Board 8 > Favorite games for purely story/characters?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Like, what are your favorite games if you don't consider gameplay at all and only think about the world, story, characters, etc

the mass effect series
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Recently, Night in the Woods
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Infinite Space

Holy **** Infinite Space
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Persona 3-5 free.
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Gameplay should not be crucial if you seek more than just mindless fun in games.

Xenogears.
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Rule of Rose
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Vlado posted...

Gameplay should not be crucial if you seek more than just mindless fun in games.

Xenogears.

Gameplay provides a lot more than mindless fun. It provides a playground to train your mind and apply knowledge and skill that can help you grow as a person. My favorite gameplay experiences are ones where critical thinking and quick judgment calls are tested.

Anyways, my answer goes to Metal Gear Solid 2 and Final Fantasy X probably.
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pjbasis posted...

Gameplay provides a lot more than mindless fun. It provides a playground to train your mind and apply knowledge and skill that can help you grow as a person. My favorite gameplay experiences are ones where critical thinking and quick judgment calls are tested.

I suppose this is sometimes true, but it's so rare it's statistically insignificant.
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I don't think so! Especially when we have a lot of choice in the matter like difficulty settings.

It's not super common, but even playing Uncharted on the hardest difficulty occasionally lights up my mind.
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Trails in the Sky FC+SC
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Difficulty settings is a fair point, but how many people play the high difficulty modes...
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Either Trails in the Sky or Persona. Probably TitS though.
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Bioshock 1 and Infinite
Life is Strange
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pyresword posted...

Either Trails in the Sky or Persona. Probably TitS though.

added bonus: I love the gameplay of both
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tag.

not sure if any games can be carried *purely* by story- the story is in the telling, and the gameplay is both frame and canvas. some fairly simple, concise stories work really well because they don't overstay their welcome or battle the gameplay overmuch. some are better when emotions are reinforced through gameplay

this is subjective, and a lot of games qualify based on the afterglow from other entries in the series

final fantasy 6 through 10, primarily 6 and 7
persona 3 through 5
mass effect 1 through 3
metal gear solid, starting from 1 and extending out as far as you can stomach it
halo 1
assassin's creed 1
portal 1 and 2
elder scrolls 3: morrowind
chrono trigger
the last of us
bioshock infinite
deus ex 1
oddworld: stranger's wrath
sleeping dogs
knights of the old republic 1 & 2
the banner saga 1 & 2
the walking dead season 1
wolf among us
kingdom hearts 1

will definitely put ones others recommend on a backlog
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Tom Bombadil posted...

pyresword posted...

Either Trails in the Sky or Persona. Probably TitS though.

added bonus: I love the gameplay of both

Oh yes I do also don't worry. Then again they are JRPG's so that's not too surprising
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Final Fantasy X
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Fire Emblem 4 or Valkyria Chronicles

I like most gameplay so it's hard to pick, but strategy games are kinda boring I guess
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Hotel Dusk. Gameplay is average but story and characters are fantastic.
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Gameplay is just as crucial to being a good game as story is. Otherwise what's the point of even using the medium, if you're just focused on story why don't you make a movie? The best games integrate gameplay and storyline seamlessly as they compliment each other.
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Snake5555555555 posted...

Gameplay is just as crucial to being a good game as story is. Otherwise what's the point of even using the medium, if you're just focused on story why don't you make a movie? The best games integrate gameplay and storyline seamlessly as they compliment each other.

I mean, this is irrelevant. We are just trying to explore which games we appreciate the story/characters/world aspect the most. You could do the same thing with purely the gameplay aspect and ignore the rest.

G-Senjou no Maou

With the "lol VN isn't game" filter on it's more difficult. It's usually story or characters and not both. Final Fantasy X and Metal Gear Solid 2, to steal pj's answer, are both front runners, with FFX being weaker on the story end and MGS2 being weaker on the characters end, but both hitting each well enough. I guess I'd give FFX the nod of those two just because Spira is such a great world setting compared to... Earth with weird futuretech.
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The Walking Dead
The Wolf Among Us
Tales From The Borderlands

How am I the first person to mention Telltale Games?
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Vlado posted...

Difficulty settings is a fair point, but how many people play the high difficulty modes...

I agree that most people don't look at it the way I do.
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B8 and no mention of Ace Attorney yet in this topic?
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Kingdom Hearts.
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Honestly my favorite games for story/characters are ones like FTL or XCOM where the story and characters develop in your own mind as they struggle through surviving.
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Planescape: Torment
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wwinterj25 posted...

Kingdom Hearts.

Please tell me you're saying this ironically.

Anyway, I'll be that guy and say Undertale. The gameplay is OK, but it has some of the most clever writing (and incorporates mechanics into that story and writing) that I've ever seen, period.
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Legacy of Kain franchise
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KotOR

I played it after being disenfranchised with the two prequel movies (this was pre-Episode III) and loved how it felt more like Star Wars than those movies. Characters and plot were on point.
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KOTOR would definitely be on my shortlist. Good pick.
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KotOR is alright, but you can only do so much with the Star Wars universe.

kevwaffles posted...

B8 and no mention of Ace Attorney yet in this topic?

It's fun through and through, but lacks scale.

pjbasis posted...

I agree that most people don't look at it the way I do.

I say games should just be harder on default difficulty. :P
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Vlado posted...

KotOR is alright, but you can only do so much with the Star Wars universe.

Well you've never done anything with it so maybe that speaks more to you than it.
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This question doesn't really work because proper storytelling in games ties together story and gameplay.

However, I'll put forward the entire Zero Escape series.
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(wise poster voice) I reject the premise of your question, it is impossible to say such things
........however, here is my definitive answer

damn i got owned

Nier and Deadly Premonition were the first to come to mind.
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metaIslug posted...

he didn't ask for proper storytelling, he just said games that you would play purely for story
which is to imply games with bad game-ness, but worth seeing for the story

Best bad game with good storytelling is Arkham Origins
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metaIslug posted...

which is to imply games with bad game-ness, but worth seeing for the story

Why? Metal Gear has amazing gameplay, and is still awesome even going by story, characters, etc. alone. It's a fitting answer.
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Dragon Quest IV
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I also don't understand why people are arguing you cannot experience and appreciate a games story/characters/world without gameplay. Like, there are literally millions of people who watch people play video games on twitch or youtube or in person all the time. They don't even experience the gameplay aspects. My partner doesn't really like games, but likes watching the story parts of persona 5 while I play it.

Unknown_voter posted...

I also don't understand why people are arguing you cannot experience and appreciate a games story/characters/world without gameplay. Like, there are literally millions of people who watch people play video games on twitch or youtube or in person all the time. They don't even experience the gameplay aspects. My partner doesn't really like games, but likes watching the story parts of persona 5 while I play it.

Are you arguing that people watch league of Legends streamers for the story?
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And yes, that is a tongue in cheek post.
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are you arguing that people only stream competitive games that lack a story, interesting characters, world, etc ?

I rate weight story really highly when ranking games so my answers are about the same as my favourite games. I think the two best stories in games I've played are Mother 3 and Shadow of the Colossus.

To answer you more seriously, watching a game is not the same as playing it. In fact, someone watching can disassociate themselves from the gameplay a lot more than the person playing.

Think of it like, you read the first part of a story. To read the next part, you have to walk a mile. Or you could go on Youtube and watch someone else walk the mile to get to the next part of the story, because you don't really want to walk the mile.
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I guess the pertinent question is what it means to experience a game's story without the gameplay

Is it reading the cutscenes from a script?

Is it reading the plot summary on Wikipedia?
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