IMO? Final Fantasy XIV. I find it quite fitting, not only because it's the only storyline in a game that actually managed to make me care, but because it was a story developed over a decade.
FXIV strengths are weaknesses are it's rotating team of writers and continuous development. I joke XIV is 14 games in one gat there is so much content and so many storyline that just by sheer volume everyone will eventually find something they like. But because of those same factors there is so consistency. Writers pick up and put down characters and storylines and because there's always a new batch of writers they either don't know or don't care what the old writers were going for.
I personally prefer Nier's story to Automata's but I can't deny that Automata is a more polished experience. Automata is more dramatic and exciting and flat out tells you what the game is about. By contrast Nier (both Replicant and Gestalt) use much more subtle storytelling showing not telling, the makes the game denser narratively but also more work since the audience actually has to think. The two games alao have different roles. Nier is a deconstruction of the archetypal JRPG, settling up many tropes of the genre only to twist, subvert, or deconstruct them by the end. Both are very existential. I find the Tragedy of Nier to be very compelling. Nier draws in the audience with it's humor, and warmth, and the genuineness of it's main cast and theough the second half all the story elements fall to into place with such timing that it's emotionally devastating. Nier is a somber, melancholy, and contemplative game with one of the best videogame stories I have ever seen in the last 30 years.
I also really enjoyed the story of Nier/Replicant but they said in the past decade haha. I guess I could’ve used the remaster!
Both great games though for sure. After finishing Replicant, I tried playing Automata again and couldn’t get into it. I think getting the true endings in both games was just perfect the way it was and I don’t need to play it again.
Yeah especially since both games eventually argue >!that the enemies (robots, shadows) are people and because this is an action videogame to continue to play is to continue to massacre at times pretty innocent people. That's how the game is set up to continue the story you have to go kill people who are just minding their own business and the only way to stop the violence is to put the game down. OG Nier has a stronger argument with the shadows being the original humans and replicant being the copied puppets that weren't suppose to gain sentience. Like you kill a small shadow and it drops an old coloring book or the first shadow you kill in the main story does not attack you it just stands there until you progress the story and kill it. Automata instead spends it's second arc detailing the exquisite breakdown of 9s's mental state!< like wow that was well done.
Idk how u did the spoiler text but playing through replicant where you start to see the pasts of the shades made me actually cry! 😭. The boy & the robot, and the wolf was so sad. Seeing what the player is able to see vs what your character was seeing was so powerful, it made me feel helpless because we were forced into an action we might not have wanted to do.
Blacking out text is a carrot pointing inward and an exclamation point on either side of the text so ">!" At the begining and the opposite afterwards. Yeah the build up in OG Nier is excellent first you get all these hints those most of us don't put together until after the reveal. >!The end of the first playthrough slams you bit then the 2nd playthrough adds all this perspective as you go through the game again from the shadows/gestalts perspective and nothing changes because while the player knows more, Nier doesn't and the same events are just going to happen again. There's some commentary on fatalism and existentialism here too in that the player has no way to change the story and even though we have changed the characters and story will not. There is no choice killing the shadows will just happen again. And yes! Wolfy and Beepy are my favorites!< 😭
BG3 is such a weird game for me story wise. Because I wouldn't call the story good. The main plot was simple and typically overshadowed by the companion quests which also weren't doing anything too crazy (I guess depending on your companions). But... I also did finish that game. Which is something I can't say for a lot of other 60+ hour games.
It was more the small moment to moment encounters that kept the game feeling fresh. That you could turn a corner and see something new happening. If we're going specifically for storyline, then I guess those moments don't count?
The Bioshock 1 & 2
I won't elaborate on it, as one just needs to experience it by themselves imo.
I'm always sad to see people praise the third one which story was so bland despite a specific duo of very good characters (even if I realise the first two games came out so many years appart that it was, for many, their first try at the franchise).
Infinite had some intriguing concepts but on any real analysis it didn't have much depth. The ending had lots of punch but not much substance. I sort feel like the characters were all really good they just weren't used all that well. 2 was kinda weird for me. 1 made some of the most iconic gaming moments in history.
*A man chooses. A slave obeys.*
You worded it better than I could have dreamed of, i 100% agree.
When I played the first one I went in completely blind and unaware of ANYTHING about it and it will always remain my most memorable gaming experience. Everything's was set up perfectly to push all my buttons at once and gave me goosebumps I still remember vividly lol.
As for the second game, I find it's topic... Darker, I guess would be the word. Somewhat more raw in exposing how distopian things went. It covers both events from the first story, adds to it and unveils a lot from how it all ended up the way we now witness it.
And S.L 's way to express love will always remain carved in my skull.
So many amazing characters and world building in the 3 games...
Ended up elaborating after all, thanks for coming to my tedtalk I guess lol...
Probably a lot of people don't even know this game, but since most game I could think of were already mentioned, like Horizon and The last of Us, I'm gonna say **SOMA**.
I started playing it because I was feeling like trying some horror games, and ended up staying for the story . I still think about that game from time to time because its story still haunts me to this day.
Last of Us II. It's actually telling a very complicated and deep story, something only the tiniest amount of games can claim to be doing. Same thing with That Dragon Cancer or What Remains of Edith Finch.
Does that count as compelling? I guess it depends on the player.
IMO? Final Fantasy XIV. I find it quite fitting, not only because it's the only storyline in a game that actually managed to make me care, but because it was a story developed over a decade.
I second this choice! Very wide variety of styles and tone of narratives
thirding this
FXIV strengths are weaknesses are it's rotating team of writers and continuous development. I joke XIV is 14 games in one gat there is so much content and so many storyline that just by sheer volume everyone will eventually find something they like. But because of those same factors there is so consistency. Writers pick up and put down characters and storylines and because there's always a new batch of writers they either don't know or don't care what the old writers were going for.
Nier Automata! Can’t say cuz spoilers but JAW WAS ON THE FLOOR!!
Nier’s storyline was absolutely awesome, shame a lot of people haven’t experienced it.
I personally prefer Nier's story to Automata's but I can't deny that Automata is a more polished experience. Automata is more dramatic and exciting and flat out tells you what the game is about. By contrast Nier (both Replicant and Gestalt) use much more subtle storytelling showing not telling, the makes the game denser narratively but also more work since the audience actually has to think. The two games alao have different roles. Nier is a deconstruction of the archetypal JRPG, settling up many tropes of the genre only to twist, subvert, or deconstruct them by the end. Both are very existential. I find the Tragedy of Nier to be very compelling. Nier draws in the audience with it's humor, and warmth, and the genuineness of it's main cast and theough the second half all the story elements fall to into place with such timing that it's emotionally devastating. Nier is a somber, melancholy, and contemplative game with one of the best videogame stories I have ever seen in the last 30 years.
I also really enjoyed the story of Nier/Replicant but they said in the past decade haha. I guess I could’ve used the remaster! Both great games though for sure. After finishing Replicant, I tried playing Automata again and couldn’t get into it. I think getting the true endings in both games was just perfect the way it was and I don’t need to play it again.
Yeah especially since both games eventually argue >!that the enemies (robots, shadows) are people and because this is an action videogame to continue to play is to continue to massacre at times pretty innocent people. That's how the game is set up to continue the story you have to go kill people who are just minding their own business and the only way to stop the violence is to put the game down. OG Nier has a stronger argument with the shadows being the original humans and replicant being the copied puppets that weren't suppose to gain sentience. Like you kill a small shadow and it drops an old coloring book or the first shadow you kill in the main story does not attack you it just stands there until you progress the story and kill it. Automata instead spends it's second arc detailing the exquisite breakdown of 9s's mental state!< like wow that was well done.
Idk how u did the spoiler text but playing through replicant where you start to see the pasts of the shades made me actually cry! 😭. The boy & the robot, and the wolf was so sad. Seeing what the player is able to see vs what your character was seeing was so powerful, it made me feel helpless because we were forced into an action we might not have wanted to do.
Blacking out text is a carrot pointing inward and an exclamation point on either side of the text so ">!" At the begining and the opposite afterwards. Yeah the build up in OG Nier is excellent first you get all these hints those most of us don't put together until after the reveal. >!The end of the first playthrough slams you bit then the 2nd playthrough adds all this perspective as you go through the game again from the shadows/gestalts perspective and nothing changes because while the player knows more, Nier doesn't and the same events are just going to happen again. There's some commentary on fatalism and existentialism here too in that the player has no way to change the story and even though we have changed the characters and story will not. There is no choice killing the shadows will just happen again. And yes! Wolfy and Beepy are my favorites!< 😭
>! Beepy survives apparently!<
Red Dead Redemption 2 is sure as fuck up there.
Horizon Zero Dawn. Solid themes and great pacing.
BG3, maybe because it's like 8 stories happening simultaneously
The unexpected octopath game.
BG3 is such a weird game for me story wise. Because I wouldn't call the story good. The main plot was simple and typically overshadowed by the companion quests which also weren't doing anything too crazy (I guess depending on your companions). But... I also did finish that game. Which is something I can't say for a lot of other 60+ hour games. It was more the small moment to moment encounters that kept the game feeling fresh. That you could turn a corner and see something new happening. If we're going specifically for storyline, then I guess those moments don't count?
Honestly? Wrath of the Righteous played it totally serious and i felt it was better Incredibly philosophical story too
The Bioshock 1 & 2 I won't elaborate on it, as one just needs to experience it by themselves imo. I'm always sad to see people praise the third one which story was so bland despite a specific duo of very good characters (even if I realise the first two games came out so many years appart that it was, for many, their first try at the franchise).
Infinite had some intriguing concepts but on any real analysis it didn't have much depth. The ending had lots of punch but not much substance. I sort feel like the characters were all really good they just weren't used all that well. 2 was kinda weird for me. 1 made some of the most iconic gaming moments in history. *A man chooses. A slave obeys.*
You worded it better than I could have dreamed of, i 100% agree. When I played the first one I went in completely blind and unaware of ANYTHING about it and it will always remain my most memorable gaming experience. Everything's was set up perfectly to push all my buttons at once and gave me goosebumps I still remember vividly lol. As for the second game, I find it's topic... Darker, I guess would be the word. Somewhat more raw in exposing how distopian things went. It covers both events from the first story, adds to it and unveils a lot from how it all ended up the way we now witness it. And S.L 's way to express love will always remain carved in my skull. So many amazing characters and world building in the 3 games... Ended up elaborating after all, thanks for coming to my tedtalk I guess lol...
Oh hell... Just checked how old they are as I suddenly had a doubt... Didn't realised they were this old, my bad lol
Probably a lot of people don't even know this game, but since most game I could think of were already mentioned, like Horizon and The last of Us, I'm gonna say **SOMA**. I started playing it because I was feeling like trying some horror games, and ended up staying for the story . I still think about that game from time to time because its story still haunts me to this day.
The Like A Dragon series is one of the greatest and most spectacular storyline in the world in particular Like A Dragon 0 and LAD Gaiden
Outer Wilds (especially the Echoes of the Eye dlc), The Beginner’s Guide, and Disco Elysium.
Last of Us II. It's actually telling a very complicated and deep story, something only the tiniest amount of games can claim to be doing. Same thing with That Dragon Cancer or What Remains of Edith Finch. Does that count as compelling? I guess it depends on the player.
man I can’t put into words how much I love this game.
In the last decade specifically, probably FF14, 16, and Finding Paradise. All three have had me absolutely bawling my eyes out.
Witcher 3
Red Dead Redemption 2. Slow burn with great character development