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Best Videogame Writing Since 2005, Any Genre?

WhiteGuts

Arcane
Joined
May 3, 2013
Messages
2,382
New Vegas has a good amount of stellar writing, and a bunch of pretty memorable quests (Vault 11, White Glove Society..etc). Oh, and Dead Money. Shadowrun Dragonfall is also pretty legit.

In non rpgs, I'd say Specs Ops : The Line, L.A Noire (kinda). Maybe Transistor.
 

Unkillable Cat

LEST WE FORGET
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Joined
May 13, 2009
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27,088
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Does Grim Fandango (Remastered) count?

If you were asking me (and seeing as I slogged through the game just days ago) I would say "no", and not because it's a re-release of a game older than the time frame of the thread.

Grim Fandango has things going for it, and things going against it, but much of the writing aspects falls into the latter category, IMO.

It builds a world where almost every character is literally portrayed as a black-and-white caricature, but in far too many cases the figurative term is also true. With almost all the characters stripped of their outward identity, their inner identity becomes even more important, yet there is little to no depth to the characters beyond what the story requires of them. The lawyer is a vain, crooked sleazeball only because it's a film noir-game (game noir?) and a puzzle is dependant upon him being so. This makes much of the supporting cast so thin in identity that it becomes hard to tell them apart. I've played through the game twice, once in 2002 and again now. From the previous playthrough I only remembered 3 characters: Manny (because I'm stuck with him), Glottis (mainly because he's a big, orange lump in a cast of skeletons) and Hector (because he actually has a distinctive appearance, yet no real character to speak of).

The pacing of the game is another aspect that screws up the writing. The game tells the story as a 4-year journey, yet fails to make the journey smooth and coherent. Instead it skips, hops and drags at different intervals, like a warped record playing a song. Year 2 feels like it drags on forever, while Year 3 skips along like a stone on a pond. Curse of Monkey Island has a section at the end that makes little sense because a cutscene is missing that was removed because the game ran out of space. GF feels like that ten times over. I would go as far as to say that the game is unfinished, 17 years after its release and despite it having just been "remastered". It could have been a great game with great writing, but right now it's just another bleeding victim on the cutting room floor.
 

CryptRat

Arcane
Developer
Joined
Sep 10, 2014
Messages
3,548
Not mentioned : Chains of Satinav/Memoria, Serpent in The Staglands, Bastion, Lone Survivor, Heroine's Quest
NEO Scavenger has good texts.
Hotline Miami and Teslagrad have some cool minimalist storytelling too.
 

cvv

Arcane
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Joined
Mar 30, 2013
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18,071
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Kingdom of Bohemia
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Afaik there isn't much notable writing in other genres than RPG. Adventures by Legend were generally well written, I still admire Monkey Island 1/2 writing (although it could be partly due to nostalgia) and maybe a few others.

As for RPGs, Planescape used to be regarded as the best written RPG ever and rightly so. I personally believe Witcher 3 dethroned it. Witcher 2 writing is excellent too. Betrayal at Krondor has been up there for the past 20 years. The top elite rank would probably go to New Vegas and Alpha Protocol as well which would make Avellone the most successful writer in the industry in my book.

I'm sure there are a number of less known, indie games with excellent writing too, I'll gladly learn about them.
 
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Superuser

Educated
Joined
Jul 3, 2013
Messages
34
In no particular order:
  • Lost Odyssey, particularly for its short stories ("Thousand Years of Dreams") written by an internationally renowned short story author. You WILL cry and remember them for years on end. I still remember pretty much all of them and even some choice quotes. The core narrative is also solid though formulaic for RPGs -- but it's well executed nonetheless.
  • The Witcher series. Very well fleshed-out universe and excellent characterisation. It's high fantasy but with many cool twists. It amps the theme of racism up to 11 (but in a mature way) nd grounds its supernatural elements in logic. For example, there is an advanced, lore-accurate alchemy system. The people have an advanced understanding of DNA despite living in an ostensibly mediaeval world. The writing is excellent and the story is well-paced (aside from the start of The Witcher 1, leading you to remember many parts thoroughly and fondly.
  • Metal Gear Solid 4 (endless tears). Requires knowledge of previous MGS games. Not the greatest entry in the franchise but still extremely strong and easily 9/10 in the story and gameplay department alike.
    Sadly MGSV was a disappointment in the story department, even though it has the best cutscene direction of any game in history. Kojima is like a Japanese Alfonso Cuaron, with his long takes and whatnot. Peace Walker (HD edition, don't play the PSP version as it has godawful controls) was good, though it only reaches the heights of previous MGS games in Chapter 4.
  • Hotline Miami and Hotline Miami 2. I didn't like the sequel's plot at first until I read a summary and thought it's a good addition to the plot and tackling the same nihilistic themes.
  • Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Yes, really. I stopped playing them with MW3 but COD4 had a very mature plot, and in my opinion rivals Half-Life in terms of its single player campaign. First of all, the mission design is a Quake style corridor shooter, where you proceed and enemies come out, instead of wide open fields like later CoDs.

    More importantly, it is surprisingly subversive. You probably know of the big twist by now, but it was really surprising at the time and well-remembered until Activision shat all over the franchise. I invite you to think back to 2008 and how CoD was still a fresh, revolutionary masterpiece. Sadly all the sequels had ridiculous, totally implausible plotlines, shock moments to upset the media (No Russian, etc) and even worse setpiece design. But the original is a classic and holds up very well.

    Anyone who was playing it at the time should know what I mean. It didn't always have a bad name, and back then, CoD4 was a masterpiece. Still is today, in my opinion, and did everything Spec Ops: The Line did and better (as did Metal Gear Solid 2 even though it was obtuse about it).
  • To The Moon, a wonderful indie adventure game. You will cry. You will cry. And you will never forget it. It's only 2 hours long, don't miss it.
 

rado907

Savant
Joined
Apr 23, 2015
Messages
249
I'm going with the GTAs (IV and V) and L.A.Noire.
Playing those games felt like watching a (somewhat cartoonish) gangster movie. Plus I didn't have to save the world. And the dialogues were good.

I still wonder why L.A. Noire didn't get much love. What a game that was.
---
Honorable mention for Bulletstorm. That game reminds me of when I was 17 getting hammered with my high school buddies. Captures the vibe perfectly.
 

Baron Dupek

Arcane
Joined
Jul 23, 2013
Messages
1,870,765
Specs Ops : The Line
Better story twist than any Bioshock.

I wanted to point Marauder: Man of Prey when it comes to post apo a'la Mad Max 1 than Fallouts, but english translation is borked and I don't think people from the West appreciate exotic behavior of westerneuropeans...

What about Pathologic?
 
Self-Ejected

an Administrator

Self-Ejected
Joined
Nov 17, 2015
Messages
4,337
Location
Where expecting basics is considered perfectionism
Half-Life series all episodes. You may find it a bit linear but it is probably the best linear game ever for me! Creative gameplay + Engaging story makes this game special.
Half-Life 2 has a story? lel

Maybe i am a bit biased toward it but i actually think story telling was great in Half-Life 2
 

Lyric Suite

Converting to Islam
Joined
Mar 23, 2006
Messages
56,157
I personally believe Witcher 3 dethroned it.

I bet you also think Game of Thrones is the pinnacle of television writing. "Hurr durr raep hurr durr VIOLANCE hurr durr swearing so deeyp, liek, wow".

I actually removed the Witcher 3 from an inventory just to check it out. Made it to the intro video where he's talking to the naked chick and i had to shut it of. Copying Hollywood = great and amazing writing and story telling?
 
Joined
Apr 19, 2008
Messages
3,059
Location
Brazil
Divinity: Original Sin
I still wonder why L.A. Noire didn't get much love. What a game that was.

The fact that the interrogation was mostly based on guessing and trial and error, and no logic. Also, when you say the person is lying, the main character shout accusing him/her even when they had no reason to do so. and if you get the wrong answer, to get the right ones you have to replay the mission.
 
Self-Ejected

an Administrator

Self-Ejected
Joined
Nov 17, 2015
Messages
4,337
Location
Where expecting basics is considered perfectionism
Half-Life series all episodes. You may find it a bit linear but it is probably the best linear game ever for me! Creative gameplay + Engaging story makes this game special.
Half-Life 2 has a story? lel

It did, and it was terrible. The original is superior in every possible imaginable way.

Yeah it had more weapons,more choices (You could save scientists or simply let them die) , better AI and more epic storyline.
 

tormund

Arcane
Joined
Aug 15, 2015
Messages
2,282
Location
Penetrating the underrail
I still wonder why L.A. Noire didn't get much love. What a game that was.

The fact that the interrogation was mostly based on guessing and trial and error, and no logic. Also, when you say the person is lying, the main character shout accusing him/her even when they had no reason to do so. and if you get the wrong answer, to get the right ones you have to replay the mission.
Not to mention that you always had to select exactly the one proof writers wanted you to select. Use something else that by all rights proves exactly the same thing, and you'll still get the stock U WRONG I SMUG answer from the person you're interrogating...
 

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