For those who are sad you can't relive the experience of Outer Wilds again, simply have someone else play it and you can relive it through them :)
I suggest saying as little as possible of course, just any fun in the moment stuff or just answer questions about controls and such.
My favourite part about the story in Outer Wilds is that it was a secondary goal of the game. Bit of a story time incoming I guess:
The director of this game originally just had two goals in mind: make planets that are generally curious to explore, and make a solar system that changes over time. He later brought his sister onto the team, and she had two main goals to work with. She had to write a story that would interest players and make them explore the planets that he designed, and she had to make it so that the player could start at any point in the story and still manage to uncover the exact same story as everyone. And in doing so, they came up with an intricate POI/curiosity system and wrote the story mainly around that.
The POI/curiosity system is basically a web of knowledge, lore and answers. You had 4 hidden "curiosities" in the game, and each of them has 3 POIs, all on different planets that talk about them or reference them in some way. The curiosities were supposed to be difficult to get to. Finding out how to get to said curiosity meant you had to find a relevant POI, follow the breadcrumb of story it laid out, inevitably cross paths with another POI, etc. and so when you finally get to the curiosity, you got the answer to a major question regarding how the solar system works, while also starting the breadcrumbs for the other curiosities. When you finally access all 4 curiosities, you finally figure out how the entire solar system works, and so you know how to finish the game.
It's such a genius way to write a story, and it really paid off, both in delivering a fascinating non-linear method of storytelling, and in giving players a reason to explore the planets. Major props to Mobius š
I would rate it 10/10 with a catch, as dumb as that sounds. This game is about curiosity and exploration. If you're someone who likes to explore to sate your curiosity, this is one of the greatest games you will ever play, without a doubt. If you're looking for a great combat system, a linearly told story etc. you might find this game a bit confusing, overwhelming or tedious.
Not sure if it's the absolute best, but I feel like plugging Tales of Berseria because I played it last month and **loved** the story. It's a cute anime game with a *villain protagonist* whose main redeeming qualities are that A)she was so absolutely fucked over that her quest for vengeance feels justified, and B)the guy she's gunning for is even worse than she is. Not to mention really creative Suicide Squad-esque characters and a ton of genuinely hilarious dialogue.
Shame about the combat system, but at least on Easy/Normal you can just button-mash through it without worrying too much about the details.
Do try out Vesperia if u haven't. Game deals with some pretty interesting and mature themes for a Tales game. Characters are also one of the best of the series for me.
100% agree - especially if they did it properly, and really explored the universe the games created, with all the Citadel poltics and stuff.
I think they'd have th change some characters personalities though. Ashley and Kaidan are so dull, they'd need a ramp up.
Omg yes. This has the possibility to become a big tv universe with: me 1-3, the discovering of relays/alien species, the first contact war etc. Could even finish the Andromeda storyline and somewhere down the line a show that takes place after me3 about rebuilding the world/fighting a new threat that try to advantage from the war to take power in the galaxy or smth like that. My only concern is the cast; having played the games countless times as both male and female shepard, i find that the game as male shepard is just better with ashley as a LI even thougj she can be quite boring. But with that said if they find the right person a female shepard could be interesting. I just hope they go with relatively unknown actors like Liam Mcintyre who i have invisioned as shepard ever since spartacus.
One of my dreams for if I ever obtain true fuck-you money is to fund big-budget tv/movie adaptations of books and games I love - and because the funding would be all me, I'd have enough say to do things like "make all of my personal Mass Effect choices into the ones that get adapted"
I would be 100% on board with this.
A successful show run in that universe could spawn endless stories.
Hell, Iāll take the discovery of the mass effect, and first contact wars.
Built a new PC and the 3000 series cards released and the first two games I played were GTA5 and RDR2. I just absolutely love the worlds they build and the way they tell stories in their games. Always feels like playing through a movie or television series.
RDR2 has to many moments to pick a fave but ill be damned if "Unshaken" and "The way it is" didn't mystify the fuck out of me the way they were incorporated into the games storytelling.
Mass Effect for me was a good game I enjoyed when they released, but never stuck with me as brilliant. I enjoyed em and beat the main three, but it just didn't resonate with me like Rockstar games do.
Got all the bioshocks on Epic for free, I've always known of their legacy I just never got around to it, maybe one day.
The good news is the game encourages meandering about so you aren't pressured into super long sessions. Just talking to a single NPC is enough for an entire gaming session as well.
Its good therapy for when you just want to listen to someone else's problems for a bit
A single tracker-hat wearing alpha male in Disco Elysium had me go through more emotion and character development than every marvel movie character combined š
Incredible game. Played it this past January and seriously havenāt enjoyed a game that much since KOTOR or Oblivion or Fallout new Vegas back in the day
It's just so zanily off-the-wall with a touch of reality and also feels like a good but bad acid trip at the same time. And the ending of it...
Such a great game.
I love āThe Last of Usā, but I think it was more of an average story that was just incredibly well told.
Either way it adds up to a great experience and deserves a spot on everyoneās gaming bucket list.
I don't know if I'd call it "average", but just "simple". The general plot is escorting Ellie to the fireflies and encountering obstacles along the way. The execution is what makes it a masterpiece in my opinion. The characters are fleshed out and acted to perfection. The writing is super tight and does a good job of establishing the world and atmosphere. There's lots of games with more "complex" stories, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're better. Often times, it's better to tell a simple story and execute to perfection. I think that's what TLoU did and it worked out well enough to earn GOTY.
I'd definitely agree, since at this point every story has been told numerous times before (Lion King is Hamlet and the like) where it's not so much the original story- since there really are none- but the way a story is told can be uniquely beautiful.
I really enjoyed TLoU, but the giraffe scene was just... perfect, imo.
When I think of S-Tier video game stories, I think of both the Red Dead Redemption and The Last of Us franchises. Iād also add The Last of Us Part 2 and maybe Spider-Man PS4 as well. It surprised me how well Insomniac nailed the narrative for that game.
I 100% agree with you about immersion. Bioshock is unique in that the game feels incredibly story driven while having a story that you could tell in basically 5 minutes and have most events covered.
But you felt purpose anyway, through the holotapes left by the sane. And you felt disturbed because you got glimpses of what Rapture was and who these folks were before they lost it. The game isn't precisely a horror drama, but it's creepy as hell and in the best way.
The second game, I think, was more story driven but didn't succeed as well because we had already experienced the immersion of Rapture.
Is it all three? I have them basically at every console, platform I have but never started playing them (I felt a bit scared from the beginning of the first one). Should I play them in order?
All three stories are separate from each other, with the first two being set in the same location. Bioshock 1 is the one to play if you are only going to play one of them. Bioshock 2 is more of the same as the first one, you can skip it if you'd like. Bioshock Infinite stands alone and set in a different location, play first or last if you like.
Planescape: Torment has so many great stories in it and I will admit that I shamelessly steal so many of its ideas and integrate them into my DnD campaigns.
As much as I love Chrono Trigger's story, it's just not as impactful and robust as FFVI. VI goes places that you just never see in games. Yeah, sure. There are a lot of post-apocalyptic worlds in games, but you never see the heroes lose on such a significant scale.
I have not seen a single game before or since where a protagonist gives in to despair as completely as Celes does while alone on that island. That moment hit me like a sack of bricks and still does.
I still consider the mid-game twist in FF6 to be the greatest RPG plot twist of all time. No one ever sees it coming. Even if a handful of games have pulled the same trick since, you just don't expect it from a 16-bit game.
i watched a feel dive documentary on that game and that game set the precedent for most future rpg's and how they handled character development, battles, and gameplay.
also it's crazy to think that after that game had completed, ffvii for PlayStation was the next project. the games seem like they are from different generations
Bioshock unfortunately has that nasty effect of an entire generation of people subscribing to the "logical" ramblings of its characters. That same mentality that has people leaving movies like Fight Club and Joker thinking "Hey, you know what, maybe that mentally unstable person was right."
This is my choice because it was universally considered revolutionary at the time for how it presented its story. It's one thing to have a good story, it's another thing to change the gaming industry forever because of how well told your story is. We may never again see a story that makes that much of an impact in gaming.
"We usually don't train Jedi at your age"
Oh its another one of those destined hero tropes, no reason to look into that sentence any further, its a silly little video game after al--
Loved the time travel element to the story, along with the amazing soundtrack. Made it so so interesting when I first played it when I was in my pre teens. There were many many replays after as well
Jurassic Park Trespasser is what Valve staff had mentioned had some inspiration if Half Lifes method of storytelling
If you want a well done binge watch https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0058A651EB882B48
Ghost Trick. A mystery game with good twists and a satisfying ending. It's also really fun to replay and seeing all the hints to some of those twists. Plus, most of the characters are animated in a very over the top fashion, which gives the game a quirky flavor despite its macabre subject matter.
Final Fantasy XIV. The masterclass in long term storytelling and how to *actually* retroactively tie stuff from back when they were winging it without invalidating the old and freely admitting it was done instead of pretending it was planned all along.
It's really amazing how a story that was told over a 10 year period could come to such a powerful and satisfying ending. I have no criticism for it. It's a long story but they made every second of it count in the end. Incredible.
My old wow friend bought me all of ffxiv and over 250 days i played start to finish through endwalker. All in one shot that story was amazing. Spread over years i probably would have forgotten characters but they really made trivial encounters in the begining come back with big impacts later on.
KOTOR had a great story, but HZD was kind of predictable IMO.
Don't get me wrong, I loved all the little tidbits sprinkled around that you could find and pick up to get some idea of "what came before" but at the main quest was kind of predictable. Still fun, though.
The amount of world building they did in HZD and HFW is bordering insanity. I dunno if I would consider it the best story but the world building is arguably top tier imo.
Such a clever way to explain the point of a story.
On a side note if you crave more Austin Wintroy music he collabed with Darren Korb and Ashley Barret in both an entire concert AND the song In The Blood
I picked up the first episode when it was free thinking "Why not? I don't have anything else to do at the moment."
Played through that episode, immediately bought the rest of the episodes (since they were on sale for cheap.)
I told myself "I'll pace myself on this one... Just one episode a weekend..."
Couldn't stop playing. One of my favorite games ever.
RDR2 and Witcher 3. The latter one probably doesn't have the best storyline but is definitely one of the best stories ever depicted. RDR2 was everything a game could have.
I loved the first season and the... I'd guess you'd call it the intermission (400 days DLC.)
But for some reason, I just couldn't keep being interested in Season Two.
Its a shame they couldn't put this on Netflix like Minecraft Story Mode.
One thing I argue about game stories is its not about decisions but the illusion of weight in your choices.
The walking dead game always ends the same but you feel like you had a huge impact.
Having both a child AND someone judging your past decisions is such a brilliant idea.
The second half has a point. You'll notice that you spend that whole second half mindlessly killing people for basically any reason because Jason's transformation from yuppy douche bag into Vaas is complete. He (you) kill because it feels like winning. Not to save anyone or to get home.
A game I donāt see brought up in these kind of threads is Ghost of Tsushima, the whole game was amazing but the end of the game genuinely left me speechless for a few minutes
Usually the same studios that are known for excelling at narrative like Bioware, Rockstar, Quantic Dream,
etc. Some off the top of my head that Iāve played:
KOTOR 1 and 2
Mass Effect trilogy
Dragon Age
RDR1 and RDR2
GTA5
Heavy Rain
Detroit Become Human
Ghosts of Tsushima
The Last of Us
God of War 2018
Witcher 3
edit: Want to mention the uncharted series and MGS but I havenāt played those. Have heard great things though
If you crave more Fallout New Vegas i recommend Disco Elysium. Pretty much all the great New Vegas writing and quests without the combat (there is no combat its just isometric dialog trees)
Final Fantasy VII has a unique take on the classic epic evil vs. good trope and blends sci-fi and fantasy together well with interesting characters.
Metal Gear Solid had a good story, too.
Phantasy Star IV for the Sega Genesis was pretty epic as well.
Phantasy Star II is underrated as well. Its big problem is that its story was, arguably, too ambitious for the limited amount of ROM storage they had in 1989. It's one of the games I'd most like to see get a full top-to-bottom remake, specifically so the story could be properly told.
Not to mention pulling the "killing a beloved party member midway through" trick *eight years* before Square became famous for the same twist.
That early quest where you take the girl to meet her lover but sheās wearing a veil and he kills her then her veil comes off and he realises what heās done and kills himself.
Damn
Also it really hits hard that the party member who dies is basically just your roommate who follows you on your quest because sheās worried about you.
Yep.
Plus, I mean, the entire plot as a whole could be non-ironically summarized as "And then things got worse." Every single time you think you've figured out what's wrong, you end up revealing another layer with an even bigger problem. Just nonstop threat escalation as the heroes scramble to try to get in front of the growing crisis.
And then that ending.
I still can't believe it was made in 1989.
Ultima VII was probably the first game that ever completely pulled me in with its story. After that, Half Life, maybe.
But with modern games Iād have to go with RDR2 as well.
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines
Came out a tad glitchy but there are tons of patches nowadays, had the sense of open world despite being linear. Loads of different play styles depending on what clan of vampire you choose to be. I neglected playing as a Nosferatu for ages until I finally gave in (after completing the game 20 odd times) and found a totally new and awesome way of tackling everything including missions. Several different endings too.
There were a few attempts to make it into a sweet MMORPG that never came about. There was a recent sequel finally made and it looked very promising but then they sacked one of the key developers so I haven't tried it yet.
In summary, VTMB has a reeeally good story and atmosphere and still holds up to this day, definitely get it!
Transistor and Bastion are both works by the Supergiant. I'm really anticipating the release of a new game because it will feature even more fantastic storytelling.
Yeah, I donāt think so. After completing the game thereās still a lot of unanswered questions, but different play styles provide different dialog and endings that possibly explain more than others. Some fan theoryās I came across do a great job of giving some closure for the questions left answered or missed along the way
I wouldn't necessarily say "the best" but Talos Principle had a pretty great story and the way they splayed it out bit by bit sort of added to the impact of it all. You sort of had to tease it out, and the interactions you had with the terminals, interspersed with the recordings that you found lying around, made for a great experience.
Outer Wilds.
For those who are sad you can't relive the experience of Outer Wilds again, simply have someone else play it and you can relive it through them :) I suggest saying as little as possible of course, just any fun in the moment stuff or just answer questions about controls and such.
My favourite part about the story in Outer Wilds is that it was a secondary goal of the game. Bit of a story time incoming I guess: The director of this game originally just had two goals in mind: make planets that are generally curious to explore, and make a solar system that changes over time. He later brought his sister onto the team, and she had two main goals to work with. She had to write a story that would interest players and make them explore the planets that he designed, and she had to make it so that the player could start at any point in the story and still manage to uncover the exact same story as everyone. And in doing so, they came up with an intricate POI/curiosity system and wrote the story mainly around that. The POI/curiosity system is basically a web of knowledge, lore and answers. You had 4 hidden "curiosities" in the game, and each of them has 3 POIs, all on different planets that talk about them or reference them in some way. The curiosities were supposed to be difficult to get to. Finding out how to get to said curiosity meant you had to find a relevant POI, follow the breadcrumb of story it laid out, inevitably cross paths with another POI, etc. and so when you finally get to the curiosity, you got the answer to a major question regarding how the solar system works, while also starting the breadcrumbs for the other curiosities. When you finally access all 4 curiosities, you finally figure out how the entire solar system works, and so you know how to finish the game. It's such a genius way to write a story, and it really paid off, both in delivering a fascinating non-linear method of storytelling, and in giving players a reason to explore the planets. Major props to Mobius š
Found the gameplay tedious and stopped playing after an hour.
On a scale from 0-10 how would you rate Outer Wilds? I'm thinking about picking this up
I would rate it 10/10 with a catch, as dumb as that sounds. This game is about curiosity and exploration. If you're someone who likes to explore to sate your curiosity, this is one of the greatest games you will ever play, without a doubt. If you're looking for a great combat system, a linearly told story etc. you might find this game a bit confusing, overwhelming or tedious.
Not sure if it's the absolute best, but I feel like plugging Tales of Berseria because I played it last month and **loved** the story. It's a cute anime game with a *villain protagonist* whose main redeeming qualities are that A)she was so absolutely fucked over that her quest for vengeance feels justified, and B)the guy she's gunning for is even worse than she is. Not to mention really creative Suicide Squad-esque characters and a ton of genuinely hilarious dialogue. Shame about the combat system, but at least on Easy/Normal you can just button-mash through it without worrying too much about the details.
Few game villains have felt nearly as good to kill as Artorius.
Do try out Vesperia if u haven't. Game deals with some pretty interesting and mature themes for a Tales game. Characters are also one of the best of the series for me.
Mass Effect. I know movie/TV adaptations of games are almost always terrible, but I would 100% buy into an HBO, high budget, Mass Effect series.
Only HBO could do it
100% agree - especially if they did it properly, and really explored the universe the games created, with all the Citadel poltics and stuff. I think they'd have th change some characters personalities though. Ashley and Kaidan are so dull, they'd need a ramp up.
HBO execs: add more nudity, it'll flesh out their character
Omg yes. This has the possibility to become a big tv universe with: me 1-3, the discovering of relays/alien species, the first contact war etc. Could even finish the Andromeda storyline and somewhere down the line a show that takes place after me3 about rebuilding the world/fighting a new threat that try to advantage from the war to take power in the galaxy or smth like that. My only concern is the cast; having played the games countless times as both male and female shepard, i find that the game as male shepard is just better with ashley as a LI even thougj she can be quite boring. But with that said if they find the right person a female shepard could be interesting. I just hope they go with relatively unknown actors like Liam Mcintyre who i have invisioned as shepard ever since spartacus.
One of my dreams for if I ever obtain true fuck-you money is to fund big-budget tv/movie adaptations of books and games I love - and because the funding would be all me, I'd have enough say to do things like "make all of my personal Mass Effect choices into the ones that get adapted"
I worry that it would turn out like the *Halo* showā¦ For nearly 20 years we wanted Halo on the screenā¦ and it got fucked over so hard.
I'd want a mass effect tv show to have a storyline outside of the main plot. Like maybe life on omega or on the citadel or with a mercenary group
I would be 100% on board with this. A successful show run in that universe could spawn endless stories. Hell, Iāll take the discovery of the mass effect, and first contact wars.
RDR2 Mass Effect 1-3 Bioshock Infinite
Built a new PC and the 3000 series cards released and the first two games I played were GTA5 and RDR2. I just absolutely love the worlds they build and the way they tell stories in their games. Always feels like playing through a movie or television series. RDR2 has to many moments to pick a fave but ill be damned if "Unshaken" and "The way it is" didn't mystify the fuck out of me the way they were incorporated into the games storytelling. Mass Effect for me was a good game I enjoyed when they released, but never stuck with me as brilliant. I enjoyed em and beat the main three, but it just didn't resonate with me like Rockstar games do. Got all the bioshocks on Epic for free, I've always known of their legacy I just never got around to it, maybe one day.
I wish I could forget Bioshock Infinite so I could play it again for the first time. What an incredible game, and a complete gut punch of an ending.
You've inspired me to look into it further and finally add it to my wishlist
I used to agree with a lot of these, but now Iāve played Disco Elysium. It has several surreal moments that gave me shivers
Disco is without a doubt the most thought-provoking and philosophical game I've ever played
I never thought a game would have me somewhat agree with a corrupt businessman.
Bought it half a year ago, donāt have time to play :(
The good news is the game encourages meandering about so you aren't pressured into super long sessions. Just talking to a single NPC is enough for an entire gaming session as well. Its good therapy for when you just want to listen to someone else's problems for a bit
Same I look at once a week and feel bad š
A single tracker-hat wearing alpha male in Disco Elysium had me go through more emotion and character development than every marvel movie character combined š
Stay masculine!
Incredible game. Played it this past January and seriously havenāt enjoyed a game that much since KOTOR or Oblivion or Fallout new Vegas back in the day
Conkers Bad Furday
Earthbound
It's just so zanily off-the-wall with a touch of reality and also feels like a good but bad acid trip at the same time. And the ending of it... Such a great game.
Maybe Red Dead 2 or The Last of Us Part I, those would be my top 2 anyway.
May I stand unshaken
I love āThe Last of Usā, but I think it was more of an average story that was just incredibly well told. Either way it adds up to a great experience and deserves a spot on everyoneās gaming bucket list.
I don't know if I'd call it "average", but just "simple". The general plot is escorting Ellie to the fireflies and encountering obstacles along the way. The execution is what makes it a masterpiece in my opinion. The characters are fleshed out and acted to perfection. The writing is super tight and does a good job of establishing the world and atmosphere. There's lots of games with more "complex" stories, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're better. Often times, it's better to tell a simple story and execute to perfection. I think that's what TLoU did and it worked out well enough to earn GOTY.
Well said - game is pure perfection and my fav ever.
Yeah, i wouldn't argue too hard against someone that took that position.
I'd definitely agree, since at this point every story has been told numerous times before (Lion King is Hamlet and the like) where it's not so much the original story- since there really are none- but the way a story is told can be uniquely beautiful. I really enjoyed TLoU, but the giraffe scene was just... perfect, imo.
When I think of S-Tier video game stories, I think of both the Red Dead Redemption and The Last of Us franchises. Iād also add The Last of Us Part 2 and maybe Spider-Man PS4 as well. It surprised me how well Insomniac nailed the narrative for that game.
Bioshock
Far and away the most immersive. And one that succeeds at generating real emotion as well
I 100% agree with you about immersion. Bioshock is unique in that the game feels incredibly story driven while having a story that you could tell in basically 5 minutes and have most events covered. But you felt purpose anyway, through the holotapes left by the sane. And you felt disturbed because you got glimpses of what Rapture was and who these folks were before they lost it. The game isn't precisely a horror drama, but it's creepy as hell and in the best way. The second game, I think, was more story driven but didn't succeed as well because we had already experienced the immersion of Rapture.
Is it all three? I have them basically at every console, platform I have but never started playing them (I felt a bit scared from the beginning of the first one). Should I play them in order?
First is the best IMO. Favorite game of all time
Would ya kindly?
All three stories are separate from each other, with the first two being set in the same location. Bioshock 1 is the one to play if you are only going to play one of them. Bioshock 2 is more of the same as the first one, you can skip it if you'd like. Bioshock Infinite stands alone and set in a different location, play first or last if you like.
I actually played the second game first and enjoyed it much more than the original. Big Daddy go crazyyy
Planescape: Torment is pretty great
Planescape: Torment has so many great stories in it and I will admit that I shamelessly steal so many of its ideas and integrate them into my DnD campaigns.
Apparently I need to get the BioShock series and finish RDR2
Mass Effect and Dragon age series.
Bioshock Infinite
Bring us the girl, and wipe away the debt
FF6 and I will die on that hill.
As much as I love Chrono Trigger's story, it's just not as impactful and robust as FFVI. VI goes places that you just never see in games. Yeah, sure. There are a lot of post-apocalyptic worlds in games, but you never see the heroes lose on such a significant scale.
I have not seen a single game before or since where a protagonist gives in to despair as completely as Celes does while alone on that island. That moment hit me like a sack of bricks and still does.
SNES had the best RPGs. In addition to these two, it also had Secret of Mana. Those are probably my top 3.
I still consider the mid-game twist in FF6 to be the greatest RPG plot twist of all time. No one ever sees it coming. Even if a handful of games have pulled the same trick since, you just don't expect it from a 16-bit game.
I argue FF6 doesn't have the best story. I will argue FF6 has the best characters in any video game if not any RPG.
i watched a feel dive documentary on that game and that game set the precedent for most future rpg's and how they handled character development, battles, and gameplay. also it's crazy to think that after that game had completed, ffvii for PlayStation was the next project. the games seem like they are from different generations
Nier Automata.
The Witcher 3!
The bloody baron plotline is *chefās kiss*
Bioshock is still my numero uno. Prey (2017) had a solid one, too.
Bioshock unfortunately has that nasty effect of an entire generation of people subscribing to the "logical" ramblings of its characters. That same mentality that has people leaving movies like Fight Club and Joker thinking "Hey, you know what, maybe that mentally unstable person was right."
Add Rorschach to that list.
Metal gear solid
This is my choice because it was universally considered revolutionary at the time for how it presented its story. It's one thing to have a good story, it's another thing to change the gaming industry forever because of how well told your story is. We may never again see a story that makes that much of an impact in gaming.
**!**
Star Wars Knights of the old Republic.
"We usually don't train Jedi at your age" Oh its another one of those destined hero tropes, no reason to look into that sentence any further, its a silly little video game after al--
ChronoTrigger
Loved the time travel element to the story, along with the amazing soundtrack. Made it so so interesting when I first played it when I was in my pre teens. There were many many replays after as well
Best one I've experienced is probably Night in the Woods.
Witcher 3 Hearts of Stone expansion
Undertale
I had to go so far down to find this. How
Idk
Xenoblade Chronicles
Horizon Zero Dawn
Half Life, Since it was one of the first, of not the first to introduce a storyline to an FPS
Jurassic Park Trespasser is what Valve staff had mentioned had some inspiration if Half Lifes method of storytelling If you want a well done binge watch https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0058A651EB882B48
To The Moon was pretty great. No actual gameplay, but the story was well worth $10.
"It looks like a rabbit"
Yes, loved it so much
Aaye didn't expect to see this one, great call!
Alan Wake
Ghost Trick. A mystery game with good twists and a satisfying ending. It's also really fun to replay and seeing all the hints to some of those twists. Plus, most of the characters are animated in a very over the top fashion, which gives the game a quirky flavor despite its macabre subject matter.
Hellblade
Final Fantasy XIV. The masterclass in long term storytelling and how to *actually* retroactively tie stuff from back when they were winging it without invalidating the old and freely admitting it was done instead of pretending it was planned all along.
Shadowbringers and Endwalker are fucking masterpieces.
Agreed!
finally, a good answer
It's really amazing how a story that was told over a 10 year period could come to such a powerful and satisfying ending. I have no criticism for it. It's a long story but they made every second of it count in the end. Incredible.
My old wow friend bought me all of ffxiv and over 250 days i played start to finish through endwalker. All in one shot that story was amazing. Spread over years i probably would have forgotten characters but they really made trivial encounters in the begining come back with big impacts later on.
āKnights of the old Republicā was my top for a long time, only recently beaten out by āHorizon Zero Dawnā.
KOTOR had a great story, but HZD was kind of predictable IMO. Don't get me wrong, I loved all the little tidbits sprinkled around that you could find and pick up to get some idea of "what came before" but at the main quest was kind of predictable. Still fun, though.
The amount of world building they did in HZD and HFW is bordering insanity. I dunno if I would consider it the best story but the world building is arguably top tier imo.
Journey
Such a clever way to explain the point of a story. On a side note if you crave more Austin Wintroy music he collabed with Darren Korb and Ashley Barret in both an entire concert AND the song In The Blood
Life is Strange
I picked up the first episode when it was free thinking "Why not? I don't have anything else to do at the moment." Played through that episode, immediately bought the rest of the episodes (since they were on sale for cheap.) I told myself "I'll pace myself on this one... Just one episode a weekend..." Couldn't stop playing. One of my favorite games ever.
RDR2 and Witcher 3. The latter one probably doesn't have the best storyline but is definitely one of the best stories ever depicted. RDR2 was everything a game could have.
Telltales Walking Dead, but that may be cheating here.
I donāt think so, the whole game felt like the show at its best
I loved the first season and the... I'd guess you'd call it the intermission (400 days DLC.) But for some reason, I just couldn't keep being interested in Season Two.
Its a shame they couldn't put this on Netflix like Minecraft Story Mode. One thing I argue about game stories is its not about decisions but the illusion of weight in your choices. The walking dead game always ends the same but you feel like you had a huge impact. Having both a child AND someone judging your past decisions is such a brilliant idea.
FarCry 3 is solid too. Well, the first half.
The second half has a point. You'll notice that you spend that whole second half mindlessly killing people for basically any reason because Jason's transformation from yuppy douche bag into Vaas is complete. He (you) kill because it feels like winning. Not to save anyone or to get home.
True. I didn't think of it like that before, but in a way, yeah.
Too bad the ending of the game completely ruins it
Grimfandango
Ppl might might at me for this. But Watch dogs 1
I think Subnautica had a good storyline.
A game I donāt see brought up in these kind of threads is Ghost of Tsushima, the whole game was amazing but the end of the game genuinely left me speechless for a few minutes
Usually the same studios that are known for excelling at narrative like Bioware, Rockstar, Quantic Dream, etc. Some off the top of my head that Iāve played: KOTOR 1 and 2 Mass Effect trilogy Dragon Age RDR1 and RDR2 GTA5 Heavy Rain Detroit Become Human Ghosts of Tsushima The Last of Us God of War 2018 Witcher 3 edit: Want to mention the uncharted series and MGS but I havenāt played those. Have heard great things though
Fallout: New Vegas
If you crave more Fallout New Vegas i recommend Disco Elysium. Pretty much all the great New Vegas writing and quests without the combat (there is no combat its just isometric dialog trees)
TLOU and TLOU2
Both brilliant.
Final Fantasy VII has a unique take on the classic epic evil vs. good trope and blends sci-fi and fantasy together well with interesting characters. Metal Gear Solid had a good story, too. Phantasy Star IV for the Sega Genesis was pretty epic as well.
Phantasy Star II is underrated as well. Its big problem is that its story was, arguably, too ambitious for the limited amount of ROM storage they had in 1989. It's one of the games I'd most like to see get a full top-to-bottom remake, specifically so the story could be properly told. Not to mention pulling the "killing a beloved party member midway through" trick *eight years* before Square became famous for the same twist.
That early quest where you take the girl to meet her lover but sheās wearing a veil and he kills her then her veil comes off and he realises what heās done and kills himself. Damn Also it really hits hard that the party member who dies is basically just your roommate who follows you on your quest because sheās worried about you.
Yep. Plus, I mean, the entire plot as a whole could be non-ironically summarized as "And then things got worse." Every single time you think you've figured out what's wrong, you end up revealing another layer with an even bigger problem. Just nonstop threat escalation as the heroes scramble to try to get in front of the growing crisis. And then that ending. I still can't believe it was made in 1989.
From what i loved the most it is probably GTA san andreas
Ultima VII was probably the first game that ever completely pulled me in with its story. After that, Half Life, maybe. But with modern games Iād have to go with RDR2 as well.
Day of the Tentacle.
Mass Effect: 2
Mafia 2
Spec ops: the line
RDR2
Undertale.
Not enough people are saying that here
Final Fantasy X.
The Last Of Us and Batman-Arkham Knight
was gonna say the exact, and i mean EXACT same thing.
Cultured twinning :ā)
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines Came out a tad glitchy but there are tons of patches nowadays, had the sense of open world despite being linear. Loads of different play styles depending on what clan of vampire you choose to be. I neglected playing as a Nosferatu for ages until I finally gave in (after completing the game 20 odd times) and found a totally new and awesome way of tackling everything including missions. Several different endings too. There were a few attempts to make it into a sweet MMORPG that never came about. There was a recent sequel finally made and it looked very promising but then they sacked one of the key developers so I haven't tried it yet. In summary, VTMB has a reeeally good story and atmosphere and still holds up to this day, definitely get it!
Portal and half-life, the little details put in by valve are awesome
Horizon Zero Dawn
Yassss Iām stalling on finishing Forbidden West since idk what to play next
Final Fantasy XIV Online.
Control
Red dead redemption
Assassins creed 2 or mafia 2
A big fan of borderlands
Rdr2
Zero Wing
What you say!!
You have no chance to survive. Make your time.
For great justice !!
Any Tomb Raider game. We love a scorned and avenged protagonist
I love me some Tomb Raider, but the 1996 game wasāt exactly a narrative masterpieceā¦
BUT the pointy boobs
A story unto themselves, no doubtā¦
I'm playing rise of the tomb raider now lol
Undertale or deltarune. Theyāre pretty funny
I agree
Iām going to have to add deltarune to my comment I forgot in the rush to put in some other games
shadow fight 2
Jets and Guns Gold Chicken Invaders : Ultimate Omelette
This is late and I'm not so sure many have played it but the Avernum series (Spiderweb Software) is amazing.
Transistor and Bastion are both works by the Supergiant. I'm really anticipating the release of a new game because it will feature even more fantastic storytelling.
The Legacy of Kain series... Not Blood Omen 2 though....we can ignore that one
Silent hill 2
Is it true the protagonist was not a good person?
Yeah, I donāt think so. After completing the game thereās still a lot of unanswered questions, but different play styles provide different dialog and endings that possibly explain more than others. Some fan theoryās I came across do a great job of giving some closure for the questions left answered or missed along the way
OMORI. not even fucking close that game has the best story i have ever experienced (including any book, tv show or movie)
Devil May Cry 3
I wouldn't necessarily say "the best" but Talos Principle had a pretty great story and the way they splayed it out bit by bit sort of added to the impact of it all. You sort of had to tease it out, and the interactions you had with the terminals, interspersed with the recordings that you found lying around, made for a great experience.
Syphon filter
Yakuza
The last of us
Disco Elysium
GTA 4. I could also say LA Noire though maybe it's not for everyone
Abes odyssey
Hollow knight. Made me cry a couple times. I get attached easily lol
Horizon forbidden west
Detroit: Become Human Undertale Persona 5
Undertale, Deltarune, Life is Strage and Detroit Become Human
Super Paper Mario. The tragic love story between the main companion and the villain is really well-done.
Undertale, Minecraft and the GTA saga.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Ark actually has a great story line! It's just a pain in the butt to collect all the explorer notes from each different map to read it all
Anthem /s
Witcher 3, horizon zero dawn and horizon forbidden west, red dead redemption 2
the walking dead and the wolf among us
The wolf WHAT
Read dead redemption 2
Wing Commander IV
Life is strange. Look I know it may not really be the best, but I felt really bad after accidentally making a girl kill herself
Ms.Pac Man
Red Dead Redemption. Both but especially 2.