Best story in a video game?

Soldato
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+1 to this

Mass Effect is the only game that's made me care about my companions and my actions, the only game that's ever given me a lump in my throat throughout the story. Incredible game, I can't see a game or series of games ever immersing you in a story and characters ever again like ME did. Games are different now, dumbed down and lazy in development, it feels like no love or care is put into games these days.
 
Soldato
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Mass Effect is the only game that's made me care about my companions and my actions, the only game that's ever given me a lump in my throat throughout the story. Incredible game, I can't see a game or series of games ever immersing you in a story and characters ever again like ME did. Games are different now, dumbed down and lazy in development, little love is given anymore I find.

100% mate, my all time favourite series. Might have to go back and play it at some point :D

I had a real hatred for The Illusive man in 1 & 2, and it all changed in 3. It was like he wasn't the bad guy anymore...I felt cheated lol
 
Soldato
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Legacy of Kain series. The first, Blood Omen, was a fantastic game. It's graphics could do with HD'ing a little now though.

Max Payne was up there until they released 3 and it was so far apart from the previous 2 it was unrecognisable. This is where I think a line should be drawn - if you don't finish the story (i.e. HL2) then it's not a good story - same applies for this!

Lords of Midnight / Doomdarks Revenge gave you a book to read. As did Dungeon Master. This really set the scenes and are definitely up there in terms of story.

Asherons Call - first real MMO I played and had one of the most interesting stories which evolved monthly. Share WB got the rights to it really as it's such a good game, even now!




M.
 
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I'm excited for the release of Halo on PC - then we can add to the list of games with amazing stories on PC.
I picked myself up a 360 recently. It came with most of the Halo games and the ones it was missing I bought for a quid or two each at a retro games market. Really good series :). I would expect the PC version to poo on the 360 versions (and the Xbox 1 remaster) from a great height.
 
Soldato
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the borderlands series, especially bl2 and it's dlc's has some excellent story to them entertainingly told.

i do like the bioshock series, very heart of darkness kind of storytelling.

there's also the metro series if you don't mind the plot being thoroughly depressing

i'm looking forward to having a crack at red dead 2, been having to avoid major spoilers all this time.
 
Soldato
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I'd recommended Alan Wake if you love Stephen king style horror mystery. Slightly cheesy and cliche but it still pulls it off with style IMO.
King himself could even be criticised in that way, good story not fine literature. Wake is a great story by game standards imo and it creates a proper atmosphere and probably all the games by that same designer

Half life and Bioshock also got the balance right
 
Soldato
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Brothers a tale of 2 sons ticks some boxes i think there.
i hear all of them are good, but i can attest to the quality of the story in the tell tale walking dead series.
I'd agree with both of these.

Brothers a tale of 2 sons you can finish in 6 hrs or so, but it's just a beautiful game with a wonderfully told story.

Walking dead season 1 is the most connected I'd ever felt to characters in a game. I was like "I will do ANYTHING to save Clem!" by the end of it. Bite size to an extent as its in episodes of about 45 mins apiece. Best played when you have time to get immersed though. Season 2 is good, but the first is a clear winner for me.

The wolf among us is another excellent telltale game if you just don't fancy the zombie setting.
 
Caporegime
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I've tried to play through the Deus EX GOTY edition with mods and the gameplay mechanics are just so old now, a remake on the new engine would be amazing. Especially if they included the area 51/space levels missing from the original.

GMDX mod is probably the best I've tried so far.
 
Soldato
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Witcher trilogy, Planescape Torment, Disco Elysium, Fallout 1/2/New Vegas, Mafia, Kingdom Come, Red Dead Redemption 2, Metal Gear Solid 1/2, Deus Ex
I'm really eying up Disco Elysium.. is it up there with the best?


I'm surprised by the ME2 comments. I played it through <2 years ago and thought it was distinctly average. It's level design was just a bit meh, the overarching plot sucked and I thought the narrative for each companion being introduced was average. For its time, I imagine ME2 was probably revolutionary given the graphical fidelity and the huge improvements it made on ME1, but I struggle to really rate it that highly. I actually thought ME1's main plot was better than ME2s. I found ME2s more just like a collection of character arcs with a beggining, middle and an end mission for the actual plot.

What did I miss from the game? I feel like we almost had played totally different games! The start of ME2 was incredible though. I was like WOW. But once it settled, I found it so repetitive. For example the Krogan world I remember being paper thin and pathetic.
 
Soldato
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Mass Effect is the only game that's made me care about my companions and my actions, the only game that's ever given me a lump in my throat throughout the story. Incredible game, I can't see a game or series of games ever immersing you in a story and characters ever again like ME did. Games are different now, dumbed down and lazy in development, it feels like no love or care is put into games these days.

I installed Mass Effect after reading this thread, but it's so old now that I struggled with it. Could I pick up ME2 or ME3 or would missing the previous installment make it pointless?
 
Associate
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I installed Mass Effect after reading this thread, but it's so old now that I struggled with it. Could I pick up ME2 or ME3 or would missing the previous installment make it pointless?
There's mods that help with the graphics. It's a great game, and some parts pass through to the next games (characters etc).
ME2 is my personal favourite (maybe my all time) and I actually liked 3 (don't judge me). Got the best ending which got me a little giddy at the end!
 
Soldato
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I installed Mass Effect after reading this thread, but it's so old now that I struggled with it. Could I pick up ME2 or ME3 or would missing the previous installment make it pointless?

I've only played 1 and 2 and preferred 1 for story + lore so i'd definitely try and persevere.

ME2 is a bit of a mixed bag for me... its overall arching plot is non existant and concentrates on *new character intro* then *new character mission* and rinses and repeats until they're all introduced, then rushes into the main plot which sucks (imo).

the introduction is amazing tho.

the combat in ME2 is way better tho.
 
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