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[Radogol]

A sample suspenseful moment in Heavy Rain: Oh man, what happens if I don't reach for the inhaler in time? Will Shelby die, or at least pass out, from lack of oxygen??!? One minute passes... two minutes... HOW LONG CAN SHELBY STAND THERE AND RESIST THE ASTHMA ATTACK????


Answer: Apparently forever, because this is just one of the many, MANY situations in the game where your input means jack shit.

That's frustrating about the game. There's no need for an elaborate alternate storyline in which Shelby dies from an asthma attack. He could pass out, then you'd have a short scene where he comes out of the hospital (the assets are there), and continue with the critical path.

There's quite a few moments like these in the game, where allowing for more reactivity wouldn't be very resource-intensive. And yet, fake dangers and choices abound.

I still bought a PS3 for Heavy Rain, though, so I can't hate

 

[Barrow Roll]

Must not let this thread ruin ME2 for me...

Yeah there are plot holes but like said so many times before, the character interactions are where it's at.

Also, like a bajillion other people said, Other M has a pretty terrible story. Calling someone 'The Deleter' is downright laughable. :lol

 

[Foliorum Viridum]

Heavy Rain is illogical and.. well, bad, but it didn't make me cringe as much as Other M's story.

"THE BABY"

Shut the fuck up. They made me dislike Samus, do you realise how hard that is to do?

 

[Amir0x]

I find it funny that Heavy Rain is mentioned in both Best Story & Worst Story threads.

I don't. I find it utilitarian since I can go into the "best story" thread and instantly know whose opinion I no longer have to pay attention to re: game stories. It's never funny to like Heavy Rain. That's not a laughing matter. There is something deeply wrong when someone can ignore how bad the story is in a game that is only about story.

 

[hylje]

My vote for Final Fantasy XIII - I don't which one was having more angst, me playing it or the characters in this game.

 

[Foliorum Viridum]

I don't. I find it utilitarian since I can go into the "best story" thread and instantly know whose opinion I no longer have to pay attention to re: game stories. It's never funny to like Heavy Rain. That's not a laughing matter. There is something deeply wrong when someone can ignore how bad the story is in a game that is only about story.

I like Heavy Rain, despite the story being utter bilge.

 

[mikeGFG]

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. hands down.

 

[PeakPointMatrix]

Almost completely offensive for it's entirety.

 

[jgkspsx]

it's a given that a Treasure game's plot will be a vomitific blend of anime and sci-fi cliches, but the result is usually so awful it's good. I thought Star Successor's plot was so awful it was awful.

I didn't get far enough in Other M to comment on the larger plot, but God was the dialogue rotten. I felt sorry for the voice actress.

 

[Windom Earle]

Yeah, FFXIII, no contest

 

[Fimbulvetr]

So the gruff-talking, cigarette-smoking super agent with the hot lady constantly calling him on the comm doesn't ring any bells for you? How about super advanced war machines and bad Russian accents? Slender computer hacker science person? Bizarrely inappropriate conversations with allies in the midst of battle? Any of this sound the least bit familiar?

I don't think I'd describe Otacon as "slender".

But no I was mostly referring to all of the absurd plotpoints in MGS.

And also terribly told.

I mean it's possibly pretty solid, but it's just executed far to lousy. You have a lot of supposed character development for Gabriel that happens in the Diary portions. Yet they aren't reflected at all in the actual game. Gabriel's actions and words hardly lead you to believe anything is happen for a real reason. And when it comes down to the end, his supposed cry for redemption is pretty hollow. Because he never seemed that evil or courpted before then.

Besides that you have the underdeveloped side characters. You also have the twist that's pretty obvious, but also leads to like 20 mins of "lets exposition". And you have the real enemy that kind of comes out of nowhere. The game is supposedly about duality , but the game never real sells that theme. You really don't see the characters displaying and dealing with those dualities. When they do it seems random and out of nowhere. Like Gabriel at the the end of the game.

And then that little extra ending doesn't make any sense.

This pretty much covers everything.

 

[hank_tree]

Super Street Fighter IV. Final Fantasy XIII is like Shakespeare compared to that.

 

[Equus Bellator Apex]

I don't. I find it utilitarian since I can go into the "best story" thread and instantly know whose opinion I no longer have to pay attention to re: game stories. It's never funny to like Heavy Rain. That's not a laughing matter. There is something deeply wrong when someone can ignore how bad the story is in a game that is only about story.

I've learned to stop paying attention your opinion years ago.

 

[FStop7]

Heavy Rain
Starcraft 2
Blops

Best story - Limbo, easily

 

[SlasherJPC]

If videogame stories are just bad in general, then most hope is lost if your looking at it from a story telling perspective. For me, its more about the context and setting of the story, then the actually story itself. I want something set somewhere thats different then most games, etc

I mean it also depends on your outlook on things. Someone might play something like super meat boy and say it has such a stupid ass plot, but the developers were obviously not focusing on the story . They were focusing on making a great platforming game. Which they did. Yet to someone looking for story, they could say it sucks balls. Not saying thats right and anyone playing Super Meat Boy for story should just GTFO anyways. So I find it funny people bringing up Sin and Punishment 2 because in my eyes, thats an arcade shooter type game all the way, any attempt at a plot in that is just for shits and giggles. You could then argue "Well why did they attempt a plot at all?" Which is fair enough but then people probably would bitch that it was just level after level with no story whatsoever.

Anyways you can't ever truly please the masses and thats fine. Its good for people to have varying opinions and likes/dislikes. My point is, I mostly play games for enjoyment, and while alot of games these days do have shit stories, or over contrived bullshit thrown in, bottom line is if I had fun with the game and completed it, they must have done something right. Shitty story or not. You just shouldn't play games imo if all your looking for is the story aspect. Your doomed to feel miserable after playing most games.

 

[Fimbulvetr]

If videogame stories are just bad in general, then most hope is lost if your looking at it from a story telling perspective. For me, its more about the context and setting of the story, then the actually story itself. I want something set somewhere thats different then most games, etc

I mean it also depends on your outlook on things. Someone might play something like super meat boy and say it has such a stupid ass plot, but the developers were obviously not focusing on the story . They were focusing on making a great platforming game. Which they did. Yet to someone looking for story, they could say it sucks balls. Not saying thats right and anyone playing Super Meat Boy for story should just GTFO anyways. So I find it funny people bringing up Sin and Punishment 2 because in my eyes, thats an arcade shooter type game all the way, any attempt at a plot in that is just for shits and giggles. You could then argue "Well why did they attempt a plot at all?" Which is fair enough but then people probably would bitch that it was just level after level with no story whatsoever.

Anyways you can't ever truly please the masses and thats fine. Its good for people to have varying opinions and likes/dislikes. My point is, I mostly play games for enjoyment, and while alot of games these days do have shit stories, or over contrived bullshit thrown in, bottom line is if I had fun with the game and completed it, they must have done something right. Shitty story or not. You just shouldn't play games imo if all your looking for is the story aspect. Your doomed to feel miserable after playing most games.

'Cept nobody here is necessarily saying the games the posted are bad as a whole, just their stories.

Sooooooo yeah.

 

[Windom Earle]

Super Street Fighter IV. Final Fantasy XIII is like Shakespeare compared to that.

:lol

We compare fighting games to rpgs now?

 

[Shake Appeal]

It's Heavy Rain. That is the worst story of the year, and by extension one of the least successful videogames.

 

[2San]

Nier is getting a lot of love in the best story thread.

Well that's understandable, it's a pretty emotional tale(which was magnified by the insanely good ost), with good twists, good narration, etc. I also understand why it can just as easily be but in the worst story thread, though. There's just a lot of points that made no sense even in the context of the world. In the end 2010 has seen way worse and definitely deserves to be mention in the best story of 2010 thread imo

 

[MechaX]

Hm... There's Bayonetta... but that was definitely more of a "I don't really give a fuck" kind of affair.

... There's Sin and Punishment 2, but not only is it "I don't give a fuck," the story escalates from "absolutely incomprehensible" to "... weird, but eh" just by reading the backstory in the instruction booklet. Not a good way to tell a story by any means, but a short minute read pretty much clarifies almost everything that was told so terribly in the main-game.

FFXIII... Now we're cooking with gas! But no, stupid cast and some of the worst villains out of any form of fiction I've seen in awhile this side of shitty Sy-Fy straight-to-TV movies. But I think Star Ocean 4 set the bar so ridiculously low last year that something like FFXIII doesn't even phase me anymore.

But Other M actually made me pretty irritated at more than one occasion. And no, this has absolutely NOTHING to do with "pre-imagined concepts of Samus" or anything like that. It was a terribly told story, almost all of the characters act without any regard to basic logic, common sense, consistency, or urgency, and what we actually got from Samus was portrayed in one of the most haphazard fashions I've ever seen.

So yeah, Other M takes the cake for me.

 

[Version 3.0]

I always expect videogame stories to be awful, and they usually are. But Other M's went above and beyond anything I've ever experienced outside of Super Monkey Ball 2--and that didn't take itself seriously.

I find it hard to believe that anything else this year could possibly be as bad. Certainly nothing that I've played is even a contender.

 

[ExtraKr1spy]

White Knight Chronicles.
-First thing you do in the game: Make a character
-First thing that happens when you actually go into the game world: You realize the character you spent time making is now the worst tag along with no lines, little to no story, in any JRPG.

 

[Jex]

ME2 was definitely the biggest disappointment in terms of story, even if all the character stuff tended to be good (unless your name is Jason or baldie).

Bayonetta was the worst story I've experienced this year. Attached to the best playing game. Hmmm, looks like I've missed the joys of Other M.

 

[Ponn]

:lol At these threads. They are just one big trolling thread for people to get a laugh out of mentioning critical or fan favorite games. "worst" means, the absolute worst out of ALL other games. Looking at bargain bin DS shovelware here, not games like ME2 or even FFXIII.

 

[Version 3.0]

:lol At these threads. They are just one big trolling thread for people to get a laugh out of mentioning critical or fan favorite games. "worst" means, the absolute worst out of ALL other games. Looking at bargain bin DS shovelware here, not games like ME2 or even FFXIII.

Obviously people are going to answer from games they've played. If you want to nominate a DS shovelware game, go right ahead. And I'll bet I'd be caused less facepalming by its story than Other M's.

 

[FateBreaker]

Yes.

Fable III was just terrible though.

Fable III was infinitely better than FFXIII in terms of storytelling. FFXIII had a "serious" storyline with extremely predictable "plot twists" that was convoluted for no reason because the actual plot was simple as simplicity gets. And then, it just got dumb after ch 11.

Fable III's plot is SIMPLE -- and, yeah, I bet I could write a better one -- but the miniplots/side-quests/writing/voice acting (which adds to the story's feel)/non-linearity make it at LEAST not as bad as FFXIII.

So, yeah, FFXIII gets my vote.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

Like?

Sazh may be the stereotypical black, single father who's going through issues with his son and really likes chicken while being the wiser, saner person of the group, but I still liked him. And Lightning was a nice change of pace for lead characters for the series by being a memetic badass.

 

[CF_Fighter]

God of War 3 gets the "Worst Storyline", it had so much potential to be this amazing ending to a great trilogy.

Starcraft 2: WoL gets the "Worst Dialogue" and "Biggest Letdown", I'm not saying its the worst overall in terms of story because I'm waiting for the other 2 SC2 games to come out to see the entire arc told. But WoL felt like Michael Bay got a hold of the SC franchise and made the game. All of the elements were there to make a fantastic game, but no one knew how to handle them right and so we got this shoddy game. For the 12 year wait it was such a letdown, and that leaked ending/cut-scene for HotS doesn't give much more hope that the storytelling quality will improve. I'm hoping the Protoss part will be the best because all of Zeratul's missions were the gems in WoL for me, felt the closest to SC1.

Mass Effect 2 did have problems with the story, but it was in terms of the direction the plot went in this one. It was well written though and an enjoyable experience. One of my main problems with it was that it was missing that mystique from the first game. That feeling of being this small thing in this vast galaxy, that unknown feeling that sci-fi stories need. Another one was the Collectors never felt like as big of a threat as they were made out to be. The reveal of who they were was anti-climactic and didn't really add anything in the long-run. Bioware should have just kept

Spoiler

the Protheans as being all wiped out with a few fleeing to Ilos and setting up their sanctuary that you come across in the end of ME1

. But my biggest problem was with the reaction to Shepard returning. Everyone you come across is more or less apathetic to you. "Oh Shepard, you're back. Everyone said you were dead, I guess that's cool you aren't." On top of that you're working with Cerberus as well and very few people bat an eye at that too. Let's not even start talking about the 6 room big Citadel.

 

[DrPirate]

"Well, you know, sometimes you have to lie about stuff.
To keep yourself going, because you're afraid.
Or to protect someone else, so they don't get hurt.
Sometimes, even the things that everyone in the whole world thinks are true turns out to be lies.
At the end of the day though, it's not the lies that matters, but what you do after you tell it.
Work hard enough, and you can make it true."

WTF did I just watch???

Multiply this dialogue by 100 and you'll get the entire story of FFXIII.

Of course, Heavy Rain is a close second, but at least that game isn't full of scenes with empty dialogues written by 12 year olds.

I cringed and shuddered reading that.........

 

[Fimbulvetr]

:lol At these threads. They are just one big trolling thread for people to get a laugh out of mentioning critical or fan favorite games. "worst" means, the absolute worst out of ALL other games. Looking at bargain bin DS shovelware here, not games like ME2 or even FFXIII.

Well then, go ahead.

Post one of those games and show all of the trolls and haters how it's done.

I cringed and shuddered reading that.........

That dialogue is code purple.

 

[MechaX]

:lol At these threads. They are just one big trolling thread for people to get a laugh out of mentioning critical or fan favorite games. "worst" means, the absolute worst out of ALL other games. Looking at bargain bin DS shovelware here, not games like ME2 or even FFXIII.

Well, let's see how it's done folks!

But just know this; Petz or Horsez may be bad games, but non-existent story does not equal "what is this i don't even" story.

 

[itxaka]

ME2 didn't have a story related to the mass effect universe.

It was more like a sim game, building relationships with your friends and such. So ME2 for me.


Just cause 2 was also horrible, but the game was incredibly fun so one thing covers the other.

Shepard returning. Everyone you come across is more or less apathetic to you. "Oh Shepard, you're back. Everyone said you were dead, I guess that's cool you aren't." On top of that you're working with Cerberus as well and very few people bat an eye at that too. Let's not even start talking about the 6 room big Citadel.

Ugh this.

Tali: wow shepard I thougth you were dead
Shepard: I'm not
Tali: Mkay, no problem then.

 

[SolsticeZero]

White Knight Chronicles.
-First thing you do in the game: Make a character
-First thing that happens when you actually go into the game world: You realize the character you spent time making is now the worst tag along with no lines, little to no story, in any JRPG.

Wow, I completely forgot about WKC. The multi was great, but the SP was absolute trash. Easy trash at that. I don't think I was at risk of dying ONCE in the game.

 

[EatChildren]

ME2 didn't have a story related to the mass effect universe.

It had really cool snippits of universe stuff, like

Spoiler

Legion's revelations about the Geth, the Collectors being Protheans, the Reaper 'reproductive cycle', the Quarian's preparing for war, Thane's people, and Wrex attempting to re-unite the Krogan.

All that stuff was cool, but yeah, it lacked the scope and wonder of the first game.

 

[linsivvi]

I cringed and shuddered reading that.........

Chapter 11 is the only part of the game where you can enjoy because it's (mostly) free of the cringe-worthy dialogues and you can finally free roam and spend dozens of hours on stuff you want to do in a RPG.

It's sad because it shows that FFXIII could be a much better game than it is if only the developers could put their ego in check and let the gamers enjoy playing the game instead of watching hours and hours of badly written dialogues that don't even move the plot a single bit.

 

[Rolf NB]

A sample suspenseful moment in Heavy Rain: Oh man, what happens if I don't reach for the inhaler in time? Will Shelby die, or at least pass out, from lack of oxygen??!? One minute passes... two minutes... HOW LONG CAN SHELBY STAND THERE AND RESIST THE ASTHMA ATTACK????


Answer: Apparently forever, because this is just one of the many, MANY situations in the game where your input means jack shit.

That's, like, a tutorial, mang.

 

[itxaka]

It had really cool snippits of universe stuff, like

Spoiler

Legion's revelations about the Geth, the Collectors being Protheans, the Reaper 'reproductive cycle', the Quarian's preparing for war, Thane's people, and Wrex attempting to re-unite the Krogan.

All that stuff was cool, but yeah, it lacked the scope and wonder of the first game.

Yeah of course, I loved the small things like that and the encyclopedia entries which explained more about the universe. Still, it could have been an expansion or side title without any problems, like a complement to the main games becasue it really develop nothing at all.

 

[timetokill]

That's, like, a tutorial, mang.

Well, it does prepare you for a ton of meaningless "choices" during the game, that's true.

 

[ultron87]

Well, it does prepare you for a ton of meaningless "choices" during the game, that's true.

And teaches you that nothing will have real consequences until the last act.

 

[Rollo Lawson]

i have to go with heavy rain. the big reveal was completely random and didnt tie into any foreshadowing. even skooby doo did that right

plus a good murder mystery places at least a little suspicion onto multiple characters to make people guess. didnt really get that in the story

 

[tacotime77]

In before the Heavy Rain haters brigade.

I want to tear my clothes and pour ashes on my head for not owning a ps3 just because of this game

 

[KevinCow]

I want to tear my clothes and pour ashes on my head for not owning a ps3 just because of this game

Just watch someone else play it. Pretty much the same thing.

 

[Liquidus]

My 2010 winner for the worst story has to be Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. The game added nothing new to the series and Kojima has been beating a dead horse since MGS2. Why can't he make any good games anymore I want MGS2 quality not the shit he's been putting out since.

 

[Korigama]

I also felt that Vanquish's story was fine for what it was, and Bayonetta's was pretty much standard-fare for a DMC type game (I will say, however, that I thought the worldbuilding present in Antonio Redgrave's notes was well-done, despite the game's central plot not making much sense). I honestly don't know what to tell anyone who actually played Sin & Punishment: Star Successor for story, nevermind SSFIV of all things (not that I'd recommend playing any other fighter for story).

Of what I've actually played this year, FFXIII had the worst story. Comparing most other games negatively to FFXIII, let alone placing its plot and cast above the likes of Nier (the banter between the lead and Weiss alone being better written than anything in that four-year folly), defies comprehension.

 

[mescalineeyes]

I'm here to "troll" Heavy Rain. Where do I sign up?

 

[mescalineeyes]

i have to go with heavy rain. the big reveal was completely random and didnt tie into any foreshadowing. even skooby doo did that right

plus a good murder mystery places at least a little suspicion onto multiple characters to make people guess. didnt really get that in the story

hell, they went out of their way for you to suspect the complete opposite of what it actually ended up being, but due to the awful, awful writing and the fact that they literally fooled you without any actual logic to back it up made the revelation that much more awful.

oh and that they went back to change a part you played yourself to fit the story.

the more I think about that game, the more awful it was. rancid.

 

[Lion Heart]

I'm here to "troll" Heavy Rain. Where do I sign up?

Right on my ass, after you kiss it!

 

[Luthos]

It can't be Mass Effect 2. The overall plot was disappointing given Mass Effect 1, but it wasn't worst of the year.

 

[Papercuts]

Other M was definitly the worst to me. Fucking horrendous bullfuck.

Heavy Rain atleast got me into the experience, even though the more I examine the plot the less sense it makes.

 

[mescalineeyes]

Right on my ass, after you kiss it!

figures that Heavy Rain would appeal to someone who chooses to express himself in this way.