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Suikoden series, with Suikoden II having the best plot of all the games (and just best in general, IM--and most other fans'--HO). Political drama and coups, friendships made and broken, tragic sacrifices, cunning strategists tricking others into being their pawns, and a cast of 108 characters -- most of them playable and most having unique personalities -- on top of all the other allies who don't join you and foes, Suikoden has all of that. If I were to rank them all by plot, I'd say S2>S5>S3>S1>S4.
Final Fantasy 3/6 and 7 had pretty good storyline, too. FF Tactics had such a complex story going on it's hard to keep track of the first time through. At least it was difficult for me.
I love Chrono Trigger, but I didn't think plot was a particularly strong aspect of the game.
I'm not sure for what it's worth, but Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (Gamecube) had one of the greatest plot twists EVER!
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PS: Torment is very good. I'm really surprised no one has mentioned ES3: Morrowind. The main story was really good, the sub-plots were generally pretty well thought out and involved, and the game world as a whole was incredibly well developed. The 1000+ pages of in-game books alone made for wicked reading. I'd sometimes play just to read the books.
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I'm obviously partial to the FF games. I like 4 (the problem of mortals wrestling with the choice between easy Evil and difficult Good), 6 (the massive cast and the epic plot threads), and 10 (the Journey and the Sacrifice!) for some of the best plots around, though 7 is certainly a strong contender (a certain famous death scene...).
But aside from that, there's still a LOT of good plots out there.
The most impressive ones have actually been some Western RPG's, in my mind. Torment is absolutely amazing. BioShock is fantastic. Fable and KOTOR are wonderful. Fallout is quite good. I'm paying close attention to the Old Republic MMO -- their idea of constant forward thrust and choices that can't be undone and dialogue that doesn't circle back in on itself is deeply interesting to me.
I like hitting the diversity of non-JRPG's when I can, just because I'm such a big FF nerd.
If Final Fantasy Zero can get close to the narrative thrust of some of the better of these games, I'll be very proud of it. Narrative is what FFZ is all about, after all.
While I didn't get to play it till around 2002, I'd read some stuff about it online in 2001, shortly before I started playing D&D. It, and subsequently the mimir were my first exposure to Planescape. But even if I didn't adore the setting itself, the game's plotline is engrossing and amazingly well done. The various patches online that restore some dialogue options that didn't make it to the final release are a good thing to snag as well if you get a copy of the game.
Outside of Torment however, I very much enjoyed BG2: SoA. It's a shame that Black Isle folded.
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Best story - I'll agree with Final Fantasy III, followed by Knights of the Old Republic and Final Fantasy 8.
__________________ "A group of men head by. They are not tarrying or running. Nor are they singing. They don't seem to be making apple pies. As far as you can tell, they're not talking about sports. They neither have sombreros nor stilts. These men are not acrobats. They have no expression as they don't dally to the west." -Simplicity
Off the top of my head, I've got a list of games that are plain great, story-wise. There are other games that are great for other reasons. (I don't have PS3 or Wii, so I can't comment on their games)
Xbox 360 (and Xbox)- Mass Effect, BioShock, Fable II. Fable, KOTOR 1, Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind. (And Armed and Dangerous deserves a mention... Not really for story or gameplay, but for the script and hilarious cutscenes. A game to be in any Monty Python fans collection.)
PS2- Dragon Quest 8, FF X, (and FF VII)
Gamecube- Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
PC- NWN2 was sweet (never played 1...), Starcraft (if you don't have it),
Frankly, anything by BioWare will have a great story. They are some of the greatest storytellers of our time in the video game world.
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Fallout was already mentioned, and there's really not much I can say about it that isn't mindless gushing. Fallout 1 is what every cRPG should try to be. Period. It's the pinnacle.
KotOR 2, sadly, had the greatest potential to be a thousand times better then KotOR 1 - and for a good portion, is. Unfortunately, Lucas Arts wears it's pants on it's head, and decided to butcher the development time they originally set so they could release the game for Christmas, and much of the brilliance was lost. I actually suggest you read through the KotoR 2 Let's Play - they touch a lot on how amazing the game is, and what was lost when Lucas Arts decided to kill it.
Why wasn't Mask of the Betrayer mentioned? Sure, the Neverwinter Nights 2 original campaign was mostly eh (Better then NWN1's OC, mind you), but the expansion, Mask of the Betrayer, is absolutely amazing. Gann is probably my favorite partner/friend/companion from any non-PS:T game of all time, easily. The game is non-linear and has, bar none, the best "evil" path in any game ever made. For me, that game set the standard for how to make a non-linear game with evil choices.
Personally, I advise you stay away from Bioware. They've made an occupation from releasing the exact same game in different settings (Dragon Age is going to be Mass Effect in Middle Earth. Mass Effect was KotOR with some words changed. KotOR was Jade Empire in space. Jade Empire was NWN1 in bamboo covered Europe, not to be confused with Asia), so quite frankly, if you've played one, you very much have played them all. And god help you if you like realistic partners/friends/companions, because all Bioware seems to be capable of are whiny child-men who see the main character not as a sentient being, but as a walking psychologist. I'm positive that Bioware has personally set back the women's rights movement hundreds of years with their refusal to portray female PCs as anything but pathetic, mewling spellcasters. And why? It allows Bioware to give you the opportunity to discover these "strong women" who studied all their life to master the dark art but after removing a few layers you will discover that under this strong facade they are ony little scared girls who need love to survive in this harsh world. It makes me want to vomit.
Morrowind is a fun hiking simulator. I mean, don't get me wrong - the aesthetics, showing the in-game setting as somewhere that's wonderfully alien and fantastic, makes it one of the very, very few 3-D games that I enjoy since we decided not to go anywhere but medieval Europe, the in game lore regarding just about everything is awesome, and I absolutely adore pre-Oblivion Tamriel, one of the few settings with elves that are absolutely cool in just about every way - and Morrowind helped make the Dunmer one of my favorite races of anything from any setting, period. It's just...it's just...it's just that the gameplay and storytelling is kinda eehhhh.
Something similar goes for Arcanum, really. The setting is awesome. The in game lore is awesome. The storytelling for the most part is awesome. The gameplay? Not so awesome. The NPCs really need some work, too.
Keep in mind, despite my detractions, I still recommend all of the above games that aren't from Bioware. Morrowind? Play it! Mod it heavily, but play it! Arcanum? Grab Drog Black Tooth's mod for it, and through yourself in! Even KotoR 2 is a fun romp through a game that tries to make Star Wars one thousand times better as a setting.
On the jRPG - and thus, console - side, I agree fully with the nomination of Suikoden. 1 is great, 2 is absolutely fantastic - or awesome, if you want - and 3 is good. Four is...don't play four. It's not bad, it just doesn't match up with the greatness of the other Suikodens. Five jumps back up to great.
I dislike FF7. Sorry. 8 is worse. I did enjoy nine though! Ten...that's FF8 level. Sorry again.
Buuuuuuut...Final Fantasy Tactics is great stuff. It's got my recommendation.
I'm not much of a console gamer, so there's not much else I can through out, but I know a lot of people who absolutely adore the Persona series, and they all seem to agree that 4 is fantastic.
__________________ Psionics are too sci-fi, not like the traditional method of spell casting that has existed only in D&D, involves research, laboratory work, and formulas, and was cribbed directly from a series of science fiction novels. I mean, come on, calling forth the power to alter the world from your own center of will? That's not magical in the slightest! Not at all like my wizard's spell "Telepathy!"
Last edited by ProfessorCirno; 27th December 2008 at 01:54 AM..
Reason: Added console games
PS: Torment is very good. I'm really surprised no one has mentioned ES3: Morrowind. The main story was really good, the sub-plots were generally pretty well thought out and involved, and the game world as a whole was incredibly well developed. The 1000+ pages of in-game books alone made for wicked reading. I'd sometimes play just to read the books.
Morrowind put me to sleep.
The thing with Morrowind is... the game world itself is pretty cool, the backstory is interesting, and the setting is inscrutably alien, but the gameplay and the actual story, bore me to tears.
Planescape: Torment has probably the best 'story,' though Baldur's Gate II is most likely the better 'game.'
Mass Effect has a great, cinematic story, if only because it's one of the few games where playing an evil douche doesn't (always) translate into being a dick to everyone.
Chrono Trigger is a lot of fun. Probably one of the best j-rpgs of all time with a great story to boot.
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Morrowind was alright. Oblivion is a little better. Mass Effect was interesting until you get to the romantic part with the alien, then it's like, well, this.
I had a problem with Neverwinter Night 2 because the game's bugs got into the way, but I generally loved the NWN series more because of all the mods you could do with it instead of the game that was in it, but the storylines in the original were pretty good.
Dark Messiah: Might and Magic was pretty good, but it's not something that you wouldn't see the twists and turns coming.
PS: T gets my vote story wise. Glad to see it isn't just me.
Arcanum gets my second. I agree w/ the Prof. about its bugs, but even still I play it once a year or so. Drog's patches from terra-arcanum.com fix a lot of them.
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Planescape: Torment is coming out on top, like usual. I love the game and recommend it to all my friends. That being said, I prefer Baldur's Gate II.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pants
Planescape: Torment has probably the best 'story,' though Baldur's Gate II is most likely the better 'game.'
It's a bit of that, but Baldur's Gate II felt more alive to me. It felt like it had a richer, larger world, more characters and more options. I remember in P:T making the Nameless One a mage, and it didn't feel like it had any real impact. In Baldur's Gate II, I had a necromancer who owned his own planar sphere and had apprentices making goodies.
So, Baldur's Gate II for me.
I'm a huge gamer and have played practically every game mentioned in this thread. I will say that Suikoden II was pretty good as well, and I have fond memories of it. One thing that really stood out for me was the fact that Suikoden II didn't revolve around saving the world (or the underworld, or a plane, or whatever). It was just city-states engaging in combative politics. Very refreshing, as far as I'm concerned.
Oh, and as an aside, I did like Knights of the Old Republic II more than the first one (although the first one was good too, don't get me wrong) and recommend the sequel.
Y'know, I have PS:T and never could get into it. I think it's because my instruction manual was in Korean (bought it there, even though the game is in English) and I could never really figure out how to level up. Just lost interest in it. Very cool looking though.
For me, the Baldur's Gate series is the best story line.
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Morrowind was alright. Oblivion is a little better. Mass Effect was interesting until you get to the romantic part with the alien, then it's like, well, this.
Y'know, you can hook up with Kaiden or Ashley if you don't want to have anything to do with Liara.
I like 4 (the problem of mortals wrestling with the choice between easy Evil and difficult Good), 6 (the massive cast and the epic plot threads), and 10 (the Journey and the Sacrifice!) for some of the best plots around, though 7 is certainly a strong contender (a certain famous death scene...). 
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