So, instead of writing my short story that I've been planning on finishing for what seems like aeons, I procrastinated by writing this. Lo and behold, "My top 11 best-written video game favorites."

1) Photopia by Adam Cadre.

A relatively unknown freeware Interactive Fiction game (that is, no graphics, for you trigger-happy action lovers) that tells a short, but very emotionally engaging story. One of, if not the saddest and beautiful works I've ever read, video games medium or otherwise. You can download it for free from the IF section of Adam Cadre's site (scroll down a bit).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photopia

2) Planescape: Torment by Black Isle Studios.

Now, I was never much into fantasy, but this game is a like a book in its own right. Or a series of books. Every character is well-defined, the story is interesting, and more importantly, UNIQUE, and you build a great attachment to your character as you play along. You play as the Nameless One, an immortal man with no memory of his past - every "death" makes you lose a part of your former self. You've lived a thousand lives over a countless number of years, you were sometimes evil, good, crazy, and sometimes genius. But you've only other peoples (and otherwise) memories and a body full of tattoos to recall of all the things you've done. You wake up on a stone slab in a mortuary with a floating talking skull sidekick by your side, again, no memories of who you are, but with a feeling that something important is missing. PLAY THIS GAME.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planescape:_Torment

3) The Longest Journey by Funcom.

A completely stunning adventure game, both visually and story-wise. The story starts in a cyberpunk-like future, where you play a young art student. You later find out that you have a strange ability to "shift" between worlds - and find yourself in fantasy realm, magic critters, dragons, and all. The game's hard to describe - it must be experienced. If you're a fan of adventure games, or even sci-fi or fantasy stories, or even just emotionally involving stories at all, be sure you play this game. You won't be disappointed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Longest_Journey

4) Syberia by Microids.

Designed by an uber-talented Belgian chap Benoît Sokal, this, like The Longest Journey, is one of the most touching adventure games I've ever played. And just like The Longest Journey, it features a female protagonist and 3D graphics on static backgrounds, making for quite atmospheric visuals. You are a lawyer named Kate Walker who's on a business trip to some remote location in Europe to finalize the take-over of a toy factory. As the story unfolds, you travel across the world, encounter strange characters in strange locations (eg, Komkolzgrad, a communist-esque mining town where you meet a soprano singer and her one "fan" bent on kidnapping her), and then end questioning your choice in life and career and choose to follow someone's dream instead. Which coincidentally becomes your dream as well. At least that's how I got it. Beautiful, beautiful story overall. Be sure to check the game out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syberia

5) Frederick Pohl's Gateway 2: Homeworld by Legend Entertainment.

Another Interactive Fiction game, this one has a graphic interface. You "see" what's directly in front of you depicted as a static bitmap image in the top right of your screen. The game's (obviously) a sequel to Frederick Pohl's Gateway. You, as the MC, investigate a strange alien artefact that suddenly appeared in Pluto's orbit. I've never read anything Frederick Pohl, but the game was insanely immersing and interesting to play. It's also available for free download as abandonware from the Home of the Underdogs site.

Wikipedia Article On Fallout

6) Day of the Tentacle by LucasArts.

Back in the day, LucasArts used to make funny and clever adventure games (as, like Yahtzee said, "opposed to milking the Star Wars cow until its udders turned to charcoal-black stalactites"). The game is a sequel to Maniac Mansion, an older LucasArts adventure game. You play a family of misfits (although they might as well be roommates, that part of the plot is not particularly defined) adventuring through time: one stays in the present, one travels back to the past, and one to the future, all to save the world from the menace of a mutant purple tentacle (yes, you read that right) bent on conquering the world. And you get to freeze a hamster in a icebox for a couple hundred years over the course of the game. What's not to love?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Tentacle

7) Sam & Max Hit the Road by LucasArts.

Another famous LucasArts adventure game. You play a strange anthropomorphic detective duo of a homicidal rabbit and a fedora-wearing dog.

Max: Sam, either termites are burrowing through my skull, or one of us is ticking.
Sam: Oops, oh yeah.
[pulls out the scientist's head, which is a bomb]
Max, where should I put this so it doesn't hurt anyone we know or care about?
Max: Out the window, Sam. There's nothing but strangers out there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_&_Max_Hit_the_Road

8) Fallout by Black Isle Studios.

An awesomely detailed and believable post-apocalyptic world, realistic characters, and black humour make this one of my favourite games of all time. You're a resident of Vault 13 - one of many underground bunkers sheltering WWIII war survivors for many, many years. You were born in the Vault and never saw the light of day. But one day, the water purification system breaks, and you're chosen as the most able resident to venture into the unknown... The game's setting isn't much as of post-apoc future, as "what we imagined future to be like in the 50's" set against humanity emerging from the devastation of nuclear war. Absolutely a must-play for any self-respecting RPG gamer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallout_(computer_game)

9) System Shock 2 by Looking Glass Studios.

Because I haven't played Bioshock yet.

10) Deus Ex by Ion Storms Inc.

If I were to choose a literary-related label for this game, I'd call it a "cyberpunk techno-thriller." Writing alone doesn't make this game, but it's certainly more than up to standard. Filled with every conspiracy you can possibly imagine, the game sets you, a bio-enchanced UNATCO (read: NATO) agent, to fight terrorism over the globe. Or join it if you feel so inclined. And is it really terrorism after all? The plot would surely make for an interesting novel if one ever came out, but its perfect in its game form as is. You've probably heard of this game before - it's often considered the best FPS-RPG hybrid ever produced, and rightfully so. If you haven't already, you owe it to yourself to check the game out. I don't recommend the sequel (Invisible War), however. It's, in my humble opinion, complete crap compared to the original. Also, did I mention that this game's INSANELY awesome? No? Well, this game's INSANELY awesome!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_Ex

11) Duke Nukem 3D by 3D Realms.

What?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Nukem_3D

Deus Ex is the only one of those I've ever played.

But then again, I'm no gamer.

Good list, but it's severely lacking in any Baldur's Gate games.

How does Final Fantasy 7 not make it on your best writing list. That game had an amazing script which actually makes you feel emotional at certain parts in the game.

Isn't it funny how one person's top 10 can not even rate on another gamer's list?

Because Final Fantasy 7 was simplistic emo drivel that was the low point for story telling in the entire series. (Which doesn't exactly have the best track record of amazing story telling).

I'll go on a limb and say I enjoy the final fantasy series as a whole, but complex stories, they are not.

my top 7 are

Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards
Leisure Suit Larry Goes Looking for Love (in Several Wrong Places)
Leisure Suit Larry 3: Passionate Patti in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorals
Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work
Leisure Suit Larry 6: Shape Up or Slip Out!
Leisure Suit Larry 7: Love for Sail!
Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude

<3

I dunno, Final Fantasy Tactics... That had me scratching head at the end. Complexity <_>

Does FF12 have a complex plot? I haven't been paying attention to it because its definitely a sucky plot.

Leisure Suit Larry 7: Love for Sail! was AWESOME. Totally forgot about that. Not a widely-acclaimed game though, I suppose. And I found FF7 pretty boring, TBH. Never really thought the dialogue was any good, either. But then, it was translated from Japanese, so who knows. I quit playing after I got to that field where you have to catch the giant chickens to get over the swamp. But then, I never was a big fan of console RPGs. However, I know that I'm more of an exception - most people who played it loved it to death.

Games that I feel like have had more brain times and effort going on instead of "hey lets make something that will make us money":

1) NHL 99 Deus Ex
2) FIFA 2002 System Shock 2
3) Daikatana No One Lives Forever
4) Battlecruiser 3000 A.D. Max Payne
5) World Tour Golf Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

And a lot more but I think I'll play Bioshock instead.

I second FGR on No One Lives Forever (2). Also, some of my other favourite games would be Privateer and Crusader. But neither have much to do with inspiring writing (although I loved Crusader's concept and badly directed FMV cutscenes), so I didn't include them on the list. But I did mention SS2. Admittedly, completely forgot about KotOR, though.

For storytellingness my favourites are:
- Fallout 1/2
- Baldurs Gate 2/ToB
- Planescape: Torment
- Final Fantasy 7 (say what you like about the dialog, but the story is good)
- Final Fantasy 4/5/6/8
- Chrono Trigger
- Lufia 2
- Longest Journey/Dreamfall

Star Crusader had some pretty nifty writing for the time. The ending sucked though...

I've never played Privateer. >_>

it does have a complex plot, in the sense that you don't actually know what's going on until the last hour. ff12's story also benefits from a replay.

ff7 is by far and large the low point for storytelling in the entire series. including ff1, which was too technologically primitive to make any real effort. tetsuya nomura is also a horrible character designer (BELTS MADE OF SMALLER BELTS) and ff7 is generic anime drivel.

I just exploded. That was awesome.

Ok, so I just started playing this. I like it so far, but does it really have to explain the meaning of about one word each paragraph? Is there a point to that, or is it just breaking up narrative for the sake of people who don't know what "impact" means?

There's a point behind it. You'll get it at the end. Trust me. Plz post here when you're done w/ the game (shouldn't take you more than 30 mins - 1 hour). So far I feel like I'm the only person I know who ever played it...

Actually...hang on, it's to do with that little two lines of text right before the start, isn't it? About telling a story?

Yep, that's it. But really, it'll all make much more sense at the end.

If I ever get there. This labyrinth is going to kill me. Nice plot twist in there, though. I did a double take at the sentence.

*********, the twist is the...grr! I'd be more satisfied if I weren't irritated with myself

Wow. That made no sense whatsoever!

Just kidding. I get what happened. But I think I'd need to play through it again to fit everything together completely correctly.

That was very enjoyable, though. I'd reccommend everyone give it a try.

MONKEY-ISLAND

Add Starship Titanic in the humor category.

BIOSHOCK

Glad you liked it, LividDK27. Now I can proudly say that I'm not the only person I know of who played the game.

BTW, another well-written game I totally forgot about - Anachronox by Ion Storm! Fantastic story, great characters, all def. make for a very, very underrated game.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anachronox

Syberia 2 was good too. but shorter.

wow
i just played through the game
that was pretty cool
the labyrinth twist was crazy
as was like.... all of it

Heh, just noticed you Americanised all my spelling.

(...least I think that's what you did...)

Dang, how could I forget...

I played Photopia some time ago! I quite liked it. There are some other really good IF games out there, too. I recommend Rematch. It's not as strong in the storytelling, but it's a fun challenge.

Myst tells its story in a really clever way. The player comes in at the end of the story, and isn't the same character as the protagonist.

Also, MONKEY-ISLAND

You forgot Larry 4, which is by far the best game in the series.

Yes.

A big one that's also missing is Grim Fandango. Not just the story, but the game has better dialog than most Academy Award winning movies.

FGR's addition of NoLF and KotOR are good, too.

Homeworld was well written, but it wasn't exactly the most verbose game...



The lack of this makes the list invalid, heh.

I've always wanted to play through Grim Fandango, but since I have absolutely no patience (or brainpower) for adventure games... meh.