Is There a Better Story then Bioshock?

[martin's a madman]

Ugh, Story is a word in gaming that lumps way too much together incorrectly. Let me summarize.

There is:
STORY, or PLOT, which is the basic "This happens. Then this happens. Then because of that, he decides to do X. But Person Y decides to betray him etc" It's the overarching narrative of what happens.
EXPOSITION, or STORYTELLING, is HOW the story is told. You can genuinely have a story that's just "Marines go to war. They fight a lot, then get killed." that is told so well, even barring its action scenes, that it wins awards. This depends on things like precise writing, sequence of events, what information is used to convey something (Seeing it firsthand vs reading it, hearing it from an ally, cutscene vs interactive segment)
SETTING, usually only applicable to fantasy or fictional games, is the world you're in. This is why realistic shooters are often uninteresting, but even they could have some interesting locales if they come up with some interesting twist on World of Rubble 3.

BioShock mostly succeeded in the area of Setting. No one had seen or heard of anything remotely similar to Rapture anymore, and everything in it contributed well to the world. Storywise the game is also very good, but I could probably find at least 5 games released just last year that are also just as good.

What are they?

 

[Explosm]

Kingomd hearts easily

 

[Christemo]

there probably is, but both Bioshock games still have amazing storylines (although the first beats the second one slightly).

better:
Ico.
Shadow of the Colossus.
God of War series.
the first few Final Fantasy´s (1-6).
Warcraft Series.

 

[Volafortis]

Planescape: Torment, Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, KotOR 1 & 2, Half Life 2 + episodes, The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind, all had better storylines, IMO. Bioshock had great atmosphere, and Bioshock 2 kind of ruined that.

 

[Vivace-Vivian]

Mass Effect, hands down. And I love Bioshock.

 

[JemJar]

System Shock 2. Oh sorry, you asked for "better" not "exactly the same over 5 years earlier minus the cheap-shot over the nature of linear gaming".

 

[TheTim]

I'm probably the only one who thinks this but Uncharted 2's story line will probably never be beat.

 

[[BDS]Omega]

With the exception of Half Life (and the subsequent installments and sequels) its story was memorable and above average for and FPS.

Although as far as memorable stories go across all genres, its not even in the top 25. Games by Bioware have more story in the first quarter of their game than Bioshock had over its entire game. Some of the classic square RPG's (Chrono Trigger comes to mind) have stories that make me play them 10+ after their release on the original hardware. And the classic adventure games were based on their story so having a bad one would leave your game on store shelves.

That being said, by no means is bioshock's story shallow either. Yahtzee said it best, "if you are used to insipid boomfests like Halo then Bioshock will seem like the shit. If you are a longtime PC gamer spoiled by more complex FPSRPGs then you are in for a kick in the balls." For a console game (at the time) it had a deeply memorable story, PC gamers will easily point out the cliche elements and go play a classic.

 

[Undead Dragon King]

The story to Bioshock has to be one of the most interesting complex stories and even though it was the "spiritual predecessor" to System Shock to, was original in every right. So many twists and turns (one especially), memorable characters, and the best writing and voice acting I've seen in a video game thus far. Does anybody have an think there's an equally or unforgettable turn of events in a game (writing, story, premise, ect.)?

Chiding remark: Andrew Ryan has got nothing on me or the Master. I mean, think about it. Murdered with a pitching wedge? My assassination protocols are frying themselves in disgust. I would have terminated the meatbag by tying him up to Rapture's central power generator with metallic cables, shot the main interface with my Aratech rifle, and watched the sparks fly! A grandiose exit is a prerequisite for despotic dicatators to go, wouldn't you say? I'm a genius, what can I say?

 

[Monkfish Acc.]

Hell yes. Dragon age.
I wanted to BE Alistair.
If that is not good character creation, I do not know what is.

 

[ethaninja]

Mafia. Most epic storyline EVER! Bioshocks storyline was too slow if you ask me.

 

[Spartigus68k]

i would argue halflife or even fallout

 

[Ekonk]

The Path.
Just... It wallows in artistic territory that few other games even make decent use of. I'm not sure if its appropriate to even compare it to other video games; its just so extremely different.

Still, I think points should be given to games that don't bother with catchy twists and straight-up fulfill their genre.
I can't figure out what on earth it is about the first Final Fantasy, but every time I see the ending scroll, I feel like I just read a long, classic fairy tale or myth.

Hurray, someone knows the Path! I think Bioshock and the Path are worlds apart, though, you can't really compare them.


OT: I've yet to play a game that has a better written story than the Half-Life 2 modification Korsakovia. Seriously. If you have Half-Life 2, download that shit RIGHT now. That story kicks the everliving shit out of Bioshock.

 

[MagnetoHydroDynamics]

Aquaria beats most games by leagues, as it is essentially ~20 hours OF WHICH 50% IS PURE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, accented by gorgeous 2D graphics.

Beyond Good and Evil (although I have yet to invest 6 hours of gameplay in it), is also a really great game with likeable characters and solid storytelling.

Mass Effect ranges high on my list too.
So does HL2.
Even Dark Messiah...

Actually, IMHO Bioshock wasn't that great. I was always too busy surviving to listen to whatever people said... (I'm not very good at RPGFPS's)

 

[S.R.S.]

Fallout 3 or Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. I can't decide which one is better.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Baten Kaitos I only really remember one thing from that game...

Spoiler: Major plot point here

The main character, the one you've been playing this whole time... yeah, he's evil and he betray everyone (including the player).

 

[Nomanslander]

I'm probably the only one who thinks this but Uncharted 2's story line will probably never be beat.

Raiders!.....yeah I went there...lol
XP


Anyways, it's all subjective, I love Bioshock because I love sea stories. As for the story itself, I still think the plot twist got pretty ridiculous at the end, not because of the whole Atlas thing, but the Jack storyline really got...ehh><

if you ask me...=/