Video game stories

[beddo]

Yahtzee keeps blabbering on about how great the story in Silent Hill 2 is. I haven't played it at all but I had heard some of the major points. I decided to read the plot synopsis on wikipedia. I have to say that even reading a very short description of the story was quite creepy.

This just got me thinking. Which games have really good story lines, ones that rival films or decent movies. The only one I can think of is Bioshock. I'm not really a horror fan though so I'd like to find some more good stories that aren't solely horror based.

Of course old games like Monkey Island are cool but they are more comedies. Still any suggestions welcome.

 

[Corpse XxX]

I've always fancied the story in MGS 1..

 

[TheMatt]

Final Fantasy X wins for me. Besides the incredibly easy homo-erotic water polo game, it was pretty epic.

 

[jezz8me]

I always loved the stories in every MGS game. FF VI VII and X had great ones i even enjoyed the story in the prigional Kingdom Hearts.

My favourite Video Game story to date has been The Getaway. It is an awesome british gangster flick in game form.

 

[gamshobny]

Max Payne (1) has an incredible story line. I personally like the story of Fable. Each quest in Oblivion on it's own doesn't carry much story, but there are just soooo many of them, so it would add up to a pretty impressive score.

 

[Ganado_Headshot]

I thought that Mass Effect was one of the most immersive stories ever.

 

[Uncompetative]

Narrative is linear. It has one goal. Choices are therefore eliminated or made redundant. Story is the nemesis of gameplay.

Very rarely, you get multiple endings, like in Deus Ex. However, this is less likely in future due to development costs. Why put stuff in a game that may not get appreciated unless it gets deliberately replayed and "the road less travelled is taken".

Inspired by his never ending quest for progress, in 2084 man perfects the Robotrons: a robot species so advanced that man is inferior to his own creation. Guided by their infallible logic, the Robotrons conclude: The human race is inefficient, and therefore must be destroyed.

You are the last hope of mankind. Due to a genetic engineering error, you possess superhuman powers. Your mission is to stop the Robotrons, and save the last human family: Mommy, Daddy, and Mikey.

That is all the story I need. Now let's start shooting stuff...

 

[Da_Schwartz]

Silent Hill 2. (you need to play it, I strongly recommend it)

Yea'll i'll second that. My fav of the series by far story wise. creepyness wise, theres really nothing not to like abotu that game pound for pound. And since that was what like 11 years ago?

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

I thought that Mass Effect was one of the most immersive stories ever.

Seconded.

 

[Velocirapture07]

Knights of the Old Republic (The first one). One of the most awesome twists in gaming ever and a great cast of characters.

 

[Flour]

Final Fantasy 9.

 

[A.I. Sigma]

The Legacy of Kain series has probably the best storyline of all time, in my opinion.

 

[A.I. Sigma]

Knights of the Old Republic (The first one). One of the most awesome twists in gaming ever and a great cast of characters.

Oh, hell yes. I could only stare at the screen with my mouth hung open when the bombshell was dropped.

 

[tiredinnuendo]

Mmm... video game stories are a touchy subject for me.

On one hand, I prefer that there be some attempt at a story there (unless they go the Bad Dudes route, which is basically a subversion of a story, and then I just pretend it's a joke). On the other hand, I can't think of a single game ever that could hold up a really remarkable story to rival any classic novel or movie.

I mean, really, show me one game with writing to compare to Catch-22, or power to compare to the heartbreaking climax of Sophie's Choice. They just aren't out there.

I suppose we're getting there, and there are certainly games that stand out from the herd, but really, most games don't do the "story" thing. Consider that Overlord (and the upcoming sequel) were written by Rhianna Pratchett (Terry Pratchett's daughter). Now think about how much actual "story" there was in Overlord. See the point? There's something in the medium that really seems to cut down on storytelling potential, sad as that is.

- J

 

[Liminal Dusk]

Final Fantasy X wins for me. Besides the incredibly easy homo-erotic water polo game, it was pretty epic.

Agreed, which leads me to the secondary conclusion that FFX-2 should never have been conceived. It's only purpose was to undo the wonderful story FFX had.

I also love the stories behind The World Ends With You, Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga (1&2) and SMT: Persona 3&4.

Ordinarily I find games with silent protagonists to have a slight obstacle to overcome in storytelling, but P3 and P4 side-step that quite well.

 

[Trivun]

Halo has a very underrated story, due to two things:

(1) People think that it's just another 'shoot the aliens' game with no real plot or backstory
(2) People think the Halo games revolve solely around the Master Chief (a huge criticism of the comics set between Halo 2 and 3 was that the Master Chief hardly appeared in what was considered 'his own comic series', despite the fact that it's been made clear several times that Halo is about more than just the Chief).

The thing is, it actually has a very well thought out backstory shown via (soon to be 4) games, 6 novels, a graphic novel and a comic series, plus the ambiguous Halo: Chronicles with Peter Jackson at the helm. It is about a whole universe of characters and stories and everything is linked, so I would consider it my favourite game story so far.

Another good one would be Assassin's Creed, since the story revolves around what happens in the present day and is larger than the gameplay itself (OK, the gameplay had a few flaws, but it was still a very good game...). It did something few games have done which is to seperate the main story from gameplay (save for the bits where you walk around as Desmond), and it worked, so Assassin's Creed would get my vote too.

 

[bioVOLTAGE]

Knights of the Old Republic (The first one). One of the most awesome twists in gaming ever and a great cast of characters.

Oh, hell yes. I could only stare at the screen with my mouth hung open when the bombshell was dropped.

Eh, I saw it coming. Still great game. That and Silent Hill 2. My friend still thinks that Silent Hill is actually an insane asylem, not a town.

Anyway, I would have to say that any of the God of War games have great stories. I mean, how could trying to kill a god not be a great story?

 

[Col.Gentlemen]

Mmm... video game stories are a touchy subject for me.

On one hand, I prefer that there be some attempt at a story there (unless they go the Bad Dudes route, which is basically a subversion of a story, and then I just pretend it's a joke). On the other hand, I can't think of a single game ever that could hold up a really remarkable story to rival any classic novel or movie.

I mean, really, show me one game with writing to compare to Catch-22, or power to compare to the heartbreaking climax of Sophie's Choice. They just aren't out there.

I suppose we're getting there, and there are certainly games that stand out from the herd, but really, most games don't do the "story" thing. Consider that Overlord (and the upcoming sequel) were written by Rhianna Pratchett (Terry Pratchett's daughter). Now think about how much actual "story" there was in Overlord. See the point? There's something in the medium that really seems to cut down on storytelling potential, sad as that is.

- J

Definitely. I think if you write for a game, it has to like an action movie though, because that's what a lot of games are. Something like the Matrix would be a good game, where as something like Frost / Nixon would be horrid. The exception to action movie like games are games with moral choices like in Mass Effect and KOTOR.

 

[Fightgarr]

If you want storytelling, the adventure genre usually was pretty good at that. Some had almost no story just an eventual goal, some had bad stories but others had incredible stories. Video games aren't about being a novel though, its a different medium stories need to be told in a different light. Anyway, my story pick is Grim Fandango. It was amazing.

Final Fantasy Tactics is another pick of mine for story. Its well-developed world and political spectrum made it a bit convoluted but it worked, and it was brilliant. Even the choice or the main character was great. I still pick Ramza Beoulve was one of my top Squaresoft characters because of how brilliantly he flowed into the plot.