Story-Driven Games

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PiERiT

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I've got a dozen games installed that can't hold my attention for more than 15 minutes. When I look at them, then look at some of my favorite games, it's pretty clear that I don't like them because their stories are thoroughly uninteresting.

Any recommendations for games with good stories? Gameplay is still important. Point and click isn't my thing, nor is old-school adventuring. If it's a recent AAA game, odds are I've already played it, so I'm more looking for games that flew under the radar, games that didn't get 9's and 10's from everyone and their uncles, or older games (as long as they are mostly voiced).
 
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The Longest Journey and its sequel, Dreamfall. The graphics are dated, especially TLJ, but both are fantastic. TLJ is turn-based, DF is third person. There's a third installment coming next year, called Dreamfall Chapters. I'm really psyched up for it.
 
I'm playing through Planescape: Torment again. It still looks fine with the widescreen and UI mods and plays great. More to your point though is that the story is fantastic. If you haven't played it already, I'd recommend it.
 
Spec Ops: The Line comes to mind off the top of my head. You've likely already played the new Tomb Raider.

I'll keep thinking.
 
Look at adventures. The Longest Journey, Syberia, Gabriel Knight, Sanitarium...
 
TexasAg05 said:
Spec Ops: The Line comes to mind off the top of my head. You've likely already played the new Tomb Raider.

I'll keep thinking.
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I tried Spec Ops after hearing all the hubbub. I didn't get very far because the gameplay was shit... which goes against what I said, but I have my limits. I might watch the cutscenes on YouTube.

Regarding Tomb Raider, I played it and loved it.

Tyler-Durden said:
The Longest Journey and its sequel, Dreamfall. The graphics are dated, especially TLJ, but both are fantastic. TLJ is turn-based, DF is third person. There's a third installment coming next year, called Dreamfall Chapters. I'm really psyched up for it.
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daemonmf said:
I'm playing through Planescape: Torment again. It still looks fine with the widescreen and UI mods and plays great. More to your point though is that the story is fantastic. If you haven't played it already, I'd recommend it.
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Do those have VOs? If I have to read everything, I'd rather read a book. :p
 
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daemonmf said:
I'm playing through Planescape: Torment again. It still looks fine with the widescreen and UI mods and plays great. More to your point though is that the story is fantastic. If you haven't played it already, I'd recommend it.
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Great game to play
 
The Walking Dead, though you may have already played it! The Wolf Among Us for similar reasons.
 
Any of the Telltale series should fit the bill...A wolf among us, The walking dead, etc...
 
polonyc2 said:
Bioshock is the definition of story-driven gameplay
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I've played all three and didn't like them. Much like Spec Ops, the generic shooter gameplay kills it for me.

drako said:
The Walking Dead, though you may have already played it! The Wolf Among Us for similar reasons.
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Climber said:
Any of the Telltale series should fit the bill...A wolf among us, The walking dead, etc...
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Already played TWD and Wolf Among Us. :)

For these older games everyone is mentioning, do any of them have VOs?
 
I'll second the Syberia games; good point and click adventure games with good story.

I may be looking too much through the lens of nostalgia, but if you can find The Dig anywhere...I needed SCUMM emulator to get it to run in XP, but that is a game whose story has stuck with me for 15 years...
 
PiERiT said:
For these older games everyone is mentioning, do any of them have VOs?
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Planescape has about a novel's worth of text, but only maybe 1% of that is voiced.

It seems what you may actually be looking for is called a movie. :p
 
Tyler-Durden said:
The Longest Journey and its sequel, Dreamfall. The graphics are dated, especially TLJ, but both are fantastic. TLJ is turn-based, DF is third person. There's a third installment coming next year, called Dreamfall Chapters. I'm really psyched up for it.
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TLJ is one of my favorite PC games of all time.
 
daemonmf said:
Planescape has about a novel's worth of text, but only maybe 1% of that is voiced.

It seems what you may actually be looking for is called a movie. :p
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Nah, I guess I just wasn't thinking ~2000 when I said "older games". I was in elementary school back then.

A good voice cast adds to the story. If I have to read the story, there are better and cheaper ones available on paper.
 
Dude go play planescape id you haven't its a very veary good game and if you dont want to read then dont ask for the best story games most of the old rgps you had to read everything and they still have some of the best story's of any games.
 
TexasAg05 said:
I may be looking too much through the lens of nostalgia, but if you can find The Dig anywhere...I needed SCUMM emulator to get it to run in XP, but that is a game whose story has stuck with me for 15 years...
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It was one of my favorites and I've played it again recently. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a letdown. It belongs in the childhood days :)


PiERiT said:
Nah, I guess I just wasn't thinking ~2000 when I said "older games". I was in elementary school back then.

A good voice cast adds to the story. If I have to read the story, there are better and cheaper ones available on paper.
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I disagree and think you'll miss out on some great games and entertainment.

Oh, and anything >2000 is new for me :)
 
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Probably already played it, but I loved the new Tomb raider, one of the few story-ish games I've completed and enjoyed. I couldn't play through any of the mass effect games due to too much story...so I'm on the other end, too much story and I loose interest. lol
 
classic adventure games had some of the best storylines in games, mainly because they didn't really focus on action or other elements, it was for the most part the characters, storylines, and puzzles that made up the adventure genre.

Syberia I and II are one of my favorite adventure series and have such a moving storyline and characters.

Sanitarium is another personal favorite. It's hands down one of the CREEPIEST adventure games, or games in general, has a great creepy atmosphere and will get under your skin.

Gabriel Knight is also another classic series and one of my personal favorites, it was recently announced that Jane Jensen (creator of the GK series) is working on a remake of the first game that will be coming out in the future, though sadly the voices have changed (Tim Curry did the voice for Gabriel in the 1st and 3rd game).

The second game in the Gabriel Knight series is an FMV adventure game, it can be a bit campy but it's a fun and memorable game.

TLJ and Dreamfall are one of hte highest rated adventure series and there's a third one on the way.

Also I would recommend Gray Matter, it's a more recent game from Jane Jensen that I enjoyed.

There's the Broken Sword series which is another great adventure game series, some of the earlier ones have been remade for modern systems too.


All of the games mentioned have Voice work.
 
Already played and enjoyed The Witcher 2.

For all of these older games, I'm sure they are great, but unless they have voice acting they're not how I want to spend my time. You're looking at someone who got distracted ten times while trying to write this post. If I have to read every line of dialogue in a game, I won't last long.

How about closer to 2004? Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines is one of my favorite games ever and was fully voice acted. Anything else of note from that era or later?
 
PiERiT said:
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines is one of my favorite games ever and was fully voice acted.
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^ Awesome game


Check out Dracula 3, if you're into point and click. Also, Scratches. Both have great storylines. Each are well written and aimed for a mature audience.

I thought Alan Wake had an interesting story. Huntsman: The Orphanage has a deep storyline and you would be supporting a great indie developer.
 
Anachronox was amazing & well done. Whitty, funny & voiced! Get it at GOG.
You said *older games* sooo. Oblivion?? Yeah its good!
+1 on Giants Citizen kabuto! VERY fun/funny.
Final Fantasy 10 & 12 are voiced.. decent stories...

I know you said voiced, but some older rpgs like Xenogears and xenosaga 1-3, and FF6, Star Ocean, Chrono Trigger, have great stories as well...
 
PiERiT said:
Already played and enjoyed The Witcher 2.

For all of these older games, I'm sure they are great, but unless they have voice acting they're not how I want to spend my time. You're looking at someone who got distracted ten times while trying to write this post. If I have to read every line of dialogue in a game, I won't last long.

How about closer to 2004? Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines is one of my favorite games ever and was fully voice acted. Anything else of note from that era or later?
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A lot of the great adventure games had voice acting in the 90's. Many of the ones mentioned in this thread (Syberia, Gabriel Knight, Sanitarum, The longest journey/dreamfall, etc).

Gray Matter is one of the newer games mentioned:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3ggRFkhAxg


Tex Murphy is another good fmv based adventure series (Which is getting a new game thanks to kickstarter).

It's a futurstic noir thriller/comedy game (think Blade Runner but more comedic, but still drama/series parts).

You can see how it is by watching a youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JV-HjV257XU

Another classic comedy adventure game is Grim Fandango:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q90SnBh4ogU


Also if you like a more whimsical stories/characters the Daedelic adventure games are good and have a certain charm to them (like older disney animated movies).

The Whispered World:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVY_bw1Ty-I

Memoria:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPkIjHPAeOY

Night of the Rabbit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTZHzetlkLI
 
Tyler-Durden said:
The Longest Journey and its sequel, Dreamfall. The graphics are dated, especially TLJ, but both are fantastic. TLJ is turn-based, DF is third person. There's a third installment coming next year, called Dreamfall Chapters. I'm really psyched up for it.
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I'm excited for Dreamfall chapters as well. Thought it was vaporware until the kickstarter (which I backed, but don't really keep track of updates).

Always loved adventure and point and click games ever since I experienced Full Throttle long ago...lol.
 
PiERiT said:
Already played and enjoyed The Witcher 2.

For all of these older games, I'm sure they are great, but unless they have voice acting they're not how I want to spend my time. You're looking at someone who got distracted ten times while trying to write this post. If I have to read every line of dialogue in a game, I won't last long.

How about closer to 2004? Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines is one of my favorite games ever and was fully voice acted. Anything else of note from that era or later?
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Syberia, Syberia 2 and The Dig are all voice acted. The main character of The Dig is voiced by Robert Patrick (T-1000 in Terminator 2).
 
Meeho said:
It [The Dig] was one of my favorites and I've played it again recently. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a letdown. It belongs in the childhood days :)
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That's too bad. I still feel like that one deserves the remake treatment a la Monkey Island.
 
Have you tried Deus ex: HR? Very story driven (im sure you played it though).
 
I appreciate the suggestions, but I think I did a poor job explaining what I'm looking for. I want games with good stories, but not just a good story. Gameplay is important too. Point and click isn't my thing, nor is old-school adventuring. Hopefully this thread helped some of you so it doesn't end up a total waste. :p

Some of these have been mentioned, and they're more what I'm looking for. Unfortunately I've already played them all because they're recent AAA 9/10 games that everyone knows of. Anything similar that maybe didn't garner as much attention, or something from more than a couple years ago that I may have missed?

Tomb Raider
Deus Ex: HR
Oblivion & Skyrim
The Witcher 2
Batman: Arkham Asylum & City
DmC
Dragon Age
Fallout 3/NV
Far Cry 3
Max Payne 3
Portal 2
Sleeping Dogs
 
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If TLJ is getting recommendations (one of my favorites), the Syberia games should be included as well.
Great story based adventures from around the same timeframe.
 
Try Cryostasis: sleep of reason. Very interesting game. Also try the Amnesia series.
 
leSLIe said:
That's an ancient game!!!! But pretty good one
I remember playing it on my Geforce1 DDR :p:cool:
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My friends and I had a blast playing this together over LAN.

Its funny though, for the game being as old as it is, it still works perfectly with widescreen resolutions out of the box.
 
I didn't see Mass Effect on your list, and it is a fantastic game with a great story. The ending of 3 was a little disappointing, but the series as a whole is very good.
 
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