"What's the best UBER 12340893423 damage weapon"
"What's the best UBER 23028750293 damage spell"
"Which game is hacked the most"
Interesting discussions, in their own way, I suppose, but I saw little discussion on what had always interested me MOST in games: the storyline. I'm actually not a huge graphics fan; I prefer the BG series to, say, the relatively unheard-of name of Spellforce (the Order of Dawn). Why? Sure, Spellforce has the superior graphics by far, but it's storyline is so ridiculously linear and boring that it made me regret my purchase a bare 20 minutes into the game. SAD. BG series I've played SEVERAL times over. I seriously think that storyline makes a bigger difference. Case in point: which do YOU think is a better game, FF7 or FF10? Who's cooler, Cloud or that whiney annoying Tidus?
So, here's to the great storylines of the past. I want to see what this community votes for the "best storyline". Here are games that DO NOT count:
The MYST series (and games patterned after it, like Crystal Key, etc.)
- rationale: this series is ALL storyline. It has to be, because there is NO fighting involved, so apart from puzzles the only other thing that the MYST series can offer is a rich storyline, and boy does it. Still, it would be unfair to compare this with other games because the people at Cyan could concentrate on storyline alone, whereas other games have other things to worry about, not least of which is balance and such things.
The SIM series
- rationale: duh. No storyline to speak of, or ALL storyline if you think of it in a certain way (you're making it as you're going along). Wouldn't make a great deal of sense.
I rather favor Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn. BGI was pretty good, but I was just impressed by BGII's depth. Although, I'm a bit torn between BGII and Planescape: Torment, because PS:T's characters really endear to me, even to the point of more than BGII (I especially liked Morte, Fall From Grace, and Annah). And the WAY they did it was awesome. Since this is storyline over gameplay, between those two I actually choose PS:T.
So what about the rest of you? What games do YOU think have the best storyline? BGII? PS:T? FF7? Doom?
By the way, I define "best" as: deepest, with support characters that I actually feel for (i.e. in tons of games when an NPC dies I'm like, ok whatever, I'll ressurect them maybe 2 hours later; but in PS:T, if like Morte or Annah died I'd want them back ASAP, just to see more of their character interaction). But, you might define best differently, although I'd appreciate if you'd tell us what that definition is. Heck, maybe under somebody's definition of best, Doom really WOULD have the best storyline! Maybe FROGGER!!!!!
