Gamings Best Storylines

[Benji]

I think I might be the only person who plays games, not just for enjoyment, but for storyline purposes, I'm the type of person who plays 100% to find out the tiniest tidbit so I can understand the story. I'm the person who watches the bonus features for a snippet of info I can use as trivia. So here's my question, what game do you think has the best story?

Obviously for me there goes Tekken, depsite the plotholes, I can explain the story with my own fanon (blah blah Kaney). But one game I think is always undershot is Final Fantasy VIII, I've been playing a bit again and remembered how good the story was, just really small things. Of course it takes a bit of replaying to understand, for example, I never realised that the reason Irvine 'froze up' when he was to shoot Edea, was because he remembered who she was because his Garden didn't allow GF's, which caused the memory loss. Tiny things like that are the stuff I love to analyse and go 'oh yeah' over.

Just two for now, but I'll throw in the rest of the FF's, they always have excellent (if slightly convoluted) storylines

FINAL FANTASY IX FOR THE WIN!

[stokeriño]

Although you did throw all the FF games in, I may as well get this out of the way now:

Final Fantasy VII

While I very much enjoyed playing FF9, it wasn't exactly mind-blowing in terms of plot.

Metal Gear Solid would also deserve an honourable mention, of course.

[Skummy]

Final Fantasy VII definitely has the best storyline, in my book. So much of it is implicit, I know plenty of people that have played through multiple times and never picked up on certain (fairly important) aspects of the story, such as the importance of JENOVA, most specifically. It's excellent.

[Benji]

Although you did throw all the FF games in, I may as well get this out of the way now:

Final Fantasy VII

While I very much enjoyed playing FF9, it wasn't exactly mind-blowing in terms of plot.

Metal Gear Solid would also deserve an honourable mention, of course.

FF9 was a simple storyline, that's what I loved about it, it didn't need shock tactics or destructive blows to play it's plot, it was all rather well eased and still came out great.

[Liam]

Final Fantasy 7 in a walk.

I remember how evil Shinra were built up to be, you get to there HQ, you battle all the way to the top, only to find the boss of Shinra dead. That moment, I was just like "....shit,what have I got myself in for?".

The whole Sephiroth/Jenova storyline was great, and the bits coming off of it as well.

[SeanDMan]

Shadows Of The Empire was good.

Ocarina Of Time was pretty good.

I don't even think I need to mention my favourite.

[apsham]

The Metal Gear/Metal Gear Solid is the best written series ever, and that's a period on that as well.

[Kaney]

I know Benji always shoots his load about FFIX, but I honestly think it was one of the worst ones I've played. That being said I only got through three disks, about a million years ago, so refresh my memory a little?

All I can remember is that Zidane met up with the princess, she ran off and started calling herself Dagger or something.

I still think MGS had the best storyline of the series, although Snake Eater was pretty awesome, if only for the ending. Deus Ex was also damned good, to throw in something else.

[Skummy]

I think Final Fantasy IX, to me at least, was a "send-off" to the earlier games and, with it, the "traditional" Final Fantasy style, as it seemed Square had been wanting to move away from it for a while, beginning with FF8, skipping 9, and then continuing from there onwards. It had a lot of references to the earlier games, was the first since 5 to be set in the typical "medieval" setting, and even the storyline seemed something of a mash-up of earlier games.

It was one of the most fun, and probably the most imminently playable, but the storyline was nothing to write home about compared to some of the earlier games.

[stokeriño]

I know Benji always shoots his load about FFIX, but I honestly think it was one of the worst ones I've played. That being said I only got through three disks, about a million years ago, so refresh my memory a little?

All I can remember is that Zidane met up with the princess, she ran off and started calling herself Dagger or something.

Screw spoiler brackets, this thread's got warnings.

Basically Zidane et al go to kidnap her, but she was trying to run away anyway. Their ship crashes in a forest, and end up going around together. Deciding she needs a fake name for when they encounter civilisation, the ever-imaginative princess comes up with "umm....Daggar?". All the hooded mages are artificial, cue lengthy angst from Vivi (or whatever its name is; I called it Skip). Just about every city you go to ends up being trounced by a big fuck-off gun thing. Kuja wants to destroy the world for a reason I forget, possibly involving personal angst.

I liked the comic relief of FF9 (Steiner), and when you had the Queen and Kuja facing off in a great big villain vs villainess battle, and the abundance of Moogles, but that's mostly it.

Edited March 16, 2006 by stokeriño

[Ash J. Williams]

For me, it's a tie between Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII

[Grounded Wingman]

The early versions of Wing Commander (which was an awesome game on the SNES)

Not sure if Tenchu counts, as the storyline basically centres around ninjas doing missions for their Lord, but it's good too.

[Rich]

i loved FFVII loads, but recently replayed 9, and it was awesome, i loved it, there were still stubtlties in it that you noticed, and it was amusing early on but got serious by the end, the only thing i din't like was the final boss after KUJA, as necron made nosense and was a pile of shit

[Skummy]

i loved FFVII loads, but recently replayed 9, and it was awesome, i loved it, there were still stubtlties in it that you noticed, and it was amusing early on but got serious by the end, the only thing i din't like was the final boss after KUJA, as necron made nosense and was a pile of shit

He's referenced in a book in a library somewhere, or something. And he's hinted at, but the fact that he just turns up and fights you at the end is a bit silly. Although, it does kind of fit my "send off to the series" idea in some ways.

[TheArsenal]

Final Fantasy VII

[Your Mom]

I loved FF7 but hated the end. Unless I'm just missing something that ending sucks!

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

MGS3, MGS, MGS2.

Loadsa people hate on MGS2 for over-complication, swerves aplenty and general weirdness but I enjoyed all that and felt a part of something bigger and constantly changing.

Having said that MGS3 is the best of the three Solids...

I love storylines and I dislike adventure games that don't have them.

Monkey Island 2 also has a great storyline revolving around finding the Big Whoop and I loved playing Operation Flashpoint, again for being just a part of a constantly changing machine....

In fact I'm reinstalling Flashpoint....

[Gongsun Zan]

Killer7.

The storyline is there, but it takes a deal of thought to piece it all together and figure it out, but it's brilliant.

[Toe]

Well not the most deep or intriguing, Star Wars: Battlefront II's storyline of following the 501st Legion is cool and makes the single player worthwhile in a game that is mainly aimed at multiplayer.

NHL 2K6.

[Mick]

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

While the GTA3 focused on pretty much a do-boy, it's sequel followed a dark vision of the American Dream in a rags-to-riches story. The way Tommy goes from working for people, to working for himself, and just the set up and connections, is brilliantly played out.