Best written games you've played

[HareBrain]

Final Fantasy 7 had it all, in my opinion.

I'd probably go for Xenogears as my second, even though I didn't finish it and found large parts of it tedious. I did, however, track down a typescript of the later sections, and in some respects the scope of its vision is probably the most breathtaking I've come across in any game, and possibly any novel.

 

[Culhwch]

A recent game that really sucked me in with the story was Sleeping Dogs. Very underrated game.

 

[Alias Black]

Have you played The Force Unleashed? I really enjoyed the physics in that one.

Oh yes! I had some friends who worked on that so I was "forced" to play it haha! I actually loved it a lot!

 

[Remedy]

A recent game that really sucked me in with the story was Sleeping Dogs. Very underrated game.

I loved Sleeping Dogs. It was given as a free download to Xbox Live users - so I got it with low expectations and no prior knowledge. I was stunned by how complete and well made it turned out to be. I've purchased some of the car radio music used in the game. It's a perfect length too, unlike the GTA games that seem endless. Enjoyed it so much that I restarted the game straight away and had an equally enjoyable second run! Great story.

 

[Alias Black]

In some respects the scope of its vision is probably the most breathtaking I've come across in any game, and possibly any novel.

Totally. Its commentary on religion almost caused it to not be released in the US.

A recent game that really sucked me in with the story was Sleeping Dogs. Very underrated game.

I loved it. The parallel progression of police and triad storylines made such entertaining conflict in both gameplay and narrative.

 

[Fueggo]

Deus Ex, Bioshock, Fallout, Mass Effect, KOTOR, Spec Ops: The Line...

In my opinion, these are the best written games I have played.

 

[cyberpunkdreams]

Apparently Sleeping Dogs is based on a true story. It was given to me too, but although the story did pull me in eventually, I didn't find the writing all that great. It was fine, just not stunning. I guess this stuff is very subjective!

 

[Warren_Paul]

There have been some fantastically written game stories I've come across in my time. If I was to pick the best of them I'd go with these:



Grandia II: (One of the greatest stories I've ever seen in a game).

Final Fantasy X: (Absolutely phenomenal story. There's a remastered version of this game now).

Phantasy Star IV: (Showing its age now, but was well ahead of its time. Great characters, a very moving story).

Final Fantasy VII: (Recognized as Squaresoft's pinnacle of achievement and quite possibly the best RPG ever made)

And with mention of Final Fantasy VII I just HAVE to link the following:

 

[Remedy]

I never played Final Fantasy VII so I'm looking forward to the remake.

Really enjoyed the story in Final Fantasy X. The characters were fascinating and so different. I think I might have lost an entire week of my life to blitzball.

 

[Warren_Paul]

Really enjoyed the story in Final Fantasy X. The characters were fascinating and so different. I think I might have lost an entire week of my life to blitzball.

By the time I'd unlocked all the secret content of the game and beaten all the Dark Aeons and such, my save file was reading over 250 hours played... Shows how much I loved FFX.

 

[Rodders]

I loved JK2.

No love here for Half Life?

 

[Remedy]

No love here for Half Life?

I never got into it. Tried it a few times, but always preferred Deus Ex.
________________________________

Did anyone play the Syphon Filter games? I liked the story there.

 

[thaddeus6th]

Warren, mixed feelings on those.

Phantasy Star IV was one I was tempted to include. It's fantastic. I was not, however, taken by FFX. Tidus might be the most annoying protagonist in any game I've ever played.

FFVII was also very enjoyable. I wonder how they'll go about remaking it.

I played the first two Syphon Filter games, and quite liked them.

 

[HareBrain]

Grandia II: (One of the greatest stories I've ever seen in a game).

What did you particularly like about it? I have to confess I remember almost nothing about the story (though I enjoyed playing it).

FFVII was also very enjoyable. I wonder how they'll go about remaking it.

They'd better keep the same soundtrack!

I have to say I wasn't a fan of the Advent Children film, so I'm not massively hopeful. I do hope, though, that there's an option to have the original voices and subtitles -- the dub tracks are always hideous. Actually, I'd prefer no voices and subtitles, like the original.

 

[Warren_Paul]

What did you particularly like about it? I have to confess I remember almost nothing about the story (though I enjoyed playing it).

I loved the characters, and I thought overall the writing was top notch with the way the story twisted, turning all the beliefs of the characters upside down. I thought it had fantastic character development. And the gameplay itself was really fun. Considering that it first showed up on the Sega Dreamcast, the combat engine was ahead of its time. I thought it also had great music too.

Spoiler

We start off with the MC being hired to protect a priestess who is trying to stop the return of an "evil god," Valmar, only to discover along the journey the story takes that Valmar really isn't evil at all, and that the Church of Granas, the supposed "good guys" that they are working for are the real bad guys. Not many games have such a huge twist like that in their stories.

I loved how it became a story about the fight for freedom against oppression, and about personal motivation, that Granas and Valmar are just opposing powers, and humankind themselves, and how they manipulate those powers, are the true evil of the world. It's a story that deals with morality.

And then they throw the MC's long lost brother into the mix, making for a truly moving story arc.

And I also liked the romantic subplot between Ryudo, Elena, and Millenia, how Elena started off hating him, only to learn more about his background and come to love him. I liked how Millenia really was just another part of Elena's true self that the priestess in her refused to acknowledge at first, yet over time came to accept. Couldn't ask for better character development than that.

 

[HareBrain]

Not many games have such a huge twist like that in their stories.

Fair enough, but it didn't make much of an impression on me, clearly -- unlike the twist in FF7 with the photograph. That had me unable to breathe.

Another well-written game with a similar twist (to Grandia 2) is Summoner. I thought that was astoundingly well done. (And the rest of the game was pretty nifty too, apart from the rubbish draw distances in cities.)

 

[Warren_Paul]

Fair enough, but it didn't make much of an impression on me, clearly -- unlike the twist in FF7 with the photograph. That had me unable to breathe.

For sure, what works for one person doesn't always worth for another.

Yeah, I remember that twist in Summoner you speak of. It was a good game.

 

[cyberpunkdreams]

No love here for Half Life?

Half Life had writing?

 

[EJ Heijnis]

My wife introduced me to Final Fantasy IX, which had a great story. I mostly play strategy games, but one of the few FPS I played was Unreal. In my experience at the time, the graphics and music were fantastic, but the story really drew me in. The convict who survived a spaceship crash slowly turns into the savior of an oppressed people. I thought it was very good.

 

[Edward M. Grant]

Half Life had writing?

Half-Life was one of the first PC shooter games that tried to push a real storyline into the game world, as thin as it was. The idea of having NPCs talk to each other, do complex actions and lead the character around in a shooter game was quite revolutionary. Before that most such games were more along the lines of 'Here's a gun. There are Nazis. Go.' or maybe had a few pre-rendered cut-scenes at the ends of levels or before boss fights.

Personally, I preferred No-One Lives Forever, which I'm pretty sure came out around the same time. Just listening to the NPCs talk to each other was often hilarious, and sometimes made me feel bad about killing them.

These days I hate most games that try to push me into a story, and have a lot more fun in sandboxes like Oblivion. Every now and again I remember there are some gates to Hell that I'm supposed to close, then I install another mod and forget about them again. Started one of the recent Hitman games over Christmas and it was Cutscene-Cutscene-Cutscene-Cutscene-shoot someone-Cutscene-Cutscene-Cutscene-where-character-makes-supposedly-difficult-choice-over-which-I'm-given-no-control-Cutscene-Cutscene-Cutscene.