Best Original Videogame Lore?

[lacktheknack]

Myst, hands down.

After taking the central hook of "Write book, fall into it", it tells about a great and highly advanced civilization that is suddenly brought to its knees by its own hubris. The games take place during the attempts to recover the few remaining survivors and re-locate them to a place of safety and specifically follows the efforts of a strikingly gifted writer and his even-more-strikingly gifted daughter.

The result: The player wanders world after world that were made as experiments, tombs, whims, etc, and the themes of responsibility and megalomania are dialed to the max. The second game, in particular, is fantastic in terms of lore, sending you wandering through a rapidly collapsing world trying to rescue an entire civilization. The megalomaniac writer, his minions, the rebel leader, her forces, the "neutral" villagers, and one stick in everyone's craw (you) all collide in a heck of a story that perfectly follows the first game and is supported by multiple novels.

Myst Online, in particular, starts warping the fourth wall a bit by dragging "You"TM, as in the (your race here) (your gender here) from (your country here), into the mix. It's a really cool bit of lore expansion.

The only problem with the lore is that half of it exists in "Schrodinger's Retcon", but fan theories and multiple interpretations are a strength, right?

 

[FPLOON]

I would say the Jak & Daxter lore is pretty good in its own right, even though I kinda wished they explored more with the

Spoiler: something something

time travel

aspects of the series' titular characters... AKA: I need my Jak 4 fix... and I don't mean The Lost Frontier...

Other than that, Rez/Child of Eden's lore, while simplistic, is pretty cool in my book since it uses its gameplay to showcase the extra details of its lore...

 

[Hawki]

There's way too many games I can list lore as an appeal element, so I'm going to put forward a no. of contenders that stem from personal experience:

*Best written: Mass Effect. Granted, only played the first game, but it's perhaps the best case of providing a player with lore I've ever encountered that doesn't bog down anything. In the scope of just one game, I felt like I'd seen an entire universe, or at the least, was aware of that universe definitively existing.

*Best expressed in game: Mass Effect (see above).

*Most interesting: This is very hard to answer, believe it or not. Thing is, I write and edit wikis as hobbies, so even the most assinine pieces of lore can become interesting to me if I put the effort into them. As such, I'm going to skip this.

*Most robust: Warcraft. I'm associating robust with scope here. And in terms of sheer volume, of games I can claim familiarity with, I have to give the robustness of setting to Warcraft.

And some honourable mentions:

*Command and Conquer (Tiberian setting, by virtue of how its setting develops over time)
*Diablo (it would never qualify for top spot, but credit where credit is due, the setting is pretty fleshed out)
*Dragon Age (only going by wiki stuff, but gets points for level of detail)
*Fallout (as above)
*Gears of War (only if you factor in EU material)
*Golden Sun (for various reasons, a close runner-up to Mass Effect in regards to how its world is presented)
*Halo (through EU material, but credit where credit is due, the nature of its setting has always been well defined, if not its scope within the games)
*StarCraft (in terms of lore, I'd call SC "jack of all trades, master of none," but at the end of the day, I think it deserves a place within the honourable mentions)

The brownie points, mainly in regards to what other people have mentioned:

*Dead Space (pretty interesting setting, but not as fleshed out as some others)
*Destiny (under the caveat that the lore by itself has some interest, only that by no way does this qualify for any kind of honourable mention due to its (lack of) presentation)
*Killzone (while it has a fleshed out backstory that goes beyond the games themselves that offers plenty of intricacies, it's not quite enough for me to give it an honorable mention)
*League of Legends (for the sole sake of brownie points in that it's the only ARTS I've ever come across where the designers actually tried to give it a consistent world. But again, brownie points only)
*Legend of Zelda (I can't really give this credit for lore/setting, given how it changes across virtually every game. This isn't a bad thing, but while LoZ definately has a charm and distinct feel, I can't say the lore in of itself is enough for me to rank it highly)
*Metal Gear (very fleshed out, but I'd say the fleshing out stems more from story rather than setting, as in, the setting never becomes distinct until MGSIV, whereas otherwise, it's all very much in the real world. If this was a question of "best story" the Metal Gear series would be listed in a heartbeat for me, but as far as lore goes, doesn't quite make the cut).

And to be contrarian:

*Metroid (having just subjected myself to the misery of 'Hunters', I'll have to say, "no." Of the Metroid games I've played, it's a rare case of the gameplay being THE selling point for me, with all other factors being secondary, and even that's only been limited to a select few games)

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

Again another one that leaps to mind is the Armored Core series.

Apocalypse, Corporate take over of the world, Giant Robots, what more do you really need?

 

[Happiness Assassin]

I am going to say Dragon Age but for a reason I don't think has been mentioned yet. The reason I love the game series' lore so much is the way in which it is presented i.e. literally every piece of lore present in game and out is written within the universe. There is no source that says definitively, "This happened this way and there is no contradicting that." All Codex entries, all stories, and all secrets are absolutely tainted with biases and "history is written by the victors" syndrome. Ambiguity is the name of the game, both in a moral sense but also in a narrative one. Chances are when you hear a story from an NPC that says an "event happened definitively this way" they are only presenting their own limited perspective. Hell, even the things the audience directly sees are subject to these same biases, with some characters coming along later saying that the previous storyteller was straight up lying at points. Some people may not like ambiguity in storytelling, I however see it as incredibly important and quite compelling.

 

[Zendariel]

I'll add demon's souls and bloodborne to the list. There is just incredible amount of detail to delve in and i find the method of delivery to be very interesting. As in you have to piece it together, there are a lot of hints on what is going on, why everything is or became like what it is and the aesthetic is very good at supporting it. The fact that it is served in really small doses is very good catalyst for curiosity and speculation.

Honourable mentions.
Legacy of kain series is one i've always been really interested in, but i've only finished soul reaver so far.
Vampire the masquerade - bloodlines.
Eternal darkness.
Final fantasy 6, still my favourite of the series.

Most others that come to mind have already been mentioned.

 

[Neonsilver]

I would say the Legacy of Kain series. I admit that it can be quite confusing with the amount of timetravel that is used in the games, but it's still incredibly interesting.

Besides that I can only name games that others already mentioned, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Diablo, Warcraft

 

[Kyrian007]

I have to go with Fallout as well. In the interest of some diversity I'll give honorable mention to Wing Commander, at least through 3. I was a big spacesim fan, especially of X-Wing and TIE Fighter. And I was very surprised how immersed in the storyline of Wing Commander I got when my Star Wars sims basically only had a story if you had the corresponding guides/books (the Farlander Papers and the Steele Chronicles,) which I had. But I really surprised myself with my reaction to the reveal of the traitor in WC 3. Genuine fury, he turned out to be the only character I had trusted. One I had stood by time and time again. And he had been the bad guy, all the way back to game 1... I had a genuine reaction that I passed onto my character (Imma go murderen) that had in-game consequences. It was well put together.

In the end though, it's Fallout. I love its retro/futuristic aesthetic. I also really love that no matter how fantastical an element of the story sounds... it remains somehow grounded. Even the most bizarre story elements are in some way plausible. In everything from the aesthetic (50's retro will be big someday) to the technology, even the currency (why not bottlecaps.)

 

[Xerosch]

I'm really fond of the setting from the old Thief series myself.

The lore in the first three games is a great example of how to craft a world without overwhelming you with bits and pieces of info, but make them flow into the gameplay.

I'd like to add the four Soul games to the mix (as if that hasn't been done enough) for the exact opposite reason: There's so much to uncover that every infos you can connect give you an equal feeling to beating a hard boss.

And just for the heck of it I'll add the three 'Gabriel Knight' games. the lore behind the Schattenjäger is very simple, yet how it's woven into the historical background of every game and the connection between supernatural stuff and existing locations is fascinating to me.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

I loved the world in Dishonoured. It played well into my favourite genre of regime change of a dictator by a small group of gifted rebels, but created an interesing, brutal desperate world too.

I loved the distinction betweek those of distinct classes, and how they interact together. How the rich hide in big houses, surrounded by art and lavish items only mere yards away from street urchins and the horrors of the underworld.

I loved the whole dodgy ethics of getting power from killing whales, and how the idea is ignored by most, overshadowed by the need to survive.

I loved the seedy, corrupt nature of the higher ups... how the chance for a grasp of power drove them to extreme backstabbing and betrayal. How trust is interwined into the stories and world in the game.

I really liked the extreme security and abandoment of districts that were too difficult to deal with. And how these came about due to an overarching poverty and lack of care by the dictators.

The extravagant parties, ignoring the blight of the impoverished hiding in the streets outside...

And the magic that is interwined with it all.

Edit: I hadn't actually realised before, but Dunwall sits nicely hand in hand with that of Luthadel in the Mistborn trilogy. Even to the point of the lavish parties. The character having powers in a world where most dont is a trope that copies across too...

One of my favourite games and my favourite books...

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

Chrono Trigger. I don't know if it's in the end that different from the typical JRPG formula, but the twists it puts into it make it at least seem more original. Sure there's the "Ancient Civilization Destroyed By Hubris And Uncontrollable Power" routine, but the depth it gives to it via the time travel plot makes it a tad more complex. Talos isn't just some plot device that exists just cause, we get to see it arrive on the planet. Magus isn't some stereotypical villain, but a tragic character who's gone down a dark path. What initially seems like a typical "kids saving the planet" plot is actually quite a large and diverse world.

Borderlands has actually quite good backstory to its universe, it just took the sequel to really bring it to the table. Beneath the wackiness and violence there's hints of unbearable tragedy and corporate exploitation. There's more depth to the characters than one would initially suspect if you do the sidequests, Tiny Tina being perhaps the prime example.

But Dark Souls still takes the cake for me as well. Never had I seen what basically boils down to "evil dark power threatening the world" executed with such grace, and made so genuinely dark (no pun intended), tragic and compelling. The vagueness is what gives it its edge, since you can't be sure if you've already lost, and are merely shifting around the dirt that's left. The world is vast, uncaring and ethereal, and at no point was this made more concrete for me than in the Moonlight Butterfly boss fight. The twist on the whole dark power thing, that it is actually humanity itself that grows the monsters, is one of the most ingenious ideas I've seen in fantasy fiction.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

And to be contrarian:

*Metroid (having just subjected myself to the misery of 'Hunters', I'll have to say, "no." Of the Metroid games I've played, it's a rare case of the gameplay being THE selling point for me, with all other factors being secondary, and even that's only been limited to a select few games)

Metroid as a series has done amazing things with setting and environmental story telling. Which is part of the lore. Especially if you see the destruction and degradation in the final areas of Metroid II: Return of Samus.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I would want to say Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee, certainly in terms of originality, but then it has the kind of lore that can't really expand without falling apart, which is exactly what happened in the sequels.

 

[DoPo]

Honourable mentions.
[...]
Vampire the masquerade - bloodlines.

It's not original, though - it's a video game adaptation of the Vampire the Masquerade tabletop RPG which started back in 1991. There was over a decade of printed material before the game was out - Beckett and Smiling Jack were already characters in the universe, for example. Bloodlines is not even the first video game: Vampire the Masquerade - Redemption came out in 2000. And on a wider scale, there have been several Hunter games also set in the World of Darkness (same universe as VtM).

 

[stroopwafel]

Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Legacy of Kain, Metro 2033/LL and ofcourse Bloodborne all have very intriguing lore. A good story(espescially in a game) always need to have a dash of mystery and ambiguity to captivate your imagination and these games(in various degrees) have that in spades.

 

[happyninja42]

I'm really fond of the setting from the old Thief series myself. Although kept pretty vague there's just something incredibly cool about that world and its various inhabitants.

For those that haven't played the original trilogy the entire series is basically set in 'The City', a place in which early steampunk style technology meshes with ancient magic while religious turmoil, poverty, and rampant crime fill the streets. In that city you've got The Hammerites as the main religion, a fanatical order of zealots that believe in absolute order under their god and work to advance technology for their purposes:

Spoiler: Hammerites cutscene

And then you've got the Pagans, a secretive order that follows the old ways of the world. Working from the shadows they live in the dark corners and forgotten sanctuaries of The City, silently working to worship their old gods and undermine the progression of the Hammerites.

Spoiler: Pagans cutscene

Aside from those two there's the Thieves guild, the various noble houses, various wizards and necromancers, the Sheriffs and Guards, splinters from each faction sometimes even more nutty than the originals, and the Keepers, an order dedicated to the preservation of balance withing The City and self-appointed safe-keepers of the cities accumulated knowledge.

Spoiler: Keepers cutscene

Not only are the factions and setting interesting, but the way their portrayed is also brilliant. Hammerites and Pagans both have their own unique ways of speaking and dialect while the art style, a sort of dark gothic steampunk, is something I've yet to have seen replicated elsewhere. It's just a wholly unique and mysterious setting I wish I could explore further, but which, maybe for the better, has been left behind with time.

Spoiler: Still my favourite cutscene from a game, also a good demonstration of the pagan way of talking in-game

Fully agree here. One of my favorite things about the Thief-verse are the Hammerites. I love the amount of detail they put into their religious doctrine and texts. Some of the most interesting fables and parables were found randomly picking up the Hammer tomes and reading them. And they felt so believable too! The way they were worded, you could totally believe of some religion springing up from this type of belief system.

My favorite is probably the Keepers though, and just found them absolutely awesome. Damn, I need to play those games again, so much sneaky goodness and fleshy lore to them.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Bioshock or Mass Effect I'd say. Maybe Portal. The Amnesia games too, though I think they're more just clever than original.

Least original is Dragon Age, no question. Can you say Warhammer 40k?! I mean damn Bioware, at least change the color of the unique daemon hunting pseudo-religious order of warriors. I mean Grey Knigh -err- Wardens?! You're just not trying.

 

[cleric of the order]

Depends on what you call orginal
Myth would be it for me but it's really just "black company" the game by not glen cook.
But it's really damn nice and well maintained.

fully expecting to get jumped on.

I'm sure more then a few are considering it, but I'd have to cross the Volga first

 

[seris]

definitely the Halo series. the books and games have so much back story and lore behind them that theres so much information about everything in the games, like how master chief is essentially the essence of a clone of the didact before the rings were fired the first time. halo 5 is probably going to do a lot to tie everything together and set us up for future games

 

[Silvanus]

For the best use of lore, I would vote Mass Effect. It really effectively weaves it into the storyline and keeps it relevant.

For the best lore itself... perhaps Guild Wars, or one of the Final Fantasies.