Daft Posted April 19, 2008 Posted April 19, 2008 Games Radar have a list of the top 15 video game stories. http://www.gamesradar.com/f/the-best-videogame-stories-ever/a-200804179337286093 Metal Gear Solid (1998, PlayStation, PC) Grim Fandango (1998, PC) The Longest Journey (2000, PC) Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2, Xbox, PC, 2004) Beyond Good & Evil (PS2, Xbox, GameCube, PC, 2003) Astro Boy: Omega Factor (Game Boy Advance, 2004) Portal (Xbox 360, PC, PS3, 2007) Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers (PC, 1993) Bioshock (Xbox 360, 2007) Planescape: Torment (PC, 1999) Fallout 2 (PC, 1998) God of War (PS2, 2005) Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Xbox, PC, 2003) Final Fantasy VI (Super Nintendo, 1994) Silent Hill 2 (Xbox, PS2, PC, 2001) Anyone think otherwise? My list would look a bit like this: MGS2 (Really loved it) Majora's Mask (Sinister) BioShock (Lead me to read The Fountainhead) Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (The twist was probably the most epic moment ever) Portal (Funny short story) GTA: Vice City (Funny script) Call of Duty 4 (Short but very sweet) Probably more that I've missed out.
Shino Posted April 20, 2008 Posted April 20, 2008 Every time a thread like this comes I always mention Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. I haven't played most of the games in that list.
Mr. Bananagrabber Posted April 20, 2008 Posted April 20, 2008 Take out God of War, Planetscape and Final Fantasy and put in MGS2, Eternal Darkness and Killer 7 and you have a good list.
LazyBoy Posted April 20, 2008 Posted April 20, 2008 Killer 7 Killer 7 Killer 7 Killer 7 Killer7 Killer 7 Killer 7 Killer 7 Well in my opinion it is Killer 7
Wesley Posted April 20, 2008 Posted April 20, 2008 Half-Life? Maybe. Hybrid Heaven? Maybe. Broken Sword? Hum.. maybe. Skies of Arcadia... ...maybe. Final Fantasy VII. Hell. Yes.
Jonnas Posted April 20, 2008 Posted April 20, 2008 It's all very subjective. I enjoyed several plots for different reasons: -Zelda: OoT - The twists in the story are great. Also, exploring the world as an adult and caring to what happened to the people is the sign of a good story. -Skies of Arcadia - Highly enjoyable. Nothing deep, or anything, but you just gotta fall in love with the world and characters. -Tales of Symphonia - Pretty long story, which involved most of the characters' backstories and exploring most of the world, not to mention the racist undertones. Plus, just how many plot twists are in there, anyway? -Final Fantasy IX - Too bad about the final boss, but I loved the rest of the game. As you can see, I enjoy a game's story basing myself on the care I have for the characters and world. That's why I didn't enjoy Golden Sun's story that much. I didn't like the towns, and the characters were clueless (seriously, how come Felix only explained everything to Isaac that far in the game? And why didn't they tell us Felix's motives at the beginning of Lost Age? I played the first part of the game not knowing why Felix did what he did.). What saved the game was the music, gameplay and side-quests.
McMad Posted April 20, 2008 Posted April 20, 2008 Good list. I really should get round to playing Knights of the Old Republic considering I already own it.
Dan_Dare Posted April 20, 2008 Posted April 20, 2008 KOTOR is bitchin I'd also include Mass Effect. Admittedly, the main plot isn't that extravagant or twisty but the texture of the whole affair is staggeringly deep. also, Half Life 2+ episodes is probably the best story told to date in a game.
flameboy Posted April 20, 2008 Posted April 20, 2008 Hotel Dusk- Rich diverse characters that all have their own agenda's and have so cleverly all woven together. Half Life 2/Episode 1 (not played Episode 2 yet); Freeman is the greatest mute ever and as such the story telling innovates through its ingame usage of story telling mechanics.
Shino Posted April 20, 2008 Posted April 20, 2008 Was I the only one the only one that wasn't surprised by what happened in KOTOR? I love the game but what happened was rather predictable.
gaggle64 Posted April 20, 2008 Posted April 20, 2008 I'd also include Mass Effect. Admittedly, the main plot isn't that extravagant or twisty but the texture of the whole affair is staggeringly deep. I absolutely agree with you, Mass Effects joy is found in it's characters and sub plots. Though I'm not yet very far through it, The World Ends With You is a remarkably enthralling tale, but I'll have to wait to see how some of the characters play out before passing final judgement. A slightly odd piece of dialogue or two in there as well. "The proof is in the pudding... of their doom!" On another side note, CoD4 is an odd little gem. The story itself isn't really up to much (Arabs, communists, nuclear weapons, time running out you get the picture) but the way it's told is simply astounding.
Dan_Dare Posted April 20, 2008 Posted April 20, 2008 COD4's nuclear death scene is the best character death ever put to plastic, folks. Other than that, communists allied with religious extremists seems to be a bit of a cop out battle royale affair that's more chucklesome than dramatic. Hotel Dusk- Rich diverse characters that all have their own agenda's and have so cleverly all woven together. Half Life 2/Episode 1 (not played Episode 2 yet); Freeman is the greatest mute ever and as such the story telling innovates through its ingame usage of story telling mechanics. that's why HL2 is so good- not only is it a great story, but the means by which it's told are almost all exclusive to gaming as opposed to them being ripped off (badly) from film, which is where pretty much every game ever gets it so wrong. in short: show, don't tell and use the agency of the player to aid story telling rather than see it as an obstacle. I'm looking at you, final fantasy. You bloated sack of shit.
gaggle64 Posted April 20, 2008 Posted April 20, 2008 Eternal Darkness. That was a good one. Excellent voice acting as well.
Dan_Dare Posted April 20, 2008 Posted April 20, 2008 yus. very good, actually. Too Human remains on my radar courtesy of ED's story, really.
Jonnas Posted April 20, 2008 Posted April 20, 2008 that's why HL2 is so good- not only is it a great story, but the means by which it's told are almost all exclusive to gaming as opposed to them being ripped off (badly) from film, which is where pretty much every game ever gets it so wrong. in short: show, don't tell and use the agency of the player to aid story telling rather than see it as an obstacle. Does Metroid Prime fall into this category? I mean, the first one, at least. The second had too many cutscenes for my tastes. Anyway, I'll include MP in my list, for the reasons you posted. No cutscenes, just you, figuring for yourself what the hell is going on, through the info you can collect.
Ashley Posted April 20, 2008 Posted April 20, 2008 Portal? For the most part doesn't have a story. Its fun, I did really like it but up until about midway, perhaps later, its just "see what you can do with portals." Anywho. Beyond Good and Evil has always been a favourite story of mine.
darksnowman Posted April 20, 2008 Posted April 20, 2008 Eternal Darkness and Beyond Good & Evil get my full backing. I'm hard pressed to think of any others though now that you've put me on the spot. I could say FF IV but then VI eclipses it which is why they chose it. I like Marjora's Mask... and Link's Awakening had a killer of a twist in the story, I thought. The likes of Tales of Symphonia, Skies of Arcadia and Fire Emblem all have great stories... otherwise I wouldn't have gotten into them. I'm sure there are plenty more, I'll have a think... but Astro Boy? Has anyone played it? I never thought it would have had the most engaging of storylines!
Guest Jordan Posted April 20, 2008 Posted April 20, 2008 Dreamfall: The Longest Journey has an terrific story and by far my favourite in any game ever. Although Twilight Princess isn't that original at all, some of the parts of that story (particularly the relationship between Midna and Link) are amazing.
gaggle64 Posted April 20, 2008 Posted April 20, 2008 I've played Astro Boy. The story is actually not bad all told, very much in the franchises running theme of man's relationships with robots and vice versa. The game's so bloomin hard though I haven't been able to finish it.
Jonnas Posted April 20, 2008 Posted April 20, 2008 Oh yeah, Link's Awakening. That game has quite a moving story, even if it is a relatively simple one. And the Fire Emblem series is packed with awesome characters and cool stories: -Fire Emblem GBA is my favourite in this aspect. 35+ interesting characters with backstories and good dialogue? I can't remember any other game with such a cast. -Fire Emblem: PoR has a reasonable amount of good characters and a story with racism undertones. This world is easy to love. If they ever made a Fire Emblem MMO (never), this world would be my No.1 choice. -Radiant Dawn seems to be a long game. I haven't played it yet, but I hope I don't have to wait much longer. -Fire Emblem 4 has one hell of a twist. I still have to play it properly, though. -Fire Emblem 6 is a bit more subjective. The story and characters are nothing special, really. But I don't know why, this game managed to give me the "war" vibe better than the others. There are still plenty of people who think the story sucks, though, and I can easily see their point.
McPhee Posted April 20, 2008 Posted April 20, 2008 Radiant Dawn has a pretty good story going, a little predictable though. Playing wise it's not as good as PoR, there's times when it really, really drags on (the difficulty doesn't help)
Hellfire Posted April 21, 2008 Posted April 21, 2008 That GR list is incredibly weird.. God of War? GTA? lol I can throw in some, at the top of my head, Killer 7, Eternal Darkness, Half Life games, MGS, Grim Fandango, Chrono Trigger and Max Payne 1 & 2. I could name some otherRPGs, but it doesn't feel right, lots of them have so many clichés and most I don't remember well, so I'll steer clear of that. I could also say SotC and the Prime games for having a story without actually telling although, when you "figure" it out, the stories, although nice, aren't awesome. SotC wins due to it awesome conveying of feelings, while metroid is incredibly immersive and gives a fantastic perspective to Samus' missions and the metroid Universe. And Zelda, despite not being very deep, has awesome twists, is immersive and leaves that room for speculation that I love. Every Zelda's story is etched into my mind (well, the first 2 weren't that story intensive lol), due to the loveable characters, the small details, the twists and everything that goes untold. Midna= Awesome
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