Deeply amused that about 75% of the games in this thread are over 10 years old, and many of the remaining 25% have ALSO been listed in the “games with bad storytelling” thread…
I agree on MW , I liked the bit in MW2 where we are supposed to think Price is dead, and during the rescue in the gulag he ups and punches you in the face. That made me jump.
MW3 was a bit meh for the story . BLOPS 1 and 2 were ok stories, what frustrated me with the later series is that the campagin mission game play really seamed to be on rails.
Liked the WC stories as well. I think wing commander was the first game I played where the future missions depended in how well you did in the last mission.
What’s so amusing about it? Games suck harder recently than any time before. It is known. They’re busy spending their time on whiz-bang graphics and sound, and online multiplayer, and the single-player stories are an afterthought for most games.
10+ years ago, there was online multiplayer, but it was relatively new- it wasn’t the ONLY point of the majority of games like it is now. It’s been said that the late autumn 2001 release of HALO was the watershed game for the original Xbox, if that gives you any idea. Prior to that, it was PC games that ruled the online roost, and single player games were still pretty common, and consequently the stories were better and more well thought out.
I predict a certain rise in co-op play in the near future. I think people will want to play more co-op campaign type games, and not necessarily have to play a single-player adventure, or headless-chicken style deathmatch. This will revive the storytelling aspects as well.
Well, most video games are more than ten years old.
I don’t think anyone’s mentioned “Braid” yet, but it’s a recent game and one of the most remarkable, innovative storytelling games ever made.
Final Fantasy VII: People can say what they want about it, but this game was an astounding success in storytelling and pacing and characters, IMHO
Xenogears: A more adult and epic tale like a Final Fantasy. Simply spectacular
I would definitely question this. The characterization is rather flat and several major characters - protagonists, even - are blandly uninteresting, or even borderline racist stereotypes. Large sections of the plot go nowhere very slowly, the various villains’ act rather randomly, and the game operates under what can charitably be described as a complete gaping void where logic should go.
My general requirement is that a good story should be tellable with new concepts and FF7 doesn’t make that cut. As a story, it’s not even in the top half of Final Fantasy games. People remember it not for the story, but for the innovative technology which drove it. This is not a bad thing. It was amusing enough as a story, but the meat fo the game wasn’t found there. By contrast, pretty much every other game mentioned on this list was story-heavy, or integrated it extremely well into the flow fo the gameplay. FF7 did not. There were a lot of pred-rendered and game-engine cutscenes, but very little of it explored the characters or the story.
Halo doesn’t have online multiplayer…
I think FF7 has a great plot, but the storytelling is very hit-and-miss. The poor translation from Japanese doesn’t help, and overall the story is somewhat muddled, with lots of important scenes/information (the Nibelheim stuff with Zack/Cloud; information on the Ancients at Icicle Inn, Vincent’s background) hidden away in secret areas.
Still though, it’s a pretty good story. Cloud’s plotline of discovering his identity is very strong and compelling, and Sephiroth/Jenova’s own identity issues make an interesting comparison.
I felt the characterization had extra layers of subtlety. Each of the 9 characters had plenty of personality and characterization, plus background ties that delve into their reasons and motivations. Even Barrett had a background that moved him away from the stereotypical Mr. T surface characterization. Other than a few of the Shinra who didn’t get much lines in the game, nearly all of the major and minor characters were introduced as having one motivation, but you find out later why and it makes sense. I’m not looking for a Dickensian level of background filler, but it was a great game and had a great story. Is there anything specific you had issues with?
I wasn’t bothered by Barrett’s mannerisms at all. It may scream racial stereotype, but ebonics aside, he had a reason to be mean and angry.
Almost all of my picks have already been taken: Bioshock, Half-Life 2, Fallout, Deus Ex. The Mass Effect series definitely worked for me, and I hold it in high esteem in particular because I really enjoyed playing in that genre with that atmosphere.
I was thinking about mentioning the Assassin’s Creed series, but I’m not so sure about the overall storytelling. I really like the core premise, though, and I found the games to be enjoyable.
My nominee for (previously unmentioned) really great storytelling and plot would be LOTRO. Having great source material to work from my have a hand in that.
To the Moon, a little indie game (2011!) about a man at the end of his life who wants to go to the moon, but isn’t sure why, and about the journey that his dying wish - granted through artificially-implanted memories (kind of like a fake Make-a-Wish that gives you memories of a new entire life) - leads him and the scientists trying to help him through.
The Chzo Mythos stories by Yahtzee?
The very experimental art-game Dear Esther?
Wing Commander III 
I looked up To the Moon, that looks like an old-school RPG. How does it play? Is it on Steam?
It is, and I can even link it here: To the Moon on Steam
There’s no particular RPG elements - and, when you get right down to it, not many “game” elements at all. Having said that, it’s a lovely story, and it uses the character control element of the thing for pacing really quite well.
But there’s no game to speak of.
The pc version has online multiplayer, and I believe it is still supported.
The best story I’ve ever seen in a video game was the one in Bastion, both for plot and storytelling. You get told the story (which is actually about 80% backstory about the calamity that caused all the events you are playing through) via a narrator who is also narrating your current actions live. The narrator sounds like Morgan Freeman. The live narration seems unscripted, even though the game is pretty linear. Then the actual plot line, revealed in tiny dribs and drabs, manages to be both compelling and realistic. The characters actually have motivations and complexity! In a video game! But seriously, sarcasm aside, the game’s story is excellent. I normally don’t have any respect for video game plot lines — literally the only other game that I feel has an outright good story is Portal (1) — but Bastion’s story really is very good in its own right.
KOTOR 1 & 2 for sure. Wing Commander 2 - 4 also great. I still remember destroying the final enemy base with a only a few slivers of armor left in WC2 and the final mission in WC4 when that bastard Maniac finally starts obeying orders.
I’ll also give honorable mentions to the original Dark Souls and Bloodborne. It’s a different type of story telling in that it appears shallow on the surface but goes incredibly deep when the player takes time to dig.
Oops, massive necro.
To update my previous remark, I thought Grand Theft Auto V, Dragon Age: Inquisition and Witcher 3 were pretty good. Borderlands 2 was pretty funny.
Planetfall was the first game story to really move me…as a nerdy grade schooler who could barely spell, let alone type…