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[Darkmakaimura]

What are some of your favorite series that you would say is very rich in lore, background information and world building?

I would some of the best include Halo. There's a lot to the universe both in the games and its expanded universe in the novels. Lots of different factions and species each with their own agendas and styles. There's everything from ancient alien history, to Star Wars level of super weapons and cosmic horror with the Precursors/Flood.

Elder Scrolls is another excellent example. Massive lore and world building and almost all of it in game. It might be the most lore rich fantasy world in crpgs. Sure Forgotten Realms might have more, but for a computer game it takes the cake.

One of my favorites though goes to the Trails/Kiseki series. This might be the most lore rich and world building I've seen in a Japanese rpg. An ongoing story that is currently nine games in.... and supposedly it's only about 60 percent through the main story. On top you have minor npcs who have lives of their own and backgrounds. It is truly the epitome of epic you rarely see in a JRPG.

What are some of your favorites or one you'd recommend?

 

[Psykodad]

Just FF XIV in it's entirety.

 

[Lupin3]

Just FF XIV in it's entirety.

Do you still have to pay a monthly fee to play FF14?

 

[Isaak]

The Warcraft series has great lore, although World of Warcraft is kinda shitting all over it..

 

[sublimit]

The Team Ico games.

I love how the information is presented (usually through visual cues) and that it isn't getting in the way of gameplay. Team Ico masterfully leaves enough room to the player's imagination to interpret and connect the "dots" regarding the lore and history between all three of their games. This is very hard to do it right and Ueda really knows how to find the right balance between information (that you have to search for it) and the player's logic/imagination.

Same goes for Demon's Souls,Dark Souls and Bloodborne.

As for games that present their lore and world building in a more conventional style (like those mentioned in the OP) i think the Witcher series is my favorite.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

The Team Ico games.

I love how the information is presented (usually through visual cues) and that it isn't getting in the way of gameplay. Team Ico masterfully leaves enough room to the player's imagination to interpret and connect the "dots" regarding the lore and history between all three of their games. This is very hard to do it right and Ueda really knows how to find the right balance between information (that you have to search for it) and the player's logic/imagination.

Same goes for Demon's Souls,Dark Souls and Bloodborne.

As for games that present their lore and world building in a more conventional style (like those mentioned in the OP) i think the Witcher series is my favorite.

Too bad Demons Souls never got a sequel.

Oh I guess I'd add Legacy of Kain too. One of my all time favorite series.

 

[sublimit]

Too bad Demons Souls never got a sequel.

I think a prequel would have been even more interesting.

 

[Sixkiller]

I remember being bowled over by the details in Dragon Age: Origins. It felt like a game set inside a world whose lore had been in existence for decades, rather than being a brand new IP built from scratch just for that game. Dragon Age 2 maintained that sense to me, even if the game wasn't as good, but Inquisition didn't have that same lore-rich feeling to me.

 

[Psykodad]

Do you still have to pay a monthly fee to play FF14?

Yeah, although the game is free up to level 32 iirc.

Thought there was talk about making it free up to lvl 50, but not sure about that.

 

[sublimit]

I remember being bowled over by the details in Dragon Age: Origins. It felt like a game set inside a world whose lore had been in existence for decades, rather than being a brand new IP built from scratch just for that game. Dragon Age 2 maintained that sense to me, even if the game wasn't as good, but Inquisition didn't have that same lore-rich feeling to me.

Do you mean that in a sense that it didn't had as much lore or that it wasn't as interesting? I'm curious because i intend to play Origins and DAI someday.

 

[Roni]

Kojima Productions
Remedy Games
Blizzard Games

That's just off the top!

 

[Sixkiller]

Do you mean that in a sense that it didn't had as much lore or that it wasn't as interesting? I'm curious because i intend to play Origins and DAI someday.

A bit of both. Inquisition just didn't do it for me - it felt like an offline MMO if that makes sense. Whereas Origins and 2 had felt like proper RPGs. I gave it many hours of effort but I didn't find myself sucked in to the story and world like I was the first two games.

But then i know inquisition is well thought-of by some, so maybe I was just in the wrong frame of mind. I'm pretty sure the lore is nowhere near as deep as it is with Origins, especially, though.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Absolutely stuffed to the brim with lore. The history of both Stark and Arcadia, the history of The Balance as a concept. All the different races like the Bandu, Alatians and Venar, etc. April's personal history, many side characters have a lot of backstory, the war between the vanguard and sentinels, the mystery of the draic-kin and their connection to April. Then there's all the crazy shit the sequels introduce...

There's a lot. The game lives up to its namesake because if you want to dive deep there are some absurdly long dialogue trees to get stuck into.

 

[DGrayson]

Hollow M'FUCKING KNIGHT!!!

This game has incredible world building and lore. It gives you just enough while being completely vague about some things. It really leaves you wishing for more.

 

[brian0057]

 

[xrnzaaas]

Control has done done this perfectly. I consumed every piece of info and read every collectible. I dare to say we even got a mini-Remedy Cinematic Universe. Can't wait for the expansions to be released this year.

 

[GymWolf]

Dishonored saga, trash main story, god tier lore if you explore and read everything.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

Bloodborne and the Team ICO trilogy are standouts for me.

As far as literal lore and world building...

Hollow M'FUCKING KNIGHT!!!

This game has incredible world building and lore. It gives you just enough while being completely vague about some things. It really leaves you wishing for more.

My buddy and I were talkin about this last night. The lore grabbed me immediately which is weird because I didn't expect it to have much of a story at all based on the graphics and the genre.

 

[Kev Kev]

i dont know if its as deep as some of the other games mentioned itt, but the mass effect series did this well with their codex entries.

further content could be found in the novels outside of the games. but as far as jsut talking about what is found in game, ME had a lot of stuff in there that was interesting enough that i bothered to read it all

 

[Darkmakaimura]

i dont know if its as deep as some of the other games mentioned itt, but the mass effect series did this well with their codex entries.

further content could be found in the novels outside of the games. but as far as jsut talking about what is found in game, ME had a lot of stuff in there that was interesting enough that i bothered to read it all

Mass Effect has a nice fleshed out universe. It's almost a universe in a literal sense after Andromeda.

It's a sad shame what they did with it from ME3 and onward. This was the next Star Wars and Star Trek and had so much potential with it's background and likable characters.

 

[Elitist1945]

Horizon Zero Dawn did a great job expanding its backstory and setting through the audio logs/transcripts. Really helped put things into perspective more.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

I'm one of those shills that if there's a video game series I really love, I blow my money on the "encyclopedias" and other "lore books" for the game.

 

[KàIRóS]

One of my favorites though goes to the Trails/Kiseki series. This might be the most lore rich and world building I've seen in a Japanese rpg.

Well you've already tasted the best there is in gaming, nothing comes close to the Kiseki series.

Other lore heavy franchises are Warcraft, Mega Man, Star Ocean, Elder Scrolls, Warhammer and the Xeno games (Xenogears, Xenosaga and Xenoblade Chronicles)

 

[Darkmakaimura]

Well you've already tasted the best there is in gaming, nothing comes close to the Kiseki series.

Other lore heavy franchises are Warcraft, Mega Man, Star Ocean, Elder Scrolls, Warhammer and the Xeno games (Xenogears, Xenosaga and Xenoblade Chronicles)

It's one of the few series where I own every game, including imports. I consider it to be the best JRPG series with an ongoing story. Nothing comes close.

Elder Scrolls is hardcore lore heavy. I just wish the games themselves reflected some of the weirder stuff better.

I used to hate Wh40k. I really like it now though a lot of that lore is tabletop. I beg that one day Dawn of War II: Retribution gets a drm free release on GOG or something.

Star Ocean is dead to me. The "twist" ending on the third game killed it for me and practically made any lore useless.

The Halo series is one of my favorite when it comes to science fiction.

 

[Fuz]

Daggerfall.

Nothing, NOTHING comes even close to its complexity, amount of lore and quantity and quality of stories.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

Daggerfall.

Nothing, NOTHING comes even close to its complexity, amount of lore and quantity and quality of stories.

Well yeah Daggerfall is part of the Elder Scrolls universe.

I got the game free along with Arena when I bought Battlespire and Redguard on GOG.

 

[Fuz]

Well yeah Daggerfall is part of the Elder Scrolls universe.

It's on a whole different level than all the other games. Ain't the same fuckin' ballpark, it ain't the same league, it ain't even the same fuckin' sport.

 

[Grinchy]

A lot of them do, but the Metal Gear saga is one of my favorites.

Every time you play them, you peel back another layer of that ridiculous onion.

 

[Belmonte]

Ultima series

Morrowind (I didn't play Daggerfall seriously yet)

Planescape: Torment

Dark Souls series

Baldur's Gate

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

Daggerfall.

Nothing, NOTHING comes even close to its complexity, amount of lore and quantity and quality of stories.

Buggerfall?

 

[HaveButOneLife]

Zelda all the way.

Bloodborne, Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Fire Emblem... I could go on and on.

 

[V4skunk]

Soulsborne /thread

 

[Darkmakaimura]

It's on a whole different level than all the other games. Ain't the same fuckin' ballpark, it ain't the same league, it ain't even the same fuckin' sport.

My sarcasm meter might be broke but I found Daggerfall to be rather run-of-the-mill in terms of story and whatnot. Not an insult. It is an older game. But the lore about Daggerfall in later games was good. I like the whole Dragon Break stuff. Of course Daggerfall is also present in ESO but I've never played it.

Redguard has a decent amount of lore and it has a different feel than the other TES games do and I don't mean it's just because it's kind of a Tomb Raider copy. I legit liked that game and the protagonist and even N'Gasta. I wouldn't mind seeing more TES spin off games kind of like it.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

A lot of them do, but the Metal Gear saga is one of my favorites.

Every time you play them, you peel back another layer of that ridiculous onion.

Hey yeah. I love Snake Tales especially External Gazer. I want that to be its own game lulz.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

Xenogears Perfect Works is a lore bible.

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

My sarcasm meter might be broke but I found Daggerfall to be rather run-of-the-mill in terms of story and whatnot. Not an insult. It is an older game. But the lore about Daggerfall in later games was good. I like the whole Dragon Break stuff. Of course Daggerfall is also present in ESO but I've never played it.

Redguard has a decent amount of lore and it has a different feel than the other TES games do and I don't mean it's just because it's kind of a Tomb Raider copy. I legit liked that game and the protagonist and even N'Gasta. I wouldn't mind seeing more TES spin off games kind of like it.

It was a huge empty world full of randomly generated filth.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

Xenogears Perfect Works is a lore bible.

I always wanted a copy of the very first game on PS1 but factory sealed are so expensive. I wish they would release older games in the series on physical media, like a collection or something.

 

[pr0cs]

Surprised no one mentioned the Witcher series, it's oozing with backstory content

 

[Elektro Demon]

All Remedy games, basically.

 

[Danjin44]

For me it’s Drakengard/NieR series.

 

[Kamina]

Witcher (especially 3) seems to have a lot of lore.
Many books to read ingame, the bestiary, and of course the real books.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

Witcher (especially 3) seems to have a lot of lore.
Many books to read ingame, the bestiary, and of course the real books.

As much as I love CDPR (because of GOG) I could never get into Witcher. But yeah I know the game is based off novels so it seems kind of a given. And now there's Netflux series.

 

[Kamina]

As much as I love CDPR (because of GOG) I could never get into Witcher. But yeah I know the game is based off novels so it seems kind of a given. And now there's Netflux series.

The Netflix series are retelling the books.
I wanted to point out that especially ingame (W3) there are also many sources of information on the world.

 

[Fuz]

My sarcasm meter might be broke but I found Daggerfall to be rather run-of-the-mill in terms of story and whatnot. Not an insult. It is an older game.

I think you didn't even scratch the surface of it. The story itself (main quest-wise) is nothing impressive, true. It's the whole outline, setting, lore facts, hidden stories that's absolutely impressive - but it requires you to basically live in the game to discover and understand - something that I did back then but it's not applicable to today's standards.

 

[Myths]

FF12/Ivalice. Chrono series. RS.

 

[lock2k]

Mortal Kombat. They did completely botch it in the last entry.

 

[Ballthyrm]

My answer would be Eve Online.

Because said Lore has been created by the Players.
It is messy like real history, there is real betrayals, real moments of triumph and despair.
It is so intense, there has been multiple articles throughout the years that have been written about it.

It is so deep and so rich, a journalist spend years writing books to document it

 

[Dontspeakforme]

One of my favorites though goes to the Trails/Kiseki series. This might be the most lore rich and world building I've seen in a Japanese rpg. An ongoing story that is currently nine games in.... and supposedly it's only about 60 percent through the main story.

I liked trails in the sky on PSP, but when they switched to the generic anime 3D models in the newer games they lost me. I can't stand that shit. The models look straight out of a low-budget korean mobile game.

I can tolerate anime designs only if they are well done and with high production values - like DQ11, Persona 5, Fire Emblem TH, etc.

 

[synchronicity]

The Team Ico games.

I love how the information is presented (usually through visual cues) and that it isn't getting in the way of gameplay. Team Ico masterfully leaves enough room to the player's imagination to interpret and connect the "dots" regarding the lore and history between all three of their games. This is very hard to do it right and Ueda really knows how to find the right balance between information (that you have to search for it) and the player's logic/imagination.

Same goes for Demon's Souls,Dark Souls and Bloodborne.

Yes, well put. Both these developers know how to engage the player with subtlety, which is ultimately far greater than gross exposition. Most developers forget, or don't know how to utilize, their greatest asset - that of the imagination of the player.

 

[ORI]

Skyrim for sure.