Looking for a well written story

[Terramax]

Hello,

I admire any game with a great story and I'm after some suggestions with the following:

-Originality. We all know what this is.
-Well-written and voiced dialog that's also heavily balanced (no long winded 'The Longest Journey schlock)
-Isn't an RPG (either Western or Eastern) unless not remotely pretentious. The only one I've enjoyed in over 5 years was Disgaea: Hour of Darkness because it was funny and daring.
- Doesn't have to be dialog or story heavy as such so long as it's impacting to a great level. E.G. Ico didn't have much of a story per-se, but a lot was 'silently said' through visuals.
-I don't mind what genre or what it's about so long as if it's the best of the best.
-Age of game is not a factor, nor system

Here is my current list of fav story games:

-Broken Sword: Knights Templar: - pretty much perfect if it weren't for the goat puzzle (played all the sequels)
-Silent Hill 2 (I've played all the others)
-Shenmue
-Discworld Noir - funny as hell. Played all the others.
-Final Fantasy 7- I won't bother explaining. I won't be buying another FF so long as the men carry on with that stupid androgynous look though.
-Still Life and Post Mortem - despite their terrible balance of puzzles.
-Pretty much all Tim Schafer games
-Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers
-Max Payne - excellent dialog. A rare action game where I feel for the main character
-Metal Gear Solid (not it sequels though)

I'm thinking of Planescape Torment as my next game. What do you guys think?

 

[GenHellspawn]

If you've never played Fallout, you must:

1) Slap yourself for being stupid
2) Go and buy that game on amazon ASAP!!!

 

[TSED]

Can definitely do worse than PS:T.

 

[melanko]

I've played through PS:T once and it is easily the best written game I have ever played. Excellent plot, setting, characters, and dialog as well as great gameplay and replayabiliy.

 

[Terramax]

I've heard you're timed in Fallout?

 

[GregorV]

I would say Portal is one very special example. A lot of the story is implied, but the way it connects with the gameplay on various levels, both mechanical as well as emotional, and the absolutely brilliant writing make this a must. There has likely never been a better ending to a game.

 

[The Irrelevant Gamer]

I've heard you're timed in Fallout?

You are, but it is a matter of days rather than minutes or hours, and while it instills a sense of urgency it doesn't force you to rush through the game.

 

[PurpleRain]

If you've never played Fallout, you must:

1) Slap yourself for being stupid
2) Go and buy that game on amazon ASAP!!!

3)Bang head onto table unril death and/or you get the game!

I pity the fool who hasn't played Fallout!

And why oh why hasn't anyone said Half Life series!!!!! I pity all of you fools!

 

[Terramax]

I couldn't get into Half life. I certainly won't be buying the second one for PC when I'm forced to jump through hoops to prove I don't own the game illegally.

I do plan to buy Bioshock sometime next week when hopefully my shiny new graphics card arrives but I've heard Bioshock and System Shock 2 are very similar.

Would it be worth hunting down System Shock 2 still? Is it still as powerful/ scary now as it was back at its release?

Also, why oh why is Fallout so good? I am seriously considering ordering it.

 

[FavouredEnemy]

Planescape Torment. If you forget all D&D ever taught you about cosmology, and pretend it's all unique, rather than a doddering pile of mismatched backgrounds and ideas staggering under it's own weight, it's awesome.

I hate alignment because it is the default for roleplaying. If you can pretend it's unique, Planescape is easily the best game (for epic storyline, choices, and so on) ever. I replayed it recently. I even found something cool I didn't know about before: you can use embalming fluid as an ingestible poison to solve one of the game's side quests.

 

[PurpleRain]

Also, why oh why is Fallout so good? I am seriously considering ordering it.

Because you have no bounds. You can kill and do what ever you want when ever you want to whoever you want. There is a bit of a story but you can point up your middle finger to it and say "Screw you Mr Storyline, I'm killing children and stray dogs with my cattleprod."

 

[broadband]

hey what about deus ex, a nice merging of conspiracy theories.

and starcraft, a nice dark sci fi world

the arthas story of vengeance in warcraft 3.

and those are the ones that come to my head right now, im not sure about hitman, he is just badass

 

[Pittzi]

I'm so dissapointed that none of you has mentioned Grim Fandango.

 

[blackadvent]

If you've never played Fallout, you must:

1) Slap yourself for being stupid
2) Go and buy that game on amazon ASAP!!!

3)Bang head onto table unril death and/or you get the game!

I pity the fool who hasn't played Fallout!

And why oh why hasn't anyone said Half Life series!!!!! I pity all of you fools!

Pity me.

Disgaea 2 had a great story, just like the original.

Also, Bioshock. I can't explain it, just play it.

 

[runtheplacered]

I couldn't get into Half life. I certainly won't be buying the second one for PC when I'm forced to jump through hoops to prove I don't own the game illegally.

I do plan to buy Bioshock sometime next week when hopefully my shiny new graphics card arrives but I've heard Bioshock and System Shock 2 are very similar.

Would it be worth hunting down System Shock 2 still? Is it still as powerful/ scary now as it was back at its release?

Also, why oh why is Fallout so good? I am seriously considering ordering it.

Jump through hoops? All you have to do is enter a CD-key and wait for it to fully update. you don't even have to put the CD in the drive. not sure what hoops you're referring to.

Also, I think Half-life has a pretty good sci-fi plot to it. Granted, it is a shooter at heart.. and it is a good one of those. But the story is written by an actual sci-fi novelist (Marc Laidlaw ).. and it shows.

 

[The Irrelevant Gamer]

I'm so dissapointed that none of you has mentioned Grim Fandango.

I was going to, but the OP already referred to "pretty much all Tim Schafer's games" as among his favorites so I figure he's played it.

I would also like to say to the OP avoiding Half Life 2 simply because you don't like Steam would be foolish. It is a great game, and Steam is not the war crime so many people on the internet make it out to be.

 

[jaisimar_chelsea]

please ... system shock 2 was better than bioshock in every aspect(story, gameplay, etc.).
irrational (its still irrational to me) tuned down the difficulty level of the game so that every xbox360 owner could play the game.

 

[Echolocating]

I found Knights of the Old Republic to be enjoyable. Bioware's need to present good, neutral, and evil choices in the dialog are sophomoric and somewhat distracting, but the characters are interesting and the plot is pretty solid. It has one of the best plot twists ever in a game.

However, the best story I've ever experienced is Hotel Dusk. It's a great DS title that is all about the characters. It's been criticized for lengthy dialog, but honestly... it's all purposeful and really serves to flesh out a diverse range of characters. Anybody who claims to enjoy a good story would be doing themselves a huge disservice by not playing this game. Those who disagree are wrong. ;-)

Edit: Lengthy dialog is typically considered too long when you don't empathize or care about the characters. Hotel Dusk doesn't suffer from that problem at all.

 

[Joe]

Jumping on the Planescape: Torment bandwagon. And Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines. Then get the player patch. Everyone I've convinced on Bloodlines has thanked me.