Best Story

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roaf85

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Alright I did some searches and the only thing I found was a thread here:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=791968&highlight=best+story

So props the OP of that thread, but that was 3 years ago! Lets get some opinions on the "Best Story" in video games.

Rules:

You can not list a series. For example: Final Fantasy series. You can however list Gothic 1 and Gothic 2. If you do this please state if it is a requirement to play Gothic 1 before Gothic 2 for example

NO SPOILERS!!!

It is optional, but state what you liked about the games. Remember NO SPOILERS!!!

Alirght so here is some games I have came up with:

1. Dreamfall:Longest Journey PC - The Longest Journey is not required to play Dreamfall. Best voice acting in any video game I have seen. The story line combines fantasy with sci fi and different story paths for more than one character.

2. Final Fantasy X PS2. The emotion present in this RPG is unlike anything I have seen in an RPG. The dialogue can be cheesy at times, but the ending is what did it for me. One of the best endings I have seen in a video game.

3. Metal Gear Solid 3 PS2. MGS1 and MGS2 not required, but very helpful. MG3 probably had the best storyline in all the MGS series in my opinion. The story line starts off slow and really dives into strange/messed up by midway. Again with FFX the ending and last 2 hours of gameplay really pay off. Not only do you feel like you are in a movie, but the ending ties together many loose ends.

I will list more later.
 
Fallout - the only game I've played where your actions while playing had consequences and affected the ending of the story. Also the only game I can think of whose sequel included a gameplay element that started the chain of events that led to everything happening in the first place, even though it occurred many years after events in the first game - quite the temporal paradox.
 
Ditto on Dreamfall. It may be the most imaginative game storyline ever.

I loved the storyline of the original Half-Life, too.
 
Fumarole said:
Fallout - the only game I've played where your actions while playing had consequences and affected the ending of the story. Also the only game I can think of whose sequel included a gameplay element that started the chain of events that led to everything happening in the first place, even though it occurred many years after events in the first game - quite the temporal paradox.
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Fallout 2 for me :D
 
I'm gonna have to say Twilight Princess, that was a damn good story. Although it did use the "you're at the end, JUST KIDDING, now go find more pieces to the puzzle" approach, it was still a great story.
 
I really like the story line to FF7, Half-Life (+the series), I have to agree with the OP on MGS, the first one. I really like the whole MGS series though.
 
No One Lives Forever. It's the only story where the ending surprised me, and the rest of it was great too.
 
Chrono Trigger, No other game has had such complete character development and a story that is truly controlled by the players actions like it was.
 
Deus Ex was pretty good as far as (semi-)linear storylines go.

But on the whole I was probably more impressed with Fallout / 2 and Morrowind. Not because of the main story, but because of the narrative you build for yourself as you piece together a picture of the world. Fallout 2 was better than the original in this respect, but of course Fallout had the novelty of the whole concept going for it. I found Fallout's world more appealing than Morrowind's as a matter of personal taste, but the depth and the sheer amount of content in Morrowind is nearly incomprehensible - nothing else I've seen even comes close.
 
I thought Halo 1 had a great story. I liked it so much I bought the books too. Of course, then there was Halo 2...but that's only for Xbox...:(
 
Planescape:torment

Best story ever to grace an RPG, no stupid elves and dwarves, and name one other game where you can have a talking skull in your party. :)

Fallout - for most of the same reasons as planescape, just not as twisted.
 
Are you guys kidding? Best story goes to God of War hands down. I'll give the number 2 to Knights of the Old Republic 1.
 
Dreamfall:Longest Journey - they better make a sequel!
Resident Evil 2 - Ada!
Leather Goddesses of Phobos - text adventures at their best.
MSG 1 - everything else felt that they were trying too hard.
 
A few ones off the top of my head...

Max Payne - good, compelling story as well as a very unique method of presenting the story. It sounds odd, but the dark and depressing story is a nice change of pace compared to many other games.

KotOR - great game, great story. Alot of depth and realism to story...plus it "felt" like it really belonged to the Star Wars universe, unlike some other Star Wars games where they feel out of whack with universe.

FEAR - good story for a FPS, it definately kept me drawn in.

Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War - another odd choice I guess...I enjoyed this story, thought I'm not exactly sure why. Perhaps it was because I thought Gabriel was an intriguing character and despite overwheling enemies, it was his will and sense of duty that kept him and his company pushing forward.


Those are a few storylines that I enjoyed. I also enjoyed many of the others that have been mentioned already.
 
KOTOR was a great epic story set in the star wars universe...

i also have to say i really digged zelda: a link to the past... still love it
 
Morrowind had a great story. It was really complex and it wasn't spoon fed to you. You actually had to pay attention and figure out what was going on. Some of the story could only be found by joining factions and playing through their quest line. Finding out what happened to the Dwarves could only be done by piecing together various books and talking to certain people, and you didn't know who those people were or where the books could be found. I loved that about the game.
 
evilcartman said:
A few ones off the top of my head...

...Max Payne - good, compelling story as well as a very unique method of presenting the story. It sounds odd, but the dark and depressing story is a nice change of pace compared to many other games...

FEAR - good story for a FPS, it definately kept me drawn in...
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Max Payne, definitely. FEAR had by far the best climax of a FPS. It wasn't a surprise but it had some nice emotional depth.

KOTR to me was ok but highly overrated as a story. Good RPG but I thought the actual story was its weak point next to that it was very linear. But them most Bioware games are on constraining tracks.

HL great game and great setting but the story was very thin. The big deal to me about HL was the way the story was presented, within the context of the world, rather than thrown in your face cut scenes. Vagueness is often the refuge of a poor story teller.
 
Final Fantasy III
Final Fantasy VI
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy XII
Chrono Trigger
Secret of Mana
Super Mario RPG

On a side note, all of you guys saying things like Half Life, FEAR, Max Payne, etc really need to play some RPG's, you don't know the meaning of the word story.
 
Nasty_Savage said:
May laugh, but I really enjoyed the Story Arc for Republic Commando.
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If only the SDK was released, I'd probably still be playing this game. As it is, the multiplayer component isn't enough to keep it installed. Too bad, really - I also enjoyed the game (and its story) immensely.
 
Final Fantasy 7 - The perfect blend: 1 part action, 1 part love, 1 part evil, and 2 parts crazy
Lunar 2 - Humorous heartwarming storyline.
Xeno Gears - Most complex story line to date.
Chrono Cross - engaging side stories of the many characters
Chrono trigger - Time travel with a robot, fighting frog, and a girl with a tail classic.
Phantasy Star 4 - Best of the series, and it's one of the best series
 
  • Baldur's Gate 2 (helps to play 1, but not required)
  • Max Payne
  • Half-Life, especially when the big picture is fleshed out by the expansions
  • There wasn't a lot of story to it, but what was in StarCraft was good
 
CodeX said:
On a side note, all of you guys saying things like Half Life, FEAR, Max Payne, etc really need to play some RPG's, you don't know the meaning of the word story.
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That's like saying "Man, you liked Pulp Fiction? You should go read a book some time...".
You really can't compare them. They have very different aims in mind. RPG plots may have a lot more depth and a lot more content, but as is the case in films, the way the story is presented in a game is just as important. And in this respect, no RPG I've ever encountered even comes close to Max Payne, just to name one.
 
CodeX said:
On a side note, all of you guys saying things like Half Life, FEAR, Max Payne, etc really need to play some RPG's, you don't know the meaning of the word story.
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I've got to say, I disagree with your choice of games for great stories. The Final Fantasy games have never captivated me the way Half-Life and Max Payne did. Of course the Bioware RPGs are in a league of their own, with Baldur's Gate 2 being by far the best...after playing them, I have a hard time calling FF and other such games true RPGs.

The reason Final Fantasy doesn't appeal to me--especially the modern ones, starting with 7--is the games completely fail to involve me in the story. I feel like I'm just hacking away and solving puzzles to get to the next episode of a story, with no connection between my gameplay and the story.

Don't get me wrong; the gameplay can be fun and engaging, but the disconnected feeling is hard to get over and I really don't feel like I've had any impact on the game world. You could line up all the cutscenes and scripted conversations and tell the story without the player doing anything. Compare that to some of the deeper RPGs where you have real choices that affect the behavior of NPCs and can sometimes even have dramatic effect on the end of the game.
 
CodeX said:
Final Fantasy III
Final Fantasy VI
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy XII
Chrono Trigger
Secret of Mana
Super Mario RPG

On a side note, all of you guys saying things like Half Life, FEAR, Max Payne, etc really need to play some RPG's, you don't know the meaning of the word story.
Click to expand...

Honestly I really liked final fantasy VI. Lots of characters with their own little backstories. FFVII was great overall, for sure, but it's story just seemed like a bit too much.

Oh, and lets not forget my favorite final fantasy game: Final Fantasy Tactics! Absolutely epic and filled with murder and betrayal. Don't be fooled by it's slighty cartoony looking characters! This one absolutely stands the test of time, as it's just as fun to play today as it was when it came out.

I'd also say xenogears, but that one's also a little too excessive for its own good.

Hmm, could make a strong case for all of the 2d bioware rpgs like planescape, baldurs gate, etc.

Oh, and I just thought of one that would be overlooked because of it's genre: Freespace and Freespace 2! Every time I think of Freespace 2 it makes me cry a little inside because of the way it ended. If only someone would sort out the rights and finish it with a Freespace 3 :(

On a related note, anyone who liked the freespaces should read "the stars at war" and "the shiva option". Some striking similarities there.
 
PC - Planescape:Torment. Play it once legit, then find a trainer to jack your stats so you get all the dialogue options. Still my favorite RPG. Fallout 1&2, and the entire Baldur's Gate series are near the top as well.

PS2 - Final Fantasy XII. I can agree with those that say the story of VII through X-2 are lacking, but XII's back story of political intrigue is without peer on the PS2. Great game.
 
I really enjoyed the story of Everquest, sure it was a fun game to play with the grind and massive community but if you really wanted to know some backgrounds and lore you could dig for them. There was a ton of stuff to find out in the first one, some of them pissed you off since the quests were broken and you couldn't finish it for the item/story but there was plenty to complete that had alot of good dialogue!

the bigger ones were pretty much the stories that enveloped the entire world, and gave hints to the "forgotten" lands and the "icy" worlds; the later expantions

the smaller stories (the ones that were really repeatable) gave alot of feeling for the cities they were in, or the areas (sometimes deep in the dungeons).

the expantions weren't required but fed off of the original pretty well, and had alot of their own good stories, Kunarks quests were really short in dialog but their quests were really freakin long, in the end you got alot of storie but for alot of work, Velious were my favorite they really didn't depend on the old world or kunark at all. They were short, long, splitting, TONS of freakin dialog (sometimes too much) all in all my favorite. Luclin could of been good, Brad had a set a very cool and open world for us and had alot of great stuff set as place holders (and original monster designs, till Sony fired everyone and tried their bastardized version of it), it just sucks VI got bought out by SOE and never completed it, Luclin could of been a killer expantion one to suceed the great Velious ... oh well, can't dwel on something that happend 4 years ago :rolleyes:

the stories in EQ were very typical of DND games, was just very fun being able to actually be there and face the person as you did a hand in.
 
KOTOR is a good one. I also really like Jade empire. For imports I liked FF X <--- I never played seven.

But really for depth of world for a world of there own creation I must give props to Summoner. The first PS2 RPG.
 
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