Games with a truly compelling storyline

[Xanadeas]

Lets see... Bioshock, Final Fantasy VII, Lost Odyssey, the entire Warcraft series including WoW.

 

[SP MeaslyBinkie]

F.E.A.R
Halo series
Crysis Warhead
Dark Messiah:Elements
The Darkness
Command & Conquer:Red Alert 2

 

[SquirrelPants]

Lets see... Bioshock, Final Fantasy VII, Lost Odyssey, the entire Warcraft series including WoW.

WoW doesn't really have a story, however, I am quite addicted to it.

 

[Mumpadump]

My favorite story lines have to be those of the KOTOR series. Oh my God I love these!

 

[Beffudled Sheep]

Max payne and.... Thats all i can think of. Oh and do you mean story thats in just the game itself or are books and comics that add backstory to a series counted as well?

 

[MercFox1]

Max Payne
Homeworld 1/2
Deus Ex
World in Conflict
Starcraft
Psychonauts
Age of Mythology (was actually pretty good. I loved the campaign's story.)
Freespace 1/2
Fallout (the Fallout Universe is probably the most robust game world ever encountered)
Kotor 1 and 1.5 (lawls)

 

[oopsdidn'tmeanto]

Silent Hill 2 (My favorite title, ever. Period.), Silent Hill, Silent Hill 4, Tales of Symphonia, (My favorite RPG), Tales of the Abyss, Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly, Shadow of the Colossus, Ico, Final Fantasy V-X, (especially VII, in my humble opinion), Kingdom Hearts (a bit over-the-top, but a bit original as well. Although, I'd like to know what they were smoking when they envisioned Disney and Final Fantasy together... Fanart is most likely to blame...) Psychonauts, Metal Gear Solid 3, American McGee's Alice, and Portal.

This'll probably sound shallow to most gamers, but the first think I go for in games is storyline, not gameplay... I enjoy a game that makes me think.

Resident Evil 4,

... Really? The gameplay was great, and the storyline was okay, but... Well, with the exception of Code: Veronica, I have never really enjoyed the Resident Evil story. It always seemed like the popcorn flick to me. I still love the series, but...

 

[Avatar Roku]

The best ones I've seen probably tie between the Halo series and Oblivion.

Halo? *Shudder*
I'm sorry...But Halo's story isn't compelling. Some of its gameplay can be, but the story is "Mater Chief, there's some big rings in the sky, go blow them up." "...'Kay." Then he does, and gets trapped in a space ship. The end.

I mean, great gameplay to it, definitely, but story? Not so much.

I'm not the biggest fan of Halo's story, but that's a gross oversimplification.

Halo!

Ahem, I meant, Mass Effect, KOTOR, basically Bioware games take that prize.

Pretty much what I was going to say. God I love ME and KotOR.

 

[ZomgSharkz]

Half Life series...hands down. The characters were developed great and I really cared what happened to them. I just finished episode 2 today and the ending leaves me very depressed. Also something about Gordon never talking ever makes me love him as a character even more. I also really love Dog, I was holding my breath when he was battling the strider hoping, "Oh valve if you kill Dog I'll never forgive you." The characters are just so great, and it has such an intriguing story line. I can't wait to find out how it's all going to wrap up.
However what really puts the icing on the cake for me is the G-Man. In my opinion he is probably the best character in gaming. He has the best voice and it gives me shivers whenever I hear it. He's so mysterious and I'm still trying to figure out who (or what) he is, and what his motives are. Overall Half Life has all the elements that make an amazing game, and an even more amazing story line.

 

[Draygen]

Kingdom Hearts 2

In fact, I enjoyed the first Kingdom Hearts much more than the second. I felt like it was more story oriented than the second one.

I agree. I much prefer the story of the first Kingdom Hearts. The gameplay meshed more with the story, rather than the second one's tactic of finally letting you out of a cutscene only to walk 7 feet and open up into another cutscene, not to mention the climactic boss battles being nothing more than a long series of quicktime events.

 

[magicmuffinman]

Valkyrie Profile.

Not Lenneths story, THAT was fairly predictable.

It's all the minor recruitable characters that have great stories.

For example- a knight known as Grey is ressurected by his old comrade. However, she dies and he fails to save her life. Another one of Greys friends tries to follow Grey and cheer him up, but Grey commits suicide over his failure to repay his reviver.

 

[unquenchablefire]

Psychonauts (I know this has been said before, but the story is actually quite interesting)

Here's one that hasn't been mentioned: Saint's Row 2. The whole story wasn't perfect, but I remember playing the Brotherhood storyline and just thinking "Damn, man, that shit is cold."

 

[whiteclaudia]

I'd have to say Tales of Symphonia and the first Silent Hill.

 

[henrebotha]

What, no-one's mentioned Abe's Oddysee?

Also Portal. My God I loved Portal.

 

[Quiotu]

I'll have to throw a few out here.

MSG1... that's right, JUST ONE. Kojima had a good story going, then ruined it with a sequel dealing with gay vampires and noob commandos with whiney girlfriends. The first game was the only one where I actually gave a crap about the villains... the rest of them couldn't die fast enough.

KOTOR... not the second one, which is a shame. It would've been a wonderful story if they had finished it (I'm aware it wasn't Bioware). Mass Effect, while engaging to an extent, didn't have nearly the story or twists of KOTOR. I consider Mass Effect to be a BioWare game for dummies... I'm hoping the second game steps it up. I can't wait for Dragon Age: Origins though.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Chrono Trigger yet. Not only do they give a lot of character background for everyone, but there's a point in the game where you can't play the MC. I won't spoil it, but that part of the game blew me away, and I'm surprised it hasn't been tried again.

Out Of This World. This one gets even more props because it tells a grand interesting story, and doesn't have a shred of dialogue in it: no voice, no text, nothing. This is an old game people should try if they haven't... you won't be disappointed.

Star Control 2. I still hate how the developers crapped all over this series with the third installment, but the second game was a real gem. It was spread over a huge chunk of the galaxy, there were stories going in that were central to the plot as well as completely independent ones, you had a time limit, and it marched you forward at a decent clip that never felt rushed. Try this game at least once... you can download it for free.

 

[johnman]

Max Payne. 'Nuff Said.

Yeah, a game that deserves alot more recognition than it gets, one of the best storys i ever had the pleasure to play though and great characters. Mona Sax is the best female character ive seen, better than Alyx (but not by much)

And half life of course, there is so much going on at black mesa you dont realsie the full scope of vavles genius till you read it on wikiepdia, then it all makes so much sense.

 

[Vlane]

Shin Megami Tensei games (the ones I played) always have a good story but the best one is by far the one in Digital Devil Saga 1 and 2.

Also Shadow of the Colossus needs to be mentioned.

 

[Vlane]

Max Payne. 'Nuff Said.

Yeah, a game that deserves alot more recognition than it gets, one of the best storys i ever had the pleasure to play though and great characters. Mona Sax is the best female character ive seen, better than Alyx (but not by much)

And half life of course, there is so much going on at black mesa you dont realsie the full scope of vavles genius till you read it on wikiepdia, then it all makes so much sense.

I don't know what people like about the Half-Life story so much. I played it and I didn't thought it was good. Maybe decent but nothing I would call great.

 

[Fightgarr]

I thought Grim Fandango and Final Fantasy Tactics had pretty good stories. Oh and the HL series, but I don't quite know how to judge video game stories. It's not the focus so I'm a bit apathetic when it comes to them.

You may be apathetic to stories but you picked my 2 favorites. Grim and FFT both have incredible and compelling stories. One is clever and poignant. The other is harsh and political but they're both compelling and make up for some issues in gameplay.

 

[this_was_a_mistake]

GTA IV and BioShock are the best I've seen so far.