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[Gram Negative Cocci]

Uncharted 2 is the best the industry has been able to produce yet.

You could only say this if you haven't played Dreamfall.

 

[lynux3]

 

[GhaleonQ]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=376513

Moon: Remix RPG Adventure by light-years. It's a bit embarrassing, actually.

 

[Haeleos]

The Last Express and Planescape Torment. Most of the suggestions in this thread lead me to believe most of you don't own a PC... if you did, I think these would be on the top of your lists.

- Signed Your Friend,
PC Elitist Scum

 

[Hyunkel6]

This is also my most memorable in terms of story.

Also:
Hotel Dusk
Baten Kaitos

Spoiler

Origins

The World Ends With You

 

[Keyser Soze]

Also, the first few sections of Indigo Prophecy (Fahrenheit)... I refuse to even remember the final third. It never existed

 

[PillowKnight]

oh yeah and greatest fucking plot twist in a game, ever

What? That silly

Spoiler

Oh wait you were the bad guy

plot twist made me stop playing the game.

Can anyone explain why the story is good? The characters were pretty cool, but the plot left me bored.

 

[WilyRook]

Vagrant story for its characterizations and plot and writing. I hesitate to say anything more for spoilers.

 

[grandjedi6]

Persona 4's story is good enough that its even entertaining to watch two other guys play through the game for 99 hours & 59 minutes.

 

[ZephyrFate]

You could only say this if you haven't played Dreamfall.

Seriously. Uncharted 2 is great but Dreamfall set the bar on storylines and won't be topped until Ragnar Tornquist's next game.

 

[Chauncy Talon]

Final Fantasy VI succeeded in creating a truly psychopathic villain, a rarity in video games even today. It also managed the curious feat of not having a "true" protagonist, as the story is constantly changing characters and perspectives. In most games (and stories for that matter), the protagonist is quite clear and is never in question. The fact that people have continued to debate who the protagonist of FFVI is only further proves how effectively Square pulled this off.

Very true. I had played FFVI so many times and you can go so many routes. Also, Lord Kefka was the first person to say, "I'm going to destroy the world." and succeed(this is from my person experience with video games.)

 

[Armitage]

How on earth could you think MGS has a good story? It's terrible!

 

[NotWii]

MOTHER 3
MOTHER 3
MOTHER 3
MOTHER 3
MOTHER 3
MOTHER 3
MOTHER 3
MOTHER 3
MOTHER 3
MOTHER 3
MOTHER 3
MOTHER 3
MOTHER 3
MOTHER 3
MOTHER 3
MOTHER 3
MOTHER 3
MOTHER 3
MOTHER 3
MOTHER 3
MOTHER 3

 

[water_wendi]

Planescape: Torment.

 

[Mifune]

I'll second Eternal Darkness. So great because the story is intricately tied into every element of the game, from the level design to the menus to the combat.

 

[ZZMitch]

Uncharted
Halo (the whole universe of it really)

 

[EviLore]

Oh dear @ most of the responses.

 

[vicissitudes]

Chrono Cross.

An RPG with teenagers but no cheesy over-the-top dialogue is already amazing, but all the concepts it covers regarding parallel worlds, a rich background involving some events in Chrono Trigger, and how some of the later bosses/environments just inspires awe while blending perfectly into the story, has been unmatched for me.

 

[lorddarkflare]

i like Metal Gear Solid as much as any Kojima fanboy, but the story and writing isn't good by any stretch of the imagination.

Good to know that not all MGS fans drink the Kool-Aid

What the freak?

Planescape: Torment, geez.

Yeah, surprised me too

I really like the stories in most of the Final Fantasy games, but most people here will bitch about how they're poorly written.

Also, I think Chrono Cross has an amazing story.

There are exceptions, but overall they are meh at best. But people play them more for the spectacle/adventure and not the story(even if they think that is why).

As for me, there are very few games that have stories good enough to be worthy of mention. But:

Planescape: Torment

Final Fantasy Tactics

Mother 3

Knights of the Old Republic (unlike inFAMOUS, the story is good both before AND after the twist)

Most of the other games i can think of get many individual things right, but botch it when it comes to the work as a whole.

 

[ZZMitch]

Super Mario Bros.

I lol'd

 

[Jive Turkey]

Oh dear @ most of the responses.

Really the best post in this thread.

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

How on earth could you think MGS has a good story? It's terrible!

IMO, the first MGS is actually a fairly decent plot.

 

[ZephyrFate]

Oh dear @ most of the responses.

People are confusing great stories with just 'having a story'.

 

[Segata Sanshiro]

Great? Geez, I don't know. There are lots of games with good stories, but I'm not sure if I'd consider any of them great. Just picking through this thread, maybe the Last Express. Everything else in here pretty much runs the gamut from "GI Joe episode" to "mediocre Star Trek episode".

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

Mario and Luigi has a great game story and helps propel games as an artistic medium. Who needs Hollywood when you can play mario and Luigi?

So.. just gonna constantly troll this thread or what?

 

[cuyahoga]

Technically, NO videogame has a 'great story'

Wuh?

 

[lorddarkflare]

Wuh?

Yeah i know, crazy talk.

I mean they barely number more than 5, but they DO exist.

 

[ZZMitch]

People are confusing great stories with just 'having a story'.

Or we just have different opinions on what constitutes a great story.

 

[BiggNife]

So.. just gonna constantly troll this thread or what?

Seriously. It's not even clever trolling.

How the fuck did "videogames are art" come into this anyway? The thread is specifically about good video game stories. That doesn't mean they have to be art in any way.

 

[kai3345]

Mother 3 has a pretty good story, of course, I'm not all that far into it but what I have played is charming, quirky and generally funny, yet still manages to get a few tugs at the heartstrings.

 

[SuperAndroid17]

In my opinion, has yet to be matched.

agreed

Lovely gem the gc had...

 

[Gilgamesh]

My standards of what constitutes a "great story" changes from medium to medium. I think there are games with great stories. In comparison with other art forms? I suppose not. For most of them, anyway.

 

[Talladega Knight]

Super Mario RPG too

 

[Crash Station]

How on earth could you think MGS has a good story? It's terrible!

There's a difference between good storytelling and good writing. The MGS canon is amazing and has some of the best moments in gaming.

 

[Dubbedinenglish]

 

[Rektash]

Ever 17: The out of Infinity.

Little bit constructed in the end but overall the solution was mindblowing.

 

[Mifune]

The way Dreamfall tells its story through multiple playable characters is pretty nifty. It sort of never builds to the epic conclusion the wind-up promises, but instead goes for an emotional maturity through restraint that is kind of rare and more rewarding.

 

[rollingstart]

People are confusing great stories with just 'having a story'.

I think people truly believe these are great stories because other than video games, movies and television is all they have to go on.

 

[Benjamin_MFF]

We'd be spoiling a very important part of the games we are mentioning.

This is why *spoiler* tags were invented.

 

[cuyahoga]

It loved the story in Army of Two.

Who is It? Are we talking about Pennywise?

At first, it seems like it's just about PMC's but really it's about friendship and finding your special place in the world.

:lol :lol :lol I think your statement of childlike naiveté is universally applicable.

At first, Madden seems like it's just about football but really it's about friendship and finding your special place in the world.

At first, Transformers seems like it's just about robots but really it's about friendship and finding your special place in the world.

At first, American Beauty seems like it's just about suburbia decay but really it's about friendship and finding your special place in the world.

At first, Super Mario Bros. seems like it's just about plumbers but really it's about friendship and finding your special place in the world.

At first, Dante's Inferno seems like it's just about hell but really it's about friendship and finding your special place in the world.

 

[Crash Station]

I think people truly believe these are great stories because other than video games, movies and television is all they have to go on.

So we all have to read books to know what a good story is?

This is all subjective. Here are games with stories I like: Final Fantasy 6-10, MGS 1-4, Chrono Trigger and Cross, Baten Kaitos, Xenosaga trilogy. Here are games with stories I don't care for: Vagrant Story, Shadow of the Colosus, Ico, Final Fantasy 12, Final Fantasy Tactics, Baten Kaitos Origins, Xenogears.

Now most gaffers will call me crazy because of that list, but like I said, this is all opinion.

 

[faceless007]

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey and no one can argue otherwise. This is the quintessential perfect story in a videogame.

I think a key ingredient to make a good story is a satisfying ending. Dreamfall fails spectacularly for that reason.

Spoiler

Everything before is wonderful though.

Anyway, Deus Ex. Everyone else can go home.

 

[TheChillyAcademic]

Killer 7

 

[ethelred]

So we all have to read books to know what a good story is?

Uh, yeah, if you don't read books then that's pretty indicative of a lack of the necessary context to form rational judgments here on your part.

Though obviously people should read books for reasons beyond simply giving them the proper frame of reference to understand what a good story is.

 

[Crash Station]

Uh, yeah, if you don't read books then that's pretty indicative of a lack of the necessary context to form rational judgments here on your part.

Why? There are many ways to tell a story. Just because something is text only doesn't mean it's any more viable as a story telling medium than something with pictures.

 

[ZephyrFate]

Great? Geez, I don't know. There are lots of games with good stories, but I'm not sure if I'd consider any of them great. Just picking through this thread, maybe the Last Express. Everything else in here pretty much runs the gamut from "GI Joe episode" to "mediocre Star Trek episode".

Aside from Dreamfall.

Actually, the game does have a pretty damn good ending, but Ragnar planned for Dreamfall to be the 'middle' of a trilogy, and thus its climax is not as crazy or epic because that is being reserved for the final game (or the Dreamfall Chapters planned release). A great story doesn't need a spectacular ending if it's the middle of a trilogy, see: Lord of the Rings.

 

[ryan-ts]

Great story in a video game hasn't happened yet.

I do not want to know what will happen when there is a great story though, I'm pretty sure Neogaf would be spewing 500's for the rest of it's existence.

 

[Mifune]

Uh, yeah, if you don't read books then that's pretty indicative of a lack of the necessary context to form rational judgments here on your part.

Though obviously people should read books for reasons beyond simply giving them the proper frame of reference to understand what a good story is.

I guess before there were printed books, nobody knew what a good story was. Uh-huh.

 

[rollingstart]

But there are numerous television series and movies with much better stories than games. There are maybe 10 or so games I can count that have "great" stories, that *I* have played, while I can think of tons of tv series and hundreds of movies.

Well, also consider the movies and TV shows that are popular. You are aware that Heroes is on its fourth season?

I'm also not saying I don't enjoy the stories in a lot of these games. I have different standards for what I consider "entertaining" and what I consider "great." Luckily, most of the games mentioned in this thread seem like they were designed to be entertaining. I doubt even Kojima stayed up writing "...and then he pissed himself as the cyborg ninja came closer" thinking it was going to be a great story.

 

[ethelred]

Why?

Why? Really? Why is it necessary to read in order to understand what a good story is? That you even need ask this question is sadly telling.

I guess before there were printed books, nobody knew what a good story was. Uh-huh.

Okay, obviously if you're sitting around with Homer shooting the shit at the bar every night and he's reciting his epics to you then you might have a good grasp of it, too, but I think any intelligent person would recognize that since the oral tradition went the way of the dodo the written word has been the predominant form of storytelling (and how that form has developed and evolved) in human civilization.