The best storyline games ever.

[ckam]

I haven't played it, but I think Xenosaga is a game that focuses mostly on it's story. One that I've actually played before would be Final Fantasy VII or VI.

 

[atomictoast]

Half-Life 2, Bioshock, Final Fantasy 7 or X...those mainly come to mind.

 

[FURY_007]

Assassins Creed

HL1, Blue Shift, Opposing Force, HL2, HL2ep1, HL2ep2 (soooo epic if you play them all)

Warcraft 1-3, the lore behind it is actually pretty amazing

Deus Ex, pretty freakin sweet

StarCraft and StarCraft:Brood War (amazing)

Portal

the early star wars games, like Dark Forces, jedi outcast, jedi academy

and the original Warhammer 40000: dawn of War had a pretty good storyline, but im a sucker for 40k,

umm there are others but I cant think of them right now

Most of these are pretty old, but unless your a OMGZORZ LOOK AT THOSE GRAPHIX1!!!111! type of person then it shouldnt bother you

 

[Yudas]

Bioshock. To be fair though the gameplay was so crap that the story might have contrasted it somewhat and seemed overly good.

The warcraft storyline is quite nice. Not particularly thoughtful or plot-twisty but a very nice backdrop the the action of the different games. A shame that they seem to have killed all the main characters in WoW though.

Vice city 2 was pretty hilarious imo. Made me feel like I was playing a godfather movie in bizarro mode.. That should have been a compliment.

 

[Therumancer]

Right now I'd be hard pressed to pick one, but I'd probably say "Ultima" or "Final Fantasy VII" as the best of all time, but there are a lot of other very good ones like "The Witcher" or even (believe it or not) Disgaea.

 

[Woburn]

I can't believe that nobody said Star Wars: KotOR yet

 

[G1eet]

Mass Effect, easily. Great story, and the game is huge, so you'll be spending a metric arse-ton of time with it.

First pick.

Second- Oblivion.

 

[TotallyFake]

What's with all the Mass Effect, FF7, and Bioshocks? (All good games, mind you) I thought their stories were crap. However, I loved the hell out of Dragon Quest 8 because all the characters were colorful and the voice acting was really good.

I can't speak on Bioshock, and I slighty disagree with FF7. Like all FF7 games the events in it are friggin fantastic, but it's terribly written.

I'm with you on Mass Effect though. The world is great. The detail is staggering (although it suffers greatly from the conservation of detail. Nearly everything referenced at one point pops up later, making the game feel smaller as there's NOTHING left unanswered), the sci-fi is top notch, and the main plot outlines are great (Sure, it's nothing too original, but it puts a nice spin on things), yet the actual plot of the game is diabolical. It's nothing beyond go here, baddie here, kill baddie. Saren is a rubbish villain. Unlike Irenicus, Sephiroth or Darth Malak who make their presence felt throughout the entire game, Saren feels like he's hardly there.

And I'll put in yet another shout for Planescape:Torment. Not just for the characters, the sharp writing, and the philosophical brooding, but because it's wonderfully dark. Not just a bit grim, it's properly black and depressing (as you'd expect from "Torment") and it's utterly brilliant.

 

[BuiltTagonTough]

Tales of Symphonia has a fantastic story. Even if some of the main characters are tools.

 

[Fenring]

Mass Effect, or we can throw gameplay out the window and say Morrowind.

 

[Leftnt Sharpe]

Anything by Bioware, particularly the Baldur's Gate games. On top of that some personal favourites are Planescape Torment, Far Cry 2(sort of) and especially The Witcher. The Witcher has one of the best stories and some of the best characters of recent time. It is one of the few games that genuinely changes based on the decisions you make and is quite unforgettable.

 

[Mekado]

If you're looking for a rpg (D&D),i quite enjoyed Neverwinter nights 1 and 2 (particularly the 2) the storyline imo is very good

 

[Shoto Koto]

FFIX Great storyline to that. Really, great.

EDIT: Of course that is only on PS1

 

[Frenger]

Mass Effect.

Although, there are some things that drag that games story down.

Spoiler

For instance, how come everyone suddenly, without much doubt from anyone, suddenly *know* all about what's happening? The plot unfolds waaaay to quickly and facts and plot devices just pops up out of nowhere and characters seem to "get" them straight away without any explanation at all? I can safely say I sat at my screen and went "Wtf, how did you know that?!" when they started to discuss the Conduit, The Reapers and what not. In some ways, I felt the story was poorly executed in some ways, on a few missions. But then again, only a fraction of the game is like that. But I know Bioware can do so much better than this.

 

[Ulfsson]

I'll second a lot of things said here, i.e. Mass Effect, Bioshock, System Shock 2, Portal, and I'll also suggest Baldur's Gate 1 & 2.

 

[bodyklok]

First games that come to mind are: Bioshock, The Orange box, and some massive open-world RPG like Oblivion, but only because of all the back story.

You could also give the MGS games a try, but they're like an acquired taste.

The Orange Box? It's not a game, how can it have a story?

I only suggested it because of HL2, HL2:E1, and HL2:E2.

 

[Flux289]

I say FFVIII, it has a very enjoyable story and characters, also if you dont have a playstation, you can also play it on pc

 

[Asymptote Angel]

I really have to give this to BioShock. Plenty of other games have good stories, but BioShock remains the only game that has a story good enough to carry the whole game. If the gameplay sucked and the graphics were lousy, I still would have finished it. Luckily, those were awesome too. It remains the most intelligently written game I've ever played... truly an amazing argument for video games as an art form. I couldn't stop playing after the "Would You Kindly" scene. I simply had to know what was happening next. I don't think any story I've ever encountered in film, literature, or games has had that effect on me.

Mass Effect's story was also awesome, especially at the end when things started really heating up (at the end of Virmire). I think that game wins my award for best climax (starting around the time the Citadel comes under attack up to the final boss fight).

CoD4, Silent Hill 2, the KotOR games, and Assassin's Creed all had good stories too. I just didn't find any of them as compelling as BioShock or ME.

 

[CmdrGoob]

Planescape: Torment, brilliant story, characters and writing, tons of atmosphere and intrigue, best game story ever.