Best stories in a game ever.

Some people consider video game plots to be the bottom of the food chain when it comes to storytelling. I don't agree though. Some of the coolest and most entertaining stories are from games IMO. My personal favorites;


MGS 1, 3 and 4
KOTOR





You?

 

Final Fantasy VII. Heck, most of the Final Fantasy series if we're looking at stories rather than gameplay.

 

Final Fantasy VII and X are probably my favorite. The Metal Gear series is pretty crazy nonsense.

 

Oh and Diablo I & II. But then I did become almost addicted to those games

 

I loved Psychonauts by Tim Schafer as you can see... Um Kotor obviously, Masseffect, God Of War, MGS, Bioshock, Halo, Oddworld, GTA, The Witcher.... Jesus soo many I grew up with the original Nintendo So gaming is my life lol

 

I would contend that Mass Effect has not only a great storyline, but also a non-linear one.

 

Every Blizzard game has a deep story to it, and I find it really interesting!

 

Half-Life 2 (especially episodic content) has awesome story line.

 

vouch, FF VII all the way. The original FF Tactics also had an amazing story as well. I've played that one more times through than any other in the series.

 

+1 for kotor, mega plot twist blew my head off.
starcraft has an excellent story, especially for an rts.

 

I enjoyed Beyond Good and Evil's story alot. The ones that stick in my mind the most are FFVII, Mass Effect, Half Life Series, Tales of Symphonia, and Bioshock.. I'm sure I'll come up with more later..

 

Agreed about KOTOR and Mass Effect. KOTOR's plot hits you like a brick at one point and Mass Effect has the most epic storyline of any game I have played.

Half-Life/Half-Life 2/Half-Life 2 Episodes 1&2 are worth mentioning.

 

Ummm...have you played Blackthorne? Somewhat story-lite, but in Blizzard's defense, that was an early title and they probably didn't have a huge budget...

I'm not sure great story necessarily equals great cinematics or an imaginative environment, but those two things make us think great story...

As far as FPS, I think Half-Life 2 (and the two subsequent episodes) wins hands down...mysterious characters (G-Man), heroic characters that you miss when you think they're gone (Dog), funny characters (Dr. Kleiner and his headcrab), etc, etc...suspense throughout the game, resistance fighters providing epic seeming large battles (there's actually other stuff going on besides your gameplay), sinister revelations (Ravenholm and The Citadel), etc...

After Half-Life 2, I think the Call of Duty and Medal of Honor series do a good job of trying to make the FPS personal...I think Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault does the best job of this...the intro level, before boot camp, puts you right in the middle of story as a person vs an inconsequential gun toting, health pack seeking automaton...

But for best stories, I think the genre that is story based almost has to be at the front even though that genre has fallen out of favor...Sam and Max, Day of the Tentacle, Monkey Island, Full Throttle, Grim Fandango, and most recently, Beyond Good and Evil...but my all time favorite adventure game, and I think it has a great story (although the graphics are dated), is Sanitarium...

Great cinematics: Red Alert 3 (campy story and cheesy script with name brand actors), Diablo 2, Warcraft 3

Imaginative environment: Oddworld series, Arcanum, Septerra Core, Bioshock

 

If we're talking console, I'd say Final Fantasy X on the PS2, hands down. Computer single player, I really enjoyed Morrowind. As far as online type storylines go, like MMO's, my pick is EverQuest.

 

KOTOR hands down. I love that game. And I agree with Chaz - The Half Life series also has a great storyline.

 

KOTOR has the best storyline ever.
then maybe Bioshock.

 

BioShock has the best storyline out there, imo. The developers have paid so much attention to the little details, the little gadgets clicking in the background, the sad stories the splicers are telling us, the beautifully dark and scary underwater city..

 

What you are referring to though is the games environment, which is very well done.

I agree about the story line to a degree. Wouldn't say it is the best, but it's still pretty good.

 

So which is better KOTOR 1 or 2? I never played them much as the inventory system drove me nuts. Maybe I'll go back and play.

 

Go with KOTOR 1, the 2nd game was not as great.

As for the topic:
Not all Final Fantasy games are great (or even good). I would say for the best ones (in decreasing order): FF Tactics, FFVII, and FFVI. The other are between ok and so.

For the computer: like said above, the Half-Life series, Mass Effect (epic by all means), blizzard games (always top-notch stories).

I would add Deus Ex to the list.

 

agreed for FF7 and the KOTOR's.

I would like to seriously add the amazing 2D:
- Chrono Trigger

And the amazing:
- Metal Gear Solid series

 

oh yes! deus ex is one of my all time favs!

 

I like most of the ones mentioned so far (espeiclaly glad atleast one person said starcraft, also warcraft has lots of lore behind it too)

So I will say some new ones.

CoD4 - For a FPS game it has a really good and realistic story line and since the gameplay is so good it managed to capture you in a way to feel the story.

I liked Secret of Mana, and Final Fantasy 6 a lot as well.

 

Signed.

Diablo II had a decent story as well, abit short but still manage to stuck me in nevertheless.

 

Shin Megami Tensei Series and the Persona spin offs have great plots and backstories for tons of NPCs.

Also the Baldur's Gate series had a pretty good plotline and NPC development.

 

Metal Gear Solid obviously

But for me Xenogears takes the cake as far as stories go.

 

Only ever played the first Metal Gear Solid on the PS1, bloody great story. I also thought the COD4 story was great.

Final Fantasy 7, didn't play it, but years ago used to watch my brother playing it all night, incredible story.

Anyone remember Zelda on the Super Nintendo? Great story, great game.

 

Yes Xenogears is great, story and music and gameplay.

It was very replayable too.

 

well as for me i will have to say halo,gears of war its as good as any sci fi book i have ever read this is in my opinion of course,may will dispute this.Each to their own..also stalker series hell even crysis a bit milky but i enjoyed it

 

KOTOR... So good.

 

KOTOR 1 <-- best story ever + Mass Effect <---- 2nd best story ever , bioware ftw!

 

KOTOR is good, but really? No one says Legacy of Kain? If you haven't played through those, that's really a shame.

 

KOTOR
MGS series
FFVII
FFX
Bioshock

 

There are so many games that have great stories.

I can go back to elementary and say that Breath of Fire and FF7 had the best stories. Zelda?

I was addicted to those games in my younger years lol.

@JohnnyFlash- yeah, kain was a good story too.

For FPS story, I would have to say cod4, thats just my opinion.

 

To me it seemed like COD4 didn't really have a story or characters.

Unlike something like Halo or Half-Life for example.

 

Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven

 

Best story was Zork or Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Infocom games. Screenshots here for your amusement... lol

 

+1 for breath of fire, also........chronocross, ff6, baldarsgate, the original syphon filter for the ps1, tombraider 1 & 2....the list could just go on and on.

 

I was surprised to see Diablo 2 named, didn't see that one coming. At any rate my picks have been covered but I do have a thought here. Its been said that the game environment and the story are two different things. True enough but a game environment that supports the story makes the story more effective. Imagine bioshock with plain hallways as seen in a zillion shooters and little ambient sound other than that of your pistol firing and a cheesy synthesized electric guitar track. I think the story would have suffered a little bit because some of that story was told by the environment itself.

 

With everyone saying KoTOR... I say, KoTOR 2. If you explored the plot well, and listened in... it was much better, and so much deeper than 1. Not saying 1 is bad, no, it's amazing - but 2 builds on it and provides a so much more intricate plot.

 

I liked 2 also and the story was great until the ending where it seemed forced in the last portions as if time and money had run out and they needed to get it over with.

 

I'm surprised no-one mentioned adventures:

Syberia 1 & 2
The longest journey
And, my favourite of all games Dreamfall: TLJ

 

Legacy of Kain: soulreaver had a good storyline

 

No love for Homeworld? You play as a race that, at the height of their Empire, get banished for thousands of years to live in seclusion on a far-flung desert planet, and just when your race is re-developing space travel (where the game comes in), you discover the ship you came to the planet in, and the fact that you're not from that planet, and it all kick-starts an epic journey with the last 600k of your race, to reclaim your rightful home planet.

 

-Final Fantasy VII and VIII

-Full Throttle

-Mass Effect

-Knight of the old Republic

-Metal Gear Solid 1

 

Deus Ex deserves far, far more than an afterthought in this humble thread. It has had the most entertaining, non-linear, suspenseful plot in game in the last 10 years.... you know, IMO.

Second is Mass Effect.

Rack me, I'm out!

 

Agreed, Deus Ex has a great storyline. It's one of my all-time favorite games.

 

half-life? anyone?

 

Fallout 1.....................!

 

KOTOR 2 was fun, but it simply isn't talked about much due to the chopped ending; the ending killed the rest of the game's genius.