In depth read only version of game storylines?

[AgentBEATS]

Exactly as the title asks, is there a such thing as a read only version of game storylines? Sometimes I just don't have the time, or the money, or the console, or whatever combination of those and many other factors to play a game that I am interested in. I'm an avid reader and for the most part, a lot of what interests me in games is the story telling, that being said I would love to be able to say take a game in a book version.

Has this ever been heard of? Or done? Is it just impossible wishful thinking?

For example a game like Final Fantasy XIIII. Most would agree its more cinematic than game and although most would disagree with me, I enjoy that type of storytelling. I just don't have an Xbox 360 or PS3 and even if I did, don't have the time to play through it. I'd love to know what happens though.

I doubt I would find an actual "book" type version of a game, with perfect descriptions and so on, but even an in depth summary that follows the story from beginning to end would be nice.

 

[Rydian]

They sometimes make manga of games. I can't link you to any sites hosting the stuff, but I can tell you they made a manga of FF12, and they've made manga of many Zelda games (including the GB/C/A games, and OOT). There's also one for Legend of Mana, a Dragon Quest one, Monster Hunter, a couple of the Tales series, Suikoden 3, Persona 3, Kingdom Hearts, Fire Emblem, Valkyrie Profile, Metroid, Star Ocean, Breath Of Fire (note to self, FIND THIS), Ragnarok, King Of Fighters, Lunar, Megaman, Street Fighter, and more...

A lot of these aren't exact interpretations of the game, as something that's exciting in the game may not work well in a manga, and stuff that'd work in a manga might not have made it to the game... as well some of these mangas take a totally different approach to the same story/universe, but there's plenty to check out, a lot of it scanlated.

I've also found wikipedia has a list of anime that's based on video games, if that also counts. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_anime..._on_video_games

If you just want the in-game text, you can sometimes find a "script dump" of a game, which is a direct dump of all the text. This is usually put in chronological order, and often includes things you don't normally see (like things characters say only in very specific circumstances).

 

[AgentBEATS]

Thanks for the quick reply. I've looked at some of the manga versions of games, particularly the Kingdom Hearts series, but I wasn't aware that there were so many, so I'll definitely be looking out for more.

I understand that I won't be able to get the full experience in any other medium than the games, but something close too or along the lines of is fine too.

Is there anywhere in particular I can find some "script dumps" or is that another thing you cannot provide links too?

 

[Rydian]

I'm not aware of any place that specifically hosts script dumps, but I have seen a few for some games posted on gamefaqs. They're usually in the "in-depth guides" section, and could be either a "game script" (which is in chronological order, sometimes has explanations, and has nicer presentation) or an actual text dump, which is just a random dumping of all the text in the game like I mentioned earlier.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/gbc/197769-the-leg...akening-dx/faqs

You'd most likely be more interested in the "game script", but unfortunately people usually don't bother doing those, and will do just a text dump, if anything.

 

[AgentBEATS]

Ahh I see, I guess I'll just browse gamefaqs and hope I get lucky. Thanks for the help.

I was thinking of using some of the better, more complete guides there as a sort of last resort, but I hadn't even noticed any game scripts before, but am glad to know of them now because they will work much better.