EPTThe best story in a video game ever - Page 14
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Endymion
United States3701 Posts
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UrASofty
Canada772 Posts
On November 06 2010 00:19 junemermaid wrote: Xenosaga II and III were trash. Can't believe they ruined it. Thinking of it just gets me mad as hell. Also, Xenogears > Torment in the story department. Torment was amazing, but it ain't no Xenogears. I also enjoyed The Witcher's story much more than Torments. Xenosaga II was definitely a step down from the first one and basically messed up the entire series, but xenosaga III wrapped the entire thing up nicely. I thought the story was great and engaging, even with the huge blunder that was xenosaga II. the cut scenes and character development was also a nice touch. | ||
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Bartuc
Netherlands629 Posts
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kAra
Germany1353 Posts
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Ventil
Sweden414 Posts
I agree completely with his writeup actually. | ||
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simme123
Sweden810 Posts
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Unimatrix
Netherlands9 Posts
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Neivler
Norway911 Posts
I personally loved Grim Fandango. The tension and the way it builds up is something you dont find very often. It is deep, funny and have no plot holes at all, unlike the game below  FF7 is a very good game, but the story aint that special. | ||
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levelping
Singapore759 Posts
I think first of all, this kind of forum discussion usually ends up unnecessarily heated. And there's nothing really wrong with that. People like to talk about they games they like, and dropping names is the easiest way to do that. And considering that many of us now are adults who grew up on certain games, games you played while in that formative mental stage as a teenager are going to leave a huge imprint. FF 7 enjoys a huge following mostly because it was the first 3D RPG and most of the time the first RPG most people played. I'm not saying that FF 7 has a bad story (i've never played it), but that i'm sure that it's status as one of the first RPGs people play will undoubtedly influence people's choice. Now, there are games with good stories, and then there are games with good stories. A lot of consideration into how good a game's story is actually depends on all kinds of things. A game's story itself might actually be not so important. The best way to show this is to start with some examples. Dead Space versus System Shock. Both are excellent games, but SS shines for better story whereas DS simply packs in the atmosphere, imo. Consider this - both are essentially space survivals. However while DS is based on something akin to the cthulu mythos, SS presents to you a thinking, calculative villain that is bent on killing you, SHODAN was basically HAL on crack. Thus, the emotional engagement becomes much greater as opposed to DS - DS has some evil dead zombie things and a vague "evil corporation" thing going on, while SS has villany that is staring you right in your face. Having said that, DS is clearly more atmospheric, mostly thanks to the advantage of technology. Significantly it has no HUD at all, so players are focused more on the action. Further some of the set pieces are really breath taking, especially the zero -g puzzles. Objectively speaking, I would say that SS has better writing, better ideas behind the plot and overall a better story. If both SS and DS were books in front of me, I'd easily pick SS. But games aren't books - how the story is told matters and in this sense, you don't just read something off a book. DS lets you live through the tale better, and it's just in the nature of storytelling via a game that interaction is as important, if not more, than character development and good writing. So having laid this out, I think it's easy to just name some games that have excellent production values (in generally good storytelling, even if the story is so so). Uncharted 1 and 2 (for something that is essentially a remake of Indiana Jones, it is still an amazing game and story experience. You actually feel for Nathan Drake, and cheer him a little when he finally gets the girl) Dead Space etc, On the other hand, there are games whose game play is so good that it influences our decisions on whether it has a good story or not. Objectively, Starcraft is a space soap opera. Not that it's terrible, but perhaps just above average, and certainly not "the best." Most of blizzard's games are actually in there too. If you see warcraft, Diablo and Starcraft together, you'd realize that the same themes, character types and plots are just being repeated over and over. Even the art style is nothing to write home about - big shoulders and bigger weapons. But, where blizzard gets it right (and damn do they get it right), is the game play, and we love them for it. Having said that, maybe we should learn to distinguish better between good game play and good story. Taking all the above together, I fully agree with the OP. PS:T is just one of those games where everything clicked together very well. O sure its combat had its bugs, but aside from that (and you could get through a surprising amount of things without ever fighting) it pushed all the right buttons. Great over-arching plot? check. From the beginning to the end, there is this pervasive idea of destiny, that you are really caught up in something much larger than you (ironically the something much larger might also be you... spoilers!). Small little side plots that are hilarious and funny? Check (Bioware does these little small plots really well too, but I feel that their overall package never really reached the levels of PS;T) Characters? Simply hands down amazing. The thing about your part in PS:T is that while they are all weird and crazy, they all represent little bits of existential angst that we might face in real life. It's not afraid to just go out there and ask big questions like "why am I here?" and to tackle serious emotional baggage like betrayal, manipulation and unrequited love. And all this is not even talking about the specific dialog. The whole transcript that you can read over and over and still find little references to new things. It is an amazing game. The only fault I could say is that it is unashamedly serious about what it does, and therefore in an age of Farmville, micro games and attention spans that are really short, PS:T might seem woefully not relevant anymore. Having said that, I am sure that the legacy of PS:T can be taken up someday, both to introduce new people to the mythos as well as please old fans. I mean I am a huge LOTR purist, and I think overall the movies have been a great thing to happen to the series. | ||
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slith
Germany165 Posts
oh, and Baldurs Gate of course. I had to lol so often. I can't decide, really. Fallout's got the best humor, though. | ||
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maliceee
United States634 Posts
On October 27 2010 10:24 SirToonces wrote: I enjoyed the story for Ogre Battle 64. Dark, Intriguing, Awesome. I thought I was the only one Q.O... Shadow of the Colossus, even with the lack of words, had an intuitive story and atmosphere that demanded attention. Final Fantasy 6 was ahead of its time in terms of character developement. Final Fantasy 7, after I played FF9, I feel is just an earlier and more inferior version. Character designs were just way fucking cooler. | ||
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Fugitive789
Belgium13 Posts
has always been my number one. I've never played FFT, but i played FF7, 8, 9, 10 (and the silly X-2) And i have to say that (just like doerit) FF8 was my favourite, followed closely by FF10. People tend to rage all over me telling how on earth i can like FF8 more than FF7 or FF10, please don't, it's just my opinion. *Edit* I'd like to add that Mass Effect took alot of inspiration from Unreal2: The Awakening, even though the latter was only 6 hours worth of playtime, the storyline tends to overlap at some points, ruining ME for me. | ||
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Haemonculus
United States6980 Posts
ME 1 and2 were also fantastic, <3 | ||
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oN_Silva
197 Posts
On November 08 2010 22:24 Unimatrix wrote: Definitely Deus Ex agreed. best. Ever. | ||
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lakritzc
Sweden164 Posts
I think Final Fantasy 7 is overrated, even though I loved the game, it's a cool world and has a cool villain, the only things I don't like is that they made so much FF7 related stuff, FF7CC, Advent children and so on. That kinda ruined it for me. Will never forget my childhood memories in Midgar Slums though, I was stuck there forever, searched every single house, it's like implanted into my brain. I prefer Final Fantasy 8 or 6, it feels like FF8 is more cynical and a tad more mature and FF6 is just straight out charming. And Chrono Cross has an intense story, really sad actually, anyone who likes JRPG to some extent will be blown away after a few hours of playing. Tried Fallout 1 & 2 because a friend of mine recommended them, never really got into the games though, didn't really know what to look for, it felt too old. | ||
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KaiserReinhard
United States554 Posts
One of the games that really comes to mind for me right now is Homeworld, which in my opinion not only had an awesome story, but it was so well paced and delightfully simple that I couldn't help but love it. It's also an excellent example of storytelling in an RTS, where one doesn't focus on individual characters but uses the epic scale of an RTS game to tell the story of entire civilizations. The soundtrack also was excellent, especially their use of that one song from Platoon. | ||
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Mythago
Finland33 Posts
On October 28 2010 17:35 No_Roo wrote: Star Control 2 has not been mentioned here yet? It's certainly my #1 for best story in a movie/book/game of all time, and it happens to have an excellent acronym. The game was ported to windows under the name "Ur-Quan Masters" several years back and is available on sourceforge. If you were not aware of this game and want to experience the greatest old school space opera of all time then give it some research then check it out! Got some really great memories with that game from the 90's. | ||
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DorF
Sweden961 Posts
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Billy_
461 Posts
On November 10 2010 17:34 KaiserReinhard wrote: Complexity a good story does not necessarily make. One of the games that really comes to mind for me right now is Homeworld, which in my opinion not only had an awesome story, but it was so well paced and delightfully simple that I couldn't help but love it. It's also an excellent example of storytelling in an RTS, where one doesn't focus on individual characters but uses the epic scale of an RTS game to tell the story of entire civilizations. The soundtrack also was excellent, especially their use of that one song from Platoon. Yes. Also, despite the horribly outdated graphics it still looked really good when I first saw (few months ago) the camera pan around the mothership or the sight of a swarm of scouts leading the charge backed up by destroyers, ion frigates and missle carriers in a large battle. | ||
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markisha
Serbia1 Post
 the story is great! | ||
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