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Pulitzer Laureate  Posts: 980 Joined: 29 Nov 2007     | |
Paperboy  Posts: 35 Joined: 6 Feb 2008    | World in Conflict's storyline is surprisingly complex and deep. Massive Entertainment really went all out on and Alec Baldwin's pre mission monologues give the game a very personal feel. |
Anonymous Source Posts: 5 Joined: 17 May 2008 | If we are talking about traditional storyline, I must say that I love the basic plots of the two major 3D Legend of Zelda titles: 'Ocarina of Time' and 'Twilight Princess'. I think the fake movie trailer from IGN last April Fools really gave us an idea of how cool it could have been (and how awful ganondorf's sideburns can look): If, however, we are talking about the plot and storyline as is best found in a game, I don't think that we should necessarily judge it by movie standards. Metal Gear Solid might well have something which would work well as a movie, but we don't play a game because we secretly want to sit back and watch a movie. (Actually I think Metal Gear Solid would be extremely cheesy as a movie, but that only goes to further my point.) I think that an example of a brilliant plot-driven game is Portal. We are given no explanation of why we are there. The computer which guides us through the game leaves it feeling rather abstract a lot of the time. However, as a result a whole game mythology weaves itself around us and when we come to the final level of the game we are fully immersed into this sweetly disturbing world. Somehow we are put into a position of taking it seriously enough to find it disturbing, yet still being able to relax enough to laugh at the absurdity at the same time. Pure genius. Another game which managed to immerse me in that sort of way was 'Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem'. Oddly enough, the thing which prevented games like Resident Evil 4 from doing the same was precisely because they were too much like a movie... A movie needs you to sit back and relax and in order to pull you in. A game has a tougher job on its hands... |
Gone Gonzo  Posts: 1790 Joined: 7 Feb 2008    | Best Story Telling: Bioshock, Mass Effect Best Story, No Contest: Suikoden 2 |
Anonymous Source Posts: 1 Joined: 22 May 2008 | Planescape: Torment gets the obvious mention for storytelling ability. I've started playing it again and the atmosphere is excellent, and even just all the details you read when talking to people, it is so incredibly descriptive it adds a lot to the storytelling. Most recently had a surprisingly good storyline when I played it was Persona 2: Eternal Punishment. I would love to play Innocent Sin to get the full storyline but I do not speak japanese, but it sounds like an incredibly creative idea. I thought rumor spreading as a method of creating reality was highly effective, and even the concept of the Joker character was effectively creepy. It's a story where it starts with something bad and continually one ups itself into another far more sinister and overall bad situation. I enjoyed all the characters as well, and the game managed to make characters I found annoying in Persona 1 (Nate and Ellen), not annoying. Such is the power of not horrible translation I think. |
Paperboy  Posts: 11 Joined: 22 May 2008 | I'd have to agree that just about every game mentioned (that I've played through, anyway) is outstanding in the plot department. However, I haven't seen mention of Namco's Breakdown. Not the best game known to man by any means, never cured cancer or anything, but so far under the radar that the American government could easily deny any involvement in contracting it to spy on China... allegedly |
Gone Gonzo Posts: 1790 Joined: 7 Feb 2008 | I liked a good portion of Breakdown, but I never finished it, interface annoyed me too much. Though apparently I'm the only one on this entire forum that plays the Suikoden Games. |
Gone Gonzo  Posts: 1252 Joined: 18 Sep 2007   | Marathon and Marathon 2: Durandal. Before I played the games I read the "terminal" text; it worked even without the gameplay, and with the gameplay to add additional context (and the challenge of finding it!) it was awesome. Bioshock worked the same way; you had to find the story yourself and piece it together. Psychonauts had great storytelling... the plot was almost standard issue, but the characters and delivery were excellent. -- Steve |
Copy Clerk  Posts: 107 Joined: 6 May 2008 | The Half-Life series is getting way too few kudos here. No other game's story has engaged me the way HL's has - though Portal comes mighty close. I fuckin loved the Max Payne stories, am praying for a sequel. The story that goes with the COD4 single-player campaign is pretty cool, though I totally agree with what Yahtzee has to say about the ending. Call of Juarez seemed ok - too bad I got bored playing it (the only time it gets really fun is when you're playing as the mad old reverend; the stealth sections are too long and dull) I haven't played it yet, but considering the way so many people are creaming themselves over GTA IV, I'm surprised nobody has mentioned it here. |
Anonymous Source Posts: 4 Joined: 22 May 2008 | If you play through all of the Onimusha series, it gets fairly complex, but in a fictional samurai series kind of way (you have to actually pay attention to the scrolls to get the full story) |
Gone Gonzo  Posts: 6376 Joined: 28 Nov 2007    | Mass Effect's story is one of the best told that I've seen in a game. Lost Odyssey is pretty good, though the dream sequences go more for "cheap shot, cry sucker". I love FFIX's story, and if I said that anywhere else, I'd get lynched. Bioshock's plot was told really well, but outside of the plot twist, was pretty meh, to me. On a side note, I still can't get over the fact that if the main character is , then his name is .Now, for the lynching...I thought the story in Everything or Nothing would have been a really good James Bond plot. |
Gone Gonzo  Posts: 3415 Joined: 23 Dec 2007     | Half-Life, Metal Gear Solid, Ratchet & Clank. |
Pulitzer Laureate Posts: 980 Joined: 29 Nov 2007 |
You are, without question, the first person I've ever seen say something nice about that game. I played it and beat it, thought it was fun but that the series was having some kind of identity crisis. What'd you like about it? |
Paperboy  Posts: 48 Joined: 23 Apr 2008 | Best story based on characters: The Jak and Daxter series Also City of Heroes if you count 'making up my own awesome back-story'. |
Beat Writer  Posts: 191 Joined: 14 May 2008 | I really enjoyed the first KoTOR storyline. Halo gets my vote for the most inane storyline. edit: Indigo Prophecy was also a GREAT story up until it took a turn towards the supernatural. |
Gone Gonzo Posts: 1790 Joined: 7 Feb 2008 |
I loved FF9, until it became a lame rehash of Final Fantasy 1. Funny characters who made me laugh, fun battles, great graphics. Up until the 3rd disc it was one of my favorite final fantasies, I definately like it better than 8 at least. |
Copy Clerk  Posts: 51 Joined: 5 May 2008 | Portal has almost no plot. Yet it manages to suck you in anyway. So nomination there. Same with Half-Life. God damn the G-Man and his incomprehensible goals. I'm still analysing his opening speech in HL2. Also kudos for making you love every single random NPC you come across (especially Griggs and Sheckley). Bioshock. SPOILER! REALLY! SPOILER! Also the original Grandia. Nobody has heard of it. I cry. |
Beat Writer Posts: 208 Joined: 19 Feb 2008 | Both of the Kingdom Hearts, the first KOTOR(II had a chance but Lucasarts screwed it up), Mass Effect, and Paper Mario. |
Press Junketeer  Posts: 450 Joined: 2 Mar 2008   | I enjoyed Jak and Daxters simple story (it fit well), and I really enjoyed Jak 2's, not so much for Jak 3's (good game anyway, though). I also enjoyed the simple yet effective story in "A Link to the Past," and the deeper story in "Majora's Mask." No story comes even close to the MGS series (except, if Yahtzee is to be believed, Silent Hill, but I hate that series, so... yeah), so, obviosuly, that has what I think to be one of th ebest stories in any form of entertainment, not just games. |
Gone Gonzo Posts: 6376 Joined: 28 Nov 2007 |
The fact that the main character was actually well-developed and not emo, and the fact that just about every character got their time in the spotlight of awesomeness. I only had four problems with the game: Zorn and Thorn, Quina, and the Trance system. |
Paperboy Posts: 16 Joined: 25 Mar 2008 | Final Fantasy 10. Hands down the best story in any game I've ever played. Second place is the EPIC God of War story. |
Gone Gonzo Posts: 1790 Joined: 7 Feb 2008 |
I'm glad somebody said FFX, I actually really liked that one as well, ballsy ending (if you ignore the aftercredits and FFX2) that made me very sad the first time I saw it. |
Beat Writer Posts: 197 Joined: 2 Apr 2008 | How come nobody's said System Shock 2? The first and still one of the best real plot "twists" in a game... my only complaint being that the reveal goes on (and on and on) a bit, and that the office in which it takes place really looks nothing at all like an office, more a stage set. Still, it's awesome, as are the numerous subplots in the game (does anybody remember a game with actual subplots before that one? I have to go back to text-based adventures to name one...) |
Pulitzer Laureate Posts: 980 Joined: 29 Nov 2007 |
Are you serious? Not about SS2 being good, but that it was the first game with subplots or a major plot twist. |
Copy Clerk  Posts: 124 Joined: 22 Sep 2007 | Chrono Trigger I actually think Majora's Mask is better than Ocarina of Time. Sure the 3 day system was a bit irritating, but it had a fantastic plot that I just loved. |
Press Junketeer  Posts: 449 Joined: 10 Sep 2007 | I liked how the entirety of the first Golden Sun was mind blowingly generic, but they turned the whole thing on its head in the sequel. |
Paperboy  Posts: 34 Joined: 19 May 2008 | Fatal Frame 2. While I LOVE all 3 games, there was something so compelling about the story in 2. I really felt for Mio and Mayu, and for Sae. The story was well presented and beautiful, albeit tragic (especially when you get the "true" ending). Oh, cant forget FFX. Yeah, it could be considered the "easy" answer, being final fantasy and all...but the story was fantastic (in my opinion). I cried like a little girl at the end. |
Press Junketeer  Posts: 413 Joined: 11 Jan 2008 | Broken Sword: Knights Templer You might find a few on this list weird i.e. Ico. However, I'm a great believer in that, in storytelling, the plot is told just as much in visuals and words, and arguably there's more skill in the former. P.S. I spit on Final Fantasy X. What a load of cheesy, self-indulgent tosh. |
Gone Gonzo  Posts: 4893 Joined: 30 Jan 2008  |
I liked that too. The "..no. The lighthouses must be lit" was a really good twist. |
Muckraker  Posts: 269 Joined: 14 Jan 2008 | One word Homeworld |
Anonymous Source Posts: 1 Joined: 22 May 2008 | lets see games with a good story |
Paperboy  Posts: 16 Joined: 22 May 2008 | God guys, some of you are giving me a coronary. And nobody's mentioned FFVII?! By far the story that has really sucked me in, mainly for its characters (not because I'm really some eco-freak that wants to save the planet). Also, I found (suprisingly) Condemned to be good, although I can't be sure if it was the story (aside from the fact that it goes all Xfiles on you in the end), but I would guess that the story had something to do with it. |
Copy Clerk  Posts: 102 Joined: 4 Dec 2007 | My favourites are: BioShock |
Copy Clerk Posts: 96 Joined: 21 May 2008 |
I was going to agree with you, but then you had to pull out an RPG starring emotionally unstable main character #25 and his group of colorful friends trying to defeat bland gothic emotionally unbalanced bad guy with big sword #3. I'm going for the Half-Life series, because there aren't many shooters that make me even come anywhere near remotely liking the NPC, but Half-Life made me love some of them. |
Paperboy Posts: 41 Joined: 4 Jan 2008 | ive got to say earth defense force 2017 nah just kidding anyways SPOILER ALLERT IF YOU HAVENT PLAYED MASS EFFECT YET DONT READ THIS that the spaceship was the evil one and not the spectre guy about at the biggining but thats just me i see thru plots way to fast it gets anoying sometimes btw sorry for bad english (if it is i dont know becouse i suck at english) |
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Beat me to it. My favorite game in that series in terms of story and gameplay by far. The FF Advance ones are interesting too...but in a kiddie kind of way. Despise the Judge system.
I was always impressed with 'Shadow of the Colossus' plot. Hardly any dialogue is spoken until the very end but by the time it comes you already know you've screwed up. Your grey skin, the way your body is slowly getting corrupted...the game communicates with symbols & music an entire epic story of hubris without a single word.