Game With the Best Story? (For school assignment)

[Alssadar]

As previously mentioned, Shadow of the Colossus, for reasons they said.
Fallout is also good as it holds the vast ironies of early 1900's Red-Scare and 'Golly Gee Whilakers!' that is opposite to the harsh reality of post-apocalypia. Some good points are how levels of morality can be used to aid/destroy, the vagueness of NV end choices (That allow for different interpretation), religious conflict (Brotherhood), racial problems (Mutants) and simply humanity's will to survive despite their harsh environment, going to extremes with each other and governments in a desire to try and maintain a new American Empire.

 

[Shadu]

"Story in games is currently bad, to be honest, with the apparently "best" one being: _______"

I'm not trying to be a grammar Nazi, but maybe a better way to word that sentence would be "Stories in games are currently bad, to be honest, but the apparent "best" one is ______."

Sorry...just...had to get that out of my system...

I know, which is why I said lower it was the basic idea.]

I did read that, honest. And I was trying to keep myself from saying anything, but I couldn't. So, sorry if I insulted your intelligence or something. I didn't mean it like that. Usually, I'm better at holding it in.

 

[rebmcr]

Bioshock.

Anyone who says otherwise either has not played Bioshock; has forgotten about Bioshock; or is terminally stupid. Now would you kindly ignore them, please?

 

[Busdriver580]

Go with Silent hill 2 , it has metaphors, subconscious conflicts projected symbolically into the world and ambiguity. Teachers love all that stuff.

 

[Frostlich1228]

Dragon age origens literaly had me weeping at the end,to me it is the best story

 

[Saviordd1]

Bioshock, Bastion, Deus Ex Human Revolution, Deus Ex, Star Wars: Knights Of the old Republic


These are (IMO) the games with the best stories out there.

 

[floppylobster]

So the title pretty much says the main idea. I do need some help with an argumentative essay I'm writing on the subject of "Can Video Games Be Art?". I'm arguing for it.

Remember two things -

Firstly, define what art is in your essay. That will help you win your argument.

Secondly, the teacher will not care if you can prove it or not, they will be marking you on how you argue, what support you give your arguments, and how you structure them. So don't worry so much on the game, just argue passionately, logically, and with conviction. Yet remain balanced - offer counter arguments that games are not art and rebut it.

 

[Versuvius]

Heh well. Story as in a game by game view or the whole...plot surrounding them too? Fallout from 1 to new vegas is huge and rich. Using any DnD based game could factor in everything that is used. Planescape? Dungeons and dragons! Lots of good stories! Maybe thats an abuse of a broad term though.

 

[wolf92]

Either Shadow of the Colossus, or Mass Effect

 

[lokiduck]

Odin Sphere. The story was so good it made me cry.

Also the Art style is FANTASTIC.

 

[HeroKing89]

Silent Hill 2 - Tells a great story with much of it being told through visual clues.

Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask - Same thing as SH2 except much bigger scale

Persona 3

Eternal Darkness

 

[ckam]

There's plenty, I would go for ICO, but I guess we're actually going with scripts and spoken lines here so why don't we say Mass Effect, Bioshock, Xenosaga, Persona 4... Actually, game story-quality to relative-knowledge-wise, it's actually getting better.

You can try Kingdom Hearts, the first one. You can try the whole series, but 1 is where it's simplest and easier to explain to people who don't play video games.

Anything else? No, not really. Oh, from Extra Credits there's Missile Command where its narrative is told entirely through gameplay.

 

[Titan Buttons]

For a short that has a lot of depth go for Bastion, most other games that have a great story and can be called art take a while to play through and to fully understand the depth of a game you almost always have to play it

 

[Terminate421]

Despite what others my say,

I find these two games perfect for story:

Bioshock - Literally no way to argue against the fact taht its all based on a political aspect.

Dead Space - Its a story of Decay, as your progress through the game, things go to shit but as you go further, it only gets worse and worse. Really making you feel like Humanity is falling apart, along with its ships. (I also still LOVE the idea of future tech/modern day weapons against Demonic spawns, the necromorphs are the closest thing to that substitute)

 

[chuckman1]

Planescape Torment is the only game I've played that had me thinking about the story when I was trying to go to sleep, do homework, talk to people.
It will really get you thinking.

 

[Vigormortis]

snip

This is actually a fairly bad question to ask. At least, in how it's worded. And I mean no offense by that, so please don't take my post as such. You see, you're going to get a LOT of conflicting arguments on what each person "thinks" is the best story, given that ones idea of "the best" is often subjective.

For example, t'were you to ask me, I would submit that any of the following have the best stories I've seen/experienced in a game:

Half-Life/Portal series
Homeworld
Psychonauts
Bioshock
Beyond Good and Evil
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Eternal Darkness
etc, etc, etc

Now, take my list and show it to everyone posting in this thread. Some will agree with all, some will disagree with all, and some will only agree with a few.

A better way to put it in your report is: "In general, like most forms of media, video gaming has it's fair share of poor story telling, or lack there of. However, there are some cases wherein a developer, utilizing the unique aspects of the medium of video games, can and has told a very interesting and sometimes compelling story. These stories often make use of the interactive nature of video games. Something no other medium offers. Therefore, while they are still in their infancy, so-to-speak, video games can create worlds just as vast, tales just as epic, and character narratives just as compelling as any book or film. They just often tell those stories in a different manner. Therefore, comparing video games to film or literature in terms of the quality of their narrative isn't fair. Especially given that video games, as an entertainment medium, have not been around for that long. Consider how long it took for film making to come into it's own. Why not give video gaming the same chance?"

 

[Baldr]

Can Video Games Be Art? is a stupid misunderstood question. No one can argue games are not art. No one. It is a misrepresentation of two more fundamental questions: Can video games represent fine art? Can video game represent high culture?

 

[Hristo Tzonkov]

I think you're admitting a wrong fault...Video games generally don't have a bad story or characters and character relations.More often than not story just isn't a big aspect of what the game is and doesn't need a lot of development further than a basic plot that makes you go from point A to point B.On the other hand there are games with such deep and compelling stories that engulf you and make you experience a tale like you can never do with a book or movie.

I believe the main problem with games not being art is the age and the fact that we live in an era where the conveyed experience is less important than the money it will make.Games have the relative same amount of crap floating in with the actual art as any other art form but those have been recognized as art way before this age where money overshadows all.GL with the assignment.