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RPGs with good writing and narrative (i dont care about the global story)
- Thread starter Atlet
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buffalo bill
Arcane
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- Dec 8, 2016
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Caves of Qud
Maxie
Guest
Stop looking for writing in video games and read a book
You are a writing-fag or prose-fag, which is, in my opinion, a quite prestigious school of faggotry. But it might help if you gave us a better sense of what's included in "everything else." We can recommend games with great writing all day and it won't matter if you've already played them.
So what have you tried since you started your beginner RPGs thread back in November? http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/which-rpgs-are-the-best-for-beginners.119206/
Before Pillars of Eternity, I think there was a strong consensus that Obsidian made some of the best written RPGs around. I'd recommend any pre Pillars Obsidian game without reservation, with the caveat that you should probably skip over NWN2's original campaign and go right to the sublime Mask of the Betrayer expansion (and don't even think about Dungeon Siege 3). Knights of the old Republic 2, with the restored content patch, is another good example of why Chris Avellone of PS:T fame gets so much love for his writing. Presumably you've already played Fallout: New Vegas; the writing is top notch and the game is true to the originals in its tone, if not its gameplay. If you haven't played it and you're looking for something that's well-written, mature, and modern, install it immediately. I second Alpha Protocol, too.
This will be a more controversial Obsidian recommendation, but if you want an old school style game I very much enjoyed the writing in Tyranny; definitely superior to Pillars of Eternity in terms of its prose and it's certainly mature. That said, it's pretty polarizing here and combat can get kind of boring, so it's good that it will take up less than 10% of your playtime.
If you've already gone through the old Obsidian catalogue, The Witcher games all have good, mature writing. However, each of them manages to have flawed gameplay in its own unique way. Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines has great writing, great reactivity and perhaps the best voice acting in any game ever, but janky ARPG gameplay.
You're going to see people keep repeating these--hat tip to TheSentinel--for listing most of them already. You could pick any game from his list and go for it, although whether Deus Ex is a real RPG(tm) is open to debate.
So what have you tried since you started your beginner RPGs thread back in November? http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/which-rpgs-are-the-best-for-beginners.119206/
Before Pillars of Eternity, I think there was a strong consensus that Obsidian made some of the best written RPGs around. I'd recommend any pre Pillars Obsidian game without reservation, with the caveat that you should probably skip over NWN2's original campaign and go right to the sublime Mask of the Betrayer expansion (and don't even think about Dungeon Siege 3). Knights of the old Republic 2, with the restored content patch, is another good example of why Chris Avellone of PS:T fame gets so much love for his writing. Presumably you've already played Fallout: New Vegas; the writing is top notch and the game is true to the originals in its tone, if not its gameplay. If you haven't played it and you're looking for something that's well-written, mature, and modern, install it immediately. I second Alpha Protocol, too.
This will be a more controversial Obsidian recommendation, but if you want an old school style game I very much enjoyed the writing in Tyranny; definitely superior to Pillars of Eternity in terms of its prose and it's certainly mature. That said, it's pretty polarizing here and combat can get kind of boring, so it's good that it will take up less than 10% of your playtime.
If you've already gone through the old Obsidian catalogue, The Witcher games all have good, mature writing. However, each of them manages to have flawed gameplay in its own unique way. Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines has great writing, great reactivity and perhaps the best voice acting in any game ever, but janky ARPG gameplay.
You're going to see people keep repeating these--hat tip to TheSentinel--for listing most of them already. You could pick any game from his list and go for it, although whether Deus Ex is a real RPG(tm) is open to debate.
2house2fly
Magister
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2013
- Messages
- 1,877
I'd go for Witcher 2 over 3, it's more focused on the writing
As has been already said. Reading a book is suggested. Games are meant to be played not read.
FuryKey
Novice
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2015
- Messages
- 2
Assuming "everything else" means the rote recommendations of Planescape: Torment, Mask of the Betrayer, and so forth, then I'd say it depends on where you draw the line for what an RPG is and how much you're willing to diverge from said genre for the sake of engaging writing. In the interest of naming some titles you might not see mentioned much, if ever, in discussions of good video game writing (on this website), here are some of my thoughts.
In CONSORTIUM you are the protagonist in a literal sense. You, the person playing the game, hijack the mind of a character in the setting. It's primary gameplay mechanic would be first-person shooter, but it's more accurately described as a first-person conversation simulator. Nearly the entire game can be played without engaging in combat and simply talking. You can attempt to explain to the characters that you hijacked the person they see you as or keep it a secret and go along with accomplishing the mission given to you or ignore it. The game is rather quirky with some clear flaws, but the developers clearly made an effort to emphasize the actual playing of a role over anything else. There is a sequel in development named CONSORTIUM: The Tower. Here's the first conversation you have in the game.
Front Mission is a series of Tactical RPGs about a morally grey struggle between globalization and nationalism. The games are rife with political commentary and grounded, real world references since it takes place on earth in the future and not a completely fictional setting. There is an overarching plot that ties the five main entries together, but each of them can be played on their own and be understood - except the last one which goes out of its way to tie up loose ends from all previous games. The original Front Mission can be played with a translation patch (SNES) or its DS port while Front Mission 2 (PS1) and 5 (PS2) requires a translation patch as they were never localized. Front Mission 3 (PS1) and 4 (PS4) are available on their respective consoles in English. Here's the opening conversation from Front Mission on the SNES.
Pathologic is a game with elements of psychological horror and survival simulation about your character - there are three to choose from, one which must be unlocked if I remember correctly - attempting to save the people of an isolated location from a disease known as the Sand Plague. It takes place in real-time with events moving forward regardless of your success, failure, or inaction at missions; though, you will game over eventually. There is a focus on characters with a fair amount of philosophical musings. I definitely recommend the Classic HD version over the original. It cleans up the translation to be more coherent, among other improvements. There is also a proper remake in development called Pathologic 2. No, it's not a sequel despite the 2. Here's the intro cutscene from the Classic HD version.
Other suggestions that might be worth giving a chance based on your tastes:
Dark Earth: Somewhat of an adventure game except with a combat system. Its setting is post-post-apocalypse where a new society has been established on the ruins of the old. Your character becomes infected with a disease that progresses in real-time causing other characters to react to your infection. If you're so inclined, you can kill almost anyone like in a typical open world RPG.
Growlanser series: Essentially Japan's take on real time with pause and I've seen it called the Japanese Baldur's Gate. The first two games tie together in plot; however, they have different main characters. In fact, the protagonist from the first game joins your party in the second with a couple other returning characters. Yes, there's a dating sim element. No, it isn't overbearing. There are dialogue options and quite a few branching paths in the second game. The overall story is sacrificed in a way to allow for more player agency than one would expect from a J-RPG. They're political tales that even at one point allow you to turn your back on your party and join a rebel who wants to overthrow the government to implement Democracy. Not knowledgeable enough to attest to the quality of later entries.
Legacy of Kain series: Heavily philosophical with Gnostic influences about the nature of free will. Genre shifts throughout the series. The original is like Diablo, Soul Reaver is like Zelda. Wouldn't recommend Blood Omen 2 as it was made by a completely different team from the previous teams who royally tampered with the canon built by the head writer (Amy Hennig) over the past three entries. Your mileage may vary.
Primal: Action-adventure PS2 game often forgotten to time. While its strongest quality may be its worldbuilding more than its writing necessarily, the subplots of each world you travel to and the NPCs within can inspire intrigue to continue forward if nothing else. You're tasked with restoring balance between Order and Chaos by resolving the social issues of each unique culture.
Silent Hill series: Silent Hill 2 being the crown jewel with some of the best writing of any game from any genre. They are, of course, survival horror games. The original trilogy have good character development and delve into less explored psychological themes - less explored in gaming, at least. First and third entries tie in together while the second is stand alone. Strongly advise against the HD Collection as its revisions ruined the atmosphere.
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask: Not the strongest writing per se, however if you can look past that it explores quite a few mature and dark themes that are honestly surprising for a franchise like Zelda. Both changing and accepting fate, coping with loss, depression, and tragedy. One moment that always stuck with me was the subplot that an elder sister (Cremia) gets her younger sister (Romani) drunk so she doesn't have to be aware of their imminent doom. Another example.
Vagrant Story: A dungeon crawler about Ashley Riot, essentially a medieval black ops soldier, investigating an immortal cult leader. Dialogue is noteworthy for having a Shakespearean flair. Written by Yasumi Matsuno known for Ogre Battle, Tactics Ogre, and Final Fantasy Tactics. It's hard to go wrong with most of his games when it comes to storytelling. Be aware, he didn't actually work on the later Ogre games.
Adventure games live and die by their story most of the time if you aren't put off by the gameplay. Jane Jenson is a famed adventure game writer, having created the likes of Gabriel Knight and Grey Matter. Syberia I & II are two parts to a single story. The protagonist, Kate Walker, is a lawyer whose adventure is a tale of self-discovery and acceptance. There is a third game but it falls very, very short of the bar set by the originals. The writer, Benoit Sokal, also created The Sinking Island which is a conversation-heavy murder mystery. If you love tons of social interactions with little else maybe give it a try. Wadjet Eye Games has both worked on and published an assortment of adventure games with a generally high standard for the genre. Primordia and Gemini Rue are standouts.
In CONSORTIUM you are the protagonist in a literal sense. You, the person playing the game, hijack the mind of a character in the setting. It's primary gameplay mechanic would be first-person shooter, but it's more accurately described as a first-person conversation simulator. Nearly the entire game can be played without engaging in combat and simply talking. You can attempt to explain to the characters that you hijacked the person they see you as or keep it a secret and go along with accomplishing the mission given to you or ignore it. The game is rather quirky with some clear flaws, but the developers clearly made an effort to emphasize the actual playing of a role over anything else. There is a sequel in development named CONSORTIUM: The Tower. Here's the first conversation you have in the game.
Front Mission is a series of Tactical RPGs about a morally grey struggle between globalization and nationalism. The games are rife with political commentary and grounded, real world references since it takes place on earth in the future and not a completely fictional setting. There is an overarching plot that ties the five main entries together, but each of them can be played on their own and be understood - except the last one which goes out of its way to tie up loose ends from all previous games. The original Front Mission can be played with a translation patch (SNES) or its DS port while Front Mission 2 (PS1) and 5 (PS2) requires a translation patch as they were never localized. Front Mission 3 (PS1) and 4 (PS4) are available on their respective consoles in English. Here's the opening conversation from Front Mission on the SNES.
Pathologic is a game with elements of psychological horror and survival simulation about your character - there are three to choose from, one which must be unlocked if I remember correctly - attempting to save the people of an isolated location from a disease known as the Sand Plague. It takes place in real-time with events moving forward regardless of your success, failure, or inaction at missions; though, you will game over eventually. There is a focus on characters with a fair amount of philosophical musings. I definitely recommend the Classic HD version over the original. It cleans up the translation to be more coherent, among other improvements. There is also a proper remake in development called Pathologic 2. No, it's not a sequel despite the 2. Here's the intro cutscene from the Classic HD version.
Other suggestions that might be worth giving a chance based on your tastes:
Dark Earth: Somewhat of an adventure game except with a combat system. Its setting is post-post-apocalypse where a new society has been established on the ruins of the old. Your character becomes infected with a disease that progresses in real-time causing other characters to react to your infection. If you're so inclined, you can kill almost anyone like in a typical open world RPG.
Growlanser series: Essentially Japan's take on real time with pause and I've seen it called the Japanese Baldur's Gate. The first two games tie together in plot; however, they have different main characters. In fact, the protagonist from the first game joins your party in the second with a couple other returning characters. Yes, there's a dating sim element. No, it isn't overbearing. There are dialogue options and quite a few branching paths in the second game. The overall story is sacrificed in a way to allow for more player agency than one would expect from a J-RPG. They're political tales that even at one point allow you to turn your back on your party and join a rebel who wants to overthrow the government to implement Democracy. Not knowledgeable enough to attest to the quality of later entries.
Legacy of Kain series: Heavily philosophical with Gnostic influences about the nature of free will. Genre shifts throughout the series. The original is like Diablo, Soul Reaver is like Zelda. Wouldn't recommend Blood Omen 2 as it was made by a completely different team from the previous teams who royally tampered with the canon built by the head writer (Amy Hennig) over the past three entries. Your mileage may vary.
Primal: Action-adventure PS2 game often forgotten to time. While its strongest quality may be its worldbuilding more than its writing necessarily, the subplots of each world you travel to and the NPCs within can inspire intrigue to continue forward if nothing else. You're tasked with restoring balance between Order and Chaos by resolving the social issues of each unique culture.
Silent Hill series: Silent Hill 2 being the crown jewel with some of the best writing of any game from any genre. They are, of course, survival horror games. The original trilogy have good character development and delve into less explored psychological themes - less explored in gaming, at least. First and third entries tie in together while the second is stand alone. Strongly advise against the HD Collection as its revisions ruined the atmosphere.
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask: Not the strongest writing per se, however if you can look past that it explores quite a few mature and dark themes that are honestly surprising for a franchise like Zelda. Both changing and accepting fate, coping with loss, depression, and tragedy. One moment that always stuck with me was the subplot that an elder sister (Cremia) gets her younger sister (Romani) drunk so she doesn't have to be aware of their imminent doom. Another example.
Vagrant Story: A dungeon crawler about Ashley Riot, essentially a medieval black ops soldier, investigating an immortal cult leader. Dialogue is noteworthy for having a Shakespearean flair. Written by Yasumi Matsuno known for Ogre Battle, Tactics Ogre, and Final Fantasy Tactics. It's hard to go wrong with most of his games when it comes to storytelling. Be aware, he didn't actually work on the later Ogre games.
Adventure games live and die by their story most of the time if you aren't put off by the gameplay. Jane Jenson is a famed adventure game writer, having created the likes of Gabriel Knight and Grey Matter. Syberia I & II are two parts to a single story. The protagonist, Kate Walker, is a lawyer whose adventure is a tale of self-discovery and acceptance. There is a third game but it falls very, very short of the bar set by the originals. The writer, Benoit Sokal, also created The Sinking Island which is a conversation-heavy murder mystery. If you love tons of social interactions with little else maybe give it a try. Wadjet Eye Games has both worked on and published an assortment of adventure games with a generally high standard for the genre. Primordia and Gemini Rue are standouts.
Sacrifice - I remember the writing being good and the story being intriguing. Doesn't have that many RPG stuff in it, but it has enough to be called an RPG.
I heard spellforce 3's writing was pretty good, and from what I played (8ish hours) it was. But the gameplay was not my cup of tea...
I heard spellforce 3's writing was pretty good, and from what I played (8ish hours) it was. But the gameplay was not my cup of tea...
CptMace
Self-Ejected
I find it pompous at times, but it's definitely a quite unique game, especially when considered in its context.
Soul Reaver and Soul Reaver 2 are a great two-parts adventure game. Strongly recommended.
Still don't understand what happened to Amy Hennig between Soul Reaver and Uncharted. Nathan Drake and his guys are infuriatingly weak characters.
My, I'd rather say Blood Omen is like 2D Zelda, while SR is like 3D Zelda.
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2012
- Messages
- 1,467
Wizardry I
fantadomat
Arcane
SpellForce 3,it have really good writing and by now it is fixed by all the patches.
Witcher 3 have great writing too.
Witcher 3 have great writing too.
Vlajdermen
Arcane
Why not strive for good writing in everything?
Silva
Arcane
Nier Automata.
King of Dragon Pass.
Shadowrun: Dragonfall (it's shitty though)
King of Dragon Pass.
Shadowrun: Dragonfall (it's shitty though)
Vlajdermen
Arcane
To answer your question, The Witcher 3 Hearts of Stone, VTM Bloodlines and most Obsidian games.
Yeah, and Sonic Forces, Persona 5, Pokemon and Mass Effect 3
Last edited:
ortucis
Prophet
- Joined
- Apr 22, 2009
- Messages
- 2,015
I enjoyed Spellforce 2 and expansions. Played the SP religiously. Story is a typical fantasy setting, but it never gets tiring. Plus the RTS + RPG mix similar to Wc3 (well, better than Wc3) keeps it entertaining as well.
Meh, games don't really try to have good storyline or characters anymore.
While we're at it. Nier Automata is one of THE shittiest games out there. Story is actually worse than Devil May Cry.. if that was possible.
2house2fly
Magister
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2013
- Messages
- 1,877
Nier Automata is definitely more about the "global story" in that the writing isn't in and of itself particularly enjoyable or entertaining at any given line, but there are several lines of dialogue and story moments that are much improved in retrospect once the game is complete, or when viewed in context as part of the whole. Similarly, there are several side quests that don't necessarily mean much by themselves but help to inform the larger setting and foreshadow the later main story events, up to and including the ending. I'm a fan of the game, but I wouldn't recommend it in the context of this thread.
Quantomas
Savant
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2017
- Messages
- 260
- The Ur-Quan Masters
- Alpha Centauri
- Tides of Numenera (with outstanding writing from MRY); some locations, meres (interactive stories) and SF set pieces are simply brilliant.
- The Longest Journey, Dreamfall, Dreamfall Chapters
Last edited:
Vlajdermen
Arcane
None of that is worth enduring all the sheer autism you'd come to expect from a common jrpg
The third one was made by a different developer I believe, so some things are different.
At any rate, I enjoyed the originals, didn't like the mechanics in the 2nd one.
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