# Are there any video games where people agree the writing is good? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 18, 2015, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-video-games-where-people-agree-the-writing-is-good/740750 "2015-12-18T02:59:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2015, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-video-games-where-people-agree-the-writing-is-good/740750/41 "2015-12-19T20:32:43Z")
> [@Club\_33](#): > > I found the Uncharted series to be rather well-written. No… Hmmm… yeah, no. Can I ask what you liked about it? The first one was like something out of some terrible Indiana Jones fan-fic, the rest just got sillier as they went along. Characters, setting, plot, it was all incredibly shallow and one note. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2015, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-video-games-where-people-agree-the-writing-is-good/740750/42 "2015-12-19T20:58:26Z")
> [@bldysabba](#): > > I’ll provide a dissenting opinion I guess. I love reading and stories, but Planescape Torment just did not impress me. I played twenty or thirty hours of it and it sorta slipped into the “games I never finished” collection. It’s a commitment game. You have to be willing to stick it out. Also, it has several endings and possibilities. You have to interact with everyone and then stick around to see how your choices come back to haunt you. Thirty hours is not enough. Not everyone will enjoy it. Parts of it are genuinely unenjoyable, sometimes by design. And I know graphics don’t matter, but the graphics here really are an atrocity. Still. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-video-games-where-people-agree-the-writing-is-good/740750/43 "2015-12-20T01:33:45Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > It’s a commitment game. You have to be willing to stick it out. Also, it has several endings and possibilities. For me, there’s only one valid ending for Planescape : Torment. It’s the only one that makes full sense in this context and the one you’re lead to all along the game. Sort of, the “director’s cut” of the game. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-video-games-where-people-agree-the-writing-is-good/740750/44 "2015-12-20T19:59:01Z")
Oh, sure, I know what you mean. I’m just saying, a first timer might take the wrong exit ramp and need to start over (or at any rate, back up a bunch of saves.) They don’t make games where you can fail, any more. There was no mercy, back in the Games of Old. ---
**Author:** ![supersizeme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@supersizeme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supersizeme)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-video-games-where-people-agree-the-writing-is-good/740750/45 "2015-12-21T03:32:06Z")
I think the metric used to measure good writing in a video game is not entirely fair. Good writing in a video game is not the same thing as good writing in a movie or TV show, especially in longer RPGs with a bunch of variable script options. Additionally, writing is part and parcel with acting, and video game animation is just not as good as real acting or cartoon animations, IMO. That said, I do think GTA V had good writing for a video game, in that it was memorable, quotable and funny. I also just cracked into Witcher 3, and the characters have certainly been well-scripted. ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-video-games-where-people-agree-the-writing-is-good/740750/46 "2015-12-21T04:58:09Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > Huh, nobody’s mentioned the PORTAL games yet. Nobody except the 3rd and 12th posts in this thread. > [@Merneith](#): > > It occurs to me that with holiday sales coming fast and furious, I should mention Pillars of Eternity - > [Pillars of Eternity on Steam](http://store.steampowered.com/app/291650/) > > This game, which I’ve not played yet, was produced recently by a Murderers Row of game developers and writers, including Tim Cain, who made Fallout 1 and the Troika games, and Chris Avellone, who wrote Planescape: Torment and Fallout 2, along with a bunch of other stuff you’ve heard of. > > I own this, I kickstarted it actually, but I haven’t played it yet because I’m waiting for the all DLC to be done (I have this thing about playing games before the DLC is done.) It’s gotten great reviews, though, and everyone had a blast making it. > > They all had so much fun that they launched a kickstarter (which I also backed) for a different game, also written by Avellone, called Torment: Tides of Numenara, before Pillars was even out. Not quite. PoE is Obsidian. T:ToN is inXile. Chris Avellone was not originally going to be part of T:ToN because he works for Obsidian, not inXile. His inclusion in T:ToN is the result of a stretch goal achievement. And he’s more of a consultant then anything, since he’s not a direct employee of inXile. Obsidian and inXile get along just fine as companies, mainly because the founders of Obsidian (including Avellone) along with Tim Cain (who joined up with them post-Troika) used to work for the founder of inXile (Brian Fargo) back when they all were part of Interplay’s Black Isle Studios (who made PS:T and Fallout/Fallout2), and Brian Fargo was everyone’s boss (being the guy who founded Interplay). Fargo was the first to leave after disagreements with Titus Entertainment over the direction of the company. (Titus owned majority control at this point.) He founded inXile shortly afterward. On a side note, Leonard Boyarsky, one of the other founders of Troika moved on to Blizzard, and Jason Anderson the third founder went back to Interplay for a bit, then moved on to inXile and worked on Wasteland 2, and now works at Turtle Rock Studios. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-video-games-where-people-agree-the-writing-is-good/740750/47 "2015-12-22T19:03:29Z")
I think the new King’s Quest game by the Odd Gentlemen has great writing. ---
**Author:** ![RVD420](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@RVD420](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RVD420)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2015, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-video-games-where-people-agree-the-writing-is-good/740750/48 "2015-12-24T18:26:35Z")
Is there ANYTHING everybody loves? I mean, some o my favourite films are hated by most. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2015, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-video-games-where-people-agree-the-writing-is-good/740750/49 "2015-12-24T20:12:29Z")
No One Lives For ever had some of the wittiest incidental dialogue ever. ---
**Author:** ![Garula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ea666f/32.png) [@Garula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garula)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2015, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-video-games-where-people-agree-the-writing-is-good/740750/50 "2015-12-25T23:05:19Z")
I love games, but the writing in them is typically quite terrible. I think that gamer types and geek types in general have a horrible tendency to confuse “deep” with “complicated”. Especially when it comes to RPGs (and especially especially when it comes to JRPGs) these people tend to think that if something requires a lot of attention just to understand the basic plot elements, that must mean it’s meaningful. I think that’s eye roll inducing rubbish. Planescape: Torment is still the high water mark, in my opinion. It’s been too long for me to remember if the descriptions or dialogue are particularly good, but the whole thing comes together to deliver a compelling rumination on the nature of identity, guilt, and the possibility for humans to change. It’s one of the very, very few examples of a game that takes advantage of the medium, and in fact wouldn’t work nearly as well in any preexisting medium. The Portal games are probably next up. They focus on and develop a few core relationships, are genuinely humorous and witty, and never lose sight of the core conflicts. It sticks to a few basics and does them well, a lesson that more developers should learn from. I love Deus Ex dearly, but I don’t think it’s terribly well written. What it does do, however, is build up a great sense of atmosphere. It’s world building doesn’t hold together very well and I don’t really consider the conspiracy stuff plausible at all, but the way the rabbit hole keeps going and going evokes such a great sense of “you’re in over your head and don’t understand anything” that it may deserve positive mention. However, anyone who brings up the bartender conversation as an example of deep writing loses a good chunk of respect from me. Almost as much as much as people who buy into Caesar from New Vegas’ Hegelian dialectics bullshit. I certainly hope people don’t hold Final Fantasy Tactics up as great writing. It’s a fantastic game, but it exemplifies the very worst of JRPG storytelling. “Oh, these are some interesting themes of loyalty and identity and this could be going in an interesting dir- oh, wait, there’s the incomprehensibly powerful, MacGuffin collecting, extremely thin allegory for a poorly understood religious concept villain taking over the story. Woo.” Honestly, some of the best writing is from games that understand what they are and embrace it rather than try to imitate “great” or “deep” work. I actually think Saints Row IV is pretty delightful example of a game that knows it’s dumb fun and tries to be the best damn dumb fun experience it can be. It’s like seeing a well constructed comedy movie after wading through a sea of overwrought Oscar bait. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2015, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-video-games-where-people-agree-the-writing-is-good/740750/51 "2015-12-26T01:12:51Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > The Last of Us. Second (third?) this. I was going to say that, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2015, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-video-games-where-people-agree-the-writing-is-good/740750/52 "2015-12-26T01:15:18Z")
> [@](#): > > Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture I haven’t played this game, but I’ve watched play throughs on YouTube, and, although it’s a pretty game, it’s kind of boring. ---
**Author:** ![Goofus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7feea3/32.png) [@Goofus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Goofus)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2015, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-video-games-where-people-agree-the-writing-is-good/740750/53 "2015-12-26T04:06:20Z")
Another World a/k/a Out of This World probably deserves honorable mention. No dialog but still it managed to tell a good story. ---
**Author:** ![Club\_33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@Club\_33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Club_33)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2015, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-video-games-where-people-agree-the-writing-is-good/740750/54 "2015-12-26T18:12:35Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > No… Hmmm… yeah, no. > > Can I ask what you liked about it? The first one was like something out of some terrible Indiana Jones fan-fic, the rest just got sillier as they went along. Characters, setting, plot, it was all incredibly shallow and one note. Well, to each their own, I suppose. To put things in context, I played this game after finishing a Silent Hill game (Downpour, maybe?) and Resident Evil 6, both of which had dialog that annoyed me greatly. Uncharted felt like a breath of fresh air by comparison. The dialog flowed far better, even made me laugh on occasion, and I thought the characters were engaging. Sure, it was an Indiana Jones ripoff to some extent, but I thoroughly enjoyed all three (much better than the other games I mentioned) and may even play through the series again at some point before I upgrade to PS4. Like I said, to each their own. ---
**Author:** ![dzeiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@dzeiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzeiger)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-video-games-where-people-agree-the-writing-is-good/740750/55 "2015-12-27T01:04:45Z")
“Soma” has gotten a lot of praise as a recent release. I felt the AI/monster motivation was interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-video-games-where-people-agree-the-writing-is-good/740750/56 "2015-12-28T11:36:06Z")
The Secret World MMORPG is filled with detailed, lovingly-characterized NPCs and well-written, intricate plots. “Plots” as in “schemes and conspiracies,” not just storylines. They’re uniformly horrible and/or creepy. It _is_ a horror-themed game. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-video-games-where-people-agree-the-writing-is-good/740750/57 "2015-12-28T12:40:14Z")
The Last of Us was great writing but I absolutely hated the last part. Ellie was ok with being sacrificed in order to bring an end to the zombie virus. It was her choice. Yet you are forced to slaughter an entire hospitals worth of workers who are working to cure the virus if you want to finish the game. I really wish they had given us a choice rather than forcing us to make the IMO completely immoral choice that Joel made. Not only to slaughter all those innocent people but also to condemn millions more to die of the virus in the future because there is no cure ---
**Author:** ![Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrogance_ex_machina/32/192_2.png) [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrogance_Ex_Machina)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-video-games-where-people-agree-the-writing-is-good/740750/58 "2015-12-28T23:47:39Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > The Secret World MMORPG is filled with detailed, lovingly-characterized NPCs and well-written, intricate plots. “Plots” as in “schemes and conspiracies,” not just storylines. They’re uniformly horrible and/or creepy. It _is_ a horror-themed game. Shame the combat is so boring though. I tried to persist a few times but in the end you spend so much time in the tedious combat compared to enjoying the dialogue that it wasn’t worth it for me. ---
**Author:** ![FabioClone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5f8ce5/32.png) [@FabioClone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FabioClone)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2016, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-video-games-where-people-agree-the-writing-is-good/740750/59 "2016-01-25T10:33:18Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > The Last of Us was great writing but I absolutely hated the last part. > > Ellie was ok with being sacrificed in order to bring an end to the zombie virus. It was her choice. Yet you are forced to slaughter an entire hospitals worth of workers who are working to cure the virus if you want to finish the game. I really wish they had given us a choice rather than forcing us to make the IMO completely immoral choice that Joel made. Not only to slaughter all those innocent people but also to condemn millions more to die of the virus in the future because there is no cure See, I thought that was the best part. You’ve seen a million characters facing the Good of the Many/ Good of the One dilemma. I completely expected Ellie to go the Jesus route like they almost always do, and it was refreshing to see a character finally say “screw the world.” Those characters and the world they had created didn’t deserve to be saved. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2016, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-video-games-where-people-agree-the-writing-is-good/740750/60 "2016-01-25T10:42:29Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > The Last of Us was great writing but I absolutely hated the last part. > > Ellie was ok with being sacrificed in order to bring an end to the zombie virus. It was her choice. Yet you are forced to slaughter an entire hospitals worth of workers who are working to cure the virus if you want to finish the game. I really wish they had given us a choice rather than forcing us to make the IMO completely immoral choice that Joel made. Not only to slaughter all those innocent people but also to condemn millions more to die of the virus in the future because there is no cure That was kind of the point, though. [spoiler]You’re playing as the villain. This is directly reinforced by Ellie in the epilogue being listless and distant, in contrast to her jokey, upbeat nature from earlier in the game. The epilogue heavily implies that she’s intentionally, knowingly buying into the lie Joel is telling her that the operation was a success and a cure was extracted because it’s the only thing keeping her going. The story is meant to be a tragedy, and I think if they had made it a choice it would undermine that and make it feel like there was a “right answer” and a “wrong answer”. It’s a story that is very explicitly about a man’s emotional need to replace his daughter at all costs, even if that means ignoring his surrogate child’s wishes to do so.[/spoiler] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-video-games-where-people-agree-the-writing-is-good/740750.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-video-games-where-people-agree-the-writing-is-good/740750.md?page=4)