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Examples of Great Stories and Solid Writing in Games

Abear21

Abear21

Banned
What are some examples of a great story in gaming? Do any of you play or replay some games just for the story?

We all know we don’t need a thread about politics in games, so this thread is not meant to stir the “political agendas stay out of my games” argument, Please refrain!

What are your favorite stories in all of gaming and what games, in your opinion, have exemplary writing? Also, does great storytelling even belong in gaming, or do you just want to blow shit up or explore and rather not be emotionally invested?

I enjoyed:
71XbLFYlW9L._AC_SL1500_.jpg


This story surprised me and was unlike anything I had ever experienced. I also loved the character building and dialogue exchanges in the Codex messages. BTW I never said I had good taste!
 
JeloSWE

JeloSWE

Member
  • Nier Automata, for the existentialism.
  • TOLU2, I haven't felt so connected to characters and story in a game ever, it think it has to do with the realism in character rendering tech and unusual daring story.
  • GoW, I loved the father son relation ship.
  • The Trails series, it's has great world building and characters persistent over the whole game series and many well written and likable characters.
 
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killatopak

killatopak

Gold Member
Haven’t played TLOU2 but TLOU1 was great.

viewed at a distance, it seems TLOU‘s story is pretty standard compared to movies but the interactions and the dynamics between the character over the course of a dozen or more hours solidifies how the journey is greater than the destination.

Solid writing.

Nier 1 was awesome as well. Pretty damn great as well. It’s something that only the gaming medium can offer.
 
Thugnificient

Thugnificient

Banned
The Witcher
Mass Effect
Fallout New Vegas

GTA series has lousy writing but the dialogue in the games is always golden.
 
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KURDISTAN YPG

KURDISTAN YPG

Member
What i notice to when you take over mongol territory the npc you free never give you the same Freedom speech as other camps

that little thing i found impressive
 
B

bumleforce

Member
Red Dead 2
Mass effect( all of them)
Halo 4
Last of us
God of war 2018.
All telltale games
Detroit
Plage tale
Hellblade
witcher 3
Vampyre (Dont sleep on this game its awesome)
spiderman ps4
Gears 4
Quantum Break
Allen Wake
Metal Gear solid 1 and 2
Pillars of Eternity
Final Fantasy Tactics
GTA

Im sure there are more but thats what comes to mind first
 
Amiga

Amiga

Member
Persona 5, don't remember a game that went as deep into the characters.

Firewatch gets a special mention.


games like MGS have tons of plot twists and interesting themes. but the actual writing is just OK.
 
Thugnificient

Thugnificient

Banned
Abear21 said:
GTA might have some of the best voice acting and dialogue exchanges in all of gaming. So many lines just from NPC’s and some legendary characters for sure!
Click to expand...
That convo with Roman in the beginning is still one of my favorites.

"All they talk about is Roman living it big. Only thing big here are your cockroaches".



 
JeloSWE

JeloSWE

Member
killatopak said:
Haven’t played TLOU2 but TLOU1 was great.

viewed at a distance, it seems TLOU‘s story is pretty standard compared to movies but the interactions and the dynamics between the character over the course of a dozen or more hours solidifies how the journey is greater than the destination.

Solid writing.

Nier 1 was awesome as well. Pretty damn great as well. It’s something that only the gaming medium can offer.
Click to expand...
ND character rendering tech, lighting, shaders and animations are getting so close to realism that at times their expressions and actions feel uncannily real and that can leave a stronger emotional impact of the different scenes and fights.
 
Thugnificient

Thugnificient

Banned
JeloSWE said:
ND character rendering tech, lighting, shaders and animations are getting so close to realism that at times their expressions and actions feel uncannily real and that can leave a stronger emotional impact of the different scenes and fights.
Click to expand...
Not even close.

This is uncanny valley.

latest
 
S

SLoWMoTIoN

Unconfirmed Member
Abear21 said:
Legacy of Kain was dope for sure.

Eh, like, don’t bother or why haven’t I played it yet?!
Click to expand...
Great music, decent gameplay but I don't think I could ever praise the story. Or some of the director's choices regarding characters and the lore.
 
The Fartist

The Fartist

Gold Member
Thugnificient said:
Not even close.

This is uncanny valley.

latest
Click to expand...
The uncanny valley isn't where you want to be, especially in games. This is where NaughtyDog accells because they give characters natural and realistic facial animations that don't creep you out. At least most of the time.
 
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Hudo

Hudo

Member
Probably The Sims, Crusader Kings II, Dwarf Fortress and Eve Online. I think the best/coolest writing in a game is something that the player does himself by using the emergent gameplay caused by the player interacting with the game's systems and the systems responding in a surprising way. Eve Online takes that a bit further even, if you consider that the systems there influence other actual players.
 
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Vaelka

Vaelka

Member
I'd like to throw in Kotor 2 into the mix.
It's probably my favorite Star Wars thing ever, no game has made me agree with the villain like that I changed my whole view on the Force and Star Wars altogether because of that game and Kreia.
I love all of the characters and their relationships to each other too and it managed to make me like the bleakness of the setting which is hard to do because normally I dislike it.
A lot of Kreia's speeches still give me goose bumps and her confronting the Jedi was just awesome. I sorta felt like the game was more about Kreia than the protagonist but in a good way, the writers did a great job at manipulating the player but at the same time making things make sense to the point where you might actually end up agreeing with the '' villain ''.

People always praise Kotor 1 but that game while good is so standard and generic all things considered, Kotor 2 was truly unique and very well written. One of my favorite games of all time.

The initial Halo trilogy was also great, the series is just dragging at this point but as a trilogy it's really good and has genuinely great and iconic characters.
Altho I do like how Master Chief was humanized a bit in a way that felt natural in Halo 4 too.
Halo 2 probably had the most memorable cliffhanger to me because of how much I liked Cortana and saving her was the thing I was looking forward to the most in Halo 3, and it was genuinely creepy and gave me a sense of urgency. Saving her felt like a huge deal and like part of you that was lost was recovered.

Dragon Age: Origins is probably my favorite standard fantasy game, and I thought the world building was incredible. That game was Bioware at their peak imo.
Diablo 2 also had a great story imo and did a lot to make the world feel bigger, I replay it quite often just to enjoy the story and lore.
Path of Exile also surprised me a great deal, I skipped the story until recently when I did a full lore playthrough and I loved the story altho I did prefer the Malachi story more than the Kitava one.
The Kitava plot and lore was still good but I thought that it went a bit too crazy for the setting when you were basically fighting gods.

Edit: Also Starcraft 1 and Brood War.
 
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Denton

Denton

Member
Witcher 2 and 3 (1 only partially)

Red Dead Redemption 1 and especially 2

Kingdom Come: Deliverance

Fallout 1, 2 and New Vegas

Vampire Bloodlines

Mass Effect Trilogy (prototypical space opera)

Mafia: City of Lost Heaven

Planescape: Torment

Metal Gear Solid 1,2,3 (sure crazy and overwritten, but I love the conspiracies, melodrama and larger than life characters)

Deus Ex

Knights of the Old Republic 2 (still the best Star Wars story ever written)

Uncharted 2,4 (popcorn, but expertly pulled off)

...it is not a coincidence that all these games are among my all time favourites.
 
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xpresstuning

xpresstuning

Member
Planescape: Torment
The Witcher 2 and The Witcher 3 GOTY (expansions as well)
Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout: New Vegas
Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (the original trilogy)
The Persona 2 duology; Innocent Sin & Eternal Punishment (the height of Atlus's writing quality)
Undertale (what i'd give for a remake with a decent presentation, the narrative in this one is phenomenally unique and interesting)
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky and its sequel Trails in the Sky SC (excellent world building and characters, absolutely worth experiencing)
 
Psykodad

Psykodad

Banned
MGS1
MGS2

SMT Digital Devil Saga 1 (never beaten 2)

Hellblade
Heavenly Sword

Second Sight

Soul Reaver 1 & 2 (Defiance was meh)

FF VII
FFVIII
FFIX
FFX
 
C

Cr1ptkeeper

Member
Planescape: Torment was the first title that came to mind.

I didn't think the story of God of War 2018 was that good. The whole bonding with his son... in what time period, a day and a half? The period that the story took place couldn't have taken more than 2 days. Wasn't realistic to me...
 
Touch fuzZy. get BizZay

Touch fuzZy. get BizZay

Member
Planescape Torment is the best answer.

I also want to put Deus Ex 1 in there, specifically because of the interesting exhaustable dialogue you can have with npcs that is rich with philosophy and conspiracy theories.
 
Moriah20

Moriah20

Member
I really enjoy Rockstar's character writing.

GTA in general, Max Payne 3, both RDR's feature some really really excellent dialogue writing. And of course Max's monologues - I think they managed to capture the spirit of the first 2 games and even go beyond it in many places. Rockstar characters just play off eachother really well, GTA 5, RDR 1 and RDR 2 really highlights this. Also, RDR 2 has some incredible character arcs, and the slow burn style of writing really suited Dan Houser's talents, I thought. The ultimate contrast between Dutch and Arthur was very well built up.
 
JonnyMP3

JonnyMP3

Member
Since people have already said God of War I had to think about the game stories that I liked. And I'm surprised no one's said this cult classic of a game yet, as there used to be threads about this game once a month.
But as flawed as it was the writing is what kept me playing as the game wore on. I know the storyline is derivative but there's barely any games that dares explore the meaning behind the game and the actions of the player.
And that game... Spec Ops: The Line.
 
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