Games this generation that are story driven

Story carries most of my gaming experiences. Look at KOTOR, the gameplay is nothing to be overly excited about, but man there is tons to enjoy in the forms of dialog and choices.

Here are games (this generation) I really enjoyed not because of its gameplay, but because of characters interacting with one another and drama:
The Walking Dead
Mass Effect
Heavy Rain

Am I missing anything glaringly obvious? I do own Metal Gear and Skyrim, but I'd argue they are primarily AAA titles based on fun gameplay mechanics. I feel like horror is a strong story telling genre, which is kind of why I've been going around talking about horror gaming.

Even its on the psone I'd like to know which titles are great in the ways of capturing you emotionally

I was about to bring up GTA, but you kinda get sucked out by its silliness sometimes. And the plots aren't driven too much on choices either.

GTA4 was fantastic. The acting was pretty superb and I really liked Niko. One of the few games this generation I played through twice. Even though Roman is a annoying loser he was my cousin and I still wanted the best for him

not sure if zelda counts, but i get super engrossed in that stuff.

See I found myself turned off by this generation of Zelda games. I beat Ocarina a thousand times, freaking loved Wind Waker. Then when I was playing Twilight Princess I just didn't enjoy it. Grittiness + Zelda should equal the best game ever but I just wasn't having it. I feel like the pure adventure genre is slowly coming to an end. Most games with worlds like Zelda are more like an RPG. But asking for games to be as good as Zelda is also asking too much.

I actually found Demon Souls to be a really rich game. Story wise? There was pretty much nothing, but my god did it have an atmosphere. You would wander through 5 worlds, and if how do you know where to go? The areas where the guys won't own you. "Pfft give me the controller I could totally-" No. In the first level if you try to cross a bridge a knight will hand you your ass. Doesn't matter if you land a hit it wont stun him and he'll take you out.

And some of the areas are scary or a maze, and along the way you'll find hints that other players drop. Sometimes they'll try to fuck with you, but most people are good and want to help you, for if you +1 the comment they gain health in their game. Its like you're all in it together, but separate. So in a brutally hard game, there is a constant stream of fun and I never thought I'd absorb so much from so little story telling

Never got to play Demon's Souls, but started Dark Souls and it seems pretty fun, but haven't gotten too far into it yet. Maybe some day...

I'd say stick to Rockstar if you want the best story-driven games out there. Not necessarily the GTA series, although there is some great writing and world building to be had, but definitely play L.A. Noire and Red Dead Redemption if you want a rich story along with that great gameplay experience.

If you haven't tried Bioshock infinite, or any of the Bioshock games, give them a go. Pretty fantastic, and it gives you a lot of added details if you are interested in hunting down the audio logs and stuff like that.

Seriously, play L.A. Noire and Red Dead if you haven't

Oh god, I loved KOTOR so much! Even though Obsidian destabalized the code, KOTOR II had a fantastic story too.

Also, the origional Bioshock had a fantastic storyline. The plot was really immersive and beautiful, but it goes downhill after the first.

Gravy Gulper wrote:

Oh god, I loved KOTOR so much! Even though Obsidian destabalized the code, KOTOR II had a fantastic story too.

Also, the origional Bioshock had a fantastic storyline. The plot was really immersive and beautiful, but it goes downhill after the first.

the KOTOR games are among the best i've ever played. Which reminds me, Dragon Age: Origins if you haven't played it. Don't go near Dragon Age II though. Please.

Did you guys here that Obsidian is working to get the rights to do another Star Wars RPG? Doubtful it would be in the Old Republic setting, but still yet. A spiritual successor is better than nothing

I've played all listed games aside from Infinite and Red Dead. I had played Red Dead I think for about an hour and a half and then I gave up on it. I felt that I was spending too much timing going from A to B, having a small shootout, then searching every body in a tedious way. Maybe I just need to be more patient if I ever get my hands on it again

Story wise I thought the first Bioshock was miles ahead of the second. Lamb was nowhere near as cunningly evil as Andrew Ryan.

First Dragon Age was quite good, a little difficult but good. Played a demo for the second one and it seemed like they ruined it

KOTOR was beyond awesome and the second wasn't bad

I can't wait for Beyond Two Souls

I thought the beautiful part about Bioshock was that Andrew Ryan is a tragically strong and wonderful character. His dreams were destroyed by some deceitful coward. Like him, I fell in love with the idea of Rapture.

@Axe - A new Star Wars rpg could be awesome. Especially to offset the new Disney Star Wars. Then again, star wars games just dont have a great track record. Remember Galaxies? Me neither.

There is a PSN sale this week where a lot of Resident Evil games are on sale for 50% off. Already played 4 and I played the Gamecube Remake of the first one. So I think I'll pick up the second, its $2.50. Tempted to get number three too. But I need to stop buying so much shit and needing months to catch up.

2 and 3 are fantastic games

Hm, $2.50 is nothing. Doesn't take up much space...Classic game

Here we go again now you've done gone convinced me

Metal Gear as a franchise seems to be heralded as a "story first, game later" experience - for better or for worse. i love it to death but a lot of people hate it for the fact it pushes the story element so much

Sleeping Dogs was an incredible representation of how the GTA formula could have been vastly expanded, without the silly Fudge Packing Corporation stickers all over town and with a really sinister backdrop of Hong Kong. features a police officer gone deep undercover who has to basically deal with guys he used to know in gangs and shit. it gets really personal, and despite the gameplay being flat out addicting (quasi-fighting game controls in an open world environment? yes please) the story really did come first

Tomb Raider scared the shit out of me in that urban legend comes to life sort of way, it's worth it - if only for the comparisons to the TV show "Lost"

I've never owned a Tomb Raider game and the new one sort of looks like Uncharted.

Sleeping Dogs definitely looks like an exciting game I'd like to play. An Asian GTA sounds pretty awesome.

Mafia 2 might be something I'd like to play too, love me some Italian drama

The new Tomb Raider was awesome. Pretty great story, and had great gameplay.

Sleeping Dogs is fun, but it's not supposed to be anything like GTA. It's True Crime, which was a vastly different game.

Axe wrote:

The new Tomb Raider was awesome. Pretty great story, and had great gameplay.

It was Uncharted, but you know, shittier. It also doesn't explain how she became of so bitchin'. After a very mild break down for killing one person she then instantly turns into a rampaging demon. It was mediocre.

Bioshock has been by far the best story of this generation. Underrated stories from last generation that you may have missed are Shadow of the Colossus and Fahrenheit: brilliant games both.

Yeah I played both of those and I fully agree. Fahrenheit was called Indigo Prophecy in North America because a movie came out called Fahrenheit 9/11 and they didn't want it to sound too similar. If they put that game on the psn I would totally play it again. You're probably the second person I know who has played it, it was even kind of scary in some parts. Another reason I like Heavy Rain so much, they are a one of a kind. Can't wait for Beyond Two Souls

SoC goes without saying, although the story, like Demon Souls is showcased through its environments it was extremely successful and you really had to wing most of the fights. But this made you feel awesome when you finally figure out the bosses weakness. I like being rewarded for effort. The horserides were a peaceful break after.

I tried ICO for 20 minutes and thought it was too slow. It was SoC without the C

Dies Irae wrote:

It was Uncharted, but you know, shittier. It also doesn't explain how she became of so bitchin'. After a very mild break down for killing one person she then instantly turns into a rampaging demon. It was mediocre.

Spoiler:

the mentality of going from "survivor" to "predator" wasn't instant whatsoever! after the first few people lara knocks out she's petrified of it, much less to grab a bow from a corpse. if anything that was a problem it was the fact she was so reluctant to fight to live until she had her back to a wall.

can't in good faith compare it to uncharted, while uncharted is certainly a better franchise. tomb raider has a pretty gripping story element but little replay value, admittedly

for the record i've never played a tomb raider game other than the reboot, but i'm debating whether or not they're as story driven or if it was just the tits on (insert Sony advertising magazine ploy here) that sold, i don't really know.

axe: the GTA comparison was just what first came to mind, aware enough of the fact that Sleeping Dogs is an off-shoot of True Crime, haha. bearing that in mind, many more people have played GTA and will recognize the atmosphere more by referencing that than True Crime, I guess... not that the series had too many bad games

You guys are referring to True Crime: Streets of L.A?
That was a really fun game. I enjoyed the quirkiness of it and the sort of choose your adventure and upgrade system they had going for them. The main character was likeable and the villains had very different personalities. Aside from the silly *arrest 99 bad guys to advance* it was one of the better sandbox games.

So you are saying that it is similar to True Crime? Or just some of the guys that worked on it made Sleeping Dogs as well?

the guys who did True Crime (United Front I think they're called, I could be wrong) made Sleeping Dogs. they intended it to be a part of the series but went off the fringe and decided to do a new IP with it, likely because of SE publishing it that they could afford to take out more time and money to promote it at the previous year's E3 and shit. essentially, it is True Crime, so if you like it, you'll like Sleeping Dogs.

the upgrades work in a level-up system, where you can upgrade what types of weapons you use and how you use them to particular martial arts moves that become the bread and butter of your assault. Wei Shen is likeable on many fronts, but it'd really really be spoiling it if I made that evident, hahahaha

give it a shot, it's worth it. shouldn't be very expensive anymore

Wasn't it basically True Crime which was dumped off from the Publisher (whatever it was), then was picked up by Square Enix but without the rights to the name?

The gameplay is very similar. You don't have some of the beat cop type things but it still has the focus on martial arts, as well as the gunplay and driving. Pretty fun experience, overall, but I never got around to finishing it.

it could have been that, I'm fuzzy on the details of the acquisition. if they had to go with a different name to distinguish this game, then i'm glad it happened for all intents and purposes of the game's distribution: it was very well received and anybody i've heard of playing it thinks it's a pretty decent game, they did something right

now if only SE would just stop making final fantasy games and do something awesome again....

Sandbox games done right are so enjoyable. Just Cause 2 has been on my radar for a while as well. Even bad ones have fun elements (Driv3r).

FF13 was junk. Played it for 11 hours and the game pretty much had you walk forward and press X and watch movies the entire time. Then the game finally got challenging and I would be stuck in a boss fight where I would spend my entire turn healing the whole time until I eventually die. My friends would tell me to level grind but I was stuck in the cutscene. Even if I wasn't I probably wouldn't level grind. Forget it. Can't believe they couldn't wrap it up in 4 discs and needed a FF13-II. Christ

pretty unbelievable fall from grace from the company that made the acclaimed FFVII (didn't care for it tbh, wasn't the worst game nor the best game of its time)

to think this was the same company that had its hand in creating Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. they haven't made a game as compelling, charming, witty and fun to play before or since then

Did you ever play Paper Mario for the N64?
I think that game is easily 2nd best to Ocarina of Time on that console. Graphics look amazing for its time, the battle system is fun, every stage has an interesting background and there are plenty of side things to do along the way. That game was a homerun for all ages. The Wii just does not appeal to me at all. I think the last Mario game I enjoyed was Sunshine.

Super Mario RPG is one of the greatest games of all time. It is really quite sad that they won't make anything of that caliber ever again. The paper mario games were pretty fun, but the mario and lugio rpgs aren't very good.

Although I really, really enjoyed Chrono Trigger too. That one is legendary, and i'm pretty sure it was square soft too.

I did indeed play Paper Mario for N64, it picks up some of the same elements from Super Mario RPG but runs with a more characteristically child-oriented art style which isn't to dwarf its technical prowess. it's a very good game, but the story in SMRPG, as cliche as Mario tends to be, is a world apart from any other Mario game there is hahaha

Never did own a SNES or a NES so I missed out on a few generations of gaming.

I did clock in a few hours on Sonic for Sega though. My god the anxiety attacks when you'd come close to drowning.

Sonic and story don't even belong together, have you see how that franchise has been raped down the years

all fursecution criers and fanboys aside, since its onset all it was about was some hedgehog guy picking up shiny gems and if you've watched a single episode of DBZ you know what they're a stand-in for... 20 years later and we have a cornucopia of anthros being headed off by one mad scientist while the company that's running this shit into the ground keeps trying to reinvent the wheel. if they just cut the crap and released games that were more about running and grabbing rings maybe sega wouldn't suck anymore

but i digress: sega didn't make a good story game since Valkyrie Chronicles and even that's debatable, case in point Mary Sue aka Welkin Gunther, the obvious blank slate of a man who can achieve anything he wants merely by existing. shame the rest of the story and gameplay is incredible, otherwise it'd be a completely passable game.

Yeah I wasn’t linking it to story, just vintage gaming. I remember playing Sonic Adventure Battle 2 on Gamecube. I must have been around 11 when I owned it. I thought it was the best, especially because you could raise those creatures called chau’s or whatever.

Tried playing it two years ago and it was just horrible. I don’t know if you’ve played it before but you pretty much play as every character in the Sonic universe. You would start the game and choose “good” or “evil” and you pretty much play the same levels only with a mildly different point of view and once you completely beat those you unlock a secret mode to get the true ending where Goku and Vegeta finally defeat Freza

The only fun levels are the ones when you control Sonic or Shadow (same difference pretty much) because like you said, the fun is running around getting rings.

The other levels you either pilot a mech and tediously shoot robots or you control Knuckles or some bat slut thing and look for emeralds. Christ. Some of those levels were vast and you couldn’t advance until you found three hidden in the ground. I guess I was an easy audience when I was a kid.

Sonic Adventure wasn't so bad, incoherent plot and all. At least it was fun and sensational for the time, the DC was awesome - but SA2 was among the instigators of the beginning of the end for the franchise

A game I want to try out is Siren: Blood Curse. It's not available on a physical disc and is $40 on the PSN. If you want to get it shipped in you have to order it from the UK. Hasn't been a good horror game since Condemned so I might have to look into this when I'm finished my long list of games here. I tried out the demo and it was fairly spooky but out of context its hard to get too into it and the fighting system was pretty neat where if you are near something fancy you can do a huge finishing move.

Although when I played the demo it was pretty much shouting at me to SNEAK around the monsters. I accidentially provoked them instead and I don't think I took more than one hit. They waited their turn to fight me

Final Fantasy was pretty story driven but now they're graphic driven. Castelvania is pretty well story driven, Xenosaga is like ridiculously story driven. Basically it's like watching a movie than playing a videogame. Resident Evil seems to be pretty storydriven as well. Whether any of those are any good, well it's up to the player.

I don't know if you guys are into old PC games, and if you are you've probably already played this. But Planescape: Torment is practically legendary for being so extremely story-driven. It's an RPG.

Also The Witcher 2 is really really immersive and also pretty story-driven. It's ridiculously confusing though. The first one is too, but I've barely touched it.

I need to check that out. Will it work with Windows 7 or do i need another version of Windows to make it run?

fazango wrote:

Planescape: Torment

/Thread

At least, until Torment: Tides of Numenera comes out

Axe wrote:

At least, until Torment: Tides of Numenera comes out

wow i just looked that up i didn't know that existed.
it's coming out in 2015, so a 16-year-later-sequel lmao

and I thought it took them a while to come up with Starcraft 2...

Axe wrote:

I need to check that out. Will it work with Windows 7 or do i need another version of Windows to make it run?

it will definitely run, but it might be glitchy. there's definitely ways around it, you could run it in compatibility mode, etc.

a lot of people complain that playing old games is difficult on Win7 but I've never had much trouble, other than Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri which was a disaster.