Gaming Games with a good story?

[Joey Ravn]

I've recently beaten Bioshock and now I have the urge to play games with a good plot. I mean... Bioshock's is mind-blowing. How am I supposed to go back to mindless hack-and-slashing games now? Can I get some suggestions on games with a lenghty, deep storyline? I don't mind playing any kind of game, but I fanc RPGs, FPS and Action games above all.

Thanks in advance.

 

[juggernaut911]

Mass Effect
Mass Effect
Mass Effect
Mass Effect
Mass Effect
Mass Effect
Half Life 2
Pokemon Yellow!
Starwars: Knights of the old Republic 1 and 2
Mass Effect

 

[Joey Ravn]

I've tried Mass Effect and, even if my PC met the required requirements and some of the suggested ones, it was TERRIBLY laggy. I could barely play it

It's a pity, because I LOVED KotOR...

 

[juggernaut911]

I've tried Mass Effect and, even if my PC met the required requirements and some of the suggested ones, it was TERRIBLY laggy. I could barely play it

It's a pity, because I LOVED KotOR...

Build a new rig nao!!! It's worth it!!

I liked Mass Effect alot more than KOTOR gameplay wise. I hate not aiming on my own (stats determine accuracy).

 

[Trolly]

Half-Life 2 has a great plot as Prime mentioned above, and I totally agree about Mass Effect, the story is pretty genius. Shame you can't play it :\

Fallout 3's main plot is very good, though of course not particularly lengthy. I have yet to play Jade Empire (downloaded it the day before my computer died on me :[), but that's by BioWare also, and is similar to KotOR, so I assume it has a good story. Portal of course has a great story, though I expect you've played that being a PC gamer.

I really can't think of many more than that, though Crysis and CoD 4 have pretty decent storylines. Not BioShock awesome or anything, but they'll keep you interested. Of course, Crysis will probably blow up your PC if you can't run Mass Effect aha.

 

[Zenith94]

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/43911.html

 

[Joey Ravn]

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/43911.html

The problems with that video are that 1. videogames were not invented in 2008, so I'd welcome information about pre-2008 games too and 2. only 2 of the 5 nominees are available for PC. As I posted in the PC forum, I was expecting everyone to assume I was asking for PC games, not PS2/360 titles.

Nevertheless, I guess I'll have to play Jade Empire. I've heard good things about it, and it's in real time! Yay! Portal, HL2 and Fallout 3, I've beaten them all. But I'll play Portal once again, just because it's awesome

I'll see if my PC can handle Crysis, even if it's in its minimums. And I'll give Mass Effect another shot... I hope I can lower the detail enough for it to be playable

 

[Lee79]

Try Portal: Prelude if you liked Portal

Portal: Prelude, as its name states it, is an unofficial prequel to the game Portal. Its story revolves around the pre-GlaDOS epoch, even before she was plugged in. At this time, test subjects were monitored by real Aperture Science employees whose work was tedious, lengthy and repetitive. This is why they decided to build a great artificial intelligence that could both replace them in these difficult tasks, but also take responsibility for many other tasks within the complex and compete with Black Mesa's superiority. All employees of the Aperture Science complex are now eagerly awaiting GlaDOS. Maybe even a little too eagerly, as the upcoming events will tell...

I have been playing it and first, I want to say that the level design is amazing. I’m not sure how much of it is the developers work and how much of it is left overs from Valve, but it looks fantastic. However, the stellar presentation is offset by the absurdly difficult puzzles. In the original Portal, the puzzles gradually grew more difficult as you progressed and learned how to execute new moves. In Portal Prelude, however, test chamber three might be insanely hard while test chamber sixteen is a breeze. If you enjoyed Portal you will love this.

Portal Prelude Trailer.


More info and full download (original copy of Portal and Steam needed to play) http://www.portalprelude.com/

 

[juggernaut911]

Half-Life 2 has a great plot as Prime mentioned above, and I totally agree about Mass Effect, the story is pretty genius. Shame you can't play it :\

I'm the JUGGERNAUT bitch!!!!


Gears of War?

 

[Taza]

Fallout 3? Great plot? You've GOT to be trolling here.

Fallout 3 has some of the worst writing in videogames EVER, and while the evil side of the plot is decidedly meh, the good side is offensively horrible. It's so badly written you'd have to pay me for me to play Fallout 3 again.

Mass Effect is kinda meh - the main story is like cutting a movie off about the time the going gets good, and the sidequests are Generic Enemies in Generic Locations dropping Generic Loot.

Jade Empire was fun - the story's decent, but the combat is fun too, so overall I liked it.

But frankly, you're missing out on so much if you think BioShock had a good story. Try System Shock (and System Shock 2), Deus Ex, some of the Neverwinter Nights mods (such as Darkness Over Daggerford). Maybe Fallout/Fallout 2, even if the main story is nothing to write home about. Everything well playable if BioShock works.

EDIT: Also, Stalker. Difficulty, immersion, and a decent plot. Not everyone's cup of tea, but it's got an atmosphere that beats BioShock anyday.

 

[juggernaut911]

Hey wannabe urza, just pick something. you troll everywhere. are you Bob?


I myself heard that Fallout 3's plot was off the hizzy. especially due to side quest things like oblivion.

 

[UltraMagnus]

there are not a lot of games with good story lines on the PC.... hmm.....

off the top of my head...

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura (one of the best RPGs ever, in a steampunk setting too.)
Crimson Skies (original version has far better controls than the horrible xbox version, and a good (if hilariously tacky in places) pulp era story line)
star wars: knights of the old republic 1 and 2 (i enjoyed these, and I hate star wars, nuff said)

I think they made a version of FF7 for PC too....

 

[Trolly]

Mass Effect is kinda meh - the main story is like cutting a movie off about the time the going gets good, and the sidequests are Generic Enemies in Generic Locations dropping Generic Loot.

I'll be honest, if you think Mass Effect, Fallout 3 and BioShock had bad or only decent stories then your expectations are a tiny bit high. I suppose Mass Effect wasn't amazing until the end, but it's a darn sight better than most other videogames out there plot-wise.

I've heard that Shenmue 1 + 2 for the Sega DreamCast had some of the best stories around (though the 3rd in the trilogy was never made), so if you can hunt down an emulator that works with it properly (I found one but could never get it to work myself), you can give that a go. I almost played those games myself, but as I said I could never get the emulator to work.

 

[Taza]

Well I guess my expectations are a bit high then. I refuse to enjoy stories that are shoddy and feel like the legal team was doing the writing.

Because the story in any of those three was nothing to write home about - well, except Fallout 3, which was downright awful.

Now, something like Planescape: Torment...

 

[Anakir]

Final Fantasy Tactics. It has a deep story to it.

 

[Joey Ravn]

Thanks for the suggestions. I've decided to play some of the games you mentioned. Jade Empire, Mass Effect (I'll try it again, let's hope it works), Gears of War...

Final Fantasy Tactics. It has a deep story to it.

Now, this is last time I'll ask for recommendations for a specific system. I don't know whether you are doing it on purpose or not, but it's clear that I'm asking for PC games, NOT PLAYSTATION GAMES.

 

[Raestloz]

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, 'nuff said

Why, I say final fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII also got intersesting stories, not 2005 gfx I know, but still good (note that those two ARE PC games)

 

[Diosoth]

Shadow Man. Released in 1999. It's based loosely off the old Valiant comic book, but you won't need to have read them at all to follow the game. Lots of plot but you'll spend about 98% of the game actually playing, rather than being forced to swallow cutscenes.

Find a little game called Westward. General mouse-controlled game that's a western-themed cross between Simcity and The Sims. It's not aveyr long game but there is a running plot throughout to tie it all together, and you'll be playing "spot the pop culture" references the entire time.

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth runs solely on plot. But I'd advise getting the Xbox version... reports are that the PC version is quite buggy. No doubt made for Xbox first and then ported.


Hmm... I'm the type who hates Bioware games. I've heard Mass Effect is mostly cutscenes and dialog with only average gameplay and the same buildings copies repeatedly. Plus a pointless sex scene done to overhype the game in the media before release. And with Sonic Chronicles being poorly-written crap where every character seems to have the IQ of warm butter, and all the women are complete whores with short attention spans(I doubt hwoever wrote the dialog has eer so much as touched an actual woman in their life), I have no intention of ever playing a game made by Bioware.

Actually, from what I've heard, Sonic Chronicles is a horribly generic RPG with a Sonic the Hedgehog graphics skin slapped on it. Take away the license and the game would be no different. KOTOR likely only did well because Star Wars geeks have lots of money to spend on anything Lucas slaps the license on to, rather than actual quality(then again, I never saw what was supposed to be so great about Star Wars anyway).

And they played "screw you, consumer boy!" by giving you only 3 installs on Mass Effect PC. No deactivations. Want to install a 4th time, go buy a new copy. The company can outright burn in hell for that move. I pirated Sonic Chronicles to my flash card solely because of it, despite having zippo intention of playing it.

 

[xcalibur]

Penumbra Black Plague. Horribly immersive atmosphere that will keep you thrilled and terrified at the same time.

Another fun game is MDK 2. I played it as a kid and have many fond memories so you might not like it as much as I did...

Shadowman and Soul Reaver games are quite good as well.
S.T.A- ah fuck it I'm not gonna write it down like that. Get stalker too. It ran well on my pathetic pc on medium. Also try Broken Sword series. Point and click but I'll be damned if it wasn't fun.

 

[Taza]

Y'know that it's the publisher (EA) doing the install limit thing?

Bioware stuff used to be good - Neverwinter Nights, Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate II - but later on it's been more and more not as good. Maybe Dragon Age will be the same high quality if it doesn't get ripped to shreds by EA's publishing.

In essence, Bioware games that are PC only are good, Bioware games that are released on consoles first are usually generic but not horrible. Baldur's Gate 2 is still one of my favorite games ever.

And to the topic: PC games with a good story:
Planescape: Torment. The best story in videogaming ever, or so they say.
Baldur's Gate: High fantasy that pretty much defined generic high fantasy game.
Baldur's Gate 2: A whole boatload to do, and a good story to go with it.
Neverwinter Nights: The original campaign the game shipped with was horribleawful, but the expansion packs and especially community content and downloadable modules are at times stellar. Darkness Over Daggerford being incredibly polished.
Deus Ex: Every time you mention it, someone reinstalls it.
Stalker: The story's somewhat meh, but the immersion is nearly unique in gaming. Also, it's a hard game.
Fallout: Great story, with plenty of decisions.
Fallout 2: Generic main story with such an incredibly written world around it.
And the best part? If you can run BioShock, you can run all of those with little to no trouble.