Has there ever a game with a really amazing story?

[Fink-rat]

The KOTOR games. All you need. Maybe Jade Empire.

 

[ianuam]

Here's my most enjoyed. Though i tend to rate integration with gameplay as crucial to the storyline, therefore this is not a 'pure' story driven list.
Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes
Meteal Gear Solid: Substance
Deus Ex
Skies of Arcadia Legends.
Zelda Wind Waker.
FF IX/XII
KOTOR I (II before i realised how much had been cut before release)

 

[klakkat]

KOTOR 1 and 2 (except the ending of 2) Mentioned here by others, but worth repeating.

Fallout 2
Deus Ex
System Shock 2
Star Control 3 (if you honestly consider yourself a Sci-Fi geek, you must play this. Same for System Shock)

Planescape: Torment (If you are at all interested in heavy psychological themes, play this game)

Baldur's Gate 2 (for the D&D fans; a bit slow for the rest of you, but still good)

Breath of Fire series (mainly 2 and 4... 1 is VERY old, 3 shits itself sometimes, and Dragon quarter is kinda bad)

Earthbound
Beyond Good and Evil (I'm not parroting Yahtzee on these last two, I played them long before he was famous - they're worth it)

Chrono Trigger

City of Heroes has a surprisingly good story for an MMO; or more many sets of stories. Almost all of it is connecting in someway, though a bit gets out of hand. Like any good super hero comic, by max level you'll be 'saving the world' on alternate days (which does get weird after awhile... but hey, video game logic still applies)

 

[-Seraph-]

Oh I got another good one, Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis. For a GBA game, I don't know how many others have played it, but it had a wonderful story with a tad a cliche but that made it all the better.

 

[The Sorrow]

MGS 3 and 4. 'Nuff said.

 

[DevilSaint44]

No, I enjoyed it as well. I still think the first is weakest, but that's solely due to the combat.

Some games do have great stories, but they're rare. Off the top of my head, I'd say the System Shock series, Deus Ex and Bioshock all had really 'amazing' stories, but to be honest, it may be more with how the story was presented rather then the actual plot itself. You raise an interesting point.

Adventure games used to have really good stories, but now that they've turned into episodic affairs, that's sort of died out in favour of short, self-contained stories. It's a bit of a shame, really, but if it means we get more Sam & Max, then it's a sacrifice I for one am prepared to make.

Agreed. Most of the games have great backstories but the actual plot of the game only hints at it(GeOW)If they involve the player in the event of the backstory it would make much more solid plot

 

[Tattaglia]

Half Life 2 didn't have the best plot, just fantastical characters. It's pretty standard for your average FPS - evil aliens take over world, only one bad-enough-dude to save it. And yet it was still awesome... God bless Valve.

 

[mark_n_b]

There have been loads of games with excellent (not really amazing) stories, off the top of my head I can think of MGS and Final Fantay... will video games reach the level of books and films? Does it really matter, is it all about gameplay? Or do you think their stories are already as powerful as films and books? Your thoughts.

The issue with excellent as compared to amazing is that it is a subjective measure. What about comic books / graphic novels? What about music? All have the potential to incorporate a story.

I think Scott Pilgrim is amazingly profound, but the absurd way in which the contemporary ho-hums of every day life and relationships is examined may not be considered in the category of amazing to a lot for many reasons, most of which involve face value judgment: it's contemporary, it's a comic, it's art is cartoonish, it's Canadian.

Games entered the fray at a point where financial viability is much more important than cultural significance. In much the same way movies like Batman and LOR aren't truly amazing, games are as well. Add to that the budget problem (an Indie film is much more viable than an indie game) and the fact that games have to worry about factors other than story (namely game-play) as a component of the art form and you are dealing with a whole other barrel of fruit.

You want a beautifully moving story that is complicated and twists and turns powerfully, play Rule of Rose. Unfortunately the game-play is very tiring, but it is more than made up for by the sheer beauty of the world it paints before you (and it's only like ten hours of game-play so it's not a horrible ordeal).

 

[Foolish Mortal]

I define great as something that if the comparable level of storyness (because game's atmosphere and occasionally interactivity can add to story) was shown to most movie critic they'd say 'That was absolutely amazing and thought provoking, about as much as the lives of others!'
I probably should have put that in my first post (adressed to you) but I was lazy.

Comparing games to the Lives of Others? Now be fair. That film is exceptional.

I personally nominate Silent Hill. The amount of characterisation and psychological horror-slash-analysis shows that, while game stories aren't as polished or thought-provoking as those of many films/books, the potential is definitely there.

 

[asacatman]

Basically, the consensous is: yes games have great stories, what about Kotor/Mgs/deus x. But what I'm saying is that these games are just really, really good story wise, not the same level as films/books.
I know that's a subjective opinion, but all the examples you've been giving me are hardly as good (to me) as a lot of the books and films I've read/seen. Okay, I haven't played every single one of your examples, but from looking at reveiws of these games, they don't seem that amazing. I repeat, I acknowledge my opinion is subjective.

 

[dukethepcdr]

I have seen plenty, too many really, of movies that actually had plots that were as thin or even thinner than your average video game. No movie nor game I've ever seen has anywhere near the level of a developed story as an even half-way well written book. I've read short stories written by 5th graders (my sister is a 5th grade teacher) that are better written and more interesting than many of the movies I've seen.

The stories in games are almost never as deep as the ones in books or even movies for a very very good reason: you the player. In a game, the whole point of the thing is for you the player to play a part in the story and finish an otherwise incomplete plot. Game writers have to leave huge holes in the plots and make their stories to be not too narrowed down and specific so that you as the player feel like you are actually doing something.

Think about the games that you and others have decried as being too "linear" or "on rails". Those same games were in all likelihood, the ones with the most complete and deep stories. In those games, you must do specific things at specific times to advance the story. Even when the story is interesting, all the hand-holding that it takes to make you advance the story gets pretty boring huh?

I'd rather read an e-book on a website than play a game where all you do is complete a few little challenges to see what the next chapter in the story is about.

To me, games should either be about creating your own character within the bounds of the game world and pretty much doing your own thing and kind of writing your own tale through your deeds or be about challenging your gaming skills with hardly any story at all if any. Some of my favorite games to play really have no story to them at all, but they are a blast to play anyway. Games where its mostly exposition, cut scenes and blocks of dialog you have to hit some button to keep going through are more like a short story with graphics than a game.

 

[Vigormortis]

Half Life 2 didn't have the best plot, just fantastical characters. It's pretty standard for your average FPS - evil aliens take over world, only one bad-enough-dude to save it. And yet it was still awesome... God bless Valve.

Well, I've always felt it's not necessarily what the story is about but how it's told and presented. Also, a story, no matter how convoluted and intricate, has no chance of being compelling unless it has interesting, believable, and lovable/hate-able characters. Consider one of the best and most famous fantasy tales every written. The Lord of the Rings. When you do a quick summary of the plot it basically boils down "average guy sets out on quest, faces evil without and within, discovers true destiny, saves the world". However, the way it's told, the characters involved and the whimsical settings combine to make it a shining example of just how a fantasy tale should be written (and of which has be emulated, copied, and ripped off for decades). My point is, just because a story seems to have a very simplistic or cliched plot don't discount it. Some of the best novels ever written have been about the most simple and mundane things.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Great: Deus Ex, Fallout 1&2

Good: Okami

 

[Steeveeo]

Chrono Trigger, hands down.

 

[Arkfeller]

MGS, Final Fantasy, and Chrono. Those would be my picks.

 

[CmdrGoob]

Half Life 2 has a brilliant story IMO. Sure the basic premise has been done before, but there's a ton of things that set it apart. Like the wonderful characters and great writing. There's the added layer of intrigue surrounding the G-man and his unknown motivation and his manipulation of you. And while many games try to tell their story through shovelfulls of expositional dialogue and cutscenes, Half Life 2 has brilliantly stubtle storytelling, letting the player piece together what is going on from fragments of information they pick up while playing, which is very intriguing and engaging.

 

[Dommyboy]

Mafia had a great story in my opinion.

 

[The Wooster]

Planescape. It's basically a novel in a game.