Games with good story.
- Thread starter VG_Addict
- Start date
Recommended Videos
The Last of Us is the one that comes to mind to me first for character development. Spoilers for the middle and end:
The two main characters deal with loss in very different ways. When you meet up with a black guy and his kid, and they eventually die, Joel just wants to forget about it and move on, while Ellie wants to talk about it. She needs to acknowledge it, talk about to process it. Joel just wants to avoid the pain. All through the game Joel doesn't mention the losses he's experienced, while Ellie is the talkative one.
Flash forward to the end after Joel rescues Ellie from the Fireflies, Joel lies to Ellie. In the last part of the game Joel is much more talkative, while Ellie is the one who is quiet and doesn't respond much, which shows how hurt she is after going through everything, only for it all to be for nothing.
Flash forward to the end after Joel rescues Ellie from the Fireflies, Joel lies to Ellie. In the last part of the game Joel is much more talkative, while Ellie is the one who is quiet and doesn't respond much, which shows how hurt she is after going through everything, only for it all to be for nothing.
Undertale for a character driven story, as well as Saints Row 4 if you want a more goofy and hilarious style. The Walking Dead Telltale game for a choice driven story that is pretty good.
Here's one that I always think goes kinda under-appreciated in terms of story appreciation:
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
It's not a complex story nor is it full of twists or turns, true, but I think wayyyyyyyyyyyy too many people, online especially, confused 'complex' with 'good'. You see people bitching about things like this all the time saying stuff like "Video Games always have shit stories" and whatnot, which isn't entirely true and Sands of Time is one of my examples for why not.
A simple story told well with likable characters and a neat means of integrating the gameplay with the story in a way no other medium really can. It's fantastic.
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
It's not a complex story nor is it full of twists or turns, true, but I think wayyyyyyyyyyyy too many people, online especially, confused 'complex' with 'good'. You see people bitching about things like this all the time saying stuff like "Video Games always have shit stories" and whatnot, which isn't entirely true and Sands of Time is one of my examples for why not.
A simple story told well with likable characters and a neat means of integrating the gameplay with the story in a way no other medium really can. It's fantastic.
a lot of games have stories, however what's considered "good" is subjective from person to person.
That said I've always felt the connected universe of The Legend of Zelda tell a quite incredible and amazing story of an ever evolving world and it's civilizations through out time... okay fine, The Last of Us has a good story about a selfish maniac
That said I've always felt the connected universe of The Legend of Zelda tell a quite incredible and amazing story of an ever evolving world and it's civilizations through out time... okay fine, The Last of Us has a good story about a selfish maniac
Silent Hill 2 is one of the best character studies in video games. The gameplay, art design, writing, and symbolism all work together to tell a very smart, and very raw story. There's a lot going on there, quite impressive.
Dark Souls has an incredible narrative, but it's not really told to you directly. You have to put all the pieces together, like a detective at a crime scene. When you do, though, a very large, complex tapestry begins to form, and that's when you realize you're in the presence of something truly great.
Dark Souls has an incredible narrative, but it's not really told to you directly. You have to put all the pieces together, like a detective at a crime scene. When you do, though, a very large, complex tapestry begins to form, and that's when you realize you're in the presence of something truly great.
Final Fantasy IV, VI, VII and, IX are my favorites when it comes to plot. VI and IX are tied in first for me though since VI is the only one where the main bad guy utterly conquered the planet and IX was just stuffed with amazing character moments. I also really like the story in Bravely Default but it's so similar to a Final Fantasy I feel like that's just another notch in the Final Fantasy category.
Despite its gameplay issues, Skyward Sword was the one Legend of Zelda that I would have liked to have watched as an OVA though that's mainly because of the characters and character moments. Fighting against Ghirahim and The Imprisoned got incredibly dull in-game but in the context of an anime mini-series it could have been really good...if more appropriate.
Undertale is also excellent though as a game I can't stand it. I had more fun when I watched other people playing through it and fast-forwarded past the tedious combat bits.
Despite its gameplay issues, Skyward Sword was the one Legend of Zelda that I would have liked to have watched as an OVA though that's mainly because of the characters and character moments. Fighting against Ghirahim and The Imprisoned got incredibly dull in-game but in the context of an anime mini-series it could have been really good...if more appropriate.
Undertale is also excellent though as a game I can't stand it. I had more fun when I watched other people playing through it and fast-forwarded past the tedious combat bits.
It's not that games are bad at story's, it's that many developers have a different focus on what is important. There are many different ways to make something engaging you know. Anyway...
Well Undertale now with it's diverse cast and surprise twists. I did enjoy learning about the history and 'nature' in it. It's simple but effective.
My favourite is probably in Majora's Mask. The first couple of times I played it I just couldn't completely grasp what was really going on, always felt like I missed something. Then when someone mentioned that Link had a 'change of fate', it really hit me hard. All of it just made sense all of sudden, including the odd land design. Who knew the ongoing predictable prophecy princess saver would get something so heavy.
Well Undertale now with it's diverse cast and surprise twists. I did enjoy learning about the history and 'nature' in it. It's simple but effective.
My favourite is probably in Majora's Mask. The first couple of times I played it I just couldn't completely grasp what was really going on, always felt like I missed something. Then when someone mentioned that Link had a 'change of fate', it really hit me hard. All of it just made sense all of sudden, including the odd land design. Who knew the ongoing predictable prophecy princess saver would get something so heavy.
There are many kinds of good story in gaming. Two good mystery stories are 999 for the DS and its sequel Zero Escape for the 3DS. These should really be played because a third and final game, Zero Time Dilemma, is scheduled to be released Q2 or Q3 this year.
Cave Story has a good story. It effortlessly manages to juggle silly and somber. Although it's pretty light on character developement (although they're all still likable)., most of the story is conveyed through atmosphere.
Ace Attorney has pretty good stories. If you like tongue-in-cheek whodunnit mysteries you'll probably like this.
Ace Attorney has pretty good stories. If you like tongue-in-cheek whodunnit mysteries you'll probably like this.
Random list of games I thought had a good story:
Vagrant Story
As someone mentioned above - Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
Mark of Kri - The first game, 2nd one was ok.
Homeworld 1
Homeworld: Cataclysm - This game was so well made.
inFamous 1
inFamous 2
The Talos Princicple - Not finished with this one, but damn does it do a good job of telling it's story with minimalist methods.
I'm sure there are others if I think about it. But that's all I can do right now.
Vagrant Story
As someone mentioned above - Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
Mark of Kri - The first game, 2nd one was ok.
Homeworld 1
Homeworld: Cataclysm - This game was so well made.
inFamous 1
inFamous 2
The Talos Princicple - Not finished with this one, but damn does it do a good job of telling it's story with minimalist methods.
I'm sure there are others if I think about it. But that's all I can do right now.
Anything and everything by Bioware (yes, everything. Fight me) but special props to Jade Empire with a twist so obvious in hindsight that I still didn't see coming.
The Bioshock games have great stories. The tales themselves are deceptively simple at first (even Infinite hinges on a fairly simple plot, at least initially) but they're able to communicate so much through their characters and world building, providing a solid base upon which to complicate the fuck out of things.
The Witcher series. I shouldn't need to explain further.
The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare trilogy, if you view them as statements on modern geopolitics, military intervention and (especially in number 3) satire.
And, mate these are just relatively contemporary examples off the top of my head that aren't Zelda or Final Fantasy. I could keep going, but I can't be arsed. You know what? Video games have excellent stories. Who told you they didn't?
The Bioshock games have great stories. The tales themselves are deceptively simple at first (even Infinite hinges on a fairly simple plot, at least initially) but they're able to communicate so much through their characters and world building, providing a solid base upon which to complicate the fuck out of things.
The Witcher series. I shouldn't need to explain further.
The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare trilogy, if you view them as statements on modern geopolitics, military intervention and (especially in number 3) satire.
And, mate these are just relatively contemporary examples off the top of my head that aren't Zelda or Final Fantasy. I could keep going, but I can't be arsed. You know what? Video games have excellent stories. Who told you they didn't?
Talking about best stories in videogames is always hard, because for the most part there seems to be a lot of polarizing opinions about them. The first reply in this thread is about TLoU, but it never found a place in my heart and I still to this day think that it is kind of boring.
So, that being said, I refuse to say that my examples are objectively good, but from a subjective point of view I found them amazing:
- Planescape: Torment. It really is incredibly engaging and interesting to discover, piece by piece, the story of the Nameless One and his rather unordinary companions.
- Final Fantasy VI and X. Great stories with great characters.
- Zero Escape: 999 and Zero Escape: Virtues Last Reward. Amazing mystery visual novel/puzzle games. Here I am hoping that part 3 will be as good.
- Persona 4. While I find the reasoning of final boss (no, not that final boss, THE final boss) for doing what they do kind of bland, everything before that is superb.
So, that being said, I refuse to say that my examples are objectively good, but from a subjective point of view I found them amazing:
- Planescape: Torment. It really is incredibly engaging and interesting to discover, piece by piece, the story of the Nameless One and his rather unordinary companions.
- Final Fantasy VI and X. Great stories with great characters.
- Zero Escape: 999 and Zero Escape: Virtues Last Reward. Amazing mystery visual novel/puzzle games. Here I am hoping that part 3 will be as good.
- Persona 4. While I find the reasoning of final boss (no, not that final boss, THE final boss) for doing what they do kind of bland, everything before that is superb.
FFVI for best character development definitely. It's got a whole host of characters and they all go through their own separate arcs... they really hit you in the feels with a few of them and with only 8-bit sprite graphics.Shoggoth2588 said:
I don't think I can agree with XI though, something about that game rubbed me the wrong way. Some of the characters were great, but others fell flat for me, and the way the villain discovered limit breaks felt so meta.
When it comes to FFIX, I thought Eiko and Amarant were a bit weak...more Amarant than anybody else as he was just simply there because...well he knocked into Zidane once I guess. Quina was a bit of an oddity too but I found that to make her a bit more endearing.Synigma said:
What kind of story are you looking for? Portal has a good, albeit minimalist, story (with dark humor). Portal 2 has a longer story, but it's a little less good (still with dark humor). Bioshock has a great story (not a lot of humor). Spec Ops: The Line does a sublime job with making its grim story to tap the 4th wall. I don't know if I can call the stories in the Ace Attorney series good or not (the characters end up being way over the top), but they certainly can hook you up (specially Trials and Tribulations).
Best writing and story?
Since Planescape: Torment has already been said, I'd say Arcanum.
You need to grind out of the first few hours of boring landscapes and rather mundane quests; and then the tension, plot and setting ramp up hundredfold and the game becomes and absolute charm.
Since Planescape: Torment has already been said, I'd say Arcanum.
You need to grind out of the first few hours of boring landscapes and rather mundane quests; and then the tension, plot and setting ramp up hundredfold and the game becomes and absolute charm.