Best Story in a game?

Topic.

Just wondering what game the common forum-goer considers to have the best story. Any genre is fair game, and it's always cool to tell why you chose your choice.

Discuss. :)

Knights of the Old Republic!!!

There are a few great stories out there. Half life 1 & 2, Elder Scroll series, NWN series, Deus Ex 1, Bioshock, Fable, Stalker, Condemened and Two Worlds just to name a few. But, by far, one of the greatest stories ever told ina video game has to be Advent Rising. The game received so-so reviews, i thought it was pretty decent, but the story is great. To each their own, though.

Topic.

Just wondering what game the common forum-goer considers to have the best story. Any genre is fair game, and it's always cool to tell why you chose your choice.

Discuss. :)

jazztrumpet5

If we're talking about "any game" then the PC doesn't flourish so much when it comes to storylines. Why? Because we don't have RPGs (the types of RPGs that have storylines that leave an IMPACT on the world).

Oblivion
Morrowind
KOTOR (not the 2nd)
Monkey Island 3

The Half-life seriesFatSlasH

Half Life never had a real storyline. The series was created mainly for revolutionary gameplay purposes...hell, I thought Halo had a better story.

KotOR.

Half-Life Series.

Elder Scrolls Morrowind(Oblivion's story was weak).

Fallout.

Wow there have been so many great stories. I have to completely disagree with the person that says the PC's stories don't stack up well against consoles. I will take the story of a Baldur's gate or Half-Life 2 anyday over the final fantasy series (please notice I expressed a preference there and DID NOT say the FF stories have been bad, they were not).

But for my all time favorite story, it had to be Grim Fandango.

The story drew me in, made me care about the characters, made me laugh, and finished with a satisfying ending. There are many great stories out there, some even in console gaming. But for me at least Grim Fandango stands head, err. skull and shoulders above them all.

my 2 cents.

"Misery is the river of the world... everybody row" Tom Waits

Sid Meier's Alpha Centaurikantjd

very good pick.

"Misery is the river of the world... everybody row" Tom Waits

I have to say Planescape: Torment.

It is by far my most favorite story ever, be it book, movie or game.

The Sims 1 & 2, GTA, Battlefield 2, and Geometry Wars.

But seriously KOTOR and HL2

[QUOTE="FatSlasH"]The Half-life seriesSkullheart

Half Life never had a real storyline. The series was created mainly for revolutionary gameplay purposes...hell, I thought Halo had a better story.

Half-Life indeed has a real storyline and revolutionary gameplay as well. You are trying to demean Half-Life with Halo? Halo also had a very amazing storyline.

Here are my choices:

* Half Life series

* Xcom Series (mostly 1 and 2)

* Homeworld series

* System Shock 2

* Monkey Island series

* Command and Conquer series

* Halo CE

And one of my favorites: the Mechwarrior series (lots and lots ofbackstory there)

Oh my only 1 game to pick?

Impossible! :? They can be funny, sad, thrilling or any combination of those...anyway a few I cannot leave out of my list:

FF-VII

The Longest Journey

Monkey Island

Fallout

KOTOR

The Dig

why does everybody keeps calling HL and Halo? those two games had a horrible storyline!

"oh noes aliens invaded our planet...again!" "oh noes the aliens have a weapon of mass destruction... again!"

Now Max Payne, that was a game filled with a story! All those plot twists and different characters, not to mention the way the story was told (gotta love a noir story), I cant name one game that did the same... whilst there are millions of Halo and Half Life clones out there....

These are old school:

Betrayal at Krondor

Gabriel Knight

Under a Killing Moon

Grim Fandango

Fallout

Day of the Tentacle

New stuff:

Half Life series

Max Payne was well told but predictable

1. Dark Messiah: Might & Magic

2. Clive Barkers: Undying

Have you even played these games? Now it doesnt matter if you like role-playing/strategy/fps or whatever.... this games will blow your brains out. Not do these two games have only the best Stories, but stories that are plot twisting like hell andthe twisted story will even shock you in Dark Messiah at near end of game.They have thebest gameplay ive seen aswell.... and especially if you try Dark Messiah... pick up a Samurai Sword and chop peoples body parts out in Highest Physics and Realism in slow motion while being chassed by Einstein intelligent Goblins and what not!!

+ Jade Empire

+ WarCraft III

+ Mafia

+ Max Payne 2

my three favourite game stories are the original silent hill (not a pc game, but screw you guys!), it's very intelligent and touching and some of the moments i felt such powerful emotion in a way i have felt in very few games... the problem with it is it's extremely poorly written and the voice acting is dire, and you really have to pull the story out yourself... but interpreting the symbolism is all part of the fun, in fact it probably makes it more intelligent, since it isn't just telling you what happens (unlike the film!)

the max payne games also are contrary to the above in that they are pretty cliche stories, nothing special - seen that kind of thing in many games, only the presentation of the story is so masterful, from the beautiful graphic novel panes to the spectacular voice acting and (mostly) well written dialogue... it's just a joy to experience the story unfold

system shock 2 is probably an expert combination of the two above concepts, it has an awesome story with a great twist, the story is masterfully well told through various mechanics that are fairly well known to the gaming public now thanks to bioshock, only shock 2 does it so much better - and it features two simply awesome characters i just enjoyed experiencing... i was genuinely sad when it was over

for all the people saying half life has a great story, i find this confusing - half life's story is: experiment goes wrong (or DOES IT?? DUN DUN DUNNNNNNN), aliens come through, vague semi-mysterious character shows up, we fight back,travel to the heart of the invasion, thwart it, the end!

sound familiar? cough*doom*cough - half life doesn't really have a story, stories are driven by events and dialogue, half life has a scenario thinly draped over gameplay, imo, and nothing more - the same can be said for most games, especially games with less than 50 lines of dialogue

Planescape: Torment

If games today had at least half the story that game had...

my three favourite game stories are the original silent hill (not a pc game, but screw you guys!), it's very intelligent and touching and some of the moments i felt such powerful emotion in a way i have felt in very few games... the problem with it is it's extremely poorly written and the voice acting is dire, and you really have to pull the story out yourself... but interpreting the symbolism is all part of the fun, in fact it probably makes it more intelligent, since it isn't just telling you what happens (unlike the film!)

the max payne games also are contrary to the above in that they are pretty cliche stories, nothing special - seen that kind of thing in many games, only the presentation of the story is so masterful, from the beautiful graphic novel panes to the spectacular voice acting and (mostly) well written dialogue... it's just a joy to experience the story unfold

system shock 2 is probably an expert combination of the two above concepts, it has an awesome story with a great twist, the story is masterfully well told through various mechanics that are fairly well known to the gaming public now thanks to bioshock, only shock 2 does it so much better - and it features two simply awesome characters i just enjoyed experiencing... i was genuinely sad when it was over

for all the people saying half life has a great story, i find this confusing - half life's story is: experiment goes wrong (or DOES IT?? DUN DUN DUNNNNNNN), aliens come through, vague semi-mysterious character shows up, we fight back,travel to the heart of the invasion, thwart it, the end!

sound familiar? cough*doom*cough - half life doesn't really have a story, stories are driven by events and dialogue, half life has a scenario thinly draped over gameplay, imo, and nothing more - the same can be said for most games, especially games with less than 50 lines of dialogue

mfsa

Ya, I understand why you dont understand why HL has a good story. But thats only because you base the story strictly on what you see. In Halflife 2, thats where you need to start forming some of your own conclusions.

For example, what are the Combine? If you listen carefully, you find out. What is the relation between the Combine and Xen? Well, the Combine seem to have weaponized headcrabs, maybe they colonized Xen and used the lifeforms for their own ends, i.e. headcrabs and vortigaunts. The story is there, it just requires a big stretch of the imagination.

Thats just the way I see it. There are some good sites out there that piece together the story based on the game, little easter eggs, and interviews.

If you want an RPG with the best story I'm going with Betrayal At Krondor made by Dynamix (Sierra) and written by Raymond E Feist. Read his books if you want some awesome fantasy reading.

If you want an adventure game with the best story, then Gabriel Knight: Sins of Fathers was a great game/story. Grim Fandango I've seen written up on the thread here and that also was great, but adventure games are mainly based on a story so most adventure games would hopefully fall in this category.

If you want the best FPS storyline ever, I'm going to have to hold my ground with Half-Life since the story is non-existent and only portions of it are revealed the rest is imagined by the player. I think that's good stuff right there. I'd say Max Payne, but why are we introduced to characters that die in like 5 seconds, plus the story was too short on that one, should have been more in-depth.

If you want the best strategy storyline ever, I'm going with StarCraft. Great characters, great story, great everything, but of course Command and Conquer comes in at a close second.

TOP 5

1. Metal Gear Solid
2. Metal Gear Solid 3
3. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
4. Indigo Prophecy
5. Metal Gear Solid 2

for all the people saying half life has a great story, i find this confusing - half life's story is: experiment goes wrong (or DOES IT?? DUN DUN DUNNNNNNN), aliens come through, vague semi-mysterious character shows up, we fight back,travel to the heart of the invasion, thwart it, the end!

sound familiar? cough*doom*cough - half life doesn't really have a story, stories are driven by events and dialogue, half life has a scenario thinly draped over gameplay, imo, and nothing more - the same can be said for most games, especially games with less than 50 lines of dialogue

mfsa

Of course it sounds familiar. The alien invasion plot has been done over and over. But that doesnt make HL a game without story. You say "stories are drive by events and dialogue". HL and HL2 were full of important events that contributed to the gameplay and to the story: the resonance cascade, the arrival of the HECU, the defeat of Nihilanth... Im just naming a few... Anyway, everyone is entitled to an opinion

Baldurs gate 2 = Simply the best!

No other game ive played has come close..