Top 11 Video game stories of all time

[QUOTE="AfterBurnerZ"]

It's always funny when gamers pretend video game stories are something other than hilariously bad.

hakanakumono

You know, after nearly finishing the x files and watching District 9 recently, I would concede that we're probably more criticial of game stories than movies and television, even though movies and television are "more respectable." There's really not that much of a difference in the level of quality.

And that's not say novels, film, and television are immune from being bad because the bad vastly outnumbers the good.

[QUOTE="texasgoldrush"][QUOTE="SexySasquatch11"]

Silent Hill 2 is a hell of a game but I personally believe Fatal Frame 2 was a better game story and gameplay wise. One of the best games I've ever played.

And why are people always hung up on FF6? I thought the story sucked in it big time. And FF7 did more for JRPGs than any game.

Stories employ mulitple themes and are not restricted to one "overarching theme." Learn 2 literature. Thank you.

Not that FFVII doesn't have a single most prominent theme; "humans are willing to destroy the world they live in for power, wealth and convenience."

[QUOTE="texasgoldrush"] Because Mass Effect has some of the best characterizations I have seen in a game..."The Lair of the Shadow Broker" is just the latest reminder of this.Mograine

That means you don't know much about gaming, not that Mass Effect has a great story.

[QUOTE="hakanakumono"]

[QUOTE="texasgoldrush"] FFVII - no real narrative theme, a villian with no clear motive, awful pacing, one of the worst character casts in the series, poor script, etc. In fact the story of VII heavily borrows from VI.texasgoldrush

Stories employ mulitple themes and are not restricted to one "overarching theme." Learn 2 literature. Thank you.

Not that FFVII doesn't have a single most prominent theme; "humans are willing to destroy the world they live in for power, wealth and convenience."

No, that is the most prominent theme throughout the game. Just because there is antagonism between Cloud and Sephiroth doesn't mean that it isn't there.

Cloud vs. Sephiroth isn't a "theme."

I clicked the spoiler by accident and I've never played SotC :cry:

BPoole96

[QUOTE="hakanakumono"]

[QUOTE="AfterBurnerZ"]

It's always funny when gamers pretend video game stories are something other than hilariously bad.

AfterBurnerZ

You know, after nearly finishing the x files and watching District 9 recently, I would concede that we're probably more criticial of game stories than movies and television, even though movies and television are "more respectable." There's really not that much of a difference in the level of quality.

And that's not say novels, film, and television are immune from being bad because the bad vastly outnumbers the good.

I'm saying that well loved films and television like the two examples I listed have storytelling problems akin to ones in videogames. Sure, on a whole, videogames don't have storytelling on par with films and television because they aren't meant to have good stories. But the problems found in the ones that try aren't too different imo.

Tali, Liara, Thane, Garrus.........some great characters There is a reason why ME2 has a 96 on Metacritic......the biggest praise the game got was CHARACTERIZATION.texasgoldrush

HURRRRR DURRRRR, who cares about characterization if we're talking STORY?

Besides, I could understand Tali, somewhat Liara and Garrus, but THANE :lol: ? You obviously don't have much experience in the RPG field :lol:

[QUOTE="texasgoldrush"][QUOTE="hakanakumono"]

Stories employ mulitple themes and are not restricted to one "overarching theme." Learn 2 literature. Thank you.

Not that FFVII doesn't have a single most prominent theme; "humans are willing to destroy the world they live in for power, wealth and convenience."

No, that is the most prominent theme throughout the game. Just because there is antagonism between Cloud and Sephiroth doesn't mean that it isn't there.

Cloud vs. Sephiroth isn't a "theme."

[QUOTE="AfterBurnerZ"]

[QUOTE="hakanakumono"]

You know, after nearly finishing the x files and watching District 9 recently, I would concede that we're probably more criticial of game stories than movies and television, even though movies and television are "more respectable." There's really not that much of a difference in the level of quality.

hakanakumono

And that's not say novels, film, and television are immune from being bad because the bad vastly outnumbers the good.

I'm saying that well loved films and television like the two examples I listed have storytelling problems akin to ones in videogames. Sure, on a whole, videogames don't have storytelling on par with films and television because they aren't meant to have good stories. But the problems found in the ones that try aren't too different imo.

Maybe I exaggerated a bit, there are SOME video games with decent-good stories but other than Silent Hill 2 and Planescape: Torment there is nothing else I agree with from the first post. This really should have been a blog instead.

[QUOTE="texasgoldrush"]Tali, Liara, Thane, Garrus.........some great characters There is a reason why ME2 has a 96 on Metacritic......the biggest praise the game got was CHARACTERIZATION.Mograine

HURRRRR DURRRRR, who cares about characterization if we're talking STORY?

Besides, I could understand Tali, somewhat Liara and Garrus, but THANE :lol: ? You obviously don't have much experience in the RPG field :lol:

I have played RPGs since Ultima IV....I have been around.

Kewl. Blog it.

Shirokishi_

Yeah, he makes threads about his opinion a lot.. They never are locked from what I have seen though.

[QUOTE="hakanakumono"]

[QUOTE="texasgoldrush"] Thats not FFVII's main theme, especially with an antagonist like Jenova, who was of alien origin. its really a madman who was abigger threat than the bunch of humans that was Shinra. The problem with FFVII is all of its relevance is in the background, while the main story descends into Cloud vs Sephiroth. The first part of FFVII is extremely strong, because the story has strong connection with its themes as well as it had good pacing. Once you get out of Midgar, the game tries to be about everything, but it ends up being about nothing due to its lackluster direction. Stories don't have to have an overraching theme, however, one theme is clearly more important than the others.texasgoldrush

No, that is the most prominent theme throughout the game. Just because there is antagonism between Cloud and Sephiroth doesn't mean that it isn't there.

Cloud vs. Sephiroth isn't a "theme."

Which doesn't matter. FFVII is multifaceted.

The theme isn't "just in the background," it's touched upon over the course of the entire game from midgar, to cosmo canyon, to the ending movie.

[QUOTE="hakanakumono"]

[QUOTE="AfterBurnerZ"]Well we are on a video game forum so...

And that's not say novels, film, and television are immune from being bad because the bad vastly outnumbers the good.

I'm saying that well loved films and television like the two examples I listed have storytelling problems akin to ones in videogames. Sure, on a whole, videogames don't have storytelling on par with films and television because they aren't meant to have good stories. But the problems found in the ones that try aren't too different imo.

Maybe I exaggerated a bit, there are SOME video games with decent-good stories but other than Silent Hill 2 and Planescape: Torment there is nothing else I agree with from the first post. This really should have been a blog instead.

[QUOTE="texasgoldrush"][QUOTE="hakanakumono"]

No, that is the most prominent theme throughout the game. Just because there is antagonism between Cloud and Sephiroth doesn't mean that it isn't there.

Cloud vs. Sephiroth isn't a "theme."

Which doesn't matter. FFVII is multifaceted.

The theme isn't "just in the background," it's touched upon over the course of the entire game from midgar, to cosmo canyon, to the ending movie.

Have you played Grim Fandango? It blows most game stories away, if not them all. In fact, the game has won multiple PC Game of the Year awards of 1998 including Gamespot, with its story its sole feature.texasgoldrush

And that's nice that it won awards and all but lets not pretend that the gaming media has any idea of what a good story is. The same reviewers consider Grand Theft Auto IV to have "oscar-worth storytelling".

[QUOTE="hakanakumono"]

[QUOTE="texasgoldrush"] I didn't say its a theme, but the main conflict doesn't reflect that theme...why? Because of the involvement of Jenova, an alien like being. As promimant you think it is, its just in the background. Effective stories put the main theme in its conflict.texasgoldrush

Which doesn't matter. FFVII is multifaceted.

The theme isn't "just in the background," it's touched upon over the course of the entire game from midgar, to cosmo canyon, to the ending movie.

The ending is pretty clear; humanity goes on to live in harmony with nature.

[QUOTE="texasgoldrush"]Have you played Grim Fandango? It blows most game stories away, if not them all. In fact, the game has won multiple PC Game of the Year awards of 1998 including Gamespot, with its story its sole feature.AfterBurnerZ

And that's nice that it won awards and all but lets not pretend that the gaming media has any idea of what a good story is. The same reviewers consider Grand Theft Auto IV to have "oscar-worth storytelling".

Metal Gear solid all the way, im replaying MGS4 for the 18th time now, this time im gona sit back and watch through all the cutscenes again :)

[QUOTE="texasgoldrush"]Have you played Grim Fandango? It blows most game stories away, if not them all. In fact, the game has won multiple PC Game of the Year awards of 1998 including Gamespot, with its story its sole feature.AfterBurnerZ

And that's nice that it won awards and all but lets not pretend that the gaming media has any idea of what a good story is. The same reviewers consider Grand Theft Auto IV to have "oscar-worth storytelling".

[QUOTE="texasgoldrush"][QUOTE="hakanakumono"]

Which doesn't matter. FFVII is multifaceted.

The theme isn't "just in the background," it's touched upon over the course of the entire game from midgar, to cosmo canyon, to the ending movie.

The ending is pretty clear; humanity goes on to live in harmony with nature.

As much as I liked Final Fantasy VI, its story had a few pretty major flaws, like its plot holes (including at least one major one), the shift in "main character" (if you can even call it that) in the World of Ruin, the lack of a strong narrative thread in the World of Ruin, the somewhat one-dimensional antagonist, and a lack of characterization on a few of the characters of the game.

Fallout 3 McLovinPwnz

As much as I liked Final Fantasy VI, its story had a few pretty major flaws, like its plot holes (including at least one major one), the shift in "main character" (if you can even call it that) in the World of Ruin, the lack of a strong narrative thread in the World of Ruin, the somewhat one-dimensional antagonist, and a lack of characterization on a few of the characters of the game.

VGobbsesser

No MGS on your list..?

[QUOTE="AfterBurnerZ"]

It's always funny when gamers pretend video game stories are something other than hilariously bad.

hakanakumono

You know, after nearly finishing the x files and watching District 9 recently, I would concede that we're probably more criticial of game stories than movies and television, even though movies and television are "more respectable." There's really not that much of a difference in the level of quality.

I won't agree with that, since I find that at least movies continue to retain a far better quality in storytelling, a quality that comes around more often than video games.

On the other hand I agree with this: "I would concede that we're probably more criticial of game stories than movies and television". You see the gripe I have towards this is shown when I see people telling me that it's a shame we still don't have the equivalent of an Avatar or Inception in video games.

People talk trash about the quality of writing in video games, but what the hell is so good about Avatar's writing that games haven't been able to reach, or I will even risk, surpass it yet?

Quite frankly I agree with you, I too didn't find District 9 to be much better than everything the video game's industry has managed to put out in its existence, in fact I will pretty much say that about every single Science Fiction movie done in the past 15 years or so, a genre that has been receiving raving reviews in the movie industry in this amount of time. I have found most of them to be uninspiring and unimaginative, the only Sci-Fi movie that I might actually give props to that comes to mind is Gattaca and even then a lot of its ideas has been done in Sci-fi before.

I could write essays about movies like Inception, District 9, Avatar, The Matrix(Which I at least found its use of the dream concept to be more interesting and imaginative than Inception, but in the end it's another freaking sci-fi story of man against machine.)--I actually found Abre Los Ojos to be more interesting in the dream department.

I guess I kind of liked Minority Report, or Childreen of Man and a few others that aren't coming to mind at the moment. But really, looking at some of those titles I don't see what's all the fuss about, some of them now considered to be the staple of quality in the movie industry...

And let's not talk about television, I don't know how anyone can say that television as it stands is better in quality than anything the video game industry has put out so far... what's so much better about it? Series like Lost? You might as well read stuff like Lord of the Flies and be done with it, there, you just saved hours of your life by reading a small book instead of watching a series that horribly stretches to what... season 9? Or something...

Anyway, sorry guys, I felt like writing that XD... and it was totally off topic

[QUOTE="hakanakumono"]

[QUOTE="AfterBurnerZ"]

It's always funny when gamers pretend video game stories are something other than hilariously bad.

StealthSting

You know, after nearly finishing the x files and watching District 9 recently, I would concede that we're probably more criticial of game stories than movies and television, even though movies and television are "more respectable." There's really not that much of a difference in the level of quality.

I won't agree with that, since I find that at least movies continue to retain a far better quality in storytelling, a quality that comes around more often than video games.

On the other hand I agree with this: "I would concede that we're probably more criticial of game stories than movies and television". You see the gripe I have towards this is shown when I see people telling me that it's a shame we still don't have the equivalent of an Avatar or Inception in video games.

People talk trash about the quality of writing in video games, but what the hell is so good about Avatar's writing that games haven't been able to reach, or I will even risk, surpass it yet?

Quite frankly I agree with you, I too didn't find District 9 to be much better than everything the video game's industry has managed to put out in its existence, in fact I will pretty much say that about every single Science Fiction movie done in the past 15 years or so, a genre that has been receiving raving reviews in the movie industry in this amount of time. I have found most of them to be uninspiring and unimaginative, the only Sci-Fi movie that I might actually give props to that comes to mind is Gattaca and even then a lot of its ideas has been done in Sci-fi before.

I could write essays about movies like Inception, District 9, Avatar, The Matrix(Which I at least found its use of the dream concept to be more interesting and imaginative than Inception, but in the end it's another freaking sci-fi story of man against machine.)--I actually found Abre Los Ojos to be more interesting in the dream department.

I guess I kind of liked Minority Report, or Childreen of Man and a few others that aren't coming to mind at the moment. But really, looking at some of those titles I don't see what's all the fuss about, some of them now considered to be the staple of quality in the movie industry...

And let's not talk about television, I don't know how anyone can say that television as it stands is better in quality than anything the video game industry has put out so far... what's so much better about it? Series like Lost? You might as well read stuff like Lord of the Flies and be done with it, there, you just saved hours of your life by reading a small book instead of watching a series that horribly stretches to what... season 9? Or something...

Anyway, sorry guys, I felt like writing that XD... and it was totally off topic

But then you have movies with stories that completely destroy that argument. There's no sci-fi game like Alien. There's game in the same universe as The Godfather, storywise. The list goes on.DarkLink77

Yes definitely, but that's kind of what I was talking about in not agreeing with hakanakumono. When faced with an industry like that of the movie industry, video games still have a lot to grow, so my argument really doesn't stand against yours.

[QUOTE="DarkLink77"]

But then you have movies with stories that completely destroy that argument. There's no sci-fi game like Alien. There's game in the same universe as The Godfather, storywise. The list goes on.StealthSting

Yes definitely, but that's kind of what I was talking about in not agreeing with hakanakumono. When faced with an industry like that of the movie industry, video games still have a lot to grow, so my argument really doesn't stand against yours.

I don't know if I can rank 11 but I have to say SH2 has the best storyline not only in a horror game but in horror genre is general. Unmatched in anything IMO

[QUOTE="StealthSting"]

[QUOTE="DarkLink77"]

But then you have movies with stories that completely destroy that argument. There's no sci-fi game like Alien. There's game in the same universe as The Godfather, storywise. The list goes on.DarkLink77

Yes definitely, but that's kind of what I was talking about in not agreeing with hakanakumono. When faced with an industry like that of the movie industry, video games still have a lot to grow, so my argument really doesn't stand against yours.

Yeah I somewhat agree. But then again my post was just an opinion, I'm no freaking dictator on quality(even though sometimes I may sound that arrogant). Just because I didn't find Avatar anything out of this world doesn't mean that Roger Ebert for instance isn't right by stating that James Cameron is on top of the world again.

Games on the other hand is a medium that doesn't have to center so much on narrative. Where storytelling can be told in numerous other ways, so as it stands, when I compare video games to movies I don't so much compare their quality of stories but the overall experience they've provided to me.

Roger Ebert for instance may not find video games to be an art-form, but I'm telling you right now, if I was somehow given an ultimatum to forget about either the experience I had with a movie like Avatar or a video game like Shadow of the Colossus I would have chosen Avatar to get the hell of out my mind in a heart-beat. I might even choose a game like Shadow of the Colossus over some other movies that imo had a far better narrative.

[QUOTE="hakanakumono"]

[QUOTE="texasgoldrush"] The end video is ambigious...so much that you can't apply anything to it. Even multifaceted works have its main theme in the conflict.texasgoldrush

The ending is pretty clear; humanity goes on to live in harmony with nature.

That's not an "implication;" midgar being destroyed is explicit. But the implications are clear. Midgar, symbolizing the hideous result of human "progress" is overcome by nature. It follows with children laughing. Pretty strong implication that humanity decided to stop sucking the life out of the planet and returned to a more eco-friendly lifestyle. Of course, all of this is meant to be parallel to the real world.

The exact same type of ending was employed in Princess Mononoke, from the same year. Same implication.

I'll agree that the movie industry is far more saturated with quality stories than the videogame industry. I just don't think the gap between the mediums is as big as its made out to be.

The Mass Effect story is not that good.

The MGS series is bested by the games listed.... MGS1 and MGS3 are good stories, MGS2 and MGS4 are not as good.texasgoldrush

Please explain why Metal Gear shouldn't be added. It's basically one of the best stories gaming has to offer.

I'm sure someone has already sad this, but, I think you're missing GTA IV on that list.

The Mass Effect story is not that good.

I'm sure someone has already sad this, but, I think you're missing GTA IV on that list.

Bewareoffalling

[QUOTE="edo-tensei"][QUOTE="texasgoldrush"] but it is due to the setting and characters.texasgoldrush

[QUOTE="Bewareoffalling"]

I'm sure someone has already sad this, but, I think you're missing GTA IV on that list.

texasgoldrush

[QUOTE="texasgoldrush"][QUOTE="hakanakumono"]

The ending is pretty clear; humanity goes on to live in harmony with nature.

That's not an "implication;" midgar being destroyed is explicit. But the implications are clear. Midgar, symbolizing the hideous result of human "progress" is overcome by nature. It follows with children laughing. Pretty strong implication that humanity decided to stop sucking the life out of the planet and returned to a more eco-friendly lifestyle. Of course, all of this is meant to be parallel to the real world.

The exact same type of ending was employed in Princess Mononoke, from the same year. Same implication.

I don't know if I can rank 11 but I have to say SH2 has the best storyline not only in a horror game but in horror genre is general. Unmatched in anything IMO

OB-47

[QUOTE="Bewareoffalling"]

I'm sure someone has already sad this, but, I think you're missing GTA IV on that list.

[QUOTE="Bewareoffalling"]

I'm sure someone has already sad this, but, I think you're missing GTA IV on that list.

How can you exclude WARCRAFT.

I havent played WoW, but the warcraft series is one of my favourites.

How can you exclude WARCRAFT.

I havent played WoW, but the warcraft series is one of my favourites.

Ribnarak