Story-wise.


Topic inspired by the imminent release of ME3


The original Mass Effect is a top 5, IMO.

The original Resident Evil also comes to mind.

Great stories in games are few ad far between, they don't really exist on early gen consoles for obvious reasons but as they evolved, story lines started to replace challenging game play. That sucks but let me refrain from going off on a tangent.

The Metal Gear series is pretty good.

serious: ff 2 w/cecil, ff 3 w/locke, ff 7, ff tactics, ff 10, ff 12 story is decent

1 & 3 yes, 2 & 4 not so much.

Best written characters in a game, first thing that came to mind was Beyond Good & Evil.

Agree. 2 was on some bat lunacy towards the ending and 4 was just a massive ego stroke for Hideo.

Red Dead Redemption. GOAT.

my list is 3, 4, 1. i think 4s story is actually pretty fricking sweet. 2 is a huge disappointment because it starts out so fucking sweet and then gets soooooo bad and dumb.

Manhunt 1 and 2 and the whole Valis Series.

The Secret of Monkey Island
Red Dead Redemption

Dragon Age: Origins. The dialogues were the best I've seen in any game, ever.

L.A. Noire was incredible to me. Engaging story that builds up on several different levels, great dialogue and a completely satisfying ending.

Final Fantasy 7 takes some easy ways out now and then (strangers suddenly turning generous or informative just so you can get the item/hint you needed) but for an adventure it has all the elements you'll need for an epic, immersive story. It does get help from some amazing music and a great ensemble of characters, but it builds up a world and an adventure that's undeniably well written. Blew my mind in high school and still considered the holy grail of RPGs by many.

Metal Gear 2 = Sons of Liberty/ Substance? I don't remember the ending anymore just a generally awesome game, gonna replay it soon on the HD repackage.

Red Dead Redemption is a supremely fun game, but it isn't so much a narrative as it is a bunch of Old West cliches cobbled into a linear story for the purposes of game play. If the whole game was presented as a novel, there would be a lot of superfluous shit in there.

I like some of the writing for the Fallout series, not necessarily every aspect but certain storylines that are more fully realized. Like, the struggle between slavers and slaves in Fallout 3 was good, but the drama in Vault 101 was boring as hell. In New Vegas, I feel like the Dead Money and Old World Blues games are really cleverly written, while Lonesome Road and Honest Hearts were pieces of shit. Really uneven work on that game, and it shows throughout.

A couple of these are really

Metal Gear Solid? Resident Evil?? FF?

I must be missing something.

Enchantment? Enchantment!

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Cinema Dada

Pretty sure there is/was talks of a movie.

it turns out metal gear 2 is next level absurdist self-parody aka greatest story of all time








FISSION MAILED

ok

Planescape: Torment is #1, not close

Bioshock

Grim Fandango

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the boy is the father to the man

Anyways, I disagree with your statements. It has an awesome story line. Have you played the entire game?

Yes, in fact I am going through a third playthrough right now. This time, I'm trying to max out my honor before Mexico. It's a really fun game, a great use of common Western themes, but it is not a singularly well-written story. It's a nice homage to a classic genre.

Have to agree with Reggie about Red Dead.

I'd also like to point out the obvious limitations that exist when writing a story for a video game.

A bit of leeway is necessary.


I agree with you on all accounts though, Reg.


Has a game ever made anyone come close to crying?(and not because you were on verge of insanity due to being unable to complete a level)

Have to mention kotor, and SWTOR. I've played through 2 of the 8 storylines in the old republic and they're both fantastic

Batman Arkham City was pretty god damn fantastic.

I see Reggie's points, but end of the day we're talking about video game story lines/plots so a most of those same points would apply to ANY video game mentioned IMO... To me, Red Dead was one of the greatest games I've ever played because of how much I loved the story line. I like the Uncharted series for the same reason. Maybe I'm missing some great titles, but so far no one's mentioned anything that has been more impressive than Red Dead IMO.

yes, and the game in question has been mentioned in this thread.

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Cinema Dada

You have yet to mention anything about why the story is so great, Reggie has given you reasons why it isn't. The retired killer/hooker with heart of gold revenge/redemption tale is about as cliche as a western you can get, and most of the story is just a vehicle to get you from one locale to another and almost everything in the middle of the game doesn't really matter. I mean, almost of nothing of consequence happens the entire time he spends in Mexico, and that is 50% of the game.
I'd argue that the last 3 GTA games all had better storylines with better casts of characters. And I say that as a huge fan of Red Dead and westerns in general.

Also,



>>>>>> everything in this thread.

Word to poppabitch and noshades

Nah, but it made a nigga sad. The game is Trinity Souls Of Zill O'll. Its a PS3 exclusive action rpg from Koei that dropped last year. And the protagonist pretty much gets screwed in the end. I'm not gone spoil it tho. Pretty good game