Best Written Stories in Gaming

[Sneaklemming]

I think of FF7 when you say story, but now that I do actually consider it, FF7 had tons of plot-holes, and the setting made next to no sense. Bioshock really was there in terms of setting, all we need now is a game adaptation of Fountainhead

A lot of the plot-holes were filled in the movie and the other games, which is a shame, cause the point was really to let you figure out some parts for yourself. It takes a certain mind to understand the complete story. The world was supposed to be a mystery. I enjoyed Cloud's history the most, cause it gets so twisted and messed up. The biggest mystery would probably be the Ancients, but I also read that the story writer stated that he made FFX an unofficial prequel, so much of the world in FFVII can be connected to that game. Materia and Ancients can be related to the summoners. Lifestream can be connected to Fayth and the souls. Jenova may be connected to Sin. Of course, most of this is just speculation, but it could make sense.

But what plot-holes are you specifically talking about?

It may be because I'm a politics student, but while the back stories, characters, and premise to the game were indeed twisted, it's not that, that I'm talking about.
I mean the game world itself.

It presents us with a view of global governance, but there is only one real city in the game, which can be forgiven as the world is a little condensed.
The game takes place in the aftermath of a war with Yuffies people, although there are no signs of this, we're just told. The militarisation of Shinra, and its inability, coupled with no governance other than the corp. itself, leaves us with a shallow and illogical context for the socio-economic world view. Also while a game does not need to be political, it should not ignore politics as if it were not necessary. FF7 however does a great job of being political, but again the wider context is just not present in the game.
I agree the film did a good job of fleshing out the context, much of it still does not make sense.

I guess its not really plot holes in the "the story contradicts itself" aspect, but rather there is an awful lot of world context missing from the game, and there is no evidence of it, other than vague dialogue.

Also while I realise that the game would have been unable for its time to give us large cities and populous' to interact with (a la Assassins creed) it still did a very poor job of conveying a world to us.

I find that JRPGs usually don't convey very well a world, and/or its context. I'm not sure why this is, but it must be some cultural expectancy on our part.

The Wutai war is explained in Crisis Core pretty much, and Yuffie explained how the war turned Wutai from a big, beautiful city, to a small resort town. The war seemed just like an effort by Shinra to make more Mako. The world isn't very well explained cause nobody probably knows much about the time before the cities and the civilization was created. I think it's a dystopian, post-apocalyctic world. After the Ancients went extinct, it just became that way with Shinra being the leader of the world. The part of the world that is not really explained would be Shinra, how it became so big. But that's probably cause they discovered the power of extracting energy from the Lifestream, and pretty much irradiated the use of coal and other energy sources. With this, their increasing economy must have unofficially made them the leading part of the world, with them having all the power of all the electricity in the world, and nobody daring to interfere. I do believe that the world didn't have any major leaders before, as the idea of manufacturing Mako was developed before the apocalypse (according to the scenario writer). But that leaves further questioning to why the world is so poor and horrible to live in. My guess is that with Shinra running economies, and sucking out all Mako, the lifestyle went more poor, and it became less possible to use the ground for other purposes.

It's not to say the entire world is horrible, just many areas. I'll agree when you say that there's a lack of big cities, with Midgar and Junon probably being the only ones. But again, they probably built the big cities where they could, and Shinra probably destroyed some places along the way (Corel, for example). But indeed it would be better with some more industrial environments. But in itself, it's actually pretty good. The world was probably created that way for gameplay's sake, taking you to different locations with different vegetation, and they probably made most of the villages as stop points, to stock up on things you need, rather than giving every town an epic story, and focused more on the environments and the sacred places that you visit. Unlogical, maybe, but it's still fun. If you're looking for logic, JRPG's are not your friend in that. Like how colorful marbles (Materia) let you control he natural forces of the universe and nobody is thinking about using it for evil (except Sephiroth). It's like letting people buy flamethrowers, not thinking that they may lit everything on fire. It's got this whole thing of many people being assholes in the game, but it doesn't have any real evil that you encounter in the villages.

I think I'd have to agree, its refreshing to see that I wasnt crazy in thinking there was something missing. If there was to be a FF7 remake, I would like them to alter it from the original and flesh out the world to make sense more. Bethesda do a really good job of making their worlds feel real and big, that's what I like to see in games these days.

 

[Arkhangelsk]

I think of FF7 when you say story, but now that I do actually consider it, FF7 had tons of plot-holes, and the setting made next to no sense. Bioshock really was there in terms of setting, all we need now is a game adaptation of Fountainhead

A lot of the plot-holes were filled in the movie and the other games, which is a shame, cause the point was really to let you figure out some parts for yourself. It takes a certain mind to understand the complete story. The world was supposed to be a mystery. I enjoyed Cloud's history the most, cause it gets so twisted and messed up. The biggest mystery would probably be the Ancients, but I also read that the story writer stated that he made FFX an unofficial prequel, so much of the world in FFVII can be connected to that game. Materia and Ancients can be related to the summoners. Lifestream can be connected to Fayth and the souls. Jenova may be connected to Sin. Of course, most of this is just speculation, but it could make sense.

But what plot-holes are you specifically talking about?

It may be because I'm a politics student, but while the back stories, characters, and premise to the game were indeed twisted, it's not that, that I'm talking about.
I mean the game world itself.

It presents us with a view of global governance, but there is only one real city in the game, which can be forgiven as the world is a little condensed.
The game takes place in the aftermath of a war with Yuffies people, although there are no signs of this, we're just told. The militarisation of Shinra, and its inability, coupled with no governance other than the corp. itself, leaves us with a shallow and illogical context for the socio-economic world view. Also while a game does not need to be political, it should not ignore politics as if it were not necessary. FF7 however does a great job of being political, but again the wider context is just not present in the game.
I agree the film did a good job of fleshing out the context, much of it still does not make sense.

I guess its not really plot holes in the "the story contradicts itself" aspect, but rather there is an awful lot of world context missing from the game, and there is no evidence of it, other than vague dialogue.

Also while I realise that the game would have been unable for its time to give us large cities and populous' to interact with (a la Assassins creed) it still did a very poor job of conveying a world to us.

I find that JRPGs usually don't convey very well a world, and/or its context. I'm not sure why this is, but it must be some cultural expectancy on our part.

The Wutai war is explained in Crisis Core pretty much, and Yuffie explained how the war turned Wutai from a big, beautiful city, to a small resort town. The war seemed just like an effort by Shinra to make more Mako. The world isn't very well explained cause nobody probably knows much about the time before the cities and the civilization was created. I think it's a dystopian, post-apocalyctic world. After the Ancients went extinct, it just became that way with Shinra being the leader of the world. The part of the world that is not really explained would be Shinra, how it became so big. But that's probably cause they discovered the power of extracting energy from the Lifestream, and pretty much irradiated the use of coal and other energy sources. With this, their increasing economy must have unofficially made them the leading part of the world, with them having all the power of all the electricity in the world, and nobody daring to interfere. I do believe that the world didn't have any major leaders before, as the idea of manufacturing Mako was developed before the apocalypse (according to the scenario writer). But that leaves further questioning to why the world is so poor and horrible to live in. My guess is that with Shinra running economies, and sucking out all Mako, the lifestyle went more poor, and it became less possible to use the ground for other purposes.

It's not to say the entire world is horrible, just many areas. I'll agree when you say that there's a lack of big cities, with Midgar and Junon probably being the only ones. But again, they probably built the big cities where they could, and Shinra probably destroyed some places along the way (Corel, for example). But indeed it would be better with some more industrial environments. But in itself, it's actually pretty good. The world was probably created that way for gameplay's sake, taking you to different locations with different vegetation, and they probably made most of the villages as stop points, to stock up on things you need, rather than giving every town an epic story, and focused more on the environments and the sacred places that you visit. Unlogical, maybe, but it's still fun. If you're looking for logic, JRPG's are not your friend in that. Like how colorful marbles (Materia) let you control he natural forces of the universe and nobody is thinking about using it for evil (except Sephiroth). It's like letting people buy flamethrowers, not thinking that they may lit everything on fire. It's got this whole thing of many people being assholes in the game, but it doesn't have any real evil that you encounter in the villages.

I think I'd have to agree, its refreshing to see that I wasnt crazy in thinking there was something missing. If there was to be a FF7 remake, I would like them to alter it from the original and flesh out the world to make sense more. Bethesda do a really good job of making their worlds feel real and big, that's what I like to see in games these days.

It'd be cool, as long as they don't change anything in the original design and just add a few extra industrial environments and such. I'm a FFVII fan boy, and me, and many more fans, would probably agree when we want the same world. Some game remakes doesn't comprehend this. Can't think of one now, but I've heard from some friends of mine. One of the things I loved with the game was how the world presented itself. The places, the colours, the graphics, the vegetation gave the idea of how dark and bleak the world can be at some places. And I wouldn't want it any other way. But to flesh out is nice, as long as there won't be any limbs cut off.

 

[Sneaklemming]

I think of FF7 when you say story, but now that I do actually consider it, FF7 had tons of plot-holes, and the setting made next to no sense. Bioshock really was there in terms of setting, all we need now is a game adaptation of Fountainhead

A lot of the plot-holes were filled in the movie and the other games, which is a shame, cause the point was really to let you figure out some parts for yourself. It takes a certain mind to understand the complete story. The world was supposed to be a mystery. I enjoyed Cloud's history the most, cause it gets so twisted and messed up. The biggest mystery would probably be the Ancients, but I also read that the story writer stated that he made FFX an unofficial prequel, so much of the world in FFVII can be connected to that game. Materia and Ancients can be related to the summoners. Lifestream can be connected to Fayth and the souls. Jenova may be connected to Sin. Of course, most of this is just speculation, but it could make sense.

But what plot-holes are you specifically talking about?

It may be because I'm a politics student, but while the back stories, characters, and premise to the game were indeed twisted, it's not that, that I'm talking about.
I mean the game world itself.

It presents us with a view of global governance, but there is only one real city in the game, which can be forgiven as the world is a little condensed.
The game takes place in the aftermath of a war with Yuffies people, although there are no signs of this, we're just told. The militarisation of Shinra, and its inability, coupled with no governance other than the corp. itself, leaves us with a shallow and illogical context for the socio-economic world view. Also while a game does not need to be political, it should not ignore politics as if it were not necessary. FF7 however does a great job of being political, but again the wider context is just not present in the game.
I agree the film did a good job of fleshing out the context, much of it still does not make sense.

I guess its not really plot holes in the "the story contradicts itself" aspect, but rather there is an awful lot of world context missing from the game, and there is no evidence of it, other than vague dialogue.

Also while I realise that the game would have been unable for its time to give us large cities and populous' to interact with (a la Assassins creed) it still did a very poor job of conveying a world to us.

I find that JRPGs usually don't convey very well a world, and/or its context. I'm not sure why this is, but it must be some cultural expectancy on our part.

The Wutai war is explained in Crisis Core pretty much, and Yuffie explained how the war turned Wutai from a big, beautiful city, to a small resort town. The war seemed just like an effort by Shinra to make more Mako. The world isn't very well explained cause nobody probably knows much about the time before the cities and the civilization was created. I think it's a dystopian, post-apocalyctic world. After the Ancients went extinct, it just became that way with Shinra being the leader of the world. The part of the world that is not really explained would be Shinra, how it became so big. But that's probably cause they discovered the power of extracting energy from the Lifestream, and pretty much irradiated the use of coal and other energy sources. With this, their increasing economy must have unofficially made them the leading part of the world, with them having all the power of all the electricity in the world, and nobody daring to interfere. I do believe that the world didn't have any major leaders before, as the idea of manufacturing Mako was developed before the apocalypse (according to the scenario writer). But that leaves further questioning to why the world is so poor and horrible to live in. My guess is that with Shinra running economies, and sucking out all Mako, the lifestyle went more poor, and it became less possible to use the ground for other purposes.

It's not to say the entire world is horrible, just many areas. I'll agree when you say that there's a lack of big cities, with Midgar and Junon probably being the only ones. But again, they probably built the big cities where they could, and Shinra probably destroyed some places along the way (Corel, for example). But indeed it would be better with some more industrial environments. But in itself, it's actually pretty good. The world was probably created that way for gameplay's sake, taking you to different locations with different vegetation, and they probably made most of the villages as stop points, to stock up on things you need, rather than giving every town an epic story, and focused more on the environments and the sacred places that you visit. Unlogical, maybe, but it's still fun. If you're looking for logic, JRPG's are not your friend in that. Like how colorful marbles (Materia) let you control he natural forces of the universe and nobody is thinking about using it for evil (except Sephiroth). It's like letting people buy flamethrowers, not thinking that they may lit everything on fire. It's got this whole thing of many people being assholes in the game, but it doesn't have any real evil that you encounter in the villages.

I think I'd have to agree, its refreshing to see that I wasnt crazy in thinking there was something missing. If there was to be a FF7 remake, I would like them to alter it from the original and flesh out the world to make sense more. Bethesda do a really good job of making their worlds feel real and big, that's what I like to see in games these days.

It'd be cool, as long as they don't change anything in the original design and just add a few extra industrial environments and such. I'm a FFVII fan boy, and me, and many more fans, would probably agree when we want the same world. Some game remakes doesn't comprehend this. Can't think of one now, but I've heard from some friends of mine. One of the things I loved with the game was how the world presented itself. The places, the colours, the graphics, the vegetation gave the idea of how dark and bleak the world can be at some places. And I wouldn't want it any other way. But to flesh out is nice, as long as there won't be any limbs cut off.

Dont get me wrong, FF7 is one of my favourite games, but I'd just like to see more of the world, and I fear the introduction of new emo-haircut sword wielding 10yr olds.
To put it in game terms: MORE FALLOUT, LESS DEVIL MAY CRY

 

[Crimson King]

My list of best written stories in gaming (in no particular order):
~Half-Life
~Halo
~GTA
~Legend of Zelda
~Silent Hill

 

[yuki on high]

1. Kingdom Hearts
2. Resident Evil
3. Call of Duty 4+5

 

[Arkhangelsk]

I think of FF7 when you say story, but now that I do actually consider it, FF7 had tons of plot-holes, and the setting made next to no sense. Bioshock really was there in terms of setting, all we need now is a game adaptation of Fountainhead

A lot of the plot-holes were filled in the movie and the other games, which is a shame, cause the point was really to let you figure out some parts for yourself. It takes a certain mind to understand the complete story. The world was supposed to be a mystery. I enjoyed Cloud's history the most, cause it gets so twisted and messed up. The biggest mystery would probably be the Ancients, but I also read that the story writer stated that he made FFX an unofficial prequel, so much of the world in FFVII can be connected to that game. Materia and Ancients can be related to the summoners. Lifestream can be connected to Fayth and the souls. Jenova may be connected to Sin. Of course, most of this is just speculation, but it could make sense.

But what plot-holes are you specifically talking about?

It may be because I'm a politics student, but while the back stories, characters, and premise to the game were indeed twisted, it's not that, that I'm talking about.
I mean the game world itself.

It presents us with a view of global governance, but there is only one real city in the game, which can be forgiven as the world is a little condensed.
The game takes place in the aftermath of a war with Yuffies people, although there are no signs of this, we're just told. The militarisation of Shinra, and its inability, coupled with no governance other than the corp. itself, leaves us with a shallow and illogical context for the socio-economic world view. Also while a game does not need to be political, it should not ignore politics as if it were not necessary. FF7 however does a great job of being political, but again the wider context is just not present in the game.
I agree the film did a good job of fleshing out the context, much of it still does not make sense.

I guess its not really plot holes in the "the story contradicts itself" aspect, but rather there is an awful lot of world context missing from the game, and there is no evidence of it, other than vague dialogue.

Also while I realise that the game would have been unable for its time to give us large cities and populous' to interact with (a la Assassins creed) it still did a very poor job of conveying a world to us.

I find that JRPGs usually don't convey very well a world, and/or its context. I'm not sure why this is, but it must be some cultural expectancy on our part.

The Wutai war is explained in Crisis Core pretty much, and Yuffie explained how the war turned Wutai from a big, beautiful city, to a small resort town. The war seemed just like an effort by Shinra to make more Mako. The world isn't very well explained cause nobody probably knows much about the time before the cities and the civilization was created. I think it's a dystopian, post-apocalyctic world. After the Ancients went extinct, it just became that way with Shinra being the leader of the world. The part of the world that is not really explained would be Shinra, how it became so big. But that's probably cause they discovered the power of extracting energy from the Lifestream, and pretty much irradiated the use of coal and other energy sources. With this, their increasing economy must have unofficially made them the leading part of the world, with them having all the power of all the electricity in the world, and nobody daring to interfere. I do believe that the world didn't have any major leaders before, as the idea of manufacturing Mako was developed before the apocalypse (according to the scenario writer). But that leaves further questioning to why the world is so poor and horrible to live in. My guess is that with Shinra running economies, and sucking out all Mako, the lifestyle went more poor, and it became less possible to use the ground for other purposes.

It's not to say the entire world is horrible, just many areas. I'll agree when you say that there's a lack of big cities, with Midgar and Junon probably being the only ones. But again, they probably built the big cities where they could, and Shinra probably destroyed some places along the way (Corel, for example). But indeed it would be better with some more industrial environments. But in itself, it's actually pretty good. The world was probably created that way for gameplay's sake, taking you to different locations with different vegetation, and they probably made most of the villages as stop points, to stock up on things you need, rather than giving every town an epic story, and focused more on the environments and the sacred places that you visit. Unlogical, maybe, but it's still fun. If you're looking for logic, JRPG's are not your friend in that. Like how colorful marbles (Materia) let you control he natural forces of the universe and nobody is thinking about using it for evil (except Sephiroth). It's like letting people buy flamethrowers, not thinking that they may lit everything on fire. It's got this whole thing of many people being assholes in the game, but it doesn't have any real evil that you encounter in the villages.

I think I'd have to agree, its refreshing to see that I wasnt crazy in thinking there was something missing. If there was to be a FF7 remake, I would like them to alter it from the original and flesh out the world to make sense more. Bethesda do a really good job of making their worlds feel real and big, that's what I like to see in games these days.

It'd be cool, as long as they don't change anything in the original design and just add a few extra industrial environments and such. I'm a FFVII fan boy, and me, and many more fans, would probably agree when we want the same world. Some game remakes doesn't comprehend this. Can't think of one now, but I've heard from some friends of mine. One of the things I loved with the game was how the world presented itself. The places, the colours, the graphics, the vegetation gave the idea of how dark and bleak the world can be at some places. And I wouldn't want it any other way. But to flesh out is nice, as long as there won't be any limbs cut off.

Dont get me wrong, FF7 is one of my favourite games, but I'd just like to see more of the world, and I fear the introduction of new emo-haircut sword wielding 10yr olds.
To put it in game terms: MORE FALLOUT, LESS DEVIL MAY CRY

I would say that there aren't as many 10-year olds as in others (except Yuffie), they actually show a more mature set of characters, with them not being awfully cheery and annoying, like Tidus and Vaan from X and XII. Some characters have annoying flaws, but that's what makes them.

Cloud may be a little depressive, but heck, it's at least logical, with him being so poisoned and confused that it's surprising that he isn't in a crazy house (don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Cloud's personality).

Barret may be a little bit overly manly (á la Gears of War syndrome, and yes, I'm aware that it was made after, just seems like a good name), but he adds to the immersion, cause his personality fits so good.

Red XIII, is in my opinion pure gold. Can't find much wrong with his personality except the fact that he's a talking dog.

Tifa is the cute girl who is friendly or dangerous. Although she may have overly sized boobies, but in that graphics, it's not noticeable, and in the movies, it's very sexy, if that counts as a somewhat valid point. Gives a small point in my book, as it should also be enjoyable watching the characters (don't take it wrong).

Vincent may be a bit "emo" (idiotic word, cause it's actually the wrong definition), but he has a reason for it, and he's still pretty cool and has a certain attitude that is enjoyable every once in a while.

Aeris may suffer from the same stupidity and blind love for the world as Princess Peach, and she flirts a bit too much with Cloud, but I enjoyed her happy mood, and her kindness, was nice to see that kind of personality, although how stupid she is to go to The Forgotten City alone is just laughable.

Cid is just all time entertainment with his constant swearing and angry attitude.

Cait Sith is.... Reeve? Haven't got a personality to describe there. Reeve is a business kind of guy, which is cool, cause he's as far away from an "androgynous teenager" as possible. The cat is a robot, unsure if it has any feelings, but he's got a funny voice.

And finally, Sephiroth is the psychotic bastard who wasn't loved enough by his parents, an excuse to be total evil and destroy the world. I don't really blame him, I enjoy his evil, it's rather fun to watch and even more fun to kick his ass. But the real villain is of course Hojo, the classical raving lunatic, running around with dangerous chemicals to see what possible evil he can create.

 

[Sneaklemming]

I think of FF7 when you say story, but now that I do actually consider it, FF7 had tons of plot-holes, and the setting made next to no sense. Bioshock really was there in terms of setting, all we need now is a game adaptation of Fountainhead

A lot of the plot-holes were filled in the movie and the other games, which is a shame, cause the point was really to let you figure out some parts for yourself. It takes a certain mind to understand the complete story. The world was supposed to be a mystery. I enjoyed Cloud's history the most, cause it gets so twisted and messed up. The biggest mystery would probably be the Ancients, but I also read that the story writer stated that he made FFX an unofficial prequel, so much of the world in FFVII can be connected to that game. Materia and Ancients can be related to the summoners. Lifestream can be connected to Fayth and the souls. Jenova may be connected to Sin. Of course, most of this is just speculation, but it could make sense.

But what plot-holes are you specifically talking about?

It may be because I'm a politics student, but while the back stories, characters, and premise to the game were indeed twisted, it's not that, that I'm talking about.
I mean the game world itself.

It presents us with a view of global governance, but there is only one real city in the game, which can be forgiven as the world is a little condensed.
The game takes place in the aftermath of a war with Yuffies people, although there are no signs of this, we're just told. The militarisation of Shinra, and its inability, coupled with no governance other than the corp. itself, leaves us with a shallow and illogical context for the socio-economic world view. Also while a game does not need to be political, it should not ignore politics as if it were not necessary. FF7 however does a great job of being political, but again the wider context is just not present in the game.
I agree the film did a good job of fleshing out the context, much of it still does not make sense.

I guess its not really plot holes in the "the story contradicts itself" aspect, but rather there is an awful lot of world context missing from the game, and there is no evidence of it, other than vague dialogue.

Also while I realise that the game would have been unable for its time to give us large cities and populous' to interact with (a la Assassins creed) it still did a very poor job of conveying a world to us.

I find that JRPGs usually don't convey very well a world, and/or its context. I'm not sure why this is, but it must be some cultural expectancy on our part.

The Wutai war is explained in Crisis Core pretty much, and Yuffie explained how the war turned Wutai from a big, beautiful city, to a small resort town. The war seemed just like an effort by Shinra to make more Mako. The world isn't very well explained cause nobody probably knows much about the time before the cities and the civilization was created. I think it's a dystopian, post-apocalyctic world. After the Ancients went extinct, it just became that way with Shinra being the leader of the world. The part of the world that is not really explained would be Shinra, how it became so big. But that's probably cause they discovered the power of extracting energy from the Lifestream, and pretty much irradiated the use of coal and other energy sources. With this, their increasing economy must have unofficially made them the leading part of the world, with them having all the power of all the electricity in the world, and nobody daring to interfere. I do believe that the world didn't have any major leaders before, as the idea of manufacturing Mako was developed before the apocalypse (according to the scenario writer). But that leaves further questioning to why the world is so poor and horrible to live in. My guess is that with Shinra running economies, and sucking out all Mako, the lifestyle went more poor, and it became less possible to use the ground for other purposes.

It's not to say the entire world is horrible, just many areas. I'll agree when you say that there's a lack of big cities, with Midgar and Junon probably being the only ones. But again, they probably built the big cities where they could, and Shinra probably destroyed some places along the way (Corel, for example). But indeed it would be better with some more industrial environments. But in itself, it's actually pretty good. The world was probably created that way for gameplay's sake, taking you to different locations with different vegetation, and they probably made most of the villages as stop points, to stock up on things you need, rather than giving every town an epic story, and focused more on the environments and the sacred places that you visit. Unlogical, maybe, but it's still fun. If you're looking for logic, JRPG's are not your friend in that. Like how colorful marbles (Materia) let you control he natural forces of the universe and nobody is thinking about using it for evil (except Sephiroth). It's like letting people buy flamethrowers, not thinking that they may lit everything on fire. It's got this whole thing of many people being assholes in the game, but it doesn't have any real evil that you encounter in the villages.

I think I'd have to agree, its refreshing to see that I wasnt crazy in thinking there was something missing. If there was to be a FF7 remake, I would like them to alter it from the original and flesh out the world to make sense more. Bethesda do a really good job of making their worlds feel real and big, that's what I like to see in games these days.

It'd be cool, as long as they don't change anything in the original design and just add a few extra industrial environments and such. I'm a FFVII fan boy, and me, and many more fans, would probably agree when we want the same world. Some game remakes doesn't comprehend this. Can't think of one now, but I've heard from some friends of mine. One of the things I loved with the game was how the world presented itself. The places, the colours, the graphics, the vegetation gave the idea of how dark and bleak the world can be at some places. And I wouldn't want it any other way. But to flesh out is nice, as long as there won't be any limbs cut off.

Dont get me wrong, FF7 is one of my favourite games, but I'd just like to see more of the world, and I fear the introduction of new emo-haircut sword wielding 10yr olds.
To put it in game terms: MORE FALLOUT, LESS DEVIL MAY CRY

I would say that there aren't as many 10-year olds as in others (except Yuffie), they actually show a more mature set of characters, with them not being awfully cheery and annoying, like Tidus and Vaan from X and XII. Some characters have annoying flaws, but that's what makes them.

Cloud may be a little depressive, but heck, it's at least logical, with him being so poisoned and confused that it's surprising that he isn't in a crazy house (don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Cloud's personality).

Barret may be a little bit overly manly (á la Gears of War syndrome, and yes, I'm aware that it was made after, just seems like a good name), but he adds to the immersion, cause his personality fits so good.

Red XIII, is in my opinion pure gold. Can't find much wrong with his personality except the fact that he's a talking dog.

Tifa is the cute girl who is friendly or dangerous. Although she may have overly sized boobies, but in that graphics, it's not noticeable, and in the movies, it's very sexy, if that counts as a somewhat valid point. Gives a small point in my book, as it should also be enjoyable watching the characters (don't take it wrong).

Vincent may be a bit "emo" (idiotic word, cause it's actually the wrong definition), but he has a reason for it, and he's still pretty cool and has a certain attitude that is enjoyable every once in a while.

Aeris may suffer from the same stupidity and blind love for the world as Princess Peach, and she flirts a bit too much with Cloud, but I enjoyed her happy mood, and her kindness, was nice to see that kind of personality, although how stupid she is to go to The Forgotten City alone is just laughable.

Cid is just all time entertainment with his constant swearing and angry attitude.

Cait Sith is.... Reeve? Haven't got a personality to describe there. Reeve is a business kind of guy, which is cool, cause he's as far away from an "androgynous teenager" as possible. The cat is a robot, unsure if it has any feelings, but he's got a funny voice.

And finally, Sephiroth is the psychotic bastard who wasn't loved enough by his parents, an excuse to be total evil and destroy the world. I don't really blame him, I enjoy his evil, it's rather fun to watch and even more fun to kick his ass. But the real villain is of course Hojo, the classical raving lunatic, running around with dangerous chemicals to see what possible evil he can create.

Hell hath no fury...

(You're preaching to the crowd)

 

[geggis]

I think that everytime a thread like this pops up. I post Planescape: Torment in the hope that some people will at least try it to provide a contrast to their existing notions of 'the best written story'. I haven't read a book that's gripped me as much. Interactive fiction is a grey area for me but Torment is the one to beat as far as a traditional game goes.

Debate? On a forum? Clearly you're new to the 'name the best' style topics because this is how it works; Everyone will post their favorite games regardless of genuine writing quality and then adamantly ignore any contrary opinions to their own, often going so far as to insult anyone who states otherwise or even just mention a game other than their particular favorite. (As in insult, not offer a well thought out contrary view on the matter defending their own game in regards to the other games mentioned, oh no, that would take effort!) They will rarely state why, and if they do it's often just a glorified lengthy "Because I say so!" finishing with a "It's my opinion so Nyah!" as if that automatically makes everything perfectly valid.

Welcome to gaming forums. Just type everything assuming no one will ever actually read it and you'll be fine I mean bannana juice is delicious and that fizzly flavored water you can buy is awesome. Amirite?

Oh, and Planescape: Torment has the best written story in a game. So Nyah!

Of course, you're right, and I'm all for debate but I'd be here forever trying to provide an objective counter argument to each persons suggestions! My post was simply the highest recommendation I can make for the best written story in a game and I honestly believe there's little out there to rival it unless it's interactive fiction or some obscure, niche game like Sanitarium, Pathologic or Immortal Defense. If that inspires someone to play it then that's good enough for me! I'm yet to meet someone who hasn't had their idea of a well written story in a game er, rewritten, after playing Torment.

And regarding the whole "It's my opinion so Nyah!", well people shouldn't have to say it's their opinion because of course it goddamn is! ;-)

I think that everytime a thread like this pops up. I post Planescape: Torment in the hope that some people will at least try it to provide a contrast to their existing notions of 'the best written story'. I haven't read a book that's gripped me as much. Interactive fiction is a grey area for me but Torment is the one to beat as far as a traditional game goes.

It's a game that makes you feel guilt and regret about things that you the player didn't actually do. That's an achievement that has never been matched.

The story's good as an actual narrative, with a real theme holding it together. In most other games mentioned here the "story" is just plot.

(Tangent: I definitely have read novels and short stories that I found more gripping than Torment, though. It's a great work but you're spending a lot of time just kinda puttering around, exploring the world, and killing stuff using the unsatisfying AD&D-derived combat system. That makes it kinda... diluted.)

-- Alex

Absolutely. I actually enjoyed the puttering about because it was the discovery of new story 'pieces' that made the game so addictive which is a testament to the story when you value it more over the combat/weapons/spells/stats etc. Rhyss Hess took all the dialogue through one route of the game (abridging it with some of his own text to make the story flow) and made an unofficial book: http://www.wischik.com/lu/senses/pst-book.html which is quite interesting in itself.

 

[TheDoctor455]

Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill 3, Destroy All Humans 1 and 2 (hey, the satire was rather nice), The Legacy of Kain series (except for Blood Omen 2 obviously, I just like to pretend that that game never happened), Splinter Cell 1, Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, Portal, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Half-Life 2 (and its episodes), The Witcher, Ceville, Day of the Tentacle, every Myst game since Riven (except for Uru, which I have never been able to get to work on any computer I have owned, so i can't say whether or not it has a good story), Psychonauts, Rez, God of War 1 and 2, Fallout 3, and Oddworld: Abe's Oddessey.

 

[Another]

Persona 3&4 (very strange but awesome)
Okami (best story using the fewest words)
Beyond Good & Evil
Golden Sun 1&2
Xenosaga 1&3 (not 2, defiantly not 2)
Psychonauts (funny as all hell)

 

[RedVelvet]

metal Gear Solid series
Final Fantasy 7 & 10
Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy
Second Sight
Max Payne
Assassin's Creed
Uncharted ((Indiana Jones meets Tomb Raider!))
Call of Duty 4

 

[shwnbob]

God of War without a doubt.

 

[Drei_Bateson]

Breath of Fire III or Legend of the Dragoon people they are classics

 

[Prince Rhys]

Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millenium
Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions
The dreams from Lost Odyssey, the main storyline is good but not great but I absolutely love the dreams.
Deus Ex
Silent Hill
Final Fantasy VII
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together, not a fan of the gameplay but the storyline is amazing.