Best Storylines?

J

J W

[H]ard|Gawd
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I'm sure this has been asked before, but I cannot find any good results in the search bar.

Anyway, which games have the best stories regardless of genre? I don't care that much about graphics, but certainly anything older than 6-7 years or so is pushing it for me. I'm really just looking for a kickass story.


Much appreciated.
 
Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind had a pretty awesome story about the player character.
 
My all time favorite storyline in a game would have to be the Castlevania canon. I love the rich story about a family of vampire hunters, the castle that holds the evil of Dracula, & characters that take vows to conquer Dracula's aim for a reign of darkness. My favorite of the series would be Symphony of the Night. Metroid (Fusion being my favorite game of the series) & Zelda rock, too.

Edit: Deus Ex, Warcraft, & Starcraft universes all have awesome storylines, too!
 
Fallout 1
Fallout 2
Mass Effect (I'm told though never played it)
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Bioshock
Morrowind
Oblivion
Max Payne 1
Max Payne 2
Portal
Half Life 1 + all add-ons
Half Life 2 + all add-ons
Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
Thief: Deadly Shadows

If you're up to using an emulator, or tracking down the cartridges there's a whole slew of great SNES games. Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, Breath of Fire II, Lufia, Secret of Mana to name just a few.
 
Deus Ex
Dreamfall
Oblivion
Half-Life 1
Fallout
System Shock 2

Great storylines all!!
 
Planescape: Torment

Best story ever

/me prepares to be quoted for the rest of the thread

edit: Although i must contend that Mafia was also spectacular
 
of recent games I'd say bioshock and portal have awsome stories.
 
Maybe its just me but I loved the story in Freelancer.

Xwing Alliance was good too (get the XWAUpgrade). Splinter Cell had a good story, I loved the News reporters spinning everything.
 
Mass Effect
Freespace 2
Homeworld 1 + Catacylsm
Summoner
Warcraft 3 and Starcraft

I'm sure I'll think of some more later.
 
Mass Effect
KOTOR
Witcher
Fable (to a lesser extent, have to use your imagination)

-- Those are the only ones that felt book quality to me in the last few years
 
Quick q... how does portal have a story? You don't even find out your characters name in the whole game!
It's a cool puzzle game, no doubt, but a good story? no way. It's moving boxes using portals, and in the end, blowing up some huge evil machine chick - thing. The cake is a lie, ok that's a story, but a good storyline? I think not.
 
Sweet, a lot of good suggestions here. I've played several of these already, but there are a few i never would have known about. I'll probably start out by picking up Mass Effect (hopefully it's as good as KOTOR) and Fallout 1 and 2, and go from there on some of the older ones.

Edit: Undying looks pretty good for this time of the year. I may start with that.
 
In no particular order:
KOTOR, Max Payne, AVP2, Deus Ex, FallOut, Franchise Mode in Madden ;)
 
Secret of Mana
Final Fantasy 2
Final Fantasy 3
Super Mario RPG
Final Fantasy Tactics

All of them have excellent stories, and are all playable on PC if you try hard enough :)
 
Torment:
Baldur Gates Games
Fallout Games
KOTOR
NWN and Expansions
Mafia
Deus Ex
Witcher
Homeworld
Call of Juarez

Sorry

Half Life 1 had a story? Same goes for portal.
 
KamelRed said:
Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind had a pretty awesome story about the player character.
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Ditto. To this day, I still haven't played a game with a better storyline, though AvP2 and Clive Barker's Undying were close.
 
Drakan290 said:
Quick q... how does portal have a story? You don't even find out your characters name in the whole game!
It's a cool puzzle game, no doubt, but a good story? no way. It's moving boxes using portals, and in the end, blowing up some huge evil machine chick - thing. The cake is a lie, ok that's a story, but a good storyline? I think not.
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It's a short story that ties into the whole HL2 universe. It's not the deepest, and a little bit like the movie Cube.

Nutshell:
Your character wakes up and put through a series of tests. But you're not really sure where you are. You discover that someone else has been through this test and actually escaped and is guiding you out. As you leave the actual testing grounds, you come across presentation rooms showing how funding for black mesa and aperature are competing for similiar technologies. You confront the voice of portal, conflict, escape or died is unsure (I assumed died).

I mean true it's 2 hour game so it's not the deepest. But still a good story and presentation.
 
Oh man, I can't really think of many games within the past 6-7 years with a great storyline. It's hard to say which is "best" because they were all inspiring in a different way. Plus, as I got older, the immersiveness of games probably diminished, making a potentially great story not as awe-inspiring.

Dating back to the SNES era would be Final Fantasy 6 (3 in the US) and Chrono Trigger. For PSX, there's the popular FFVII.

For PC, all I can really think of is Starcraft. All of these games date back quite farther than 6-7 years, but they're great stories. :D

grendel240sx said:
Secret of Mana
Final Fantasy 2
Final Fantasy 3
Super Mario RPG
Final Fantasy Tactics

All of them have excellent stories, and are all playable on PC if you try hard enough :)
Click to expand...

You and I share similar tastes. I've never played SoM though.
 
Yoshiyuki Blade said:
Oh man, I can't really think of many games within the past 6-7 years with a great storyline. It's hard to say which is "best" because they were all inspiring in a different way. Plus, as I got older, the immersiveness of games probably diminished, making a potentially great story not as awe-inspiring.

Dating back to the SNES era would be Final Fantasy 6 (3 in the US) and Chrono Trigger. For PSX, there's the popular FFVII.

For PC, all I can really think of is Starcraft. All of these games date back quite farther than 6-7 years, but they're great stories. :D



You and I share similar tastes. I've never played SoM though.
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Can't believe I forgot Chrono Trigger :p that game is so fun.

You really gotta try SoM, best way to play it is on an original SNES with a multitap and 2 friends :)
 
Serpico said:
Pacman
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Ah, yes. The touching story of one man's hopeless struggle against drug addiction. He constantly finds himself trapped in a dark labyrinth inside his mind, running away from hallucinogen induced visions of ghosts, all the while trying to eat every pill he can find. Just so he can reach a new level, get higher than ever. And when the day is over and all the pills are gone, he realizes that he's stuck doing the same things just to get by. But it gets harder each time...
 
Undying looks pretty good for this time of the year. I may start with that.
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Be sure to grab the texture mod from undyingitalia.it ...not night and day but helps make things crisper.
 
Mass Effect
Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
The Witcher
Planescape Torment
Clive Barker's Undying
System Shock 2
 
No real order to these, but:

Final Fantasy IV
HL2
Mass Effect
Fear
Star Wars Forces Unleashed







Space Invaders FTW!
 
Thinking more about this, there's a division between games with good plots and stories that emotionally attach you. I tend to stray towards the latter, to find games that make me question myself and the world, instead of those letting you wreak havoc on the world. Many of the games here I dismiss as having a catchy plot, but no substance (i.e. FEAR)

Planescape: Torment - obviously, on both levels, a true pinnacle of story telling
Final Fantasy X - One of the first truly emotional games in the series. There's nothing wrong with admitting that you shed a tear when you found out why Yuna was always so sad.
Lost Odyssey - A good plot line, but strong, emotional back story with written stories of his dreams. This game really shows the division. While some would be pulled into the story of playing a 1,000 year old immortal bad-ass fighter, the game quickly throws you into all the cons of that life and the sacrifices the hero had to make. And why living forever is a curse.
Shadow of the Colossus - Very small plot, but a very attached one.

Though, nearly all of those are console.
 
Gabriel Knight
Knight of The Old Republic
Max Payne
The Longest Journey
Syberia
Culpa Innata
Broken Sword: The Shadow of The Templars
No One Lives Forever
 
Injection of <3 said:
Ah, yes. The touching story of one man's hopeless struggle against drug addiction. He constantly finds himself trapped in a dark labyrinth inside his mind, running away from hallucinogen induced visions of ghosts, all the while trying to eat every pill he can find. Just so he can reach a new level, get higher than ever. And when the day is over and all the pills are gone, he realizes that he's stuck doing the same things just to get by. But it gets harder each time...
Click to expand...

http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=136 >.>
 
Top five in order

Deus Ex
Mafia
HL1
STALKER
Vampire the Masquerade

Special mention: Mass Effect
 
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