Good Storyline Games?

Can anyone recommend any games that are fun to play as well as story-driven?

I'm waiting anxiously for Bio-shock and need to occupy my time. I loved the KOTOR story and am praying they release Mass Effect on PC.

Anything in those veins?

 

OOOO Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines: one of the most intense storylines ever

 

Really? I always remembered that being so hyped as it was one of the first games to use the Source Engine along with HL2.

I heard it was buggy as an outhouse though.

And should you have experience with the first Vampires game before trying it?

 

yes it was buggy. but ever since the collapse of Troika games, there has been fan made patches, and they are still coming out with new patches every so often. So you can say the games legacy still lives.

After installing those, I have had no trouble with the games.

No I never had the oppertunity to play the first one. heard it was good too

 

Neverwinter Nights 2 has a very open-ended and engaging story line. It starts off slow but is definitely worth it.

 

Have heard conflicting reviews of NWN2. I was also having a glance at Condemned...

Should you play the first Neverwinter to enjoy the second?

 

Best storyline games I have played:

Halflife
Halflife 2
Halo 1 (and Halo book series)
FEAR
Resident Evil Series

Beyond Good and Evil (real treat, this one)
The Longest Journey
Dreamfall

Starcraft
Starcraft: Brood War
C&C series (although I guess you could jump to the newest one if you wanted and just watch all of the original cutscenes from the internet to skip the oldr games).
Warcraft Series
Supreme Commander (not as strong as the others here, but it ends with a cliffhanger and promises a storyline heavy expansion).

KOTOR was pretty nice.
Diablo (meh, it was not as great as others)
Oblivion (stronger sandbox than story, but still many interesting plots involved)
SystemShock 1 (really awesome, back in the day)
SystemShock 2 (different, but continuing the cool storyline)
Arcanum
Fallout 1
Fallout 2
*hopefully* Fallout 3
DONT play Fallout Tactics

As was mentioned in the most recent PC Gamer editorial intro, games still have not quite captured the purity of the storyline in a great novel (due to the fact that in a novel, you essentially build the universe in your mind). It IS getting nearer to movie quality storyline with games like Halflife 2, though.

That doesn't mean that you cannot have a very engaging experience while playing a video game. I think that the games I have listed are more storyline based than others I have played. You'll notice RPGs have a higher likelyhood of following a storyline.

I'm sure there are others, but I can't think of them.

 

did you play the sequel to kotor? i found both really excellent.
another game with a good story is dreamfall: the longest journey. however the game doesn't have much action, the plot is great though.
also half-life 2 has a great environment and story. even though gordon doesn't talk, you can figure out what's happening, and the experience is very unique. lots of variety + a gravity gun.
dark messiah of might and magic is also good, but the ending can be figured out too, and it kind of reminds me of the first kotor.
fear and condemned are great as well. very scary... and fear has the best shooting so far. but you need a good rig to run those 2.
last games i want to recommend are the tom clancy games, especially rainbow six vegas and splinter cell chaos theory/double agent. double agent is the latest but i found chaos theory the best from the splinter cell series.

 

Half-Life Series, couldn't agree more.
Halo, played Halo 1, wasn't too impressed so I decided to take a pass on Halo 2.

FEAR and Res Evil - Both amazing

I've been thinking about getting into Beyond Good and Evil but it's just always looked so silly to me so I haven't taken the plunge yet. Maybe I will now.

Played Dreamfall about halfway through but didn't really enjoy it... I think I would a lot more if I'd ever played the Longest Journey. I heard a lot of Longest Journey's puzzles were ridiculously contrived though.

I will whole heartedly agree with all your RTS picks.

KOTOR, Diablo, Oblivion and the Systemshocks were amazing. I couldn't really get into Arcanum or the Fallouts though. (My bro however played through both Fallouts and SWEARS by them. And he doesn't even really like PC games that much.)

Maybe I'll try Beyond Good and Evil after it being recommended so many times.

EDIT: @ Spider_3000: I really loved both KOTORs. I WISH they'd get on the third one!
Never even heard of Dark Messiah? I'll have to look it up.

I love all the Splinters and own each. (Currently on the 2nd mission of Double Agent) I've never tried Vegas or Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter though. Maybe I'll try those as well. Thanks!

 

Dark Messiah was made by Arkane Studios using the Source engine, and it's like 1st person RPG. You can choose what kind of character you want to have and you build towards that. There're warriors, archers, stealthy guys and wizards. It's short though compared to HL2.
And I highly recommend Vegas if you got the rig for it. Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 1 and 2 are very difficult on the PC because the developers thought to make it more tactical and challenging because you have the mouse. The 360 version has more action in it.

I also forgot about S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Hitman Blood Money, The Chronicles of Riddick, and even though it's not an action game, you should have a look at DiRT.

 

Beyond Good & Evil, definitely. It's a beautiful game in every way possible. (Also you should be able to find it in the bargain bin for a couple of dollars )
Fantastic game. Play it.

The Longest Journey (and Dreamfall) are both really nice storywise, but the puzzles and a few other things can be a bit trying at times. Still, both are worth playing just for the story.

Also, Vampire: Bloodlines was great. A bit buggy, but nothing that really caused me problems. Mostly it just seemed to be performance-related bugs, which are at least bearable. And no, I didn't play the first game, and didn't really miss anything. They're completely separate stories, that are just set in the same universe.

 

I see. I heard STALKER was really immersive, kind of like a first person Fallout. I'm definitely feeling like Beyond Good and Evil would be a good choice to start with though. People who've played seem to really love it.

And I'll agree Dreamfall had a really neat story, I just definitely have to play the first. I missed more than a few references back to the first. (My friend nearly died at the mention of the name "April". I was completely lost).

 

Playing NWN 1 isn't necessary. The story lines aren't really connected in any way.

Josh

 

FABLE!!!! That was a lot of fun, and a good story line. Also, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., and KOTOR I and II

 

BioShock seems to have a very original story line.

 

Thought of another one,
Psychonauts!

Great game, incredibly innovative platforming (I.E. ACTUALLY FUN)

Heh.
I played through Prince of Persia games for the storyline, even though in reality you only get a really little bit to go on and then have to beat like 12 really difficult areas to get the next tidbit of information.

Once again, I have to recommend getting Beyond Good and Evil.

I bought BG&E on a whim, I thought it looked suspiciously like Pokemon Camera or something silly like that.

It's not. You DO take pictures of creatures, but that's not what the game is based around. There is a little bit of everything and the storyline is just plain interesting. Plus, it's more approachable than Longest Journey, Dreamfall, or Myst because it's got action (fun action) mixed in with the "adventure." I'd vote BG&E best storyline out of any game I have ever played. You become hopelessly connected to the characters. I swear it's like reading a great novel.

EDIT: While I have played both the PC and XBOX versions, I prefer the XBOX version simply because the gamepad seemed simpler to use. If I'd started with the PC version, I'd probably say the opposite.

Oh, I don't think they were ever on PC, and I never got into them, but my friend really enjoyed the Metal Gear series.

All of you guys talking about Bloodlines makes me want to buy it on steam. I played the demo...it didn't AMAZE me, although it was fun.

Can those of you who have played Dark Messiah tell me if the buggyness issues have been fixed? I heard that it was terrible because there were so many game-breaking bugs! I'm willing to give it a shot if it's been cleaned up a bit.

 

Stlaker. Awesome game that is even better when u know Russian. Hopefully they will make a sequal. Jade Empire seems good, but I just started, so who knows. HL2 was good, even though u felt left out untill u had a team with u.
Starcraft 1 if u like strategy. Bioshock and Starcraft 2 should be good when they come out.

 

try indigo prophecy too

 

And some of them are funny as hell...

CARLSON AND PEETEEEEERS!!!

 

syberia series for point and click adventure games

 

Baldur's Gate: Throne of Bhaal is definitely one of the best storyline games I have ever played. Hell, you get to play a spawn of the Lord of Murder! How cool is that? Playing the bad guy never felt so good, and at the beginning, you're already sent to the Underworld. Very fun, and I hardly ever get into those games.

Nox is also a great game. Oldy but a goody.

 

More to report!

Just finished up Supreme Commander. The little tidbits of story you get are actually pretty enticing. I can't wait for what happens next (as hinted at by teasers in the original) in Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance (November, 2007).

ALSO! I FINALLY finished F.E.A.R. Extraction Point.
I finished the original FEAR a year or so ago, I thought it was pretty freaky with an interesting premise. Still, the expansion is simply a "from point A to point B" for the hero.

From what I've heard, F.E.A.R. 2 (working title) will focus a little bit more on you (as the main character), and Alma (creepy little girl). It seems people got a little sick of the endless offices and gunfights and actually wanted to know what was going on!! I'm looking forward to this sequel, the preliminary sketches and game-art look very life-like. I hope they pump some more humanity into it, I've gotten sick of seeing ALL of my comrades get mutilated by Replica soldiers and/or Alma herself.

Oh, and on the MMO front... Tabula Rasa looks like it might be interesting. You can find the new trailer here: Gamespot