Favorite Story in a Game?

[MegaMike]

What is your favorite story in a video game? Perhaps you loved a game with a plot that just kept you guessing, or one that told the tale in a beautiful, cinematic way?

It comes down to two primary choice for me. Halo 1, and Morrowind.

Halo 1 had quite the infamous twist half way through that pushed the game from a good shooter into a great game, plus some smaller (but still pretty big) twists later on. Plus, the tale was told with quite a bit of drama and urgency, especially in the later stages. You really had the sense that if you didn't succeed, the entire galaxy was doomed.

Morrowind had a good, lengthy main quest. The story is really well structured, and flushed out with a lot of background lore. The plot leads you one way in the early stages, merely making you think you are a spy. Considering it is an RPG, it is obvious you will save the world, but just how *huge* of a hero you become is staggering. Also, the game handles alliances and casts doubt on who is a good guy in a non cliche way, and makes you wonder if the villian is really as evil as he is made out to be. Each faction involved has a different agenda, and those agendas are detailed and fleshed out. And some loose ends of the plot are left to the imagination of the player, which I always enjoy. Never have I seen an RPG with so much detail in the story, and all of it is pretty unique. It avoids many common cliches, and characters are never one dimensional. And it continues on into two lengthy expansion packs. Oblivion, as good as it is, can't compare in the story department.

Perhaps with the release of Mass Effect tomorrow, I will have a new game to add to this list.

 

[Mirage]

I really liked the story in the Half-Life games. It was done very well and you really feel like you are playing it out instead of it just being told in the background.

I'd probably like the Morrowind story myself, but I never played the game much. I do find most RPG storylines very interesting though. I like the fantasy and background stories that are usually in such games.

 

[dmny500]

I actually really liked the Gearz of war story, I got sick of the game somewhat quickly though.

 

[Major]

I don't know if it's my favorite story, but the story in Metroid Prime was pretty cool. I liked how you had to piece the whole thing together by reading scans throughout the game, or if you weren't interested you didn't have to read them.

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time was good too.

 

[CaliforniaSteve]

The story in Bioshock was pretty compelling, though I figured out one of the twists at the very begining. Also a big fan of the story in Metal Gear 2.

 

[Doc]

So far, no story has blown me away like the story from Final Fantasy 9.

 

[MegaMike]

Mass Effect is an excellent example of story telling. It's like watching a really good sci-fi movie. Towards the end it becomes quite simply epic. It might just be the best game I have ever played, though I have trouble picking favorites.

 

[Van]

Halo 1 is the top on my list. You have to pay attention to what is going on in the Half-life games, or you get lost, because the main character doesn't really talk.

 

[neum985]

Legend of Mana wins my vote here. If i had to choose one game to play for the rest of my life i would choose that (besides poker of course)

 

[generalblue]

My favorite storyline of all time was a game that I really did not like that much but the story itself compelled me to play it to the end, which would be Final Fantasy 7. It had everything that you could of asked for in a videogame, saving the world, love, and betrayal.