Raptor6411's forum posts
That may sound strange coming for a guy who thinks that Fallout and Fallout 2 are the best games ever made, but in the Fallout series the story really resides in the world itself and provides loads of atmosphere, and it only drives you as much as you want it to. Playing Planescape is like playing a novel, which I think is what you were looking for.
Keep in mind that doesn't make it the greatest game ever. The combat is rather weak and many aspects of the interface are poorly implemented. It is a testament to the writing that it makes up for all of that.
Other than that, most any highly regarded adventure game will provide you with a great story driven experience. Grim Fandango is my favorite of these, both for story and the spirit of the game. It's also funny as hell, which doesn't hurt. For story driven action games System Shock 2 comes most prominently to mind. Deus Ex comes in a close second, and is really a sort of spiritual brother to System Shock both in gameplay and the story quality. You can't go wrong with the Half-Life series either, though if you really want to understand that world and what makes Half-Life work you'll have to do some reading outside the game or put the pieces all together yourself. American McGee's Alice has good gameplay and an excellent concept. The Max Payne series and Mafia both deliver an above average story for an action game.
If you're looking for something different than adventure, RPG or action then there are the small handful of Real Time Strategy games that pay off an excellent story. Myth: The Fallen Lords is the best one I know of- its story is superb, Tolkien inspired war of good versus evil that begins at its end rather than its beginning, when humankind has been pushed back to the remnants of its former holdings and final defeat is near. It's probably the most hopeless game I've ever played and remains that way all the way up to its end, which makes it a very powerful experience. You really feel like you're up against impossible odds, and that there's simply no hope of winning. The second Myth is still a great RTS but lost most of that feeling; however, it still retains the great world created in the first one. Homeworld is another good story RTS.
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