What is the best written videogame ever?

[astrav1]

The Longest Journey.

 

[Christopher Dudgeon]

FF7
Deus Ex
Mass Effect 1&2&3 (we all know the 3rd is gonna RAWK)
Freespace 1&2
SW: KOTOR
The Longest Journey
Half Life 1&2
Starcraft
F.E.A.R.
Bioshock
Fable
Batman Arkham Asylum
and last but certainly not least.......

MINECAFT!!!!

 

[ToAsTy McBuTTeR]

i think i has to be a rpg. so all you people saying hack and slash mass effect type games shame on you i think the best written game has to be Legend of the Dragoon

First, love LoD,
Second, i LOVE traditional RPGS
Third, saying that, why would you believe that a traditional rpg by right has better story than any other genre? i have seen, played, and suffered through some pretty terrible rpgs. from ones that stick so close to athurian myths that it hurts, to ones that cannot be bothered to edit typos (i once played one that said the main character and the best friend really were "food friends"). all in all, ESPECIALLY recently, action rpgs and hack and slashers are managing larger broader deeper stories, for better or worse, and speaking as a former RPG purist, i think it's great.

on topic: i have 2 FFVII tattoos (one of the buster sword and one of the meteor symbol from the box art), so what do YOU think my favorite story is?

 

[ToAsTy McBuTTeR]

Im gonna go ahead and say....Final Fantasy Tactics.

I'll second this if the Playstation translation is fixed and the PSP translation is ignored for its awful purple prose. God I hated that purple prose, I'd rather have the lovely typo riddled translation.

thats what i thought when i played the new one.

 

[Cuddly Knife]

Killer 7 is great. Some might call it convoluted, but I call it very in-depth.

MGS3 has the best story in any MGS game.

DMC3

 

[LordMarcusX]

Tetris.

 

[DannibalG36]

Mass Effect (1 and 2), Bioshock, and Portal are the obvious heavyweight contenders here. They all have great dialogue and/or stories that set the bar for all other games.

But writing is more than story and dialogue. Writing should encompass character development, plot (NOT the story - plot and story are, to the writer, separate things), and - most importantly - storytelling. And to be honest, the games I just listed excel at all the points mentioned.

On the side, Mafia II had incredible writing - head and shoulders above every other video game released to date (yes, including Mass Effect, Bioshock, and Portal). Too bad the actual gameplay was kinda sucky.

 

[DannibalG36]

Overall, Halo has an excellent story. I really hate when people say it doesn't, because all it proves is that they're too lazy to bother noticing the great story in a game.

Halo is a funny one, especially amongst fans, as its a series which needs to be judged by 2 merits: Halo - The Game, and Halo - The Universe.

The Universe of Halo and the fiction created around is impressively deep and features an array of exciting stories, detailed backdrops and interesting characters.

The game's themselves however, contain paper thin plots, terrible writing and one dimensional characters. As has been pointed out by numerous people, the majority of Halo lore is found in the books and various websites.

I'm happy to give the games recognition and respect for what they've done for the industry, however the writing is pretty poor within the games themselves.

OT: I've been pretty impressed with Dragon Age, myself. It can feel a little cliched at times but its clear Bioware know how to hold your attention even through a fifty hour experience. Mass effect is also a brilliant example of great story telling in games.

Outside of Bioware games, I was quite impressed with The Darkness. It dragged its feet once or twice but overall the sense of pacing and constant forward momentum with the plot was a welcome change to games like GTA 4 which felt too unfocused for me.

I really want to play Planetscape now, now that I've read through a large number of posts here.

You make a good point. Halo (the games) had fantastic settings and did a really good job of getting the player to feel that they were involved in a titanic struggle for the preservation of humanity (of course, the music and epic skyboxes helped with that). Come to think of it, the game plots were also pretty darn good - tasty twists and great reveals abounded.

But the actual story (NOT the plot) was pretty clumsy, the dialogue was cliche and monosyllabic, and the characters are all one-note puppets.

Halo (the universe), on the other hand, is astoundingly deep, with a space opera mythology rivaled only by Mass Effect. Even the Japanese got involved (see Movie Bob) in the creation of the Halo-verse.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well someone mentioned Far Cry 2 before, so I'll one up in absurdity and say Mortal Kombat, it is so incredibly deep!

On a serious note, there is quite alot of things worth mentioning, but the two shining most brightly for me were Baldurs Gate and Deus Ex, others seem to pale in comparison.

 

[Mr.logic]

Bioshock, Persona4.

 

[theriddlen]

Im sorry to say that, but - Mass Effect.

BioWare - You don't deserve the name of Mass Effect developer. For your Liara DLC lies you should be forgotten by every fan.

 

[John the Gamer]

psychonauts.

 

[Cazza]

favourites would be the legend of zelda games

 

[bz316]

Zork. End of story

 

[That Greek Guy]

Halo 2.........STOP LAUGHING

 

[TheScottishFella]

HL2 EP2 did you really see the ending coming?

of course, all half life games are amazing and portal.....








The cake isn't a lie

 

[Continuity]

OK, first I have to vent a little righteous indignation. Some people have suggested "jade Empire" and "kotor II" as being well written... >.< (imagine lots of derogatory expletives and a bit of ranting here)

Second Here are some of my votes:

Bioshock
Kotor
The longest journey
Fear
System Shock 2
Deus Ex
Mafia
Max Payne
Cryostasis (ok its a bit shakey but there is good stuff there)

Edit: Argh! I just saw someone mentioned Dragon age origins >.< (Imagine lots more expletives and possibly some foam around my mouth)