Best Story Based Video Games?!

I'm not saying they don't nor am I saying it's bad. But 15 hours is a HELL of a lot of time considering I was PLAYing for maybe 3 of those hours, the rest being dialogue, and if you can't establish a narrative pace in 12 hours you've missed an opportunity. The writing is pretty good for a JRPG but still plays it's character beats as mechanically as a clock, putting the cast together with all the grace of a block puzzle.

That's not to say the writing doesn't work, it does work. I have a very low tolerance for the genre (only having tried this one after hearing such stratospherically good things) and this one is certainly better than most. But (while recognizing we all really do have our own taste) my opinion is that it's quality has been massively overstated.

"It gets good after 20 hours" is not a defense I feel holds a lot of merit. But hey, that's why there is variety in the world, people got different opinions.

MGS3, Shadow of the Colossus and Earthbound are my favourites.

My list in no particular order:

Witcher series

Bioshock series (first one in particular)

LA Noire

Bastion

Dragon Age: Origins

Neverwinter Nights series

Mafia series

The witcher series

Mass effect (especially the first one)

Walking dead and the wolf among us

Bastion

Destiny.

I wouldn't say it gets good after 20 hours, I'd say it gets good after 2 hours and that's what most people say because that's when the actual gameplay opens up and begins. I also really don't know how you could have only been playing for 3 out of those 15 hours.

I understand sifting through text may not be some people's cup of tea but there's certainly a truck load of gameplay to balance it out. I'll just accept this isn't your kind of game and leave it at that.

Purely for the story? I'd go for Bioshock Infinite... imperfections and all; it's the sort of story I would want to write.

The Walking Dead is a great emotional, story-driven experience.

Final Fantasy 8 and 10 were great when I was a kid, but haven't held up very well.

Brothers: A tale of two sons - I had zero problems with the controls and thoroughly enjoyed this, but some people say I'm some sort of odd-brained freak.

I feel like the only solid chunk of gameplay was rescuing what's-her-name. The fourth of the group, the reserved lady who works at/runs the hotel. Everything leading up to that was cutscene or really easy/felt like basic tutorial fights.

Also: thank you for being more civil than me.

There's a whole hanging out/dating sim aspect to the game I don't think you've fully touched yet. There's a TON to do outside of dungeon crawling. Do you eat a beef bowl to improve your social stats? Do you level up a social link? Do you grind in the dungeon? Do you attend one of your school clubs? You definitely play the game more than you press X through dialogue.

Brothers is incredible, I have never seen anyone say much of anything otherwise, so I don't see what you mean here. Brothers is beautiful because there's story and emotion literally told through the gameplay and controls right down to the button inputs.

@frostyryan: nearly everyone is positive about the emotional storytelling in Brothers, but some people had a very frustrating time with the controls. That's what I'm referring to, as it somehow took me zero effort due to odd-brainness.

I do most of that yea, spending my days when not fighting. I just don't see that as gameplay, it's essentially a menu option with a small vignette/scene to accompany your choice. I'm not going super-hardcore on it, min-maxing/planning out my stats or anything like that, that just ain't my thing.

Gggrrrrrrrrr

I'll just say fair enough and leave it at that :p

Fallout New Vegas was the big one for me last generation, it had a ton of great moments that you could experience by just messing around and find surprising outcomes as a result. I remember killing Caesar on my own and thinking I was going to break it by doing it in a early and contrived fashion and being genuinely shocked when the game had a response for it. It really bums me out to think the next Fallout game won't have Obsidian behind it, I don't mind Bethesda but it feels like their style doesn't grab me in the same way.

@frostyryan: ....so we can't argue anymore? We're agreeing to disagree?

*twiddles thumbs*

...So. HOW about that local sports team?..

Mass effect serious, Deusx , bioshock infinint, Theif 1-2 the writing was so fucking good and hilarious dark humor.

Okami

The funny thing is I've never cared about sports in my life, so we'd end up agreeing to disagree again.

Best?? I think the Final Fantasy series tops the list.