TwoLines

Don't know if anyone mentioned it, but Watergate is one of the best 2 player games out there, worth a look.

Cannot press play on YouTube hosted videos, but when I open in incognito, I can. Weird.

It's Planescape Torment, SOMA and Silent Hill 2. Those are the big three.

Planescape- it's incredibly text heavy, but man oh man, it's clear that Chris Avellone was going all out. The dialogue is memorable and elegant, the characters are fleshed out and colorful, and the world is incredibly well realized, unique, and just so darn interesting. It never veers into absurdity, which is quite a feat, considering the sheer amount of ideas on display here. It doesn't turn into a hodgepodge of half-finished concepts and ideas (cough, Numenera, cough). Every story they tell has an emotional core, is well-honed and carefully crafted. The text is never overly drawn out, or at least it doesn't feel overly drawn out. It strikes a good balance between weird and familiar. There are a bunch of one-off stories that sometimes give off a "philosophy 101" kinda vibe, but that's usually by design, as most that seem anecdotal and amateurish are presented as anecdotes told by... well, amateurs. The game's not really ever interested in utilizing the interactive aspect of the medium, except for some choices to be made here and there, but It's an older game, so that's fine.

SOMA- some of the voice acting is a little iffy. And the middle part of the game drags a bit. But it doesn't treat the player like a complete doofus. It's a really smart story, told and presented in a smart way. It frequently provided answers to some questions before I could come up with plausible theories, and does so without fanfare (which, in an era where everything has to have a twist, felt like a breath of fresh air). It's less about shock, and surprise, and more about building a realistic-feeling world around you. It builds that foundation in order to play around with more abstract ideas down the line. It's also very creepy, in an existential sense, and has an amazing ending. Oh, and the characters are well written, and the dialogue is snappy.

Silent Hill 2- honestly, I have not played through all of it, I just read about it a bunch. It seems very dream-like and fascinating. One of these days, I will play through it. If they ever port it to anything. Come on Konami.

Now, which games TELL the best stories, that's a whole different thing. Games like Bloodborne, NieR and Undertale do some really cool stuff with narrative and gameplay, but don't have an exceptionally riveting plot.

Stockholm syndrome.

Been here from the beginning. Been supporting them for as long as they had premium content and I have seen 99% of videos on site. I ain't never gonna leave.

Favorite moment: Gonna go with P4 ER. It was my first let's play type series, and I was super excited when they fought Yukiko's shadow. It wasn't even live, but I was glued to the freaking screen. That was... almost 10 years ago? Holy crap.

Well, I played the game years ago, so take this with a grain of salt, but I do remember enjoying the combat during/after Gran Pulse. It never felt too overwhelming, had a good pace, and just felt snappy. And as hectic as it was sometimes, I almost always felt in control (yeah, "almost" sounds bad in this context, but there were some fights that felt cheap) and knew what I was doing. I will agree that there was a bunch of times where it was just looking at meters fill up, but I don't mind that in games. It was entertaining.

I wouldn't say it felt like a chore, and it wasn't too overbearing, but I see what you're getting at. Too much maintenance.

The retry function was a very smart inclusion, but the fact that the game's over when your main character falls is a bummer, I will definitely agree there.

I thought that the 2 character battles were a nice tutorial thing (that lasted too long, holy crap) but I found the 3 player battles to be far more interesting. I don't remember much more, but that note about how the game throws stuff at you that you can't control sounds very familiar. Very late game/post game stuff was kind of a mess.

First game I played was River Raid, not really a thing that you can beat. I was 5 at the time I think? But the first game I think I finished might have been the original Prince of Persia? I think?

Anyway, I played games when I was a small kid, since my older brother played games.

If we're counting tactical RPGs, then Tactics Ogre on the PSP is my choice. Not only is the story interesting and full of intrigue, but also the PSP translation is absolutely magnificent. The writing in that version is fantastic.

@nutter: Whew. I came in to say Doom, glad someone else did. I mean, come on. It's so simple and fun, it's timeless.

Same exact problem here. Windows 10, latest Chrome.