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Which of the following video game stories is your favorite(s)?
Phantasy Star II 0 (0%)
Vagrant Story 5 (23.8%)
Half-Life 2 2 (9.5%)
Metal Gear Solid 3 (14.3%)
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty 1 (4.8%)
Skies of Arcadia 0 (0%)
Silent Hill 2 8 (38.1%)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney 0 (0%)
Ninja Gaiden (NES version) 1 (4.8%)
Shadow of the Colossus 1 (4.8%)
Total Votes: 21
Which of RS' top 10 game stories do you like?; Runeslash jumps on the bandwagon
Topic Started: Jan 5 2007, 10:32 AM (257 Views)
Runeslash
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109th Star of Destiny
For my money, these are the 10 best, most well crafted stories I've ever seen in a video game. I'm sure some of my picks and exclusions will be a tad controversial, but this poll is as much for discussion as being a poll in itself, so that's fine.

Anyhow, a few personal notes on some of the picks...

Phantasy Star II made it to my list, despite having weak presentation and little dialogue, due to the incredible ideas and themes present within the plot. Even today, few game stories can rival PSII on these aspects, though the presentation has been far surpassed.

Skies of Arcadia gets a spot, not for the plot itself... but how well it's put together. It's the absolute perfect crafting of the ol' 16-bit, "struggle against the empire" plot, but now in 128-bit 3D graphics and with all the story presentation benefits thereof. The cutscenes are very well directed, and the dialogue (especially some of Vyse's lines) is top notch for the type of story it's trying to tell, and I've never noticed a single grammatical or spelling error in four playthroughs.

Ninja Gaiden is listed here based on the fact that it's story was utterly mind-blowing for 1989, and it managed this without sacrficing any of the gameplay or challenge... on an NES side-scrolling game. How cool is that? Needless to say, I was very disappointed when the Xbox version came out, and neither played like, nor had the story quality of, its NES ancestor.

SotC edged out a few other games I was considering due to what I perceive to be a mastery of subtlety and open-ended interpretation. Some might just call it lazyness, and honestly, I wouldn't have a problem with it. But dang if this story doesn't somehow feel like your own personal struggle against 16 colossi instead of Wander's. In addition, this roughly 15 hour game has only around 25 minutes of actual story time (and that's a VERY liberal estimate), 99% of which is contained in the intro and ending. Yet, it does more with those 25 minutes and the world you explore than most games do in several hours worth of cutscenes.

And last but not least... remember, these are NOT my favorite stories, but rather what I consider to be the most well crafted stories. Also, I didn't list anything that I haven't finished and I am indeed currently playing quite a few games right now with great stories, so this list may change in the future. But for now, this is it.

So anyhow, have fun voting, and quite possibly tearing my list apart. :P

Oh, and I voted for Vagrant Story BTW.
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Killer Kitty
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Wizardry 9
As soon as I saw Silent Hill 2 I immediately voted for it.
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Darkstalker
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~ The QUEEN ~
Killer Kitty
Jan 5 2007, 12:26 PM
As soon as I saw Silent Hill 2 I immediately voted for it.

Yes.
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Deleted User
Deleted User

I've only played three of the games listed, so I'll abstain.
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UtopiaNH
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Cu Roi
I can't really say Silent Hill 2 or Vagrant Story are better than one another; they each handle things in different ways and are equally excellent. I voted for both >_>
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Kimimi
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Teikokukagekidan: Hanagumi official tea maker :)
Killer Kitty
Jan 5 2007, 07:26 PM
As soon as I saw Silent Hill 2 I immediately voted for it.

Same here - stunning game. SotC gets my second place for having a story that the devloper intentionally left open to personal interpretation - there is no "canon" just the events you witness, and what you draw from them.

I also think the ending to PS2 blows chunks. *runs*
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sharc
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wandering slacker
hmm, hmm, hmm.

phoenix wright, half life 2, vagrant story and phantasy star 2 are all out since i have yet to play them.

metal gear solid and metal gear solid 2 are an interesting pair; the first has a story that's well-constructed but doesn't really tell me anything new or interesting. the second has some superb material that doesn't surface until the last part of the game, and after an extended midsection of gameplay that i felt was a letdown.

ninja gaiden's story is well put-together for it's time, but now that you make me think about it i don't know how i'd "rank" it. it wasn't so much a great story as it was one of the first i remember to use story cutscenes to spur you on through the game. i guess i'd say, it's a good videogame story?

skies of arcadia...well, i'll be diplomatic and chalk that one up to differing tastes. :P

so i guess silent hill 2 and shadow of the colossus get my vote, then.
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RumourMaker18
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The Transcendent Pig
I mean... Is it really necessary for me to tell you people what I chose?
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sharc
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wandering slacker
was it VAGRANT FUCKING STORY?
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Carbunkle Flux
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Abyssian Legend
Quote:
 
was it VAGRANT FUCKING STORY?


OMG, Vagrant Story HENTAI!

I chose Silent Hill 2 and Metal Gear Solid. Silent Hill 2 because it's possibly one of the most thought-provoking and well thought out stories in a game I've played and Metal Gear Solid because that game is freaking legendary.

I'd love to say Phantasy Star 2 but unfortunately I cannot :P. That game's plot was all right, but it wasn't in any kind of league to compete with the competition you gave it. Same with Ninja Gaiden.

IMO you should have probably had different divisions for the older listings.
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anderton
Unregistered

Silent Hill 2 and SotC are the only ones I can remotely take seriously. Vagrant Story gets points for presentation.

MGS2 gets in for laughs.
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Johnnygo
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Myopic Islander fan. Thread Killer. Empty Glimmer.
Silent Hill 2. No doubt in my mind.
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Renegade
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what
Half-Life 2, because it gives you a basic idea of what's going on, but the rest is up to personal interpretation (or sequels).
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