Hands down…Shenmue and Shenmue 2. Follow the adventures of Ryo as he tracks his fathers killer. Shenmue for the Dreamcast and Shenmue 2, which was never released in the US for the Dreamcast but was released in Europe. It has been ported to the Xbox. Both are awesome games. What video game story lines do you think are the best?
Heh. Shenmue. The only game I can actually fall asleep on while I’m playing it. Seriously…never got into it–the story reminded me far too much of an 80’s martial arts movie. Very immersive, though–I loved the atmosphere.
Hm. Best story line from a video game? System Shock 2 comes to mind, as does Fallout 2.
Planescape: Torment. 'Nuff said.
“Horazon’s Urinal? Oh, Journal!”
I’m thinking either the first Gabriel Knight game (which was excellent), or Star Control 2 (whose storyline was so vast it took me three attempts to even grasp it all, much less beat the game)
Grim Fandango bar none. Only computer game storyline I ever liked. I got all misty at the end.
My wife and I still quote Grim Fandango lines to each other from time to time. Our favorite:
You’re exploring the back room of the airship terminal. While you’re clicking on things Manny is keeping up a running dialog with Carla the ticket agent. If you click on a storage locker Manny will reach out and grab the handle, rattling it to no effect.
Manny: “It’s locked!”
Carla [from offscreen, oozing sarcasm]: “They’re lockers!”
Terranigma. A little known SNES game that was only realesed in Europe. Basically your a punk kid in a quiet town. You accidently stumble apon a Pandoras Box and you open it. It freezes everyone except you and the village elder. Then you have to go and unfreeze them. Simple. But then as a result of the unfreezing process you start life on the overworld. So you get sent up the oversee whats happening and shape the beings that evolve. Then when humans come around you start trade routes and develop technologies. Then you hear about a cult of people started in the east headed by a evil (of course) genius. You head over and see whats happening. You find that the evil genius has engineered a virus to destroy everyone that doesn’t follow him. You try to stop him but are aprehended.
Now around this time you find out that
SPOILER
Your a bad guy. The elder was a bad guy. You’ve been working for the bad guys the entire time. Your mission was never to help life evolve, your mission was to ressurect the genius so he could permanently destroy all life on the overworld. So of course, you have to do something about it…
Easy. Leather Goddesses of Phobos. 
I vote for this as well. It was why I opened this thread.
Final Fantasy VII. Yeah, the dialogue is almost painful in its cheesiness at times, the graphics are wincingly freaky looking by now (if they weren’t at the time it was released) and the story line can be just plain bizarre. I still got all teary when Red discovered his father was really a hero. (However, I was cheering when Aeris died. Annoying brat trying to steal Tifa’s man. 
No one kill me please!)
Myst. All the computer magazines said it had no plot and constantly insulted it.
(Warning: Mini-Rant)
This is because they are morons. I swear, the computer gaming world is worse than the punk world at screaming about anything that threatens their familar little world. Even though the staff at PC Gamer at the time it was released gave Myst an Editor’s Choice award, the later staff constantly insulted it and denigrated the reviewers taste. :rolleyes: Have some respect, morons. Maybe if you’d kept some slight intelligence in your writing instead of thinking plastic boobies are enough to sell gaming magazines, the industry would be in better shape now. Your disrespect of women gamers lost me loooong ago. Ahem. Sorry about that; I’m done now.
Anyways, I loved the idea of creating worlds by writing them and I enjoyed reading the journals. Yeah, I’m the kind of person who likes to read books in a computer game.
Tanaqui
PS: Coconut Monkey was one of the most amazingly lame attempts at a bunch of middle aged men trying to be hip I’ve * ever seen in my life.* And I used to read 4-5 computer gaming magazines. I mean it. Sorry, I’ll stop now. Really.
Monkey Island I and II, Loom, Fallout I and II. Also I liked the story of Homeworld and Homeworld Cataclysm (perhaps because I think they are the best strategy games).
For me it’s Homeworld.
Awesome storyline, and a damn fine game as well. What got me was that there was obviously a great deal of work done developing the stories and the history of the Homeworld universe. It’s not only the best story in any game I’ve played, it’s the only game that inspired me to write a story of my own based on one of the characters.
Heh… hey there, Estilicon!
Pac Man, I cry ever time. Poor Pac Man, he eats and eats and is never satisfied.
Terranigma’s great. I have yet to beat the final boss though–and it’s been about a year since I last played it. 
Chrono Trigger. Good story, great execution in the multiple endings.
I know a lot of people who like FFVI. I beat it, but I wasn’t the biggest fan of it.
Nethack. (Just checking to see if anyone actually reads these.)
Deus Ex for me. What starts as a series of routine anti-terrorist missions ultimately turns into a global clandestine war with the fate of the world in the balance. But I’ve always been a big fan of covert operations, conspiracies, and grand storylines.
Thief. Hands down. It’s really a pity the game isn’t well known. Unfortunately, the story is static and doesn’t change regardless of what you do (and the character you play is a thief named Garrett – no choice). But the storyline and plot is gripping, and the gameplay excellent. Thief 2 is nearly as good, but I think the story for Thief is a tad better.
-Psi Cop
Planescape: Torment gets the vote from me. Never before had I finished a game where it made me finally inch back from the edge of my chair and let out a breathed, “Wow…”.
You cant have enough votes for Planescape Torment, Ill throw another on the pile. Fricking. Awesome. Story.