Games with Underrated Stories

[psychic psycho]

I've used the search function to see if this topic has been done before and I don't think it has, at least not recently. If it has I apologize. This is the first thread I've started that isn't a review. Anyway...

This is a little twist on the common underrated games topic. Have you played any games which had a good story to tell, but rarely gets praised for that aspect? It doesn't matter if the game is well-known or obscure.

For me, Timesplitters: Future Perfect is great example of this. Everyone loves the gameplay, yet I never really hear anyone praise the storyline. Now, it wasn't anything deep, but TS: FP had a really fun and entertaining Time-Travel Story. Basically, Sergent Cortez chases a time-traveling scientist and destroys the labs he sets up in various time periods, in order to prevent the the creation of the Timesplitters. What really made it special was the light-heartedness and fun characters. Sergent Cortez was a Space Marine but he wasn't an angry jerk. He was a bit goofy ("It's time to split!") and very likable.

Time-Travel was handled very well. It's been awhile since I've played it but from what I remember there weren't any plot holes, which are prevalent in Time-Travel stories. It was cool when a future version of Cortez helps you. You'd then have to the same and help out a past version of yourself so the chain could continue.

Remember, the story has to be underrated, not necessarily the game itself. So no Psychonauts, as everyone who played it agrees that the story was great.

 

[Lust]

-Lost Odyssey.
-Deadly Premonition.
-Nier.
-Bayonetta (being over the top)

I thought these games had good stories. Don't know if anyone will agree.

 

[Julianking93]

-Nier.


I thought these games had good stories. Don't know if anyone will agree.

You blasted ninja you.

I'd say Bayonetta's story was awful, but Nier was one of my favorite game stories in a long time as I stated here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.203204-JK-Reviews-NIER]

 

[psychic psycho]

-Lost Odyssey.
-Deadly Premonition.
-Nier.
-Bayonetta (being over the top)

I thought these games had good stories. Don't know if anyone will agree.

I don't think any of those games are underrated story-wise. Other than Bayonetta, all the games you've mentioned I've heard good things about the story from people and reviews.

 

[Lust]

I'd say Bayonetta's story was awful.

T_T

THE FUCK IS YOU TALKIN' BOUT?!........just kidding

Now, I'll agree it didn't have the most original story. (no shit) I still liked it.

But Nier was one of my favorite game stories in a long time as I stated here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.203204-JK-Reviews-NIER]

I loved the music. I think that first acoustic song did it for me. Also........

Spoiler

The deathdream quest kinda gave me the creeps. Granted I was also mad because I didn't know what to do.

 

[BlindMessiah94]

Second Sight.

 

[Julianking93]

snip

No offense, it just was annoying to me. I couldn't tell what the fuck was going on half the time and it was really just flat out ridiculous to me.

And yes the music to Nier was amazing. I even have the soundtrack and I listen to it all the time.

Deathdream quest? Was that one of the side missions cause I don't remember that.

 

[BlumiereBleck]

My vote is for Super Paper Mario..honestly the greatest story I have ever seen in a game. WHY IS NO ONE MAKING A MOVIE OFF OF THE STORY???

 

[BreakfastMan]

Second Sight.

Ahh! Ninja'd!

But, yeah Second Sight. An interesting, suspenseful story straight out of a great movie, with a well-done, unexpected plot twist at the end. What more can you want?

 

[psychic psycho]

Second Sight.

Ahh! Ninja'd!

But, yeah Second Sight. An interesting, suspenseful story straight out of a great movie, with a well-done, unexpected plot twist at the end. What more can you want?

Again, I'm looking for games whose storylines have been overlooked, not necessarily games which have been overlooked. Second Sight did have an great story, but pretty much everyone who played it noticed the story was awesome.

My vote is for Super Paper Mario..honestly the greatest story I have ever seen in a game. WHY IS NO ONE MAKING A MOVIE OFF OF THE STORY???

This is what I've been looking for. I've heard the game was fun, but I've never heard anyone compliment the story. I didn't get around to buying Super Paper Mario, but I think I will now.

 

[Lust]

Deathdream quest? Was that one of the side missions cause I don't remember that.

I think it was a main quest because I had gotten a sealed verse from it. If you still don't remember....

Spoiler

It starts off with Popola receiving a weird letter. It states that everyone is suffering from weird dreams. Some are comatose, others have just flat out died. She sends you to check it out. Weiss suggests to go for it, since there might be a sealed verse.

When you get there, only three people are left. The first man you speak starts off as normal. Then eventually, text starts to cover the screen. It starts describing every action you take. After you help him escape his dream, he asks of you to free the others.

You could leave, but, I chose to help. This one lady had an off-putting dream. She was dreaming that she was stuck in a prison. A place of torture that she couldn't escape from. It turned into a choose your own adventure mini-game.

I'm not very good at those, so, I ended up dead every time I'd tried. So, I never got to free her.

 

[Julianking93]

Deathdream quest? Was that one of the side missions cause I don't remember that.

I think it was a main quest because I had gotten a sealed verse from it. If you still don't remember....

Spoiler

It starts off with Popola receiving a weird letter. It states that everyone is suffering from weird dreams. Some are comatose, others have just flat out died. She sends you to check it out. Weiss suggests to go for it, since there might be a sealed verse.

When you get there, only three people are left. The first man you speak starts off as normal. Then eventually, text starts to cover the screen. It starts describing every action you take. After you help him escape his dream, he asks of you to free the others.

You could leave, but, I chose to help. This one lady had an off-putting dream. She was dreaming that she was stuck in a prison. A place of torture that she couldn't escape from. It turned into a choose your own adventure mini-game.

I'm not very good at those, so, I ended up dead every time I'd tried. So, I never got to free her.

Oh yeah yeah in the Forest of Myth, I remember now.

Sorry, I don't remember names of quests in that game too well.

I actually didn't have a hard time with that one. I even did it in one try. :/

 

[Lust]

Oh yeah yeah in the Forest of Myth, I remember now.

Sorry, I don't remember names of quests in that game too well.

I actually didn't have a hard time with that one. I even did it in one try. :/

Damn.........I suck then.

Even though I haven't gotten around to finishing the game yet, that one quest is branded into my mind.

 

[Julianking93]

Oh yeah yeah in the Forest of Myth, I remember now.

Sorry, I don't remember names of quests in that game too well.

I actually didn't have a hard time with that one. I even did it in one try. :/

Damn.........I suck then.

Even though I haven't gotten around to finishing the game yet, that one quest is branded into my mind.

I just looked up the level to make sure I'm thinking of the right thing and it seems you're not alone in dying a lot. There are several forums I've seen talking about it.

Odd. It was pretty straight forward to me.

Anyway, what part are you currently on?

 

[Miumaru]

FEAR. Its why I love the series so much.
And Dynasty Warriors. Though its not underrated in Asia. (Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a chinese classic)

 

[Lust]

I just looked up the level to make sure I'm thinking of the right thing and it seems you're not alone in dying a lot. There are several forums I've seen talking about it.

Odd. It was pretty straight forward to me.

Anyway, what part are you currently on?

I'm at the end of the mansion quest.

Spoiler

Originally I was at the boss fight where you fight Grimoire Noir. I ended up going out somehwere. So, my save took me back to the mansion.

 

[Julianking93]

I just looked up the level to make sure I'm thinking of the right thing and it seems you're not alone in dying a lot. There are several forums I've seen talking about it.

Odd. It was pretty straight forward to me.

Anyway, what part are you currently on?

I'm at the end of the mansion quest.

Spoiler

Originally I was at the boss fight where you fight Grimoire Noir. I ended up going out somehwere. So, my save took me back to the mansion.

Oh so you're still only about half way through. Good! If you like it now, I'd say that it gets even better in the second half.

Plus, by now you've met one of the best characters ever, Emil. Don't want to spoil anything for you, but he has a really good story line towards the latter half.

 

[Marter]

I've quite enjoyed the story of the Resistance games, especially the first one.

 

[smeghead25]

Here we go then: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. I read the reviews about shoddy controls and that's pretty much all I ever heard about it.

Well I played it through in a day a couple months ago before the Kane & Lynch 2 pre-launch party and it's really the only thing that kept me going through it. The locales in the game were varied and they actually fit into the plot. There were a few twists and turns, one very surprising one as a direct result to Lynch's drugged induced mental instability. And let's not forget the construction site scene, where Kane is finally brought to his wife and daughter. It was heartwrenching and sooooooo satisfying when he got the fuckiong shovel!

And the end of the game gives you the two choices. One makes you feel like a complete prick. And as a result I played through that last scene again just to find out what would have happened had I chosen the other option. Needless to say, the walk down the pier unsure of Jenny's fate, even right up to the end. I still don't know. The story was just as memorable as the gameplay. And I will forever remember K&L's gameplay for the glitchy mess it was, but the story is easily one of the best in a videogame ever.

 

[Tattaglia]

I don't know if this really counts, but I reckon the game The Darkness had a really well-told story with decent gameplay until you get the Black Hole ability, which is a ridiculously overpowered gamebreaker, but let's not focus on that. Spoilers be here along with a lot of text, so watch out.

Spoiler

The developers take a lot of time (compared with other games, anyway) to develop the character of Jenny and the relationship between her and the protagonist, Jackie. Jackie is a professional hitman who loves her but keeps his criminal life a secret from Jenny, due to his fear that she'll leave him once she learns of his true job. Jenny represents the only remaining innocence in Jackie's life, and he knows it. This is conveyed through some phone calls between the two and an extremely moving scene in Jenny's apartment as the two of you briefly celebrate the main character's birthday and watch a movie together.

So after the first quarter of the game, Jenny is kidnapped by the Big Bad and his equally evil chum, who take her to the orphanage in which both Jackie and Jenny grew up in. You manage to find Jenny, but just before you can save her the Darkness, an ancient and decidedly evil supernatural curse which has been a big help so far (what with all the spiky tentacles and such), restrains you and forces you to watch Jenny get brutally murdered by the villain mere inches from your face. Yeah. Overcome by grief, Jackie kills himself. Yeah.

You eventually find the villain - who has certainly passed the Moral Event Horizon by now - and kill him at the height of your supernatural power, effectively succumbing to the Darkness' corruption. As you black out, Jackie meets Jenny again, where they say goodbye to each other as Jackie loses his fight against the curse, and the scene fades to black. Yes, the Darkness wins. Talk about your sad ending.

Spoiler: TL;DR, but still spoiler-rific

This is the saddest scene in game history. I kid you not.