What is the best written videogame ever?

[SimpleReally]

Did anyone say final fantasy tactics yet? i loved the story and the ending scene with delita is beyond perfect.

Also irenicus in BG2, he stole every scene in BG2.

I think I'm in the minority who did not like planescape torment, i mean they throw an entire dictionary at you in the first five minutes which you have to memorize in order to understand ANYTHING about what the hell is going on or where to go or why do you even bother. It bored me to tears.

 

[Swishdude]

I would have to say 'Shadows of the Colossus'

Now at first that might seem to be a poor choice, look harder. There really isn't that much dialog, and what is spoken is written well. Writing does not exclude the setting, location, and the characters. Someone had to create these concepts and make a script for the game that described so much in so little. I think the game does a fantastic job at pulling the player in and carrying about the little things. So when something in the game is lost to you, you feel it.

We have games of large action adventures and epic stories. These games have characters of lust, villainy, and desire. But Shadows gives you an impossible goal. Bringing back from death the only person the your character seems to care about in the world. It's path is clear and it's ideas are relatable. There are very few games that attempt to reach out to a player like this one.

 

[Woodsey]

I can't believe Mafia didn't get a mention on the first page.

You people need to take a good hard look at yourselves.

 

[Seneschal]

You know I'm going to get slammed for this but I'm going to say the Halo series. I just always liked the stories it told, the locations and the characters. Most people would disagree with me though.

Technically, I thought Halo's writing was... accomplished. Sure, it didn't rock anyone's world, but it's always been fantastic for furthering the gameplay. At first glance, it's mostly military bravado, some funny jokes, and a few recognizable characters, but it's extremely efficient at leading you from one set-piece to another. Halo 2 probably has the best story, it introduces a nice contrast to John-117 with the Arbiter, follows up well with the story of Halo 1, has several arcs that converge, has high stakes, and sets the mood for the epic confrontations that you'll have in the game. As far as straight-up action stories go, Halo 2 is much better than the likes of Crysis, Resistance, Killzone, Bad Company, etc.

The format in which Halo comes does not really permit more complexity without losing the fast pace, so it has to rely on this action flick charm. And mostly it works, the first two games devoting themselves to the fact that they're over-the-top space pulp. This is what Reach lacked, and I thought the game's story was much poorer for it.

 

[Swishdude]

I can't believe Mafia didn't get a mention on the first page.

You people need to take a good hard look at yourselves.

Part one deserves a mention and praise.

However part two... well a story needs to have a beginning, middle and end to qualify as a 'story'. Mafia 2 sorta lacks an ending.

 

[Woodsey]

I can't believe Mafia didn't get a mention on the first page.

You people need to take a good hard look at yourselves.

Part one deserves a mention and praise.

However part two... well a story needs to have a beginning, middle and end to qualify as a 'story'. Mafia 2 sorta lacks an ending.

Every time I see it (I've been playing it through regularly, 63 hours FTW) I just beg for 5 more minutes. I mean, there are other threads left hanging too, but it would have been nice if Vito had actually said something (same goes for when Frankie stops speaking to him).

 

[Brisingr]

The Mass Effect series, Bioshock 1 and Dragon age. Top class writing in them all.

 

[Swishdude]

Every time I see it (I've been playing it through regularly, 63 hours FTW) I just beg for 5 more minutes. I mean, there are other threads left hanging too, but it would have been nice if Vito had actually said something (same goes for when Frankie stops speaking to him).

Absolutely, I really needed just a few more words at the end. Some characters get taken away from you fast in that game, but that ending was even faster then that.

 

[DirgeNovak]

Soul Reaver 2. Amazing story, amazing dialogue, amazing characters -- and mediocre gameplay, but that's beside the point

The Legacy Of Kain Series (Words can not express how much i love that series, i really wish they would make another, i really want to know whats going to happen next)

Spoiler

Nothing's going to happen next, history will just repeat itself. Kain doesn't have free will and Moebius & Raziel are dead... Pretty bleak when you think about it.

 

[Woodsey]

Every time I see it (I've been playing it through regularly, 63 hours FTW) I just beg for 5 more minutes. I mean, there are other threads left hanging too, but it would have been nice if Vito had actually said something (same goes for when Frankie stops speaking to him).

Absolutely, I really needed just a few more words at the end. Some characters get taken away from you fast in that game, but that ending was even faster then that.

There seems to have been a rather peculiar last-minute shuffle in the final year or so of development. I remember watching a video from mid-2009 of a mission that took place in 1952, yet the game proper finishes in '51. The mission was also a side-mission (which they eventually cut or integrated with the main story) that were supposed to give background to the characters.

That's the only way I can explain the fact that Derek is so happy to see Vito even though he's only seen him once recently, and the time before that was 6 years ago where he did one job for him.

It's pretty frustrating to be honest when you know what could have been.

 

[Admiral Stukov]

I've heard that in open space without any form of protection, you can be snap-frozen, boiled instantly and beaten to death by micro-particles all at the same time, thanks to the combination of sub-zero temperatures, solar radiation and micro-particles flying as fast as the Earth does, if not faster. If that's wrong I blame...I think it was Smithsonian. Anyways it was some book on the general basics of space.

The Snap-freeze one is a myth, because there is no efficient way to radiate heat.
The others are pretty true however.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Alan Wake had amazing writing, even in the most casual of conversations at the beginning.

 

[8-Bit Grin]

Planescape: Torment

Way to be original.

... Seconded.

 

[leady129]

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.

 

[Hassao]

Bioshock
By far my favorite game ever mostly for the writing and story, and plasmids :drools:.

 

[Arlocke]

Another vote for Planescape Torment here. Some of the most fascinating characters ever designed, dense and unique dialogue, and one of the strongest imitations of real roleplaying you'll ever find in a video game. It doesn't have the best design ever as an entire product, but it is by far my choice for best writing in a video game.

I was talking a few weeks ago to my Games Design lecturer about Torment, and he told me basically... well done for having played this game. Apparently I'm already ahead of the others in the group, just for having played it. Nuff said.

 

[VulakAerr]

Wow, going to have to do a top 5, I think. In reverse order:

5) KOTOR. One of the first stand-out stories of this decade and breathed life into a franchise that was taking aim carefully at its own foot.

4) Grim Fandango. I loved this story in this and I felt really attached to the characters by the end of the story. It was the first game I played where I'd wished it had been a movie in some ways.

3) Assassin's Creed 2. The first game was a little laboured, but by the second game came around the story was rich, worked in (without being too contrived) several historic events and was still great fun to play. More than that, I actually grew to like and care for Ezio as a character.

2) Red Dead Redemption. Masterful. Just, pure brilliance.

1) Mass Effect 1 and 2. They are like you're playing a movie, but a movie with more depth and weight than almost any out there. Almost uniformly excellent performances and pitch-perfect writing. I LOVE these games.

 

[Cameron Sours]

Bioshock Infinite has the best writing I've seen yet. You guys should really pick it up!
/troll
I really liked Exile 2 (from Spiderweb Software). Maybe I was just ready for a game like that, but it really was fun to me. Another blast from the past: BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception. I never really got that far in this game, but it did give a real emotional impact like nothing any game has done since.

 

[ilion]

Planescape Torment. Or anything Chris Avellone touched.
Grim Fandango, and some other pc adventure games, The Last Express is incredibly well written for example, almost nobody knows that game from Jordan Mechner.

 

[Last Valiance]

The 50 cent game. I should be banned for suggesting that even as a joke.