Games that have outstanding writing

[teh_Canape]

Fallout, Fallout 2 and New Vegas (not as good as the first 2, but miles better than FO3)
Planescape Torment, ME series and that's all I can think of off the top of my head

 

[teh_Canape]

Kai-Leng

actually, Kai Leng is from the books, not the game =P
although maybe you already knew and I'm just making an ass of myself

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Sith Lords (though I prefer the writing of the original). The character interactions in both were stellar and neither game had a character I didn't like (Mission Vaio was a boarder-line dislike and while I disliked G0-T0, it was because he was a bastard so it was OK to dislike him). Of course the best part was the ending of the original and that final twist. Brilliant. I remember telling people how amazed I was by KotOR having a better plot and, characters then the then-still-new trilogy.

Metal Gear Solid. That was the first game that made me actually care about game-characters.

 

[TotallyNotABot]

Bastion. Not only is it the best writing I've seen in an indie game, it's likely the best writing I've seen in any game, including AAA.

 

[OldDirtyCrusty]

Everything i consider worth mentioning is already listed.
Recently i liked the story and characters of Binary Domain. While they are stereotypes they still have good dialogues and the banter between them is most of the time entertaining fun. The story is some kind of bladerunner rip off with interesting twists and turns in the later game.

Rockstar is one of my faves not in terms of story but i love the characters and dialogue. The story is almost always guy get`s into trouble and deals with it. You don´t have to expect any serious twists, you`re just along for the ride.
MP3 was a bit different from the usual formula. While it was fun it wasn`t nowhere near suprising but i love the fact that the player character is alienated because of a different language he doesn`t speak. I haven`t seen this on such a level in any game before.

 

[malestrithe]

Parts of New Vegas had some good dialog. Other parts, I wanted to pull out the red pen and marked up the script. The Mount Zion adventure made me cringe, so did the Sierra Del Madre one. Every one in it had verbal diarrhea and would not shut the fuck up.
"Half the words, fucker! Learn to say the same thing with Half the Fucking words. You do not have to launch into a monologue every time I ask how was your day?"

Borderlands had functional dialog, what little there was.

FF13 was not the best game in the world, but atleast everyone got to the point and moved on a lot sooner.

 

[Schmeiser]

The Longest Journey

Monkey Island 1-3

Psychonauts god i can't believe how awesome and deep this game is

Planescape torment

Vampire the masquerade : Bloodlines awesome vampire RPG it's so immersive

 

[loc978]

Zero Wing.
Wait, by outstanding you don't just mean memorable, huh?

...Armed and Dangerous was pretty hilarious. Also, Conker's Bad Fur Day.

 

[Vegosiux]

Let me be the first one in the thread to say Planescape Tormahhhhhh fuck Kahunaburger! Damn it! Do you just sit in here hitting refresh page all day long? Bah!

Yes, I sometimes think so too, but, I am proud to say that sometimes I beat him to it!

Also, another oldie goldie, a neat little Infocom text adventure, A Mind Forever Voyaging.

 

[wolf thing]

star wars knight o the old republic 2 the sith lord. the best story in a computer game ever and some of the best characters, even without an ending it dwarfs most games story's.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

The writers of Skyrim. Just read some of the books if you need immediate proof.

I was going to say a couple Bioware games too but that's pretty much a given. Almost every game Bioware has done, outstanding writing in every part of the game.

Hopefully though, I'll soon be able to add Far Cry 3 to this list. Oh gosh, please don't screw this one up, Ubisoft.

 

[Eddie the head]

Outstanding is an overstatement for the best written game. That being said New Vegas has it's moments, Mass Effect has it's moments and The old republic games have there moments.

 

[BarbaricGoose]

The MGS series has enjoyable writing, but you have to be able to appreciate cut scenes.

Dead Space, Dead Space 2 had good writing. The writing in both felt pretty organic, and there's one twist in DS1 you will not see coming. Very cool what they did there.

Spoiler: If you're curious about what happens in DS1..(SPOILERS!)

You're about to be mauled by a Necromorph, but you fight it off, knock it into an escape pod, and sending it flying into space. You think that's the last you'll see from that Necromorph, but later in the game you activate a beacon, and you get a message from your would-be rescuers saying they picked up the escape pod, that they're coming to get you, and that the message will repeat every so often until you respond. That's the last you hear from them. I thought it was very well done how they turned something that seemed like some mindless shock scare into a huge plot twist.

 

[bafrali]

Not outstanding but i like DMC3's writing.It was corny at times but it knew what it wanted to be and delivered.

And Original Deus-EX because it felt painfully mature among its contemporaries.Voice acting was cringe-worthy though.What a shame

 

[mikev7.0]

Disagree strongly on that. The first was a decent attempt at a good ol' Space Opera, but everything from 2 onwards was a plunge straight into Herp Derp territory.

Bioware is an interesting case when it comes to writing quality. The overarching plot tends to be extremely juvenile, and there's often a lot of bad characterization or plot holes to agonize over. But there are moments here and there...a particular quest, a turn of phrase...that is really sharp and funny and thought provoking. It's evident they've got some really good writers on staff. They just end up serving a thin soup more often than not.

Wow. Just, wow. Thank you for saying EXACTLY what I think about Bioware which to me hasn't been any different than saying "EA" for awhile now.

My pick for best story of the games I've played is a game a lot of people (for reasons unbeknownst to moi) don't like: Dues Ex Invisible War. I also have to give Blazblue credit for telling a story in a fighting game that makes SO much more sense than "There's a big tournament and everybody wins somehow." "The Barrier" has to be one of the best writing devices since the Hellmouth. It's also obvious to me that a lot of Love and Wit went into this particular opus. I'd like to see more of that.

 

[Evil Alpaca]

Kotor I and II. Great characters and an interesting story. HK-47 has to one of my favorite characters in any game. I really loved the fact that you decisions impact your team, such that if you choose evil, members of your team would disagree with you and you could even lose them based on your decisions. It gave the choices in game much more depth and made the player actually think about the decision.

Mass Effect I. The first game really captured the sense of exploration and had some well written characters. I liked the second one and thought Bioware made improvements in game play, but the narrative left a lot more to be desired. Most of the new characters in ME2 were much blander; Grunt, Miranda, Jacob; none of them really had much personality or interesting back story. The only real interesting character that ME2 created was Legion.

The first Call of Duty: Modern Warfare had a surprisingly cohesive narrative for a FPS and the scene as the soldier in the recently nuked city was the only time I have had a thought provoking moment while playing an FPS. Compared to the rest of the modern shooter genre, the game was quality writing.

 

[Racecar1994]

There are a huge pool of titles to mention, really, but one that took me by surprise was Alpha Protocol. It was the first time I saw an interesting mix in terms of RPG writing, in the characterisation of Michael Thorton; While you could dictate what he said and did, as well as his history, there is always a consistent character in him (that is to say, a snarky ponce) and it felt much more like I was playing in the role of an established character, and deciding how I think he would act, rather than simply piloting a near blank slate. The multiple choices also played into his characterisation fundamentally, as he is established as a man who can change his outward persona for manipulation.

 

[Thandran]

I'd like to throw in Golden Sun. Best games on the Advance in my opinion.

 

[Leemaster777]

I'll have to throw another vote on Bioshock.

Those audio logs do a fantastic job of describing the world, situation, and citizens of Rapture pre-war, with only a minimal amount of actual exposition.

Not only that, but the twist. Be honest, how many people here really saw the twist (in it's entirety) coming? But what's great is that it doesn't just come out of nowhere. It's hinted at and aluded to several times, but without really KNOWING it, you'd never put the pieces together.

Easily one of the best twists I've ever encountered in fiction, not just in games.

 

[Bill Nye the Zombie]

Im Shocked, Shocked, that no one has said anything about World in Conflict. I mean,Capt. Bannon is one of the best characters in any game i've ever played, his arc was amazing, and he went from one of my most hated characters ever to one of the best. They managed to turn an idiot into a tragic figure. And they did it in an RTS. RTSs dont normally have good stories, and this one delivered a story thats better then some other games I could mention *cough*Starcraft II*cough*.

I'd also second Bioshock, both KoTORs, and Deus Ex