Does The Last of Us have the best Narrative ever?

I had an argument with one of my friends over TLOU having the best narrative ever, TLOU has a mature story and it’s kinda realistic in the most part which makes the game more appealing to its audience but when I look at it I just see a great game with a great story, I don’t see something really unique …. maybe I’m wrong but IMHO HL2 and Max Payne are way better when it comes to narrative and storytelling

Last of Us had a very emotionally connecting story that we all loved. I wouldn't say it's the best narrative because it isn't really a "new" story. The story itself is pretty straight forward and kind of overused but Naughty Dog really hit the nail on the head and made it damn near perfect in that regard. It's obviously personal preference, but Last of Us would be high on my list for myself, just not #1.

I was going to say Max Payne all the way, there's never been anything better that I've seen, Sam Lake is a magician writer.

No. It has very well developed characters and it has excellent writing, but purely from a narrative standpoint in terms of the content of the story and how it progresses, there are games our there, a la the Mass Effect series or Persona 3 or even FFX, which are at least as good, if not better.

The Last of Us inherently more reflective as a tale, Max Payne in comparison is pulp, entertaining, but get real. Half Life 2 tells a story in a game better than both of these games because it doesn't rely on cutscenes, and I think that is something games should do more of, and should be a style of story telling that by now should have shown some evolution, but not enough studios try it.

The best plot between them is probably The Last of Us, Max Payne being the best game of the bunch.

Mass Effect 2*

Other than those last fiften minutes, all three Mass Effect games collectively tell an excellent story.

Half-Life 2 has a great story as a concept, the idea of what it's about and what is taking place, however its narrative is few and far between and on the whole very non-existent.

In terms of narrative it's the best, but as far as story goes i'm with Bioshock series and TW3.

I think you're talking about lore. It has great lore. Lore and narrative are two different halves of a story but tackle different things entirely. HL2 has great lore, but the immediate narrative falters a bit at times.

I can see this is going to turn into a narrative vs. lore debate soon enough. Too many people confuse lore for narrative, even in this thread right now.

what about Alan Wake , It's not original but still too good for a game

KOTOR >>>>>>>> ME

Alan Wake was fantastic, it was gripping, had strong narrative and a strong story, again another Sam Lake written game.

Sam has delivered on all counts in every game that he's been the head of and writer, I expect this to be no different in Quantum Break, hopefully the best he has ever offered.

That's an opinion, I can't argue with opinions :P

They're the same damn thing.

The game has solid presentation and the way it executes the story is really good. Story is also enjoyable but it isn't the best. Planescape: Torment is still best and it's not even close. In recent memory, Witcher 2 was best in Story and Narrative.

Alan Wake and Max Payne also have unique stories and the execution is great too. If we look at war games then World in Conflict and Spec Ops: The Line. But if we only look at games that utilized the medium properly then I'll go with Half Life and Thief.

Story and narrative are not the same thing.

Narrative means the immediate story a game is telling. Lore means the background world set up. For example, Zelda has strong lore, weak narratives. Conversely, TLOU has a strong narrative but not a very strong lore.

Story is the overall collection of narrative + lore.

In context of what you were saying, yes, narrative and story are the same damn thing.

No, Alan Wake for example has two entirely different narratives taking place, first hand events and point view narrated sequences, the narratives compile the story, they set the structure, but they are not the story.

Why do you armchair literary professors have to do this dumb semantic bullshit and ruin threads... Take a hike.

lol the problem with your complaint is that none of the narratives you name come close to TLOU. If you are going to challenge something you should at least have something worth mentioning.

Personally, the narrative of MGS2 is above TLOU tho confusing to some it was flawlessly crafted and while not emotional, it still had conveyed strong a physiological feeling tying the events to the personal struggles of the character mixing in real word events with a complex sci-fy universe.

Using real world philosophies and events it created a fictional world that presented the conflicting moral challenges a person might face in a real situation and It sparked intellectual thought to the meaning behind the story and plot which you have to reflect upon to dicier.

Comparatively, TLOU is a straight forward story with nothing to really "think" about which makes it less of a compelling narrative. Similar conclusions could be drawn for MGS3 but not to the same degree as MGS2.

As far as narratives go TLOU IS one of the best in gaming and if you are going to challenge it's merit you aren't going to go far trying to pass off something as base as the narrative of Max Payne as your counter.

Okay, that's a fair point.

And there was no need to get personal, we were just having a discussion.

So you said that his example is bad and then went ahead and named MGS 2 instead? Brilliant.

It might have the best traditional narrative, that is, one that is very much film like. The Last of Us tell its story through cutscenes or gameplay setpieces. It does that wonderfully, but I find it hard to compare with games like Dark Souls, Half Life and Unreal which have a very different type of narrative. Or Mass Effect, Baldur's Gate and Knights of The Old Republic.

If I had to say one game, I'd say Mass Effect 2, but it really should be the Mass Effect trilogy. Missions like Tuchanka in ME3 are a result of three games of story and character development and made that story something that could be only be told in a videogame.

Umm yes...like I said it's confusing to "some". If you don't understand why MGS2 fits the criteria then I doubt you have a reason for challenging it other than maybe the "convoluted" response which translates to "I can't understand a story unless it's spelled out to me and someone walks me thought everything".

There are 2 camps when it comes to MGS2 and how impressive it's narrative is, either you get it or you don't. You obviously don't with that replay. Maybe story lines like COD are more your speed since you think MGS2's is "bad".

Fact is MGS3's story line was downgraded so more people would "get it" and be popular with the masses because people so many people couldn't deal with a story that required a bit of thought to understand.

This is such arrogant and pretentious bullshit. MGS2's story is not that complex.

MGS2's story is actually pretty silly (which is one of its charms); to try and pass it off as some kind of thinking man's story is ridiculous.

It's a very good narrative, but far from the best in gaming. There are plenty of video games with better narratives. For example:

• Clannad
• Steins Gate
• YU-NO
• Alundra
• Xenogears
• Planescape: Torment
• Ever 17
• To The Moon
• Zero Escape
• Device 6

The "silly" parts you speak of are the obvious sci-fy melodrama thrown in for entertainment value and yes it is part of it's charm but that doesn't discredit the other aspects of the narrative which isn't silly at all that people like you completely gloss over for their extreme focus on the smaller "silly" points which has little significance to the to the bulk of the narratives focus.

Yes, MGS2 does take more thought than the vast majority of games out there to understand, and if your honest reply to me mentioning MGS2 narrative is simply that it was silly then your understanding of it isn't any further above the people who claim it to be "convoluted".

I understood it fine. It's a silly story. To pass it off as something deep is hilariously pretentious.

lol, ok you say it's a silly story but then claim you understood it? So go ahead explain main focus points of the story and the final revelation that you were supposed to draw from the ending.

+1 , Best RPG of all the time designed by Chris Avellone

@GreySeal9:

Hmm still no reply?

Guess you should call on the tried and true assistance of Google and Wiki to help assist you on breaking down what you call a "silly" narritive.

Lol if you think that MGS 2 has "complex" story. I like "complex" stories as much as the next guy but entire MGS series is poorly written mess.

@Cloud_imperium:

@GreySeal9:

Are you both saying that MGS2's story is not convoluted?

Lol at anyone who paises MGS for having good narrative. It's a poorly written convoluted mess, all of it, with MGS3 being the only exception (MAYBE), and even that isn't anything out of the ordinary.

MGS2 isn't complex or even deep. Is it thematically relevant, sure. But the actual story is silly and over the top.

The discussion is not about it being "convoluted". It's about how well the game is written. And it's poorly written. MGS series sure has some great moments but the series is also full of one dimensional characters and childish writing.

The guy is blaming others for being too simple minded to not understand the "complex" story of MGS 2, while the fact is, it's poorly written. There are other games with deeper plots and they make sense too, and have much better dialogues as well as character progression.

I only laughed at his "complex" argument because according to him, if someone says it's poorly written then he is not worthy of praising its masterfully written "complex" plot.

No?

In terms of best stories I would say the Witcher 3 or the Mass Effect series was the best stories ever told. Not that the Last of Us is bad by any stretch but those two just felt better.

Are we talking about a story that is told through gameplay or the environment and how you interact with it and the symbolic meaning of things we see throughout our adventure or are we talking about dialogue/scenes that occur, but never take the immersion out by giving a CGI cutscene?

Spec Ops The Line.. Very few games hits pacing as spot on as that game... It was almost flawless..very few moments where I got a slight immersion break...but those weren't cause by bad narrative but rather the average gameplay mechanics..

I'd take it over The Last of Us.. It's is also very mature if not even more than TLOU.

no not even close

You got to be kidding me...

How can you even dare to say that MGS games have good writing ?

MGS is the perfect example of a game that overestimates it's dramatical impact on the viewer/player. It kind of sticks it's head into places it doesn't earn. It usually uses a galore of dramatic moments...it gives way to moments that just don't fit..

MGS has never been about good paced well written narrative... MGS isn't bad because it's poorly written though... I enjoy the ridiculous mess the "writer" cooks up...

A bit of thought to understand ? Fine, maybe some of us thought about it more than others and figured out or filled some of the plot holes with speculation... but just because something requires more thought doesn't mean it's deep or well written. Funny how you used COD.. as sad as it sounds COD uses conventional unambitious writing.... but I'd say it has better writing than MGS..

MGS feels like the writer has to improvise after each game to clear up plot holes that were created by previous ones...it feels like it needed some proper source material...

That's why I can't wait for Yager to reveal campaign footage of Dreadnought. They said, if were impressed by the story of Spec Ops: The Line, you'll be impressed by Dreadnought's campaign.

@Cloud_imperium: Is Yager doing Dreadnought ?

Didn't even know..

I actually forgot the dev's name until now.. -_-

I hope the same writer is on this one.

Red Dead Redemption

Yes Yager is doing Dreadnought. I read their AMA on reddit and they said that they've best writer on board for the project.

Well, Dreadnought might just be more anticipated than it was a few minutes ago.. on my list.. for ....2016 ?

@acp_45 said:

@Cloud_imperium said:

@acp_45 said:

@Cloud_imperium: Is Yager doing Dreadnought ?

Didn't even know..

I actually forgot the dev's name until now.. -_-

I hope the same writer is on this one.

Yes Yager is doing Dreadnought. I read their AMA on reddit and they said that they've best writer on board for the project.

Well, Dreadnought might just be more anticipated than it was a few minutes ago.. on my list.. for ....2016 ?

Hopefully yes... But they did say that the game will release in 2 parts. First part will be F2P multiplayer, which will release first, followed by Buy 2 Play campaign. I think they are currently in Beta of Multiplayer. Hopefully it'll come out soon and will be successful, so we can get our hands on campaign ASAP.

Spec Ops, hmmm … it sure did have a good pace and the white phosphorus strike scene was so intriguing but the ending, mane the ending was really fucked up