Is There a Better Story then Bioshock?

[Kryzantine]

Let me start by saying I love Bioshock, it is very high on my game list but I'll be honest here:

Other than the atmosphere and twist ending, Bioshock was not much special. Sure, I loved System Shock and anything that wants to suck up to that is okay in my book (if we're going to knock things off, lets make them good ones), but it just didn't have enough meat in it.

As for this:

, 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.)?

In regards to this, in my opinion, Knights of the Old Republic beats Bioshock in all of these categories. And I can probably name a dozen games that do at least one of those better than it did. Also massively one ups Bioshock by having multiple good characters, as opposed to.. I dunno, the only 2 characters actually IN bioshock? Not that I dislike its way of exposing the past and its peoples, I just think KOTOR did it so much better.

Also, I say it now, and I mean it, KOTOR 2 >>> Bioshock 2.

THAT. JUST. HAPPENED.

Shine out.

edit: To the post above me-- Planescape: Torment. KOTOR was just the first one that popped in my head, but Torment definitely fits the bill as well.

Yeah, I hate to say it, but I agree with KOTOR. Bioshock was really good atmospherically, but KOTOR took an existing atmosphere and did more towards it than every movie in the new trilogy combined, and that's a really hard feat to do. That's not to mention the plot, which appears quite typical until you get to the balls-tight fantastic plot twist that you'll never see coming, but makes perfect sense upon replay. And then there's the characters, which easily knock out the ones in Bioshock. Now that I think of it, I want to see a cage match or an intellectual debate between HK-47 and Andrew Ryan. And I'm sure HK-47 would be the only one walking away.

 

[The Real Sandman]

I love Bioshock as much as the next dude, but...:

Skies of Arcadia
Ico
No More Heroes
Deus Ex
The Suffering
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2NO NO!
Blood
Grimm Fandango
Brothers in Arms
Psychonaunts
PREY
Beyond Good and Evil
KOTOR 1 and 2
Condemned: Criminal Origins
God of War

...have equally/even more interesting stories and characters than Bioshock.

 

[Anticitizen_Two]

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.

Thank you very much. Someone needed to clear this up. So many people get it confused. Bioshock had a fair enough storyline, but it was the atmosphere of the setting that made it great, not the actual plot events (although they were quite good as well). This problem also comes up a lot with Half-Life 2 - a lot of people claim it has a great story despite the fact that the story is pretty much "save the world from evil aliens." Where Half-Life 2 wins is in the storytelling and how it presents its fairly simple story.

 

[EHKOS]

Unfortunatally I had Bioshock spoiled for me so I never got to expiriance it first hand without knowing.

 

[NeutralDrow]

The first thing that came to mind was Fate/Stay Night...

 

[giga524]

Metal Gear Solid, All of them, connected, cause that's what they do, connect.

 

[thenoticeableshadow]

Shadow of The Colossus

Heavy Rain

The first half of Indigo Prophecy (Fahrenheit)

yeah i hated that game for getting so awfull at the end

 

[thenoticeableshadow]

I love Bioshock as much as the next dude, but...:

Skies of Arcadia
Ico
No More Heroes
Deus Ex
The Suffering
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2NO NO!
Blood
Grimm Fandango
Brothers in Arms
Psychonaunts
PREY
Beyond Good and Evil
KOTOR 1 and 2
Condemned: Criminal Origins
God of War

...have equally/even more interesting stories and characters than Bioshock.

psychonauts really? i mean the game was brilliant but the story was pretty predictable

 

[Koganesaga]

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.)?

Easily, either the warhammer 40k series (the stuff in the books, or in the DOW2 expansion, I never guessed who the tradior was and was honestly shocked) or if you want a game, Disgaea in general. It has the best storyline because the characters know they're in a video game, which makes for honestly humorous moments.

There was also Legend of Dragoon (if you don't know this game, give away any sony products you have right now) and Ogre Battle 64, two games where I honestly ran home from school because I wanted to know what happened next.

 

[Mr_Paisley]

I've a slight suspicion this thread was largely inspired by Yahtzee's earlier rant that Bioshock 1 had one of the (if not THE) best intro's ever BUT, ("having said that"):

As far as story is concerned, Bioshock actually starts to get pretty weak. The WORLD is awesome, and often "the world", itself tells the story. BUT, (as Yahtzee pointed out LATER), then it starts throwing audiobooks at you randomly, telling the story through little dabbles of dialogue recorded before Rapture, "rapture'd".

And then there are the other games, whose stories are told far better. Mass Effect for example, was weak in a lot of areas (it certainly didn't have the presence Bioshock had), but it was a very sophisticated story that hold's it own. Especially if you take into account the writing of their sequels. Mass Effect 2 easily passes Bioshock 2.

 

[y1fella]

I got four.
1-Anything by Bio ware (except sonic obviously)
2-Any fallout game (except BOS and Tactics)
3-Any old Lucas arts adventure game. (except the Indiana Jones ones)
4-Any half-life game (When the hell is episode three coming out?)

 

[Indecipherable]

The theme, setting, general ambience are fantastic. The story? It's pretty simple, in fact, it can be written as a single sentence. The only thing interesting is the twist. There's tons of games with better story than Bioshock.

 

[Axle_Bullitt_19]

Brothers In Arms! Why some of you may ask, beacause I actually gave a shit about the characters. There was no one in Bioshock that I can say that I liked, and the hole thing was just bland and uneventful to me. Also I'd also say Star Wars Bounty Hunter had a better story.

 

[chozo_hybrid]

That's your reason OP? While it's valid it seems rather weak, characters aren't the only thing that carry a story forward, events and setting play a big part too.

 

[PixieFace]

Knights of the Old Republic will ALWAYS win best story from me. Dragon Age and Baldur's Gate 2 come next, but they just didn't feel quite as stunning as KotOR did. Can you tell what company I fangirl?

The Longest Journey was phenomenal.

I'm also extremely fond of Condemned 2. Yeah, the story was trippy and really freaking weird but that was probably the biggest appeal to me. Jeez, I spent half the time hiding behind a pillow and throwing the controlling to my boyfriend on parts I was too scared to play. (BEAR CHASE ANYONE? OH MY GOD)