I've found now, I feel the story & atmosphere is almost more essential than the gameplay. I've found game play mechanics and gimmicks usually become boring enough that I'm not inclined to beat the game. For instance, I'm not inclined to beat the latest Super Mario because the story is so childish. Yes, it's fun for a bit, but I just get tired of it. Similarly single player fighting games aren't that fun, like playing through Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The last game I loved was Policenauts. I played through the game on PSX and the game play mechanics were point and click controlled by a console controller. Even with the outdated game play mechanics, the story drove me to beat the whole thing. Of course, if the gameplay is bad enough the story doesn't matter. Here's my list my favorite stories in video games in no particular order. --------------------- -The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64) -The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64) -The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (N64) -Grand Theft Auto: Vice City -Grand Theft Auto 4 -Bioshock -Bioshock 2 -Policenauts English PSX Translation -Resident Evil (Gamecube) -Psychonauts -Conker's Bad Fur Day -"EarthBound Zero" -Metroid Prime -Metroid Fusion I'll update this if I think of others. Please share your favorites and thoughts.
Half-Life, Silent Hill, loads of SCUMM games. Most non-RPG games prior to the 32-bit era didn't have much of a story or rather told the story through gameplay and textless sequences. Final Fantasy 6 had an absolutely AMAZING story line by far but it is an RPG. Same with Chrono Trigger. Donkey Kong Country was an absolutely amazing game with very little in the way of text to further the story but you played the entire story from finding out your banana hoard had been pilfered to retrieving it.
I think the story in 99% (and I'm being generous here) of all video games is completely secondary, worthless and cliche-filled, and never really gets me to finish a game I don't really like. Most of them can't even compete with your average action movie story. However, the Monkey Island series and LucasArts adventure games in general: Full Throttle, Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max Hit the Road, Grim Fandango etc. are way above practically any other game as far as writing is concerned.
Infinite Space takes the cake for me. I have never had a game illicit so many different emotions from me. And amazingly enough, IS pulled this off with minimal graphics and still images with text for the "cut scenes". But seriously, that is the one game that actually made me feel dread as well as hopelessness. Truly amazing. Lost Odyssey is up there as well, if primarily for the Memories stories. Though I really enjoyed the overall story as well. Outside of those two... um... the original Mass Effect (ME2's story is quite bland IMO, suffers "setting up the finale" syndrome), FFIV, FFVI, Shenmue I+II (albeit unfinished, but a great story none-the-less), the Panzer Dragoon trilogy (though more of a world's development than a "story" per se, but PDSaga has an amazing story). And you know what? Radiant Silvergun has a cool story. Speaking of shooters with great stories, the Thunder Force games (sans 1 and 6) had a really cool thing going as well.
Obligatory mention for Planescape: Torment. You know there are people out there, and I'm certainly not accusing you of this, but there are people who think that the storylines in the Resident Evil games are genuinely good. Not "fun and amusingly terrible", but actually good. I can't begin to understand how that works.
Okay I think I should clarify. I'm looking for games that rely on emotion rather then pure reflexes like classic arcade games. "Story" doesn't just include the plot of the game, but also includes atmosphere. Probably the only game with an insanely good original story is BioShock. Most games are tributes to movies. In Resident Evil you felt scared, you felt emotions, and felt you were that character. The story wasn't original, but it wasn't predictable while you were playing through the game. If you focus solely on the plot your missing the point. The acclaimed movie, Memento, in chronological order, is a mindless action movie. But, the way you play detective throughout the movie is what's amazing. Same thing with Resident Evil, you find bit's and pieces of information about what has happened by exploring & reading diaries. Take Metroid Prime. The story isn't told through cut scenes as much as the interaction with the world around you. Reading diaries, collecting data on the life or seeing the damaged world's. The atmosphere is what is amazing. The highly acclaimed Mass Effect isn't really insanely original in terms of plot, but the emotional attachment you feel to the world makes it worth playing.
I don't agree with much of the Ops list. =/ Off the top of my head, while not stellar but decent stories are Silent Hill 2 Yakuza 1/2 (more 2 for me, but 1 had an interesting story, 3 has a shit story).
Story in a game..I've been gaming for 21 years and I have yet to recognize a game's story as more than an effort to make sense of what the fuck is supposed to be going on. I mean some games have awesome atmosphere but to suggest they have strong stories.. I don't know, I'm spoiled by books and some films I guess.
There aren't any original stories left to be told. There's nothing new under the sun. I'm having a difficult time even thinking of games with good stories. There have been some great twists in games. The most memorable to me was 'Knights of the Old Republic'. But twists like that aren't anything new. The last time I actually cared about characters in a game was probably 'Lost Odyssey'. Before that, probably Half-Life 2, Episode 1, and Episode 2. I don't think you can mix story and atmosphere. Games can have great atmosphere but really lack in story. 'Dead Space' comes to mind. Awesome atmosphere, extremely fun gameplay, but the story was just, okay.
Interesting question, I think the answer is alittle of both. If a game has superb mechanics, then the story can be secondary or even non existent. However if the story is really strong you may actually find yourself fighting the horrible gameplay just to see what happens. The Metal Gear Solid series is a great example of a game that has ok mechanics but insanely good characters and story. While Super Mario Galaxy has no story yet is is a joy to play. Its very rare when the story and gameplay converge to create a great experience. When this happens its an all new art form, separate from music and movies, that can only occur in gaming.
I gotta go with the Metal Gear plotline. But most video game "stories" can be boiled down to "rescue the princess" or "save the world". As much as I love the original 2, the Zelda series has become very redundant. I don't understand the high acclaim people hold for OOT and Majora's Mask. It seems like Nintendo keeps adding gimmicks to make the games longer than they actually are, being the time spent traveling on a horse, or boat, or train, or having to do the same tasks over and over in a set time period. It's just being cheap.
I'm w/ 7Force. Most suck. I think with games, "less is more" is the only way to go with a story (most of the time). That being said, I like the backstory of an action game, that tells you only a few pieces along the way. Perhaps why I like arcade games so much. The Panzer Dragoon series works well like this.
Suikoden. While the story for each game is essentially the same I enjoyed how they would reveal the overall world and history little by little throughout the series.
I think one of the best examples of story being injected into a game when it didn't need to be is Racing Lagoon for the PS1. Interesting failed concept.
I think it depends entirely on which game you're talking about. In some games the story isn't a very large part of the overall experience, so it isn't that important. In other games it's extremely important. So I'd say it depends of what effect the game is trying to elicit. I'd would liken it to lyrics in music. In some songs, the lyrics are a very large part of the overall effect of the song. Other songs don't have any lyrics at all, and in that case it's all about the instrumentals. See what I'm saying? I will admit that most of the games that I end up coming back to over and over again tend to be very story-heavy. Anyway, my favorites story-wise: Half Life series Shenmue series Metal Gear Solid series Portal series Heavy Rain Monkey Island series Conker's Bad Fur Day The Neverhood Dead or Alive series......................... just kidding.
This isn't a argument on which is more essential. I just want to hear about the stories people have liked the most. The zelda games are really cool story wise. You get sucked into the world. It's the standard fantasy story, but it's really a magical experience because of the characters. In Majora's Mask the Skull Kid is really intriguing as is the back story of why the world is ending.
