inventive aspect, but at least it was solid. I just really liked it for all the things it did right: from Zidane's revelation to Vivi's arc as the child who overcomes his fear of death. Also, the women.

Beatrix as the female general who kicks major ass and has to find out if her loyalty outweighs the notions of right and wrong. Garnet as the princess character who actually becomes a queen halfway the games story - name one other game which does that! And last but not least, Freya as the female soldier looking for her boyfriend - not the other way around! - and staying strong even after her home gets overrun and many of her comrades die. She's probably the most amazing, since her story is all about love, yet she's not portrayed like some pretty-ass bimbo or sleazy cat-girl. No, she's a skinny rat wearing a raincoat. FF IX was both the first and the last game I ever played with such a strong female cast...

Yeah Freya was hot ^v^... 0_0 wait, what?

 

[G-M0N3Y]

Psychonauts or the original Bioshock. Both games have deep stories that require the player to actually think about what is really going on. The way both stories mess with the mind, in different ways, leaves the player having to question everything they have experienced throughout the story.

 

[SpartanBlackman]

Knights of the Old Republic 2.
Since most of this site has a massive hardon for Bioware and assumes this game is bad just because they didn't make it, here is a rundown of the story

You are a Jedi who gets exiled for joining Revan. You lose your connection to the force and go traveling. You are picked up by the Harbinger in order to meet with Carth (Or another captain) where it is attacked by Sith. At the same time, a crimelord called Goto tries to capture the final jedi, believing that having one faction rule is OK, but when they fight they tend to fuck shit up. So, you meet the third person looking for you, an old woman named Kreia, who you have a connection to. She is fascinated by how you connected to the force, and is strongly neutral.
Lots of fun later, it is revealed that Kreia was a Sith lord and she kills the remaining Jedi masters, as they learned nothing despite what the Exile does for them. She invites the Exile to Malachor 5, where the Exile pretty much singlehandedly won the Mandalorian war. You get to her, and she fights you. Her plan WAS to use you to destroy the force, stopping the silly Jedi vs Sith thing forever. She wished to stop the violence and pain and manipulation caused by it OR to train you to fight with Revan to save the Galaxy...

BUT LOL NONE OF THAT MATTERS EVIL SITH LORD EVILFACE IS HERE 300 YEARS L8TR