Portal?

GTA?!?!

Come on I bet they barly even tried with this list

what about games like breakdown for the X box?

or mabye the legend of zelda....

Jangowuzhere

neojam

"A General leads his troops...etcetera...new God of War."

It sounds like Euripides' Herakles but with revenge plot thrown in to undermine the morality for the sake of a bit of action.

floppylobster

valleyshrew

frozenfox13

Sith_Librarian

A simple story, masterfully told, will always be superior to a drab but well layered epic... and "simple story, masterfully told" is a perfect description of Portal.

Grive

Seiven

1gunners4

I thought La Pucelle Tactics had a very incredibly awesome storyline. I won't spoil it if you haven't played it, but the last couple missions and the story around them actually brought a tear to my eye. I should probably play through it again.

DorkimusPrime

Passa

People will turn any post into system wars it seems.

Passa

It seems to me most of the game are much too recent.

And +1 on the "only 1 FF ??"

Salagir

HelderP

I think they just pulled some of these games out of their ass. Im suprised Gran Turismo or zombies ate my neighbours or even pac man wernt listed.

KingKevin

Grant me that. The other FF storylines are preschool stories compared to VI.

Project Thanatos

neoraul20

tshack

Wow, what morons lol.

Doodah

Regarding Persona 3: The story is as good as your average demon-fighting-students anime, which is not much. What is good in that game is how its institute adventuring interacts with character development. But the story is still lacking. Persona 2 story was away better, but, still, didn't take itself seriously.

EloraHRanma

altfire41

NeoSnake4/ねおっなけ4

The only JRPG I honestly like better in terms of plot is Suikoden II. Too bad Suikoden II is so rare because it truly deserves more recognition. Come on Konami! Re-release Suikoden and Suikoden II in a single package!

strideo

One up for Sins of the Fathers!
One down for San Andreas! Are you kidding?

EloraHRanma

dzaussome

And yes, only 1 FF Game, because they're ALWAYS the same.

JamesR87

MGS3 should be on this list, though. Actually, the entire Metal Gear saga should have been included, in my opinion.

Gospel X

No NES games. Although, yeah, they aren't very plotty...I was always impressed when they DID manage to have a decent story. Star Tropics and Zelda 2 come to mind as games that made me happy as a young one.

And as for Gabriel Knight...never played that one, but I really liked the 2nd one. The only one I've played actually. Sadness...would love to try the other two.

teraphony

DarkFalzX

Puff

eilegz

@Byakko: "List fails alone with just having God of War up there as well (good presentation, OF DIRECT RIPS FROM REAL GRECIAN MYTHOLOGY!)"

Whoops, found two more! I love how some of you people are saying GoW doesn't deserve to be on the list because it's just based on myths, as if that's the only thing that makes up the game.

For one, did you folks ever stop to think that maybe it being based on myths is a reason why it has one of the best game stories? Myths are the ultimate stories. Without myths, there would be no storytelling.

Secondly, a game story is more than just what is written on a page. Some of you are judging them as if they were books, which is so far off base.

From the acting, the editing, all the way to the artistic direction and musical score; they all play an important role in telling the story of a video game or film. The overall presentation of this, along with a dynamic and intriguing plot, is what makes a truly good story. To deny that God of War is not worthy of that distinction is to ignore the fact that more goes into creating a brilliant game story than just simple words. And to do that is an act of foolishness.

justhesh

GodKiller

BehaCepa

@Hackangel: "God of War (good game but the story wasn't as great as other games who aren't on this list)"

Oh look, I found two more people that must be high.

justhesh

Don't get me wrong, I thought it was the best and it needs to be remade in all it's glory with 3D Amano type graphics (between Square's visual integrity and the software for games like Okami and the new Naruto it's possible). The story of FF6 was grandiose, much more than any of the others wherein you did fight someone who did achieve god-hood.

Absent Blue

After playing through 1 & 2, I haven't the slightest clue as to what is 'actually' going on.

Not enough dialogue, too much left to figure out yourself.

It's an interesting method to learning the story (you're own interpretation) but you can hardly consider that a consistent experience.

i.roboto

Great games. Story no.

I'm surprised Mass Effect wasn't included.

i.roboto

Couldn't agree more. No Shenmue. No win! D:

r3n

JerryJax

i like how internet features completely fail in the readers' eyes because they don't completely agree on something. a keyboard in my hands? holy shit, everything suckkkkkkssssss!!!!! instead of writing my own list, i'm gonna complain on a blog. yup, i'm doing that too, but at least i had a hand in deciding which of the stories to include. oh and we define the difference between a story and a plot for those too lazy to read the actual list.

epic failllllzzzzzzraoxrlolo

paperthin0

Allcars

Allcars

FFVII is just the same old story dressed up in Christian motifs and Jungian metaphors that were in vogue in the anime and manga scene at the time and which the developers never gave a crap for except to get cool sounding names an an excuse for any real original mythology in the game.

At least FFVI was less pretentious, but I have realized a failing in the FFs in not trying to establish their own mythology and instead corrupting real-world ones to make their own games seem 'deep' when anyone with even the most basic background in literature or knowledge of their own traditions would know better.

And, no Psychonauts? Or Oddworld Abe's Odyssey at least? Ugh. List fails alone with just having God of War up there as well (good presentation, OF DIRECT RIPS FROM REAL GRECIAN MYTHOLOGY!)

Honestly, couldn't they get MORE illiterate people to do this fucking list?

Byakko

Coma

Likwit

Draconis

shagbark

KilgoreTrout__XL

While I don't know if Portal is one of the best stories, some of the best written stories in literature are short stories, and that is precisely what Portal has. I will say I agree with Torment being there.

StrikerGold

Still calling BS though.
I mean, Beyond Good & Evil (standard story of rebels against the government), Portal (no story, just a good sense of humor), God of War (just because Greek mythology is brilliant doesn't make derivative videogames good), GTA (come on now), FFVI (great character development but almost non-existent main plot, plus a rather two-dimensional villain)!?

NO.

Zolbrod

I understand it is mostly opinion based , but without FF7 and tactics on here they better consider re-rolling this list.

Rantimuso

How the hell could BROKEN SWORD (aka "Circle of Blood") not be on this list? I'd put it at NUMBER ONE with no competition even close.

Strange Bedfellows

You have genres that pride themselves on storytelling (Adventure gaming and Interactive Fiction), others where the story is important and sometimes drives the game (xRPGs with the exception of MMORPGs, Platformers) and genres where the story matters little (Puzzle and FPS/TPS games)... that doesn't mean the games aren't fun, after all Pacman had no real story and it was fun as hell.

I see a lot of people mentioning RPG's as the games with the best stories, some of those games genuinely have great stories but I don't feel they qualify as best, yet you don't see mentions of games like Timequest, Zork, Bard's Tale, Wing Commander or SDI which had incredible stories.

It's subjective? Sure.

zoesch

So basically I agree with the list except for Portal and God of War, great games but not the best of stories. I think this list is missing Final Fantasy X and Metal Gear Solid 3. I'm also glad people remember the first Gabriel Knight.

Hackangel

I'm not going into much of what I think of the list since I obviously haven't played every game to know what's what. I will say I'm glad that they picked FFVI as it's my favourite and I'll agree that the story line tops any other FF game. I felt really disappointed going from that to FFVII because of what the FMV's did to the story and gameplay.

Tiger-Fever

Halo? Are you serious? Anyone who thinks Halo has a good story should take their own lifes.

Only thing I contest there is GTA, take it out for Portal or Half-Life. Maybe even Eternal Sonata or Psychonauts

Golem29

bondiinsider

Much better to do lists for a certain gen or platform rather than "all time". Portal? Please.

dunetiger reads kotaku, seems pleased

@Ciremu: Best comment of the article :)

Mac users -> Leopard + Boot Camp = Video Game Awesome

Video game plots are so interesting just because of the vast amount of work that must go into relating a "story" while still trying to make the game fun. I loved Silent Hill 2's plot, for example, one of the best ever just in terms of symbolism and whatnot, but the gameplay annoyed me and put me to sleep. Regardless, I still remember that game quite fondly due to the superior story.

It's exceedingly difficult to "explore the human condition" in a medium that is fundamentally unsuited to doing so. Finding ANY game that manages to tell an interesting/worthwhile/well presented story in and of itself is worth a "misguided" list and wading through tons of comments.

Having said that I like that people are making their own suggestions, I'm going to be checking out a lot of these games that have been mentioned a lot :)

(One last note and I shut up, the list obviously isn't ordered. The whole "In no order" line kind of gives it away.)

happycodemonkey

MGS3 made me cry.

MGS2 made me QUESTION MY OWN EXISTENCE.

MGS4 made me cream my jeans, and it's not even out yet.

So yeah, MGS definitely deserves it's spot on the list.

YUYU

Pantsman

Anyhow, this list is far from complete. There's a ton of good stories out there.

Barts

+ Watch video

As for the story, Dark Earth had incredible tale to tell. I liked Legacy, too. I would add Silent Hill 1 on the list (essentially anything with multiple endings has an immediate bonus from me).

I also liked the depth of Morrowind story, the convoluted fates of heroes of single player campaign of Starcraft, the alienation (tee hee) of Another World...

And what about Call of Cthulhu? What about Lands of Lore? What about

Barts

Is it better than Starcraft's or Homeworld's? No.

WiNG

No Baldur's Gate Series

No Killer 7

No NWN series

No Elder Scrolls Series

And he is missing the best shareware game ever, Escape Velocity: Nova.

A game with 9 different storylines involving the nine different races/organizations. All of these storylines are presented entirely in text when landing on planets, and are accompanied with huge interstellar battles.

And once your done, you can just do whatever the hell you want in a massive universe.

spoonytrain

NPlace

Just, wth is We Love Katamary not in the list?

LaughingCrow

ntrpe

Where's Master Blaster? :)

iskew

deathscent

overall, I think my only real issue with this list is that God of War is on there. "oh, hay guyz, we can pick-n-mix myths and call it a story!!" I was very underwhelmed with the story to the game, and don't think it is worthy of the list. I should locate a copy of Astro Boy, because that's a serious WTF moment right there, that I need to see what is going on.

fillerbunny9

Yatterman

Johnofthedead

Metal Gear Solid (Agreed, I liked the story a lot)
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Fuck no! Even Final Fantasy XII was better)
Bioshock (No! No no no no. Good game? Yes! Good Story? No! The game's story itself is is horribly overrated and pretty generic, in my humble opinion at least)
God of War (Haven't played the first one, but the second one was pretty lame storywise. Spamming greek mythology != great story. One of the most overrated games ever... and I don't mean the story, because it didn't do a bad job in what a story in most action games does, actually)
Final Fantasy VI (Agreed, for once. Even though it isn't my favorite VG-Story of all time. But it'd be in my top 10.)
Silent Hill 2 (I never finished the game, so I can't say much about it.)

I didn't play the rest. I don't blame that list to be wrong, just because it does not represent my opinion and whether you like a story or not is pretty much subjective.

InsaneGenius

I loved Portal but it didn't excel because of it's 'deep' narrative.. also, Astro Boy?!

Passa

jmsalal

jmsalal

MrWillz

Schoolimangooli the doogie mag goosie!

I think ICO had a great story, despite it being somewhat minimalist, because it was tied so well into the gameplay. Psychonauts could have been included. I think Call of Juarez is a good game with a great story, and is pretty underrated for both. I also think that Oblivion had a great story, and some side quests that were perhaps even better than the main storyline. In my opinion, I think the Halo series has a great storyline and could be included. Not including anything from Half Life is prety egregious, though, as Half Life 2 in particular had a great story.

But I wholeheartedly agree with Kotor, Bioshock, Beyond Good & Evil, Grim Fandango, MGS, and Portal, as those are the games on the list that I've played.

Strangelove

MrWillz

Everyone has some sort of identity crisis. Seriously! Hehe, not to say it sucks.

But yeah.. No Xenogears!? GASP. It's hard to make a list for this anyway.

MetaKz

In fact, a lot of games I would have listed for story are NOT on this list...hunh.

Ajh

placebofud

MrToblerone

I am happy to see both Silent Hill 2 and KotOR on there though. Of course there are some I disagree with, but at the end of the day it's the writers opinion and he's entitled to it.

KrisNaga

Narsil

But yeah, Grey Fox will forever be the true cyborg ninja for me. I just didnt hate Raiden as much as others did.

@Fireblast: I played MGS for the first time as a 14 year old. I was truly amazed that a game could actually engross me so completely. The twists... the storytelling... the cinematic treatment... the WTF moments... The whole battle with Psycho Mantis (I thought I was going insane for a bit. How could he know so much!). Truly an amazing game... Since then, I'e expected MOAR from games.

@justhesh: In my Niko Bellic voice... "Well, since you put it that way..."

iamcool388

Although we should be used to such poorly chosen lists, and dismiss them as the result of a writer's lack of ideas combined with looming deadlines, we still find ourselves filled with unholy fury and indignation over them...which is half the fun of it really, isn't it?

Dr.Tran

A General leads his troops into a losing battle against barbarians. The moment before his death, he strikes a deal with the god of war, to spare his life in exchange for his servitude. From then on, the General and his army become a tool of destruction, laying waste to anything and everything in their path. But such power comes at a price, and the gods are a tricky bunch.

The man and his army ransack a village, and choosing to ignore the warnings of an oracle, he cuts down the innocent civilians hiding in the temple. Only after the smoke clears and the screams have ceased does he realize that he has murdered his own wife and child. The oracle curses the man for his actions, forcing him to live out his days painted in the ashes of his fallen family. Stricken with grief and anger, he denounces the name of the god that once saved his life.

But the gods are not done with him yet. The king of the deities, along with his daughter, seek to put an end to the reckless ways of his son, the General's past savior. In an act of solace and revenge, the once faithful General pledges to destroy the very god that gave him power, in hopes of one day being reunited with his departed family. The journey leads the man to Athens, where the god of war is assaulting his sister's city. There, the General learns from the city oracle that the key to defeating a god lies in the power of Pandora's Box.

Now, he sets off in search of this ancient weapon, which lies hidden deep within a temple that rests on the back of a titan. As he soon finds out, procuring the box will be no easy task. The temple is a maze of traps and puzzles, constructed for the soul purpose of keeping the box in and keeping foolhardy heroes out. But the trials of the temple prove to be no match for the man with the backing of the gods, and he proceeds to win his dangerous treasure.

Meanwhile, in Athens, the god of war discovers the plans. Not wishing to allow the General to gain access to the box, he casts a pillar through the air, striking the man through the chest. In his dying moments, the General laments his failure, as his treacherous former lord steals from him the hard earned Pandora's Box.

As he falls into the underworld, his will becomes too strong even for death. Securing a foothold, he climbs his way back to the world of the living, and arrives again in the city of Athens. Upon confronting the god, the man is forced to face his inner demons. However, this serves only to strengthen his reserve. Recapturing the box from the clutches of his sworn enemy, the General unleashes its power. With his new found strength, the warrior succeeds in defeating the wicked deity.

Returning to the god-king and his daughter, the man seeks to claim his reward: the lives of the wife and child he had slain in a state of madness so many years ago. However, he learns that they will not grant his request, for the guilt of his dastardly actions must remain, and he is rebuked. Hopeless and abandoned, the man ascends to the highest point in Greece. Unable to live with himself any longer, the dejected General casts himself from the bluffs and into the sea.

But even now, the gods refuse to let him rest. Pulling him from the sea, and once more from the jaws of death, they present to him their final plan. For his loyal service, he is finally given his reward: a seat on Mt. Olympus, as the new God of War.

How is that NOT one of the best game stories of all time?

justhesh

Spiraltribesman

tehFluffz

kiigan

cbg2113

cbg2113

originalteadrinker

Ciremu

San Andreas and Portal should not even be on the list.

As much as I like Fallout 2, there really isn't much of a story to speak of.
God of War had a much better story than I expected, but one of the _best_?

meh I can't go on with this anyway. Deus Ex is not on that list even.

zlimness

pylon_trooper

McBonk

I have to clap my hands to you Sir/Madam.

DHSlash

Krumm

dicklaurentisdead

However, I think people need to consider what there is to a good story. All the games on the list that seems questionable obviously were put there for a reason. I saw one commenter say that Portal had a good script, but not a good story. Well, the script is very much part of the story :) But most noticable is how everyone seem to have their own favorite game when it comes to stories. Honestly, I think many games posted above by commenters are listed more because the games are good, than the story being good.

If someone asks you which games has the best story, your mind searches your library of played games, finds quite a few with good story, and then starts filtering out games that had good story but not so good gameplay, graphics, et.c. In the end, when deciding your favorite game, story-wise, you end up choosing your favorite game that had a good story.

The GamesRadar folks probably realized this, and focused only on the concept of a good story. Simply being excited by the script means it's a good telling of a tale (good story), having multiple ways and different endings makes for great believability (good story) and then there are simply entertaining stories. Epic, deep, funny, whichever it is, the ones that entertains the most ends up being the greatest stories.

So simply ask yourself: "What's a good story to me?" :)

Ciremu

desterion

Oh man! I'd forgotten all about Normality! When I got my first PC, (A Pentium 166 :P), I had to write to Gremlin to ask for a walkthrough... I was only 10!

I loved that game so much, I want a sequel too!

Northernsky

I'm making it sound too much like a lame point and click adventure game. While there ARE some of those elements, the main gameplay mechanic is just you questioning the people around the hotel with branching dialogue trees--sort of like KotR, but if you get too silly or forceful with your questioning you have to start over.

Basically you play the game for the same reason you'd play a JRPG: the cool atmosphere, characters, and deep storyline--not so much the gameplay.

pico77

carbonelli

carbonelli

Juststreet

Eon.

Had they left out my favourite immortal amnesiac, I would have burnt down the internet in rage.

mcderek3000

Comments 'rnt Us (usually)

Mav

This is more like 'Best 15 games we've played which had some dialogue or scene we kinda enjoyed'. Understandably lacking considering it's coming from a gaming site and not a writing one.

I'm not even sure there are 15 games that have even attempted a serious original story. If there are any then the list would include - The Shadow of the Colossus, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Another World (Out of this World) and maybe Chronotigger and Ico.

floppylobster

shadow_judge

bibalasvegas

Panzer Dragoon Saga

Final Fantasy VII - yeah there are flaws and a lot of it has now become clichéd, but at the time I was absolutely wowed by it. Although if you would put the other FFVII games/movie into the equation it wouldn't make the list.

Legacy of Kain series - especially Soul Reaver onwards - the storyline for the series was absolutely fantastic, Raziel was a brilliant focal point and completely transformed it. And still one of the best examples of voice acting in a game IMO.

Half-Life should be in there too.

There's always a million things we'd change about these lists though!

Alyn

Ra is on That 70s Show

Earthbound...again, i guess im defining story as something different. Killer 7 you might be right about, i couldnt get far, heh.

TheIrishNinja

I truly agree for its' number 1 place.

You should remember that it was the first MGS-game, so you can't compare it to MGS3.

MGS was/is rough diamond and ground breaking game.

MGS had many "oh snap!" moments. For example Psycho Mantis's mind reading and "how to find Meryl's number?"

Kojima is genious.

Al87

ffmusicdj

Shame on most of you... shame...

Chriky

dozogovi

Fireblast

DaiMacculate

BryanH

DaiMacculate

Portal, while awesome, I don't know if its top 15 material.

Bioshock... uh, no offense, but I know there are better stories out there.

Jawajoey

Fieldy

oldboy313

Vodun

surft

and i agree about full throttle .. played it so many times that last time i went through the game in 4 or 5 hours

yazan

I think my list would have to include:
-either God of War 1 or 2
-Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
-Bioshock
-Metal Gear Solid
-Chrono Trigger

I wish I could include Half-Life. The way the story is told is excellent. It's the story itself that is pretty standard. I mean no disrespect towards HL; I even used it in an in-class presentation as an example of excellent storytelling.

Cathaoir

But all in all I was actually quite dissapointed with Bioshock's story, it was good up till the major plot twist, but after that it just got old. I prefer storytelling in cutscenes than just in audio diaries. But the story was still better than most games on that list.

ternim

kurokotetsu

Icharius

I'm surprised not even one of these games made it either: Resident Evil, Chrno Trigger, Xenogears, Breath of Fire 2, ICO, Ocarina of Time, Half Life 2, Breath of Fire 3, or Suikoden (any of the first 3 games).

LostSamurai

MGS2 had possibly the most ambitious themes ever used in a game. You could easily write a graduate college thesis on it.

iamcool388

GusherKid

Dipperdan

Tiramisu.nz

Gam3r

And Day of the tentacle should be in there too...

Prodigy_BE

*looks around for a few seconds, and makes a run for it*

Chanaluss

jmsalal

mjpps3

MuppetChrist

Although they get 100 internets for including Beyond Good and Evil. Now if only we could get another Legacy of Kain game (pleasepleaseplease!).

I guess I'll have to be content with sobbing silently over the (possible) last thing they will ever show us of the story...

Damned paradoxes... How I abhor thee!

Raziel

I remember
From Full Throttle: The crash at the beginning of the game. And not realizing until my 10th or so playthrough that it wasn't a weird mountain on screen, but his knee.
Driving the RC car through the turnstyle to distract the concession stand guy.
Landing on the other car in the destruction derby.
Spending hours upon hours trying to kick that stone wall in the right place to open the secret door.
The bike fights with cavefish on the highway.

From Normality:
The humor
Making a coffee using paint as cream
Jerry-rigging a fire extinguisher to spraypaint a statue.
A guy named Saul who lived inside a cylinder silo or something.

Bluecell

13xforever

Killer 7
Chrono Trigger
Metal Gear Solid 2
Earthbound
Phantasy Star II

flubbity

Samos42

um good story? even gay ff8 story was better

djricekcn

Trancer

kodec

Hatchetforce

As for games not on that list, i would like to throw in 'The Pandora Directive' as one of the best game stories in my opinion. Also, i would replace GK1 with GK3. GK1 was the better game, GK3 had a killer story.

Atomicvege

Lazlo

Fyren

Chrono Trigger...I mean Come on!

Its like the person that mad this got into gaming when the Xbox came out, and play a few older ones...MAYBE.

GameRader Failed!

Beyene

Somebody's parents didn't lock up the liquor cabinet before going out to dinner.

justhesh

But seriously, Portal? It was an extremely fun game with witty dialog, but it's no Half-Life. I still think, like others have previously stated, that Halo and Mass Effect should be up there, along with Chrono Trigger. Still, I must say that I agree with a few of these, including Metal Gear Solid, Grim Fandango, Bioshock, God of War, and KOTOR.

NinjaBurg3r

Jobbo_Fett

I just can't believe that Mrs. Pac-Man wasn't on there...

Boy meets Girl...
Boy chases Girl...
Boy kisses Girl and ghosts run into each other...

Timeless.

Eltigro

MoaM

optimusprime

Xeros606

Xeros606

ceokhan

Xenosaga... I wish I coulda seen the full 6-part series. The sci-fi was great, and very detailed. But it got so compressed that a lot of the storytelling just got spouted out without proper explanation. And, MOMO and Jr. just annoy the hell out of me. I'm