While we all know that the entire gaming industry is built on the franchise model these days, there are still some games out there that don't end with a cliffhanger or expand their storylines via DLC or something else. They simply move their story right till the end and tie up all the loose ends (or at least 95% of them) and satisfy us completely. In my opinion these kind of games are the best of the best, because they tell us that there are still some developers out there who are willing to create and try new things, not just milk their same old cows until their udders start to grow inwards.
AS of myself I can think of only two examples: Chrono Trigger and Bioshock.
The first, as you all should know, is a SNES JRPG from 1995 which was ported to the Nintendo DS about a year ago (Or at least in Europe, dunno how long others had it before us). It tells a story of a group of kids, a human-frog, a robot from the future, a cavewoman and an ancient magician saving the world. By today's standards the game is fairly long, about 20 hours on the first playthrough, with plenty of sidequests and 12 (yes, 12) additional endings. But what really stood out for me was that how it made me care about the piles of pixels I was moving around and how it distinguished itself from all the other JRPGs I've played (mostly Final Fantasy, though also Fire Emblem and Dragonquest). The characters' personalities and backstories were really interesting compared to all the angsty androgynes we can see in, say, Final Fantasy. And though the plot in basic was far from original, the ways the game introduced the player to the world and its history were far from 20-minute cutscenes in the beginning of the game. Oh yeah, and the game had time travel, but I couldn't think of a more subtle way to say it. I have been genuinely moved several times by the ending, with the best credit roll music of all time. It was like finishing a really good book with a happy ending and reminded me of those more innocent times when everything didn't need to be twisted, dark, gritty and mysterious. Which is not to say that some things in Chrono Trigger aren't.
You all know how Bioshock goes. In my opinion the sequel is completely needless (that doesn't mean it's bad). The entire plot of the first was tied to the central mastermind and architect of Rapture, Andrew Ryan, and with what happens to him in the game practically renders the whole follow-up obsolete in my opinion. The role of the Vita-Chambers was constructed in a way they couldn't be used in the sequel without severely damaging their whole idea. Even the main character was so tightly tied to the original's storyline that there was no way we were going to see him return to Rapture. All in all, I think Bioshock would have been completely fine on its own.
Of course there are some exceptions to this, like the GTA series: every installment is its completely own story with its own characters and with mere meetings with familiar characters at best.
Can you name games like the title says?
AS of myself I can think of only two examples: Chrono Trigger and Bioshock.
The first, as you all should know, is a SNES JRPG from 1995 which was ported to the Nintendo DS about a year ago (Or at least in Europe, dunno how long others had it before us). It tells a story of a group of kids, a human-frog, a robot from the future, a cavewoman and an ancient magician saving the world. By today's standards the game is fairly long, about 20 hours on the first playthrough, with plenty of sidequests and 12 (yes, 12) additional endings. But what really stood out for me was that how it made me care about the piles of pixels I was moving around and how it distinguished itself from all the other JRPGs I've played (mostly Final Fantasy, though also Fire Emblem and Dragonquest). The characters' personalities and backstories were really interesting compared to all the angsty androgynes we can see in, say, Final Fantasy. And though the plot in basic was far from original, the ways the game introduced the player to the world and its history were far from 20-minute cutscenes in the beginning of the game. Oh yeah, and the game had time travel, but I couldn't think of a more subtle way to say it. I have been genuinely moved several times by the ending, with the best credit roll music of all time. It was like finishing a really good book with a happy ending and reminded me of those more innocent times when everything didn't need to be twisted, dark, gritty and mysterious. Which is not to say that some things in Chrono Trigger aren't.
You all know how Bioshock goes. In my opinion the sequel is completely needless (that doesn't mean it's bad). The entire plot of the first was tied to the central mastermind and architect of Rapture, Andrew Ryan, and with what happens to him in the game practically renders the whole follow-up obsolete in my opinion. The role of the Vita-Chambers was constructed in a way they couldn't be used in the sequel without severely damaging their whole idea. Even the main character was so tightly tied to the original's storyline that there was no way we were going to see him return to Rapture. All in all, I think Bioshock would have been completely fine on its own.
Of course there are some exceptions to this, like the GTA series: every installment is its completely own story with its own characters and with mere meetings with familiar characters at best.
Can you name games like the title says?
