Favorite stories in games?

[AwesomeCool]

I am curious as to what the communities favorite stories from games are. (they can be used as reference to what make good game stories)

My favorite story is from Planescape: Torment.  Not only is it a deep story, it gives the player choices that are far deeper then most games with choices (like all of them).

 

[Venka]

Ok I'll join in cause I'm looking for ways to avoid working on a project today

I usually am not that into game stories, I like the game play a lot better. However, there are games here and there that draw me in despite my play style Some of them were RPG Maker games. However.. the one that sticks out the most in my mind is Unepic. Where you're a guy playing table top D&D with some buddies and get up to go to the bathroom but you never make it there. The satire in the story is great

 

[Milennin]

I love Sonic 3 & Knuckles' story. Not because it's deep (it's as shallow as a story can get), but because it works for the type of game it's made for and is implemented so well that it tells itself without interrupting the gameplay. Also, it's pretty epic, and makes for some cool visual scenes throughout the game.

 

[Touchfuzzy]

1. Nier

2. Metal Gear Solid 2

3. Knights of the Old Republic II

4. Planescape: Torment

5. Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions

6. Deus Ex: Human Revolution

EDIT: Had to add in FFT.

 

[Tokumei No]

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Resident Evil '96, Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, Silent Hill 3, Kingdom Hearts, Doom 3... 

 

[Dalph]

In no particular order:

Xenogears
Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions

Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross

The Last of Us
Final Fantasy VI and VII

Shadow of the Colossus

Planescape: Torment
Mass Effect (1-2-3)
Shadow of Memories (A lot of people don't like this game, but for me it's one of the best time travel stories ever)
Braid

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP

I have to play Nier too, since Touchfuzzy and a lot of other people reccomended it. I'm really curious about the plot of that game.

 

[EternalShadow]

The Witcher 2

FF9

FF12

Those are my top 3 ever, I think. Games like Resi 4 come close, but fall in their story departments in lieu of their gameplay departments. Political intrigue often tends to be an absolute bore, unless the intrigue directly impacts on the characters involved in the story. Attack on

Titan for example, is falling a bit in this department lately as it all only impacts a small subgroup, but FF12 potentially impacted the world, FF9 impacted the main characters, and The Witcher's directly impacted the main character and his entourages.

 

[whitesphere]

Final Fantasy IV --- I love the classic arc of the Hero's Redemption in this.

Chrono Trigger --- The light humor here was a nice touch (a late game boss says "Hey, where do you think you're going?  Why do you think I was flexing my muscles and stuff?" when you try to go past him after asking "Where's Azula?"  He replies "Through that door.")

Dragon Quest IX --- I love how this was a bit tongue in cheek as well

 

[Alexander Amnell]

I have to many of these:

Sleeping dogs

nier

The last of us

Fft

Eco

golden sun 1+2

the witcher and the witcher 2

legend of dragoon

legend of legeia (-anything having to do with Noah)

call of Juarez: gunslinger

spectral souls: long name I can never remember(though as far as I know there is only one, so that one)

that's all I can think of off the top of my head, many good stories.

 

[Touchfuzzy]

I have to play Nier too, since Touchfuzzy and a lot of other people reccomended it. I'm really curious about the plot of that game.

Just a heads up, you HAVE to play New Game+ to get the full story. The New Game+ starts you back at about halfway through the game, not all the way to the beginning, and all the sidequests you have completed stay completed, only story progression is reset. (If you want to do a 100% sidequest run make sure you have 51% done before going into the mansion for the first time).

During New Game+, you will be given a lot more perspective on what happened as you will be perceiving the game a bit more from a different character's perspective (you still play as the main character, but you will learn new info that he didn't have that someone else did).

It reframes the story of the entire game so its vitaly important that you play new game+.

 

[Seacliff]

I really like the first Final Fantasy, it's not deep, but is impressive for the 8-bit age.

I prefer not to think to much, so simple stories like Zelda work for me. But I do like FF6 and FF7.

 

[hiromu656]

Some of my favorite stories:

Dragon Age: Origins

Mass Effect 2

Nier

Ico

SMT: Digital Devil Saga (1 and 2)

Persona 2

Call of Duty World at War (shocking? idk)

 

[Indinera]

I used to be a die-hard fan of the Phantasy Star trilogy, on the Sega Megadrive.

 

[Harmill]

Xenosaga Trilogy

Final Fantasy X

Suikoden III

Xenogears

 

[FleetingInfinity]

Let's see, if we're going purely off of story then it would be:

Lunar: The Silver Star  (Kind of a tie here between the original Sega CD version and the last PSP remake, there are elements of both stories that I really liked, but I feel like they really toned down the game's story when they first ported it.  It's not as dark as it was on the Sega CD, but being able to keep Luna and actually seeing some scenes from what might have been, but absolutely never will be Lunar 3?  That almost makes up for it.)

Lunar: The Eternal Blue (No question here, the original Sega CD version wins hands down.)

Shining Force II

Phantasy Star III

Phantasy Star IV

Final Fantasy IV

Final Fantasy VI

Shining Force CD

Grandia II

Grandia

Chrono Trigger

Suikoden II

. . Really all the Suikoden games so I, III, IV, and V, too.

Tactics Ogre

Final Fantasy Tactics

Here's one out of left field, wonder if anyone else even knows it:   Beyond the Beyond

Ar Tonelico I

Ar Tonelico II (to a lesser extent, since it's just story it makes this list, but I absolutely detested the change they made to the battle system)

Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky

I should probably just stop here, I could keep going on for quite a while, these are in no particular order, and just because I left off a game doesn't mean I don't love it just as much.  Just means I had to stop listing games and go do something slightly more productive for a bit.

 

[hian]

Final Fantasy 6-10

Suikoden 1-2

Breath of Fire 3-4

Vandal Hearts

Vagrant Story

Xenogears

Metal Gear Solid series

Granstream Saga

Star Ocean 1-2

Pretty much it I guess.

 

[captainproton]

Golden Sun 1 & 2 are really good; 3 seemed a bit rushed.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village had a good story, and I loved the elegantly creepy vibe of the whole thing.

Bravely Default started off seeming like a fairly simple FF standard story (save the crystals, save the world), but it turns out to be surprisingly deep and complex, with very interesting twists (which would've been more of a surprise, if not for internet spoilers).

Chrono Trigger.

Secret of Mana.

Secret of Evermore.

Illusion of Gaia. All four of those are just wow.

Exile 3: The Ruined World was really cool.

 

[AwesomeCool]

with all these lists containing the game Nier, I have to try it.

 

[sai]

Star Ocean 2 and Tales of the Abyss for me. There's a few more I like, too, but those stand out to me the most.

 

[Touchfuzzy]

I have to say that with all the people listing Suikoden games... the best story in a Suikoden game was III. It wasn't my favorite in the series (that would be II), but the story was great.