Best Original Story in a Game

[Drewbacca]

They were both equally as funny.

[Thief Silver]

Final Fantasy Tactics (NOt Advanced)

[Compass]

I dunno why. But I'm really curious as to what you're talking about.

Shadow of Destiny(/Memories on PC and Xbox -- Xbox release was EU and JP only) is a brilliant adventure game in which you're perpetually travelling through time to prevent your own death. Every time you "fix" something in another time period to prevent a particular death you ensure a new death, which then in turn must be prevented.

With each chapter, a fascinating story slowly unfolds, eventually climaxing in an extremely satisfying twist that ties everything together *if* you fulfill the requirements to get the "D" ending (endings are ranked and I'm not sure why "A" isn't the best but it isn't). The requirement for the "D" ending is something simple like answering a certain question correctly; I used gamefaqs for this since I knew there were multiple endings and wanted the best one the first time through.

A truly unique game that plays and feels different than any other adventure I've played. For the guy who said it was shallow, maybe you didn't give it long enough? I started it a couple times and got a few chapters in and hated it. I'm extremely glad I went back a third time because that's when it clicked and now it's one of my favorite gaming memories.

And indeed, Planescape:Torment also had a great story with memorable characters but it was the flawless, exposition-filled writing that made that game.

[Tojo]

Shadows of Destiny/Memories has a DAMN good story as long as you can get past a couple things.

1. There are loopholes.
2. As a video game, it's terrible.

It has multiple endings as well.

[Anarkex]

Wild ARMs. definitely. it had cowboys, and aliens, and magic, and robots, and demons, and alternate dimensions, and talking animals, and dream sequences and it was the best story ever.

and i'm waiting for someone to post Kingdom Hearts so i finally get to insult someone on here.

[Compass]

All the SoD/M threads are locked or I'd bump 'em. Here's a mini-wallpaper instead (posted by aegissol on the SoD gamefaqs board):

[Giga Power]

Shadow of Destiny(/Memories on PC and Xbox -- Xbox release was EU and JP only) is a brilliant adventure game in which you're perpetually travelling through time to prevent your own death. Every time you "fix" something in another time period to prevent a particular death you ensure a new death, which then in turn must be prevented.

With each chapter, a fascinating story slowly unfolds, eventually climaxing in an extremely satisfying twist that ties everything together *if* you fulfill the requirements to get the "D" ending (endings are ranked and I'm not sure why "A" isn't the best but it isn't). The requirement for the "D" ending is something simple like answering a certain question correctly; I used gamefaqs for this since I knew there were multiple endings and wanted the best one the first time through.

A truly unique game that plays and feels different than any other adventure I've played. For the guy who said it was shallow, maybe you didn't give it long enough? I started it a couple times and got a few chapters in and hated it. I'm extremely glad I went back a third time because that's when it clicked and now it's one of my favorite gaming memories.

And indeed, Planescape:Torment also had a great story with memorable characters but it was the flawless, exposition-filled writing that made that game.

Whoa. That sounds really interesting.

[dakidski]

I used gamefaqs for this since I knew there were multiple endings and wanted the best one the first time through.

How good a story can a game have if you use gamefaqs to walkthrough it? The best games, imo, are the ones where the story drives and engages you to the point where you complete the game without faqs. You just NEED to find out for yourself.

I will check the game out again though, and see if i missed something...

[arjue]

To be honest, I don't think I've played a game where the story has really impressed me. I mean, sure, some are good for games, but compared to any other medium its sub-par. MGS always gets praise for its story, when really its like a long steven segal movie. Planescape looked promising, but unfortunately I didn't get to play through much of it at all.

Tetris.

They fall.

They keep falling.

It's like the neverending story, except without the false advertising.

Its a perfect metaphor for life. Shit keeps building up and falling down on you, but you gotta accept it and get it all organised to succeed....

[AaronChance]

Phantom Dust.