Best story line in a game

Television, Movies Games and Books Games & Toys
#1

Ok guys Ive been into games since I was 6 years old. I am 24 now. Even though I am a games fan i wouldnt describe myself as a gamer because i only play like one or two games a year and spend very little on games and consoles etc.

The reason being that even though gaming is superfun I feel that as an experience it lacks depth sometimes and as far as I am concerned that is because games dont tell important stories, and they dont tell stories particularly well.

As a kid i was a HUGE fan of the wing commander series. They are probably the reason I checked out BSG in the first place. the simmilarities are extensive. Though in hindsight the storylines of Wing Commander games werent amazing they were without a doubt adequate, and the production values (sets, acting, CGI etc) were ground breaking for a game.

I put it to you, the fans of BSG who clearly know a good story when you see one to tell me what games you think have truly exceptional stories . Please consider all aspects of story, not just the plot. The storytelling itself: acting, script, dialogue, themes whatever…

Ok guys

Later!!

#2

I mostly play MMOs. They are full of stories. Most told very well.

#3

Final Fantasy X has one of my absolute favorite storylines. Most Japanese RPGs suffer from convoluted plotlines that ultimately don’t mean much, but that is one powerful game.

BioShock also has a great story, though it is not told in the traditional sense, as you spend most of your time deciphering what happened before you arrive.

Most games don’t have stories that hold up that well out of context. my personal favorite, Chrono Cross, is needlessly complex and is really a huge excuse to try to tie a game into Chrono Trigger, and games like Final Fantasy 6-9 all have largely unspectacular storylines (and FF7 has much larger problems in that department).

Jade Empire and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic both have solid plots, but BioWare does a good job in general of making strong, if not breathtaking, stories.

#4

Mass Effect has a great story and is very well told. Even on the surface it has a great story but if you read all the encyclopedia entries then you have a whole world of story.

Half Life 2 and its following episodes have a decent story but its very well told.

Fallout 3 has a great world of side stories although the main story line is just ok. (its still a great game)

Portal manages to tell a great story with minimal interaction. Most of the story is hidden in the bacground and hinted at to you by GlaDOS

Arcanium was an awesome RPG game for the computer that had a great story.

I really got into the story of GTA 4, more so than any of the other GTA’s. but its a much more far fetched story line (i still need to finish the game however)

#5

My wife and I credit Jade Empire on the original XBox and its storyline for awakening my wife’s interest in console gaming! Thanks also goes to C, A and S for praising Mass Effect, and getting my wife interested enough to want to finally get a Xbox 360! Squee and Y-a-h-o-o!

#6

I really like both Knights of the Old Republic games’ storylines as well as both Baldur’s Gate games (lots of Bioware love in this thread, isn’t there?).

I second the Portal comment, a really fantastic minimalist storyline. Also the Half-life comment, the characters are some of the best in the industry.

#7

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

Jade Empire - this game also has the most difficult final choice ever, to this day I’ve never been able to do the evil ending

Mass Effect

Bioshock

Tales of Vesperia - hands down the best JRPG on the 360

Eternal Sonata - gets major bonus points for the concept alone

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - while not the best game ever I did really love the twist this game put on the early days of the Rebel Alliance

Deus Ex: Invisible War - the one game I’m really upset was never made backwards compatible for the 360

I’m also really hoping that the prequel novel for Dragon Age: Origins is an indication of how good the game is because if it is Dragon Age could be the best fantasy RPG ever. I could see the influences of GRRM’s ASOIAF series. If Dragon Age turns out be as good as the prequel novel promises every game I’ve ever played by Bioware would be on my list.

#8

Knights of the Old Republic
Deus Ex
Mass Efffect
Freespace 1 and 2, I wish they’d make another one

#9

Freespace 2 did have an awesome storyline for a space-combat game.

#10

It’s probably no surprise that I’d throw in with the Mass Effect people here. The game’s awesome in many ways, but probably the coolest part is the quite deep story.

And regardless of what one might think about the vibe of play via Live, a really excellent story underlies Halo as well. Hell, I bought my 360 pretty much to play through the end of the story. I’m not much of an FPS player – I do enjoy playing them even though I suck – and I still play the storyline over and over again just because it’s so cool. I even suffered through the novels just to get the background. Good stuff!

Sean speaks very highly of Final Fantasy, and the only thing keeping me from 'em is the fact they’re not available for the 360 – a fact that’s changing this time 'round. Sean anxiously awaits the new FF, and I imagine I’ll give it a shot when it comes out.

Eve is the only MMO I’ve played, but it has a great storyline that explains how everyone got to Eve, why everyone looks the way they look, and even why the various factions work the way they do. It’s certainly possible to blow past it all if you choose, but if you start looking there’s story everywhere in Eve. (We’ll get into some of this in the upcoming one-off Eve podcast! As I said, you won’t have to play to enjoy the podcast. Hell, even if you do play you might learn something about the story. We’ve got some coolness planned. :slight_smile: )

Does anyone else miss (sometimes, mostly in nostalgia) the complex stories game creators used to dream up to explain early video games? Think Berzerk, GORF, Defender and (if I remember correctly) even Breakout. Come to think of it, you know what (ludicrously devised) videogame story would make a fun movie? Choplifter.

Or Defender. Totally Defender with a dark vibe: a drunk, battle-scarred pilot takes her sleek fighter out to save the planet. Wait. I think I’ve seen this. But this would be different because she would have SMART BOMBS. Rock.

#11

I agree with everyone’s opinion of Mass Effect. I look forward to hearing more about EVE. I’ve read some of the background stuff, but frankly I don’t really see it in game.

As for MMO games, you just can’t overlook LOTRO. I haven’t come across a MMO with a more entertaining introduction yet, although Age of Conan wasn’t bad with its intro. I’m sure most everyone is familiar with Tolkien’s story, but the game doesn’t try to make you relive it so much. Turbine presents storylines in parallel to the fellowship, or just off on original tangents altogether. They’ve tried to write in every bit of lore that they’re allowed to by law (err… license) and there’s a certain magic in seeing the stuff of the books brought to life in game before your eyes. It brought a slight smile to my face to happen upon the hidden elf camp above Woodhall in the shire. That smile happened again when I stumbled into Balin’s tomb in Moria. I grabbed my book and leafed through it all to find the dwarven glyphs written on the tomb; the game matched them exactly.

#12

Hmm, here are some games I thought had some good story.

KOTOR 1 & 2 (both of these games are absolutely incredible and the first one help me jump back into gaming…I played the first one enough to kill an original xbox)

Psychonauts

Bioshock

God of War (you go through a ton of action, but I thought the cut scenes added a lot to Kratos)

Call of Duty 4 (not so much a fantastic story, but the plot does some things that I had not encountered with a console FPS and my jaw dropped when that one moment happened).

I still need to finish Mass Effect, but I’ve really enjoyed it so far.

#13

I just played Rise of the Argonauts and it has a pretty good storyline but it is based on one of the best myths of ancient Greece, Jason and the Golden Fleece. Definitely worth a rental as there isn’t much replay value but the story line is worth a playthrough.

I’m currently playing Lost Odyssey (now that the load times vanish thanks to HD install) and I’m loving the story line so far. It’s probably the most adult JRPG I’ve played. I can’t wait to see how it all ends.

#14

I was just remembering back to my NES and Genesis days.

Crystalis had a really cool story. it was one of my favorite stories from the NES RPG days.

and i really dug Shining Force on the Genesis.

#15

I’m so focused on my XBox right now that I forgot some of my favorite games on the PS1 and PS2.

Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2- totally unique combination of Final Fantasy and Disney. The story lines were fantastic. Sora, Riku and Kairi are some of my favorite video game characters ever. I love the story enough that if they were to announce a Kingdom Hearts 3 for the PS3 I would have to buy a PS3 just to play the game.

Rogue Galaxy - the guys at Level-5 make fantastic games (the Dark Cloud series) with awesome story lines and this one was my favorite of the bunch. Loved traveling the galaxy with some loveable characters and the main character is one of the best in a JRPG I’ve played so far. Level-5 is in my opinion to JRPG’s what Bioware is western RPG’s. I’m very tempted to buy a PS3 just so I can play their next games The White Knight Chronicles I think it’s called.

Silent Hill 1 & 3- I loved Silent Hill 2 but the story just wasn’t the same as 1 & 3. Loved the twisted religious aspects and the bizarre story that actually made sense by the end of SH 3. Too bad the movie screwed it all up.

#16

I totally agree about Kingdom hearts. KH 3 along with GoW 3 are what will probably get me to buy a PS3. The lother will be the Last guardian speaking of which…other awesome PS2 games with great stories that are not conventional are Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. Both are told with pretty much no dialogue very little in the way of cut scenes but you are told the story within the world and it has so much weight. The end of Shadow is still one of my favorite endings in a game yet.

#17

Do board games count? If so, Clue would be my favourite storyline in a game.

Great movie too!

#18

Lost Odyssey officially rocks. Any story line that can have me bawling is awesome. I’m only about 9 hours in and I’ve already cried twice, once at one of the dreams and once at the story line itself. That’s one more cry than Mass Effect.

#19

In addition what many others have said (Mass Effect) I would say:
Max Payne 1 and 2
Half-Life Saga (if you don’t mind being kept in the dark a lot)
Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast

If you are a Star Trek fan and have an old computer, you should see if you can get a copy of “Star Trek: A Final Unity”. Its basically an adventure game with the The Next Generation characters. Very long and interconnected story line, worthy of a great 2 part (or 3 or 4 part) episode…

#20

the games from the SNES blew me away when i played then

the first was final gantasy IV . intricate storyline. fantastic caracteres. and enough twist and turns to give my head come off my shoulder. made me realize for the first time the power of story in a video game.

so when the follow-up came…i tought…no way this will ne better. it was

Final fantasy VI still remain for me the greatest RPG of all time. again…the incredible characters…the colossal story line…a fantastic villain…but what put me on my ass was aria mezzo carattere . a video game moment…touching me…as in almost tears in my eyes…no kidding. from a feaking SNES game. unbelivable.

but yes…Kotor is fantastic. Showed me that a star wars story can be great again.