Best Written Stories in Gaming

[Killcushley]

Metal Gear Solid



wasn't a fan of fallout's story tbh:/

 

[balimuzz]

Portal and Mass Effect. The main story of Mass Effect was great, but the layers upon layers of depth in the side missions was phenomenal. Their were so many different stories revolving around the various organizations that hang around the sides of the Mass Effect universe.

 

[aww yea]

Final Fantasy VII for me, still one of my favourite games and best story lines for me anyway.

seconded

also i like the story in zone of the enders quite alot aswell

 

[DrWilhelm]

I'd say Bioshock has some of the best writing to be found in a video game. Hell, it's probably better than most film's and books. "Would you kindly..." still gives me shivers. The Half Life series comes fairly close to Bioshock too. Episode 2 in particular was superb and you'd have to be absolutely soulless not to be moved by it's ending.

Pretty much anything by Bioware is damn good as well. They've definitely written some of the best characters in video games. The big twists in KotOR and Jade Empire left me reeling and when you play through again you realise that there was some darn good foreshadowing going on before them as well. Mass Effect had a good story (even though I'd spoiled it by reading the plot on wikipedia when I thought I'd never actually play it) but it was the detailed universe and well-rounded characters that really made the game a classic for me. I'm also currently working my way through the Baldurs Gate series and though I haven't quite finished it yet I'm pretty impressed so far.

 

[tumeg828]

hmm im going to have to say the thief series

 

[geggis]

For video games, I'm gonna say Torment. And that's it. Only Torment.

Whatever I was going to say about Torment has already been said by Alex_P but I had to post to say how much I agree with the guy.

Planescape Torment
Dark, bizarre, and endlessly inventive. If you're even remotely interested in video game storytelling check it out.

I'm going to assume nobody else has played Planescape: Torment (to the end) because in 4 pages we've had only the above three people mention it! I can safely say that no game I've played comes close to it in terms of the quality of writing and the story itself. Props to Alex P, Woe is You and n01d34.

 

[Khazoth]

Sanitarium, if you have not played this game I fucking pity you.

 

[Alex_P]

Well if thats the case, you must logically say that Mass Effect is exceedingly poorly written, as the human race aren't interstellar travellers. Or, you're a huge hypocrit.

Poor analogy.

There's a difference between putting speculative or fantastical elements into a story and writing a story where those fantastical elements pop out of nowhere to offer a convenient explanation or resolution for some twisted-up bullshit. You know, "Okay, this guy is a wizard" vs. "How'd that happen? Oh, a wizard did it!" -- the former is just genre fiction, the latter is bad writing.

Now, Mass Effect does have its share of way-too-convenient explanatory bullshit, but it's got nothing to do with basic genre conceits like "people can travel through space".

-- Alex

 

[Metalchair]

i liked advent rising's story pretty good. it was logical and pretty intense to go through

 

[PrimeSynergy]

Folklore.

 

[Drednought1]

for me it has to be FFVIII, that had an amazing story

 

[gdnvs]

The legacy of kain series, apart from blood omen II but that's more of a spin-off anyway.
Planescape: torment is supposed to have the best storyline for a game so far, but I've never actually played it so I wouldn't know.

 

[Ben Jamin]

I loved Zelda: Ocarina of Times story.
But that might just be nostalgia.
Now i'm not so sure

 

[Legion]

There's only one answer outside the realm of RPGs and JRPGs for this, and that is Halo. Before anyone starts, take a look at the backstory. The Halo series has the largest EU I've ever seen in any media outside Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Warhammer. Honestly, I have to say Halo wins this thread straight away.

Halo had a decent plot, despite the haters.

See that's the problem. The back-story of Halo is actually rather decent, but like Gears of War they just fail to show it in the actual game itself.

For me it would be:

Bioshock - Everything about it.
Half Life Series - The way it's presented.
Halo Series - Only if you look at the story beyond the game-play.
Gears of War Series - Only if you look at the story beyond the game-play.
Portal - Short and Sweet. Plus dark humour.
KOTOR 1+2 - Surprising considering I am not much of a Star Wars or RPG fan.

 

[riskroWe]

Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate 2. Still two of the best written games.

Half-life 2.

This guy has taste!

 

[geggis]

Sanitarium, if you have not played this game I fucking pity you.

I've been very curious about this. I've heard so many good things about it. You should have a go at Planescape: Torment because they sort of resemble each other. There was another game called Pathologic that although flawed in many ways and buggy was supposed to have a very strong story and excellent writing (the Russian version at least, the translation supposedly sucked ass).

 

[Terror_666]

I thought the South Park shooter was great but that had little too do with the story so hear goes.

Deus Ex, the best plot I have ever seen in a game (so the sequel was a massive disappointment).
Max Payne series, I loved the story and the characters.
System Shock 2, this is probably just nostalgia.
SW: KOTOR I not II, the first one was great there was depth the second one copy, paste and invert DONE.
Metal Gear Solid I, this one had a great story the sequels just got more and more ridicules.

 

[Tolly]

Let's see... Final Fantasy VI, X and XII. Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana, my favourite game of ALL TIME! (I do not jest. That game is the epitome of awesome.) Neverwinter Nights and the Hordes of the Underdark expansion. The Mask of the Betrayer expansion for NWN2. Baldur's Gate 2. (Oh gods yes, Baldur's Gate...)