Saturday Soapbox: Gaming's Greatest Story

By Martin Robinson Published 3 September, 2011

What's the best tale that video games have ever told?

What's the best story a game has ever told?

Perhaps it's Final Fantasy VII's emotional epic, or Planescape: Torment's dense tangle. Or maybe it's the self-referential yarn spun by BioShock, or the original Metal Gear Solid's surprisingly affecting tale, delivered before the series took on one twist too many and collapsed under the weight of its own self-importance.

Actually, for me it's none of those. The greatest story ever told for me by a game came from the PlayStation 2's Pro Evolution Soccer 6.

It was the tale of Deptford Wednesday, the newly formed club in the South East of London that, over the course of six seasons, would go on to dominate the world of football.

In that grand arc, and in between the drama of late equalisers and the heartbreak of cup finals lost on penalties, were a hundred smaller stories, all of them making every play more real and more exhilarating than anything I've ever seen played out on a Saturday afternoon on Sky Sports.

Admittedly, it wasn't Konami's development team telling these tales, though they certainly provided the stage and many of the tools. For one long summer spent in the blissful limbo between University and any gainful employment, PES6 was a constant for myself and a couple of friends. Truthfully, it ran close to an obsession.

Between the three of us we'd take turns playing a half, while the inactive players would add layer after layer of backstory. Games were played on Evelyn Road stadium, a humble 10,000 seater that shook with the sound of the SE8 faithful. It even had a generous ticketing system that saw those that manned the stalls of Deptford junk market get first choice on the prime seats.

And what a team they had to cheer on. I was there myself as a holding midfielder, displaying the kind of co-ordination and composure I could only dream of possessing in real life (last time I tried to play football, I went to kick a dead ball, missed and spun myself round so fast I landed on my chin and knocked myself out cold).

One friend manned the wing while the other led the front line, and the rest of the line-up was filled with superstars and rising talent. There was Shimizu, the stunning striker we 'discovered' playing keep-ups as he worked his day job in the fish stall opposite my flat, and he was tutored by a Joe Cole who was then in his prime.

So real was the world of Deptford Wednesday to me that when I went for an afternoon stroll down the high street I half expected to bump into Cole as he took his puppies for a walk. At the point when one of us rang Adidas to enquire how much it would cost to make some replicas of Deptford Wednesday's shirts - a stunning spin on Athletico Madrid's home kit, proudly carrying the name of our local off-licence Shital - we realised it had all perhaps gone a little too far.

Much of this came back to me when reading Tom's recent Soapbox that touched on the difference between readable and writable games - and, as my experience attests, PES6 was an eminently writable game.

PES6 was a fantastic stage for the increasingly elaborate theatre laid on by my friends and I, and there was a sparseness to the game that made it all possible. In the gaps between the minimal in-game commentary and equally threadbare presentation there was space begging to be filled by our hungry imaginations as we threaded a grand narrative in-between the on-pitch action.

It's a story that's unique to PES6 in many ways, and attempts to recreate it in more recent games, such as the increasingly excellent FIFA series, have fallen flat, the slick presentation, pervasive commentary and insistence on licences obscuring the tale in its telling.

It's those spaces in-between that often enable the best video game stories, whether that's the void that hosts a score attack in Geometry Wars or in the blank canvas presented by Minecraft.

It's a point that can be illuminated by comparing two very similar games, one that happily lets the player indulge and create their own fantasy while the other imposes its own narrative on them.

Realtime World's Crackdown was strikingly skinny in many regards, throwing the player into its own toybox with little context or backstory. All it did was provide the player with an exquisite set of tools and the gentlest of shoves in the right direction, and the adventures that followed were often deeply personal, crafted as they were from your decisions.

Grand Theft Auto IV, on the other hand, had an equally exquisite sandbox, but it was tempered by the spectre of Niko Bellic's tale, a story that often overshadowed the player's own. It's been well-documented how there's a disparity between the Niko that's coming to terms with his violent past, struggling to find peace, and the player who's striving to cause as much destruction as possible. GTA IV's a brilliant game nonetheless, but this central friction works against it.

It's a problem that's arisen again in Eidos Montreal's exquisite Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and its promise of untold player choice rubs up against its desire to tell its own story. Those much-maligned boss fights are one source of conflict, but the problem's pervasive throughout Deus Ex's world.

I admit I enjoy being spun around on Deus Ex's grand conspiracy waltzer, but when the cut-scenes kick in they star a character that's drifted in from another game entirely. In my hands, Jensen's an idiot voyeur, a man who likes nothing more then to break into people's flats, rearrange their furniture and then rifle through their personal belongings.

When caught, he stroppily kills his way out of trouble until there's no one left alive who'll dare question him, and then it's back to the important business of reading through a stranger's email account. It's a world away from the gruff, suave cyborg that shows up every time the control is wrestled away from my hands.

Telling a great story, then, demands a compromise that very few games have been able to make. Leave some space for the player, a little stage for them to act out their own fantasies rather than imposing your own on them, and the results can be magical - because often the best stories are the ones that we tell ourselves.

Picture of Martin.

About Martin Robinson

Martin is Eurogamer's features editor with responsibility for commissioning, editing and often writing our feature and preview content. He's also passionate about driving games.

Read more articles from Martin by visiting the Martin Robinson archive page.

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Comments (99) Latest comment 8 months ago

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  • CaptainQuint #1 9 months ago

    For me, the most jarring cutscenes ever were in Red Dead Redemption. Rockstar's often glossed over narrative vs. murderous killing spree in all of their open world titles has always stuck out like a sore thumb to me. Actually scratch that - LA Noire beats that hands down - the shoot first ask questions later gameplay (of the incidental side missions) was constantly at odds with the central design of the game and in the end I decided it was just too ridiculous to even be bothered finishing. I mean, at least RDR was consistently engaging and with a sympathetic, forgivable plotline to boot.

    If we're talking strictly player-made sandbox stories though, well for me the Halo series wins hands down. I can't remember how many times I've played every single title in the the series and just made up my own little adventures as I went.

  • Totza #2 9 months ago

    Rockstar that is all :)

  • Paul_cz #3 9 months ago

    Planescape Torment, Mafia 1, Witcher 2 are probably three games I have played with best written, most emotional stories.

  • MichaelDesloover #4 9 months ago

    Maybe a weird addition, but Tropico 3 had a nice story for me...It sporadically gave you some weird decisions, but let the game revolve around those and its awesome El Presidente flair. Same was true for some later total war games actually, where placing generals in specific cities and evolving technology in a specific way helped shape the world, that game didn't really need to tell the story constantly.

    I do love a good story-novel game though, I can easily enjoy the many hours of cutscenes of Final Fantasy, Persona and Yakuza and such.

  • Graftonator #5 9 months ago

    PES has always allowed you to create brilliant stories, me and my friend dreaming up ever more silly ones as we played co-op master league. Why did Zidane join Oxford United? He wanted to ride his bike everywhere and go to university!!

    My favourite one was when we took Czech Republic to World Cup glory creating newspaper headlines along the way as Vladimir Smicer ("Smisser" as he was named in game) hogged the spotlight!
    "Smissers smissile" as he scored from 25 yards in the final group game, to top the group.
    "Smissers smiling" as he setup the equaliser and scored the winner in the quarter final.
    "Smissers smission" as he rounded 3 players and slotted home to score the winnder in the semi final.
    "Smisser smashes his smisses" as an argument between him and his wife led him to beat her the night before the final. He did not play well in the final.

  • jamhead #6 9 months ago

    Ico, and Shadow of the Colossus for me. Minimal cut-scenes, let the game tell the story.

    Older titles that also told a story without 'telling them' - Another World & Shadow of the beast. I suppose Zelda LTTP did tell a story - and I enjoyed that too.

    Right, that's revealed about enough of how old I am for now!

  • cussers #7 9 months ago

    Best story for me was when the head of my House of Brutii in Rome Total War lead the invasion of the East after a dozen perfidious provocations by the Egyptians. After doling out liberal Republican justice he was ambushed heading home by a much larger force. Thus began one of the greatest battles in gaming history. For over 30 entire minutes, old Quintus and his crack legionaries held the line against wave after wave of mascara-wearing (nothing wrong with it!) warbling weirdos and their BASTARD chariots, at one point even having to adopt square formation! At long last, finally, with a prayer to Jupiter Invictus in their hearts...they all got slaughtered cos the square formation made a great target for the Egyptian onagers.

    But what a death! Not for Quintus lying in a hospital bed at 83 years old with a weak bladder, a brittle hip and a tube stuck up his nose! No, he tried to catch a blazing searing firepot with his bare hands! And why? For his men.

    Quintus, we salute - nay! - ROME salutes you!

  • Raznilof #8 9 months ago

    @quint did your realize you can apprehend most suspects? As much as I struggled through LA Noire, the mini-game mechanic to apprehend not kill a suspect (keep the gun pointed at them for x seconds, hard, but doable) was refreshing. You have to do it before they use someone as a shield though.

    Not that it helped me to finish it either... any game that's more fun with a walk trough is not really a game for my taste and I'd rather watch Chinatown again (which is what I did instead of finishing).

  • Mr_V #9 9 months ago

    Good article. However, it neglects to cover what was probably the most expansive attempt at letting the player tell his own story within a constrained narrative framework, which was namely what Clint Hocking and his team achieved on Far Cry 2. Gamasutra had a fascinating article on the dynamic narrative system they created.

  • ProtoformX #10 9 months ago

    I've found myself in a similar boat on Deus Ex - my Jensen is TeH most 1337 HaX0R you'll ever meet, but that doesn't work so well against the bosses when there aren't any 'bots or turrets to hack. However, as the only gun-related aug is the one that steadies your aim when moving there's never going to be that much difference beween one Jensen and another when it comes to hardware, so you know what works against said bosses?

    A really, REALLY big gun.

    However, I'm now trying to imagine the cutscenes with Martin's Jensen. You make it to the top of the big company skyscraper:

    "Ah, Mr. Jensen. You are most tenacious..."
    "HERP DERP!" *smashes hole through bathroom wall and lodges sofa in said hole*

    It's be brilliant to watch, but might not advance the story in the right way. :-P

  • Harmonica #11 9 months ago

    If Martin could write more articles on the site that would be excellent. This is the best thing I've read here for yonks.

    I had a similar experiences with PES where my friends and I each slotted our then-current Football Manager regen players into new teams via the stats editing (a complex numbers-divination process fueled by obsession and beer which I never really want to repeat). We then ran a league of sorts involving our beloved young stars, which produced equal amounts of joy and misery, sleepless nights and tears before bedtime. Occasionally we would 'update' the stats based on the 'real' players in our separate FM games, 'transfer' between us those we had grown tired of, and invent ludicrous explanations for why star striker blokey had suddenly gained a few inches and the ability to head the ball (advanced skull surgery).

    It was glorious. And kind of pointless, but that's brilliant, too.

    I think the underlying truth with the story in this article, Master League and FM alike, and other dynamic sandbox games, is that when given the tools, the player will always create the best stories that no developer can predict or write themselves. If we had more game developers who were willing to spend time creating these fluid universes at the expense of penning their own revisionist stories, then we'd have many more brilliant and personal games.
    Edited by Harmonica at 03/09/11 @ 09:06

  • Harmonica #12 9 months ago

    @Mr_V : seriously? Far Cry 2 did that? I was already really fond of the game, but consider my mind blown. I don't know, is it a good thing or a bad thing that I didn't notice any of it? Hmm.

  • Rrralphster #13 9 months ago

    I think the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series has the best story, best atmosphere etc.

  • Subquest #14 9 months ago

    My Jensen can't resist, in every apartment he visits, picking up the refridgerator, taking it outside and throwing it as far as he can down the corridor. He then chuckles to himself at the thought of the resident returning, laden with shopping, entering their door code, pausing for a moment and then thinking 'that looks like my fridge!'

  • whoyouknow #15 9 months ago

    Portal 2 is probably my favourite. Such a beautifully crafted story, and delivered perfectly - you wind up caring about characters you never see, that are long since dead.

  • FutileResistor #16 9 months ago

    Gaming's Greatest Story?

    Galactic Civilizations 2 Diary by Tom Francis.

  • Silent-Hal #17 9 months ago

    So called 'player made' stories is part of the reason why I'm such a big fan of the Silent Hill series. Now, these games usually have above average game stories as a standard but there's usually a lot of minor details and symbolism, particularly in the earlier games, that are left completely up to player interpretation. As a result there are countless fan theories and plot analyses all over the internet and there's a lot of interesting debate regarding what a lot of the stuff in the games is actually supposed to mean. It may not mean anything, but it's still fun trying to figure it out.

  • Samirnasirov #18 9 months ago

    Half Life 2 anyone?

  • MoFo #19 9 months ago

    I enjoyed making my own maps in Advance Wars 2 and building a story around them. Oh that and any of the bloody Civilization games. Could build your own epic tales around that game.

  • Doctor_What #20 9 months ago

    Shadow OF Memories on the PS2 - on the first play it seemed like you could have done nothing differently than the way you did it from the moment you picked up a magic stone that starts the whole thing. The second play revealed a few more options. By the third the whole world seemed full of ways to change the events.

    Each play through became faster as you got closer to the ideal solution. On the final play through, after revealing all of the other endings (there are nine in total), you got the option to create the perfect ending - you could choose to not pick up the magic stone at all, hence preventing the entire story from happening. Genius. Absolute genius.

    The only problem was that the feeling from the first play through, that nothing could be changed, was so strong that many people never bothered to play again, defeating the whole point of all the work that makers had put into it. Trying to create a game that reflects play actions and tells its own powerful story is very hard because by definition most of your players will miss 95% of the content you put into the game. That's very expensive, and that's the reason that you get catch-all cutscenes with little reference to player actions.

  • omnom #21 9 months ago

    The Legacy of Kain games have an incredibly complex and interesting story with great characters (supported by brilliant voice acting). Sure, maybe a bit too much time travel and paradoxes, but still an amazing story.

  • Vroom #22 9 months ago

    Ico and Shadow for me. Hands down.

    GTA IV was also excellent considering the complexities of crafting a solid story in a sandbox game.

  • f01re #23 9 months ago

    Ico/SotC

  • DodgyPast #24 9 months ago

    Rise and fall of the Northern Coalition in Eve.

    The story ran for many many years, included blood feuds, spies, mercenaries, back stabbing allies and huge empire breaking thefts.
    Edited by DodgyPast at 03/09/11 @ 10:11

  • GitSomE_UK #25 9 months ago

    ICO
    BioForge - 90's PC RPG
    System Shock 1 and 2
    SOTC

    I also really liked the story in Quake 2 the horror you found as you progressed further into the Strogg stronghold really built the tension and atmosphere.

    Finally, STALKER still the scariest game I've played in a long time (the underground labs with the brain burner freeked the crap out of me) with a great story running through the entire game love it to bits.
    Edited by GitSomE_UK at 03/09/11 @ 10:26

  • JadedSoul #26 9 months ago

    Post deleted at 08:10:55 26-04-2012

  • el_pollo_diablo #27 9 months ago

    Dogs Life, ps2.

  • metalangel #28 9 months ago

    What an odd piece. The first page is a confusing self-indulgent ramble, and then the point is made so abruptly on the second page that the article has time to quickly run off without really going into it at all.

    I agree with that you're saying, though, that the best moments are often those above and beyond what the game designers have left for us; but where they've also left us enough leeway to do things our way and enjoy all the unpredictable and (dare I say it) emergent consequences.

    It's not just being able to choose between sneaking through an air duct or tasering a guard. It's when I pulled up onto the sidewalk while pigeon-hunting in Liberty City, angering a passerby. He took a swing at me and punched me in the head. A passing police car saw this and the cops bundled him away on an assault charge. It's that first time you had to walk somewhere through the seemingly endless sewers and subway tunnels in Fallout 3, still a new and weak character, and all the narrow escapes you had before finally, blissfully, seeing daylight again at your destination.

    Or yes, it's something as simple as being able to name and pick the colours for your team in a sports game.

    EDIT: Fantastic, I'm being negged, no doubt by the idiots who have completely misunderstood the article and are saying 'I thought game X had a great story' or 'my favourite game storyline of all time was game Y'. This isn't about whether you thought Niko Bellic's or Solid Snake's adventure was better.
    Edited by metalangel at 03/09/11 @ 12:45

  • KujiGhost #29 9 months ago

    Easter Holidays, early 90s. Laser Squad with my brother, each taking turns to leave the room; only calling each other in when we were finished or for opportunity fire.

    Writeable gaming heaven.

  • Graveland #30 9 months ago

    Heavy Rain is probably the most engaging and emotional storyline I've experienced in a computer game. Another great storyline is any of the Uncharted games. The Uncharted games are among the very few games where my missus actually encourages me to play, so she can watch the storyline progress.

  • benfresh76 #31 9 months ago

    There are no great video game stories.

    Ooh, lots of negs! Mostly from people who have never read a good book or watched a good film I imagine. Games are a pretty abysmal narrative medium.
    Edited by benfresh76 at 03/09/11 @ 19:53

  • kassmageant #32 9 months ago

    anyone here remembers little big adventure 1/2?

    also system shock 2, deadly premonition and ace attorney series

    and pretty much everything that bioware, bethesda and atlus shat out their asses ( yeah, atlus, square-enix lately only manage to insult my intelligence with their jrpgs - where's company that gave me chrono cross, FFT and front mission 3)

    @ CaptaonQuint

    halo? srsly?

    @ trickydisko

    ...
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5FTJxfV3pc
    Edited by kassmageant at 03/09/11 @ 11:28

  • Mister-Wario #33 9 months ago

    I like stories that take place in games without cutscenes, like Portal 2 and Bioshock: they feel organic and a natural part of the game. Because, you know, it is an interactive experience.

    That said, cutscenes in games can work well too. I'm playing Valkyria Chronicles and have just reached a very tense moment.

  • Ikaros_O #34 9 months ago

    Pro Evo was wonderful on PS2, creating your own team and club was fantastic, I think it's something that fifa will never match. It's just a shame how far Pro Evo has currently fallen.

  • SpaceMonkey77 #35 9 months ago

    For me, that MGS1 and Bioshock. Both awesome, thought provoking stories with that open your eyes, to stuff going on in the real world.

    Ironic really, because MGS is about war and nuke proliferation, and Bioshock is about altruism, society and utopia.

  • Luckyjim #36 9 months ago

    Best gaming stories: Ico and SotC. Less is more.

  • tomkuryakin #37 9 months ago

    Well done Doctor_What for reminding people about Shadow of Memories, easily one of my favourite games ever. A brilliant story that only truly revealed itself until you got all the endings. Magnificent.

    Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, too, for telling the story through the game with minimal cutscenes, as others have already said.

  • jamieleng #38 9 months ago

    Your link to Joe's favourite puppies is broken. This is what you meant to link to [url][link url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?nomobile=1&v=swTvkvRtGbs[/url]
    ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?nomobile=1&...[/link]

    Red Dead Redemption wasn't a particularly original story but the combination of interesting characters, beautiful vistas & superb soundtrack really made an emotional impact. I was literally welling up when the song "Compass" kicked in while I was riding home to my family as the sun was setting. The fact that only the song was scripted & everything else was dynamic, like weather, time of day, animals etc meant I could have really spoiled the moment. All I wanted to do is ride home to my beloved who I hadn't even met, yet still had an emotional connection to. Now that's some effective storytelling.
    Edited by jamieleng at 03/09/11 @ 12:56

  • crimsoneer #39 9 months ago

    The Longest Journey, and Dreamfall! An amazing tale of two parallels that twist and crash into each other. Every PC Gamer should go forth and get/

  • jplarkins #40 9 months ago

    GTA IV may have been strangled by its own narrative up to a point but once the story's through your given free reign to let your imagination run wild. I specifically remember stealing a helicopter and hovering behind Mrs Faustens house taunting her about her husband or becoming Jaws on wheels by going into bumper camera and stalking poor unsuspecting people for ages before mashing them against walls. My Nico became a right royal bastard!

    As for readable storylines surprised nobodies mentioned Shenmue yet, granted the VA was atrocious and the storyline itself unoriginal but it was very well presented I thought, just wish they'd actually finish it off now!
    Edited by jplarkins at 03/09/11 @ 12:48

  • sega #41 9 months ago

    I think Silent Hill Shattered Memories is the only gaming storyline that I thought was grown up and well written. The main reason being that it's about the death of a character you actually know well (you) making the reveal as shocking and sad to the player as it is for Cheryl.

    I also have to second Shenmue - agreed it's hardly original but it's definately draws you in.

  • BeachGaara #42 9 months ago

    GTA4 was retartded stroywise.

  • Kanjin #43 9 months ago

    It's one of gaming greatest strengths, that they give you a story and then you create your own story within it. Take Dragon Age, good narrative, interesting characters and weighty choices. Then alongside it you'd have nail-biting battles where you'd be barely holding your own against a crowd of Hurlocks and a effing Emissary, then the Ancient Darkspawn would run in to ruin your shit. Or when ArcaneWarrior!Wynne leapt two metres in the air to stab an orge in the face with her sword. It's one of the reasons RPGs are my favourite genre.

  • Windypops #44 9 months ago

    Bloody excellent article.

  • Shikasama #45 9 months ago

    People who think Rockstar stories are awesome (especially RDR) are the reason why writing in game sis so fucking terrible.

  • marblepuke #46 9 months ago

    If this debate doesn't concern only modern games then, for me, one of the memorable stories in games was in a game from LucasArts, The Dig. Especially the endgame of it.

    Seeing the crazed Brink fall and die and Maggie committing suicide, were something to truly gasp about. The richly animated cutscenes (at the time) also helped to bond with the characters. If the game would've been some of the early 3D point & clicks and therefore seeing this blocky and lifelessly animated Maggie die -- I guess I would not had cared so much. :p

  • Tellusof #47 9 months ago

    Cussers!

    I just joined (registered) Eurogamers to tell you how awesome your post was. Made my day! :D:D

    Although now that I'm here; Baldur's Gate II is my definite pick as a well-written story with a game added. The feel of the game is archaic, but the atmosphere is the peak of the soon to be Forgotten Realms of good storytelling in games. Morriwind also did a great job, with a story whose execution really puts the fridge nuking of TES IV to shame. Fighting Daedra from lvl 2 just doesn't make sense!

    'Show, don't tell' is the game master mantra for good storytelling. Let the mind fill in the blank spaces, only thusly you can convey great emotional immersion. Playing Superman is fun, but feeling LIKE Superman is beyond awesome.

    I also really love the Total War series, although the irrationally aggresive AI is a real moodkiller. It's like they don't care about their soldier's lives, you know?

    Look at me ranting! Have a nice day, thank you for reading!
    Edited by Tellusof at 03/09/11 @ 14:03

  • Hindle #48 9 months ago

    Post deleted at 23:04:43 04-04-2012

  • MaxFN #49 9 months ago

    MGS story did not collapsed under its own weight, author is a douchebag!

  • Duke_Red #50 9 months ago

    In terms of plot: Silent hill 2 !

    interaction between james and maria

    the past between james and mary

    the raping psychpath triangle head

    and the creepy town

  • Serk101 #51 9 months ago

    For me NIER and Fatal Frame 3 would have to be 2 of the most emotionally messed up games I've ever played both having rich and deep story-lines which got me thinking about them hours after completion.

  • BonzoBanana #52 9 months ago

    For me games from memory that had excellent stories that kept me interested as I progressed through the game were;
    Wing Commander 3, Shenmue, Shenmue II, Half Life 1/2 and Far Cry. Many games attempt a story but often you soon realise its just some weak rip off of something else or just a mess of poor ideas that you just forget about the story and just play the game.
    Edited by BonzoBanana at 03/09/11 @ 14:30

  • jack24 #53 9 months ago

    @46

    Stop talking nonsense. RDR had a brilliant narrative and characters. I really don't know how you could come to that conclusion.

  • WeakOrbit #54 9 months ago

    What I always like in a game is the story within a story.
    For example in Silent Hill 2 there is a scrap of paper you find that relates to a murder that took place in the town where two twins were killed by Walter Sullivan. Now this is just an eerie footnote that has no relation to the plot of the game.
    However when we come to Silent Hill 4 this takes a whole new turn where Walter Sullivan is revealed to be the main antagonist and the twins appear as the creepy as hell 2 headed baby monster enemy.

    I still think that Abe's Oddessy had one of the best stories in gaming. It was like it already took off from Soylent Green left off ( look up the ending if unfamiliar ) but replaced the humans with the oft overlooked alien janitor hero. But the game only made you save your pals from the meat grinder on certain occasions so you could pretty much be a jerk to your species or the all encompassing savior.

    And who could forget the Glukkons. Zoot suits is all I'm saying.

  • doyourealize #55 9 months ago

    Witcher 2. No characters in any game ever had a character arc as well-defined as Geralt, especially if you take the first game into account, which was cruder but that may have been a translation issue. The fact that it's choice-driven makes it even more incredible that the game could tell this kind of story. The "morality" in this game makes BioWare look like child's play.

    I'll also get behind the Ico/SotC voters, although they're still second to Witcher 2.

  • arcam #56 9 months ago

    My best and most memorable stories come from Battlefield 2. And that doesn't even have a story.

  • PanStre #57 9 months ago

    @Serk101

    Fatal Frame 2 trumps 3 in the story department. 3 just felt like a mashup of 1 & 2, plus Sae was a better antagonist than Reika. FF3 would have been better if Reika's motive had been gradually getting angrier at the pain everyone wanted her to bear so they didn't have to, plus being afraid of the heroine's grief because of the association with that ritual.

  • Dave_McCoy #58 9 months ago

    My fave was Shenmue. Just the little side touches brought the world alive. The lost kitten, people going about their business, the Santa walking home after work near Christmas. I'll always remember coming home after a hard days forklifting near Xmas and crunching in the snow as I ran back up towards my house. The snow under foot sound was perfect and just added to the already fantastic atmosphere.

  • Subquest #59 9 months ago

    This article is about creating your own story within a game, not whether the game told you good story. I'm sure Ico, Sotc, Bioshock, FF7 etc are all good stories, but they're not YOUR stories are they?

    The best self made stories I've had are in empire building games like Civ, Total War etc, where the timeline of each game plays out uniquely and where betrayal feels like a personal wounding that stirs up a genuine urge to exact sweet revenge

  • metalangel #60 9 months ago

    @Subquest: Most people on here are too stupid to realize that. It's incredibly depressing.

    EDIT: Aaaand, negged again. Those of you who breathe through your nose: you know those various characters of literature and screen who break the fourth wall, are in on the joke of the proceedings around them? Richard the Third, Woody Allen, Bugs Bunny? Count yourselves among them for not brainlessly burbling some nonsense about how The Longest Journey is the best story a game's ever told you because you read it in a top ten somethings article in a games magazine once, and are able to read, comprehend and wipe your own backside unaided.
    Edited by metalangel at 03/09/11 @ 21:43

  • b-tek #61 9 months ago

    Nothing can beat good old Gothic. This is by far my favourite game and its story beats the hell out of anything else. My 2 cents ;)

  • Mr_V #62 9 months ago

    @Harmonica, try playing the game a second time (preferably with a different protagonist) and see how differently the story develops (while still hitting all the same key narrative points, though potentially in very different ways).

  • jimdove76 #63 9 months ago

    Wing commander 3 and 4
    Assassins creed 2 and Brotherhood
    KOTOR - you find out you ARE the big bad!
    Edited by jimdove76 at 03/09/11 @ 16:38

  • Skooch #64 9 months ago

    We used to play the Tiger Woods Golf 1 & 2 at Uni to decide who would do a certain house chore, like clean the kitchen or the bathroom. There were 4 of us players and the person in last had to do the chore. Funny now I think back because 5 of us lived in the house and that housemate would never play Tiger Woods so he got away scot free every time - lucky bastard! :)

  • superdelphinus #65 9 months ago

    I've often wondered whether licenses were really more of a hindrance than a benefit, particularly in driving games. Take the f1 game for example, it'd be so much better if you could completely destroy the cars in great detail, and new drivers could come in and move around teams etc. But you can't because one of the teams has to be called Ferrari, one mclaren, one driver is barricello etc. All it means is that you are basically trying to follow out a story that is closely resembling reality, and if it doesn't it starts to jar and appear unrealistic. Very much compromises your 'personal' story

  • stooeh #66 9 months ago

    Well I didn't play Baldur's Gate to my shame but most of the stories in Bioware games have sucked me right in from Neverwinter Nights onwards.

    Can't think of any real self created stories apart from maybe the first time I was building up to attack Cydonia ;)
    Edited by stooeh at 03/09/11 @ 17:45

  • GooseUK #67 9 months ago

    "When caught, he stroppily kills his way out of trouble until there's no one left alive who'll dare question him"

    Maybe for you mate...

    Load Last Save - avoid detection - and re-save for me lol

  • Tiberius_Gracchus #68 9 months ago

    Was expecting Heavy Rain to get a mention here. Not that I thought the story was brilliant or anything, but that game was the story! Good read nonetheless.
    I might add that Heavy rain's story was by far the most emotionally engaging I ever "played". I still think about it a good while after completing it.
    Edited by Tiberius_Gracchus at 03/09/11 @ 18:40

  • Andeus #69 9 months ago

    I feel sad for people who never played Planescape: Torment when it came out, because nowadays most of them find it unplayable, even with HD mods. It's a shame that they can't lose track of time in that amazing world and in that amazing story. That they won't get their mind blown from a particular conversation in the middle of the game which will change everything you perceived all that time and even change the meaning of past conversations in that game.

    So let's get it out in the open then: Planescape: Torment has the greatest story in a video game. Ever. By far. I mean 2nd place doesn't even come close. Don't get me wrong, I love MGS1, I like the FFs, Fallouts, 90s adventures etc. but what Black Isle (aka Obsidian) did in that game is in a league of it's own. It's a bit of a shame though, because when I finished that game 11 years ago, I thought "no game will ever reach that", while deep inside I knew that logically it would be like 1-2 years since someone would find a way to surpass it.

    No game ever did, and to be honest, now I believe that no game ever will.

  • FenderMaster #70 9 months ago

    I don't really feel as involved in writable stories, anything games let me create myself will not have the same emotional involvement, no one of any interest or character really experiences anything of note. Stories that guide you by the nose lose aloot of interactivity and player involvement, which can be too much for some, but if you can enjoy it from the third person, their stories will alyways be the most emotionally involving.

    It really depends on what you want from your stories, events or characters. Character driven stories can never give you much more than binary choices (Mass Effect) or in JRPG's not even that, but it is not possible to make them with endless permutations based on every binary choice.

  • Galathorn #71 9 months ago

    Metal Gear Solid 2.

  • flyinghirose #72 9 months ago

    It's something I've never really thought about, but I totally agree!

    Football Manager 2007's editor mode allowed me and my long time schoolfriend turned housemate to recreate our long-gone sixth form XI. Getting our personalities and (hugely inflated) skills was half the joy, but it was an emotional eight seasons.

    Climbing from league 2 obscurity, tears from failed playoff finals, uncertainty from corporate takeovers, off-field tensions between the players, and joy from a deserved run of victories. It all culminated in a rainy evening in Spain, with many original players having joined our opponents after run-down contracts, where we won the Champions League 4-3 in extra time, despite an aged Michael Owen we got for cheap having been sent off for 'hacking someone down with two feet'. Only three of our original players were there to lift that trophy. It was genuinely emotional. We retired the game after that, but we will always remember a time when we were heroes.

    For me, nostalgic and thought-provoking. Great article!

  • MikkyX #73 9 months ago

    Championship / Football Manager before the 3D engine came along. Commentary scrolling past leaving your mind to fill in the blanks based on what you know the players looked like. Brilliant.

  • Ror1984 #74 9 months ago

    Someone mentioned Halo. The sheer scope to just piss about and have fun makes Halo 3 one of my favourite games ever (and after playing through them all in a row in the run up to Reach's release, I'd even put it above CE).

    One thing I'll always remember is, during the epic dual Scarab battle on The Covenant, driving a Mongoose up a ramp and over a cliff, flying through the air towards one of the Scarabs, bailing in mid-air and landing on the deck just after the tumbling Mongoose took out a Brute Chieftain, then taking the Scarab down, jumping to ground level and boosting away on a waiting Ghost before the Scarab exploded into a million charred pieces... Just one of the ways I approached just one of the battles in a game that I must have played through a good twenty times.

    Here's a pic from my fileshare to give you an idea of the carnage that was to follow :)

    http://www.bungie.net/Online/Halo3UserCo...

  • JeroenZM #75 9 months ago

    The Ace Attorney games are pretty much digital graphic novels and I love them to bits. Gonna have to go with them.

  • king26 #76 9 months ago

    I love the way the Uncharted stories are told, lovable character full of charisma and charm, engaging plot, humour, interaction between characters is unseen in gaming, great cut scenes, interesting locations. Just amazing, I hope Uncharted 3 can continue this trend.

  • jammers101 #77 9 months ago

    Great article but it has me thinking just one thing... Imagine you kill a guard in Deus Ex and later on his/ her family won't help you. Or if you knock him out they won't help without a bribe cos he got fired. Or you just avoided him so they are glad to help. I can't decide if this would annoy the crap out of me or not...

  • dfooster #78 9 months ago

    Gordon freeman.

  • H_D_Swagger #79 9 months ago

    Good article. Now if only developers would stop trying to shove "narrative" down our throats in the form of unskippable cut scenes! In fact there are way too many cutscenes in general in video games these days - games are supposed to be interactive after all. Also it would be nice if we could get away from every single preview or review harping on about the game's story for a few paragraphs before discussing the gameplay. Honestly, I don't care what generic action film plot they have in Battlefield 3, I just want to play!

  • Yuroko #80 9 months ago

    For me it has to be Everquest. The games lore was always interesting but like all MMO's it's all about your stories.

    My brother and I started at the same time but started on opposite sides of the game world. Spending days trying to meet up with each other was the most epic quest I have undertook in gaming. We both met many friendly players that helped us find our way and having real people instead of cliched game characters made the whole experience more immersive than anything I've ever played. This is before MMO's were full of arseholes and had a brilliant community, something sorely lacking in WoW.

  • FogHeart #81 9 months ago

    Man, if I wrote this article and then read the comments I'd be grinding my teeth right now. I'd have written about how the best 'story' is one that gets written in the player's imagination, by having the game provide just the framework and a little bit of narrative, enough to provide a spark. And then in the comments so many people just list their favourite stories, all the full fat narrative ones that say 'the story is what we show you and nothing else.' They are all fine examples of well-written games, but not fine examples of player-written games.

    For me, the best player-provided narrative comes in Left 4 Dead. How did these characters individually survive Z-Day? How did they meet? How did they get from the end of one elvel to the beginning of the next? What ultimately happens to them?

    And then the gameplay itself provides a million stories. "I survived half of a chapter redlining on one health." "We were determined to all finish the level, I was just in front of the boat and a smoker pulled me back then a tank slapped me into the water" "I was the last one on my feet, the tank was after me and it had way too much health, but a lucky shot ignited a propane tank and the explosion made him stumble off the side of the building.I revived the grateful others" And so on, endlessly.

    The point of the article is that when you try to do both 'readable' and 'writeable' games simultaneously they tend to grate against each other - the author seems to favour keeping them separate. The only solution appears to be to change the tone of the readable narrative to match the style of the player-written narrative. Of course that will multiply the work needed to develop the game. In the first Deus Ex it's there but limited to small asides like being reprimanded for going into the women's toilets.

    What does it say about human nature that we want to perform acts of heroism as a villain would, but be praised and rewarded afterwards like a pure hero would be?

  • curtlikesmeat #82 9 months ago

    For me this is where MMOs come into their own and why I like them. I was discussing Everquest with a mate the other day though - I'm not sure whether it's your first MMO that provides this open book magic, or simply EQ as a one off, which now due to the ubiquitous nature of the genre is hard to find (for me anyway).

    First time playing everything was so dark, wondering around Greater Faydark (a large forest) getting constantly lost, I stumbled across a small hut. There were four or five other players crowded around it for safety, because the orcs wouldn't come near it and there was a lone guard there. It was at a crossroads so every now and then other players would show up confused about where they were. Some would go off in small groups to try and find their way back to a city, others would just sit by the torch light of the hut almost like they were affraid to venture out. You can't write that kind of stuff; I know it probably sounds boring but I've never had that sort of 'actually there' atmosphere from a game before or since that.

    WTB a Cartman style time machine to play Everquest in 1999 again!

  • Aton #83 9 months ago

    Thief 2
    Penumbra
    Cryostasis

  • AllenSpawn #84 9 months ago

    I think online/mulitiplayer gaming is a very rich source of stories. The fact that you are facing a human being means you are automatically forming an image in your mind of them, from their voice and to a lesser extent their gamer tag. As someone mentioned Battlefield games are full of personal stories...war tales, to recount for years to come( to like minded souls of course). Anyone who has played lots of battlefield, will have a story... An extended run in a tank, an individual infiltration into a base etc etc..... And when you are in rounds with the same enemy gamertags , over and over, these people gain some sort of personality to add to the story.


    Oh yeah, and heavy rain..and for me,LAnoire.

  • Savatage #85 9 months ago

    @Dave_McCoy

    +1 to you sir.

    /looks for replacement Dreamcast

  • Kami #86 9 months ago

    Best story in a game? Hmm.

    For me, that's a toss up between Lufia 2 and Grandia. Grandia was entertaining throughout - with plenty of laughs and charm and some real zesty wit to it. But Lufia 2, for me, was more about the heart. It was a tale of love, loss and life - a deeply satisfying, and deeply rewarding, tale with a conclusion that I have no shame in admitting can still bring me to tears.

    Honorary mentions go out to Final Fantasy IX, Tombi and Resident Evil 3 - the latter if only because it had so many brilliant layers of wrongness to it that I'm still sometimes finding new layers of wrong to explore.,

  • BuckEntropy #87 9 months ago

    Elite

    I don't think there's been a purer expression of role playing ever made really.

    But the main subject of the article and the Total War type games have a certain common element, it's essentially the same principle as playing with dolls... or excuse me "action figures". Multiple blank slates with a shared pretext. Basically, in the absence of an explicit narrative, there is yet a wealth of precedent for their likely story to draw upon. Sports heroes, war heroes, classic stories of camaraderie. Even something like Pokemon carries the principle, they demand to be imbued with a personality, and a personal story will then follow.

    Some other good examples of the less is more principle mentioned: Another World; Portal; L4D; ICO & SotC. I completely agree with all of those.

    And I think there's an even more subtle class, one that manages to defy any standard idea of narrative, yet without being strictly abstract. Joust... Stunt Car Racer... Sky Odyssey... games that present a setting with both familiar and alien landmarks and rules. That demand an extra leap of imagination, without giving you any firm point of landing. There are some universal understandings: *You* fight or die, but is it for sport or war? *You* race in cars, but is this the future or an alternate past? *You* are some kind of neo-barnstormer, but to what end, and who is the audience? To me these games touch on a kind of storytelling that is perhaps truly exclusive to this medium, a myth of endeavor and adventure, without the confinements of a personified context.

    But for a fixed narrative, the greatest story ever told in videogames is the Panzer Dragoon trilogy. Because it's a story that really could only have been told, as such, by videogames. The best analogy I can make, is visiting a foreign land you know nothing about, first becoming thoroughly entranced by it's geography and inhabitants, and then learning it's history and culture. Is there another acknowledged single medium that could also emulate that experience?

  • crackhed #88 9 months ago

    Planescape: Torment
    Cryostasis

  • Wizard83 #89 9 months ago

    For me the best written stories of all time are:
    Mafia 1
    Metal Gear Solid 1
    Knights of the Old Republic 1

    All these stories had me emotionally invested in the charactors and affected me at different points in the same way an excellent book or movie does.

    Incidently all the sequels for all 3 failed to live up to the originals.

  • geeza2020 #90 9 months ago

    Have to second the EQ votes here. Back before the game got a billion expansions and you had to wander from place to place on foot, the journeys to get places seemed so epic, even though you were only going to some other place to grind XP, or get some fancy new piece of armour, every new monster, or town or settlement had you staring gobsmacked at your screen thinking, "games cant get any better than this." First character I played was a half elf ranger starting in Qeynos, cut my teeth fighting the blackburrow gnolls, before one day my guild mates decide we're going to head out to the kithicor forests across the commons for some new piece of kit or something. I went from being a hardened vet in those blackburrow mines, to a snivelling child, running for my life across the plains away from bloody massive hill giants, praying to be rescued by anybody, then when I was rescued by some heroic looking paladin in gold armour with wings on his helmet, I still thought "what a pretentious bastard" - it was great! Ahhh, EQ was bloody brilliant.

    "Train to dungeon entrance !!!!11!11"
    "too late....."
    :D
    Edited by geeza2020 at 05/09/11 @ 14:31

  • Tiberius_Gracchus #91 9 months ago

    The most memorable story for me was playing bad company online. It was 4am and there was 2 of us left on the harvest day map. He stood at the top of the hill where the rocket launcher was. I stooby the mortar shooter thingy. He bombarded me with missiles as I sniped him from the other side of the map. We spent 20mins or whatever doing this it was great fun - no rage quitting. Great read this article shame on me for missing the point of the article first time round...

  • king26 #92 9 months ago

    Fallout 3, New Vegas and Oblivion are fantastic at giving the player freedom.

  • curtlikesmeat #93 9 months ago

    It kind of surprised me that 90% of the people who posted here seemed to have missed the point of this article. I actually thought of EG readers as being sort of cultured (in terms of games)!

  • geeza2020 #94 9 months ago

    Tiberius_Gracchus - "the mortar shooter thingy" - is that the correct military lingo? :-P

    Love BFBC2 as well, Heavy Metal is a great map for stories of vehicular heroism, mostly involving brave suicide hind/black hawk chopper attacks :)

  • Gecks #95 9 months ago

    i always thought of Ico as a player-written story. ok, so the narrative (what little there is) is good, and the art-design is of course fantastic, but that relationship you build up with yorda is facilitated by the experiences you share in the game, rather than crow-barred in via cut-scenes.

  • Cherub007 #96 9 months ago

    Rome: Total War gave me a lifetime of great stories. I can remember one battle which lasted over an hour before my general and the opposing general were literally the last men standing, slogging it out hand to hand, before my guy won. I fell in love with TW there and then.

  • Architect_z #97 9 months ago

    Gitaroo Man hands down best story, you'll laugh, you'll cry, it'll change your life!

  • cyber_nicco #98 9 months ago

    Hands down, it's gotta be Ms. Pacman. It's got romance, danger, intrigue, and a triumphant ending that makes you feel good to be alive.

  • XanderBander #99 8 months ago

    I am really surprised that nobody has mentioned The Longest Journey. One of the best adventure games ever made!