Games that have outstanding writing

[Saladfork]

Most of Mass Effect (except that one part we don't talk about)

KOTOR 2

NWN2, but infinitely moreso in Mask of the Betrayer

Dragon Age: Origins

Deus Ex: Human Revolution (a little iffy, especially with the contrived boss fights, but the character writing and voice acting was good enough to pull it off)

The Fallout series' writing has always been pretty good; even at its' worst, it's been passable. (Not including the spin-off Tactics, as I haven't played that yet so I wouldn't know)

 

[Dudeman325]

No mention of Chrono Trigger? Not even from the guy with Magus as his avatar? Frog's backstory alone is, in my opinion, one of the greater stories in video game history.

 

[Cheesepower5]

Final Fantasy Tactics, on the PSP where the translation is more readable. Vagrant Story, FFVI and IX as well. Every SMT. Lost Odyssey. Most old-school point `n clickers, MGS series, Psychonauts and Bioshock all stick out.

 

[Singapore Sling]

NWN2, but infinitely moreso in Mask of the Betrayer

I agree entirely. In fact, MoB pretty much sparked my gaming enthusiasm.

DA:O and Mass Effect series : I think Bioware excels in characters/dialogue (much more than in creating great story lines) BUT I would say that a good portion of it has to do with the fact that they hired great voice actors.

I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with Fallout NV. The characters are really good, the universe, while violent and depressing, still have a lot of funny/sweet/strange moments and everything forms a cohesive world.

Oh, and Bloodline is really great.

 

[sheah1]

I don't know if its been said before but Enslaved: Odyssey to the West has the best writing I have ever seen in a game. Remember in English class how you had to read Of Mice and Men or Lord of The Flies whatever and you had to realise that each tiny little action had a dozen different meanings? And that each character could be interpreted in a bajillion different ways? Yeah, Enslaved made me do that. Automatically.

 

[psicat]

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines
Planescape: Torment
Bastion
The Witcher 1 and 2
The Fallout series
Grim Fandango
Discworld Noir
The Longest Journey
Tex Murphy series
Sanitarium

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

Honorable mention goes to Deus Ex Human revolution. Mostly because I picked up little real personality from Adam Jensen. Just a security chief doing his job. He was badass, skilled and suave but I felt no sense of soul from him at all. That counted against the writing fairly heavily for me.

You realise that's kind of the point right? He's a throwback to JC Denton from the original Deus Ex, famously portrayed as a blank slate. The idea's supposedly that having a personality-less player character effectively allows him to be used as your avatar for interaction with the world - essentially, your thoughts are his.

Tex Murphy series

I keep going under the impression that no one plays those games, but they are excellent!

 

[jklinders]

Honorable mention goes to Deus Ex Human revolution. Mostly because I picked up little real personality from Adam Jensen. Just a security chief doing his job. He was badass, skilled and suave but I felt no sense of soul from him at all. That counted against the writing fairly heavily for me.

You realise that's kind of the point right? He's a throwback to JC Denton from the original Deus Ex, famously portrayed as a blank slate. The idea's supposedly that having a personality-less player character effectively allows him to be used as your avatar for interaction with the world - essentially, your thoughts are his.

I won't disagree with the intent made, but I will disagree with the effect. When you place a voice to the protagonist you are in effect stating an intent to give him/her a personality. This is the primary argument that old school RPG gamers have in opposition to a voiced protagonist. JC Denton's VO delivery was so flat it had to be deliberate. So why give him a voice at all? If the intent is to let the player fill in the blanks then do away with voice acting. This frees you up to have more than three dialogue options that allow for more customization and a more refined personality.

I guess what I'm saying is, if this was the intent, it failed for me. You need to go all one way or the other. I am not against a voiced protagonist. I rather enjoy it actually. But it need to be done all in, not some half and half if it is not to fall flat.

 

[TheSear]

I honestly haven't played a game with good writing. I have played games with good stories (albeit very few), but not any with good writing..

 

[Palmerama]

Fallout 2: One of my favourite games of all time! I've played it since it came out & it still makes me laugh!

Bioshock: It was more because of the audio logs & how they made me want to find them so I could find out what happened to certain characters.

Beneath a Steel Sky: Whilst ive had my gog account for awhile I only recently played it! So funny & its definately made me glad i played it!

Eat Lead, The Story of Matt Hazard: I bought it the other week as it calls itself a spoof of action games over the last 25 years & it actually does it well! Whilst the gameplay is lackluster the writing is what kept me playing.

Baldur's Gate: Greatly written epic & some of the most memorable characters in any rpg!

 

[Chaosut]

When it comes to the characters Bioware and Obsidian do a good job.
999 on Nintendo DS was well written all round in that it knew how to play with your expectations and deconstruct seemingly cliched characters.
The story and audio logs in System Shock 2 & Bioshock were very well-written.
A couple others:
Vampires: The Masquerade - Bloodlines,
Killer 7,
Ghost Trick,
Sam & Max (very clever dialogue),
Dues Ex,
Dreamfall: The Longest Journey,
Persona 3 & Persona 4,

I'm sure i'm forgetting some though.

 

[Alfador_VII]

No mention of Chrono Trigger? Not even from the guy with Magus as his avatar? Frog's backstory alone is, in my opinion, one of the greater stories in video game history.

Thought Chrono Trigger HAD been mentioned, sorry I'm not sure how I omitted it from my list.

It's not just the avatar that's from there, also the user name!

 

[OrpheusTelos]

Radiant Historia. Im dead serious, that game had a really good story and very well-written (if a tad flowery) dialogue.

Really, Atlus' JRPGs tend to have very good writing.

Final Fantasy Tactics, on the PSP where the translation is more readable. Vagrant Story, FFVI and IX as well. Every SMT. Lost Odyssey. Most old-school point `n clickers, MGS series, Psychonauts and Bioshock all stick out.

Also, these.

 

[Xiroh86]

Final Fantasy IX: in my opinion, the best story in a FF game. VI was really good too, but IX was absolutely superb at mixing grand drama with more understated moments. It had both a villain who was camper than David Bowie collaborating with Freddie Mercury, and wonderful scenes of introspection and real emotion. It also opens with the player taking part in a faux-Shakespeare drama. And continues that theme by having a comedy of errors during the game's mid-point.

I would actually have to disagree with you on FF9. I feel that the delivery of everyone's dialogue, as well as many parts of exposition were overly childish and didn't fit with the tone or themes the game was trying to portray, including genocide, political turmoil, and genetic manipulation and finding one's self. Now FF9 is by no means a bad game. It is well made and can be quite fun to play, however the childish delivery throughout much of the game ruined both the story and immersion for me.

 

[xplosive59]

The first and Third Matl Gear Solid as well as Final Fantasy Tactics and FF9. The PS1 era was great for storytelling.