My boyfriend told me the ending of Bioshock Infinite and I sobbed.

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Taaj

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For those of you unaware I am not really a gamer, but very interested in the gaming community and the kinds of stories that can be told through the medium. I love watching people playing (most) games, and my boyfriend has forced had me play several of his games for kicks and giggles (I'm horrible at it), including League of Legends, Bioshock, Skyrim, and some others I can't remember.

Anyway I got sucked into Bioshock, watching him play a portion of it- specifically the beginning- and earlier last week we went on a dinner date where he explained the rest of the game's plot and the ending, and I was flabbergasted.

Anybody know similar games, other plot-driven games, etc? I think it'd be interesting to map out ideas for if I wanted to start gaming myself, or try my hand at writing a plot for my own.
 
The ending was truly... wow... wasn't it?


I suggest the Mass Effect series, or Transistor if you want plot based games.
 
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Bioshock Infinite is so incredible. So incredible (plot-wise, anyways).

The first Bioshock has an equally mind-shaking plot.

The entire Metal Gear Solid series is mind-blowing as well, and while it can get hokey or even a bit silly, the themes reverberate and can really dig deep into your soul. Particular scenes still stand out to me, and I remember being younger and on the verge of tears (especially in MGS3). The soundtrack is also mind-numbing. Check this out:



An older game, but still easily available to play, is Final Fantasy 6. Without spoiling too much, the adventure to save the world isn't... uh... quite successful.

Mass Effect is also an amazing trilogy with an engrossing sci-fi story. Despite any criticisms you might have heard of the 3rd game, it is still a narrative masterpiece in gaming and deserves all the praise in the world.​
 
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Seiji said:
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An older game, but still easily available to play, is Final Fantasy 6. Without spoiling too much, the adventure to save the world isn't... uh... quite successful.
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I totally remember watching a friend of mine play this waaay back in middle school/high school. Cool shit.
 
If you're not used to playing games yet but want to get into them for the story then games such as Telltales Walking Dead and Wolf Among Us (Or there current episodic releases Borderlands and Game of Thrones) are good starters.

All are pretty rich with story and dialogue, and plays a lot more as an interactive movie than a game. So there's little gameplay/mechanics to worry about learning or adapting to.

I can also vouch for Mass Effect though. It's narrative is very rich as well, and being a set of 3 12 hour long games (30 hours if you do all the side quests) it has far more time to flesh out the world and characters around you. But the first ones gameplay is clunky, and the future two play a lot more like most games.

So if games current mechanics/gameplay overwhelms you it might not be the best place to start. You can, it is doable. But I would honestly suggest easing in through a telltale game first.
 
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I didn't find the ending of Infinite to be all that spectacular, although I did still enjoy it.
And I generally had more fun playing Bioshock 2, which'll probably get me shanked for saying.

Funny, that.

Transistor was mentioned above and I can definitely vouch for that. The aesthetics, music, and world are absolutely stunning. Bastion, a game made by the same company actually, is equally fantastic for exactly the same reasons. The Persona series might work for you too as it focuses more on character interaction and plot that combat, but be prepared for the long-haul since the games take an eternity to finish and, like a lot of JRPGs, can be something of an acquired taste. Alternatively, try The Stanley Parable. I'm not sure if it could be considered plot focused, but it pokes fun at player choice in video games with as much snark as possible.

Gwazi Magnum said:
If you're not used to playing games yet but want to get into them for the story then games such as Telltales Walking Dead and Wolf Among Us (Or there current episodic releases Borderlands and Game of Thrones) are good starters.

All are pretty rich with story and dialogue, and plays a lot more as an interactive movie than a game. So there's little gameplay/mechanics to worry about learning or adapting to.
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I knew I was forgetting something.

Telltale have also released games based on Borderlands and Game of Thrones along the same lines, if either of those interest you.
 
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Gwazi Magnum said:
If you're not used to playing games yet but want to get into them for the story then games such as Telltales Walking Dead and Wolf Among Us (Or there current episodic releases Borderlands and Game of Thrones) are good starters.

All are pretty rich with story and dialogue, and plays a lot more as an interactive movie than a game. So there's little gameplay/mechanics to worry about learning or adapting to.
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Problem with the Walking Dead games is that they barely give you much of a "choice". No matter what you choose you're always railroaded into the one that plot demands. lol
 
Mr Allen J said:
Problem with the Walking Dead games is that they barely give you much of a "choice". No matter what you choose you're always railroaded into the one that plot demands. lol
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Even Mass Effect is guilty of that.
But they're still the games with the richest narrative I've ever seen.
 
Dragon Age: Origins is fantastic. It's a more traditional C-RPG, very tactical and a little difficult (but there's a difficulty modifier for that, so you're not in too much trouble). Fantastic story, amazing characters, and it's very adult-oriented with more mature themes and choices to make a decent enough impact on the story (particularly a very nice epilogue).
 
DA does require some dungeon crawling logic though. Tanks, healers, rogues for locked doors.

At least until you buy enough expensive artifacts to spam your main guy with and crush everything.
 
Season One of Telltale's The Walking Dead will break you emotionally.

I don't do feelings, and I still felt all of them at the end of it.
 
Grumpy said:
Season One of Telltale's The Walking Dead will break you emotionally.

I don't do feelings, and I still felt all of them at the end of it.
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Fuck ;_;

Thanks for reminding me.
 

This came to mind.

Stories told in a medium of the modern age, moving beyond that of novels, cinema and music. Heartfelt ideals placed into an experience I wish my forefathers and mothers beforehand could experience. Ideas of beauty plagued by the cancer which resides to deep within the hearts of too many men. Bioshock:Infinite embraced these ideals while rapidly showing how a mans subjective experience in forcing ones way through such a world can twist and contort the heart into something so unrecognizable, one fights themselves. In Infinite, this is brought to a literal point when Booker kills Comstock.

There are more games these days which express this point to such a heavy extent and yet the idea is lost on too many. Shepard for example, in spite of renegade or paragon, he is a man who sacrifices all but his life until the very end; even then through all the madness of the universe his life to was given as a final act of redemption for billions upon billions of souls wishing to find peace in a quagmire of tyranny and madness. The same potentially could be said in DA:Origin's, but of course the choice to escape such a fate is given, but is the wanting for a single life truly a worthy trade for the potential lives of so many others?

I cannot deny it. Through the medium of some games I have experienced the hearts of the most cruel and the truly loving. I have walked the streets of plagued peoples, but a plague of the soul. I have soared through space to see the kindness of others, but first I had to trek through the muck of evil. I have see even the most mad of men still prove they wish not to suffer, but they know nothing but suffering. I have seen the sides of valiant hearts in but a stroke desecrate all that they stood for, for something as puny as glory.

Bah, I ramble.
 
Thanks for the suggestions, muchachos. Next step would be to get a computer/system that can deal with gaming, which will be easier now that I'm out of school, living on my own, working, etc.
 
I think Telltale's games are available on tablet, if you've got one handy.
 
Mr Allen J said:
The ending was truly... wow... wasn't it?


I suggest the Mass Effect series, or Transistor if you want plot based games.
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Oh god, Mass Effect was one of the greatest RPGs from me (next to Dragon Age).
Gwazi Magnum said:
DA does require some dungeon crawling logic though. Tanks, healers, rogues for locked doors.

At least until you buy enough expensive artifacts to spam your main guy with and crush everything.
Click to expand...
Seiji said:
Dragon Age: Origins is fantastic. It's a more traditional C-RPG, very tactical and a little difficult (but there's a difficulty modifier for that, so you're not in too much trouble). Fantastic story, amazing characters, and it's very adult-oriented with more mature themes and choices to make a decent enough impact on the story (particularly a very nice epilogue).
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Dragon Age: Origins is also a good RPG that has some good choices that will affect the game, just like Dragon Age: Inquisition. I also say, get Dragon Age 2 (even know people trash talk it). It goes into detail about the mages and how much effect your character(s) will have on the world. Templars are the controllers of magic and mages bitch about how they are abuse, even know they cause problems in 2 and Origins. The problem with 2 is the fact that the mages are the 'good guys', while the Templars are the 'bad guys who take them away, bah bah'. I think that the Templar are the best thing to control mages, if we ever give them a bit of freedom, they will ruin it.

That's why I always side wit the Templars, even if my character is a mage.
 
The Last of Us. Haven't played it myself, but by all accounts the story and character arcs are extraordinary.

I'll also ditto Mass Effect, not only for the story followed within the game itself, but for the incredibly rich and vibrant wider universe hiding behind the game itself. You can spend literally hours reading about stuff completely unrelated to the main story arc.

Same goes for The Elder Scrolls (the series Skyrim belongs to) and Fallout, both by Bethesda. There are some great lore videos online that allow you to find out about the universe behind the games without having to play them, and make it significantly easier to get a broad view of the world as a whole considering doing it in-game requires hours of searching for books, quests, legends, etc.

For cyberpunk stuff I'd have a look at Deus Ex. Not really looked into the lore myself, but by all accounts there's a lot there.

And I'm gonna be butchered for this, but seriously: Halo. There are a tonne of books and stuff that expand on the comparative ambiguity of the games. For an FPS that can initially appear to be as shallow as Tetris, there's an absolute shit-tonne of back story. Next to Mass Effect this is my personal favourite for sci-fi lore amongst games.
 
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