The Best Stories In Games

[Head Mutant]

Let's sit right back and tell a tale... of which video games spun the best yarn. Which were the games that had an engrossing, creative story with writing and (possibly) voice acting on par with a good novel or movie?

Mine:

* Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis: When I originally played this as a teen, this was easily the most engrossing game I ever touched. It felt like a real Indy flick, down to the dialogue and action.

* The Longest Journey: Possibly the best novel-in-game-form ever. The fact that the game is broken up into 13 chapters reinforces this feeling, of interacting with a novel that you just want to keep reading. Plus, terrific voice acting across the table!

* Indigo Prophecy: Still playing through this (stupid button mashing minigames), but I'm very very impressed with this unique twist on telling a murder mystery, including using multiple camera shots for a scene and setting it all up like a classic noir film.

* Planescape Torment: D&D never got any better, story-wise, than the tale of an immortal with amnesia whose best friend is a floating, talking skull, and who has to explore the most bizarre world to find his answers.

* E.T.: It's all about exploring deep pits! Just like the film!

* Final Fantasy 7 & 9 & Chrono Trigger: Despite what you think of the RPG aspect, Square has a blast telling emotional, sweeping stories that makes you care about the characters.

[PoolMan]

I don't know about "best", but I really enjoyed the story of Knights of the Old Republic. The big twist at the end shows its beady eyes a little sooner than it should, but it's still a good twist for a video game story.

And as you know, I'll always love the story of FFIII. Cyan's tale was particularly troubling, and all the characters were just so memorable.

[Al]

Fate of Atlantis had me at hello. I bought it in 7th grade (1993 maybe) and it wasn't until I lent it out to some friends in about 9th grade that I turned it over and realized I had never looked at the back of the box before. I bought it on sight without any hesitation whatsoever, not even knowing what kind of game it was, and to this day still call it one of the best game purchases I ever made.

In the same vein, I heart Zak McCracken and the Alien Mindbenders. Truly funny and complex while remaining both juvenile and accessible at all times. An underrated Lucasarts game.* Ditto Grim Fandango and, to a lesser extent, Monkey Island 2 & The Curse of Monkey Island (M:I3).

I think I can, in good faith, nominate Jedi Knight II as well. A pleasure to play and not a filler level to be found. Each stage does a fantastic job of being challenging and engrossing without being too difficult or bogging down the story. And no goofy cutscenes like the first Jedi Knight.

I also really liked the plot of Illusion of Gaia. Any game that's built itself up enough that I'll watch a 10 minute ending multiple times has got to belong on a list somewhere.

Al

*If you're a fan of point-n-click adventure, I highly recommend finding Zak McCracken. It's not sold anymore, and abandonware is illegal, so I certainly don't recommend you go here to download it. That would be wrong of you.

[Head Mutant]

KOTOR was great, as was Baldur's Gate II (not so much for the main story, but all the ministories).

Space Quest series was another terrific storytelling venture, much more in a tongue-in-cheek way, but memorable.

[Storm_Rider]

The Longest Journey, defenetly among the best stories ever told in an adventure-game format. I hope Dreamfall lives up to it.
Also Grim Fandango, "the other side" was never portreyed better, the whole Casablanca inspired part of the game is just very well made.
I musn't forget the daddy of all point-and-click adventures: Day Of The Tentacle

On a more action-RPG note. I have to mention Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magik Oscura. A long game, with the general plot evolving as you advance through the game, a lot of very well writen minor stories in between, a couple of major plot twits near the end, and multiple endings. And a rather interesting blend of Jules Verne and Tolkien styled worlds. A great story told by many NPC interactions.

[TheLuckyOne]

poolman said:

And as you know, I'll always love the story of FFIII. Cyan's tale was particularly troubling, and all the characters were just so memorable.

Poolie speaks the truth. I love VII and most other later entries in the series, but I truly believe that if all Final Fantasies were equal in terms of graphics, voice acting, FMV, etc., VI (the American III) would be seen by most people as the best of them all. It's just got the most depth, and while later FF's tend to single out one "main" character to explore (Cloud, Squall, Tidus) and give minimal backstory on the rest, VI explored nearly every one of its characters to the point where you knew exactly where they were coming from and what they were all about. Every one of them feels like a real character to me, many of them with optional sidequests to let you learn more, which only add to the already great story.

For non-RPG's, Silent Hill 2 has easily the best story of the series, changing SH from a weird alternate dimension to a true sort of purgatory, where people encountered demons of their own making. Plus there's that great plot twist that I definitely didn't see coming.

And don't forget Marble Madness... how that one didn't win any storytelling awards, I'll never know.

-D

[Head Mutant]

stormrider said:

The Longest Journey, defenetly among the best stories ever told in an adventure-game format. I hope Dreamfall lives up to it.

I do too. I heard the ending of Dreamfall was iffy, because it's meant to be the second part of a trilogy, but I'm okay with that. TLJ didn't have the strongest ending either... it really was all about the journey.

Good to see another Longest Journey fan out there! My friend Lance, who I got into that game, is frothing for Dreamfall.

[PoolMan]

Huh. Lance frothing. Hard to picture.