Board 8 > Board 8's Top 60 Stories in Gaming - Results Topic

(+) Yeah! (+)

ZenOfThunder posted...

Tenpenny made it into the villains contest for a reason!

And that reason was Samuel L. Jackson

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you can improve any game's story by including samuel l jackson

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41.5 Points
6 Supporters

Only 1 voter specified Walking Dead Season 1.

Back in the ancient ye olden times when zombie apocalypse media and the Telltale formula were both fresh and exciting, The Walking Dead game came out and became something of a phenomenon. It was a perfect storm of factors. The TV show was already a megahit, but just as big a factor was that a bunch of AAA games released the same year and they all sucked. People at the time were disillusioned with name brands - and along comes Telltale with their story-driven, smaller-in-scope, emotional, gut-wrenching zombie drama that grabbed people by the entrails and didn't let go. The Walking Dead dominated discussion for like half a year straight. People compared their choices, yelled at each other over the best way to raise Clementine, and were generally captivated as they were forced to justify all their own bad decisions that they'd been always criticized people in zombie movies for making.

Season 1 of TWD was easily the most popular, but the subsequent seasons were also well-received. The factors that made Season 1 such a hit went south (the megahit TV show lost popularity and the Telltale formula got spammed...a lot) which led to Seasons 2-4 not being as big a deal, but people still cared. When Telltale went belly-up, this was the series people worried out about not being able to see the end of. Our society is absolutely inundated with zombie apocalypse media but Telltale's The Walking Dead still stands out as one of our favorites.

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Fun facts:

Making writeups that are meant to avoid spoilers is hard.

When making that writeup, I typo'd 'the megahit TV show' as 'megashit'. I probably should have let it be.

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43.5 Points
6 Supporters

The game that launched a thousand misguided fans of objectivism.

Bioshock's marketing was genius. It showed off all the guns and powers and the Big Daddies like it was this awesome FPS game with a creepy tint to it. You know who still cares about Bioshock gameplay? Absolutely no one. The game came out, was widely-bought by FPS fans and surprise! The game was all about the world and the story and the writing, all of which was so well-done that no one minded being baited.

Rapture, Bioshock's underwater 'utopia', is a setting that has yet to be replicated. It's dark and oppressive, a crumbling aquarium barely held together by duct tape and broken dreams. The environment combined with the numerous audio recordings you find (was this the first game to popularize extensive audio recordings the player can find?) weaves a tale of corruption and degradation that stills leaves room for some crazy plot twists. Bioshock 1 set a standard for this kind of storytelling that, for many people, has yet to be matched in any other game.

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I always meant to play Bioshock but just never got around to it.

I did watch my friend play through most of Bioshock Infinite and that seemed pretty solid?
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I got the Bioshock Collection a few months ago when it was free on PS Plus. I'd like to play it eventually.

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pyresword posted...

I did watch my friend play through most of Bioshock Infinite and that seemed pretty solid?

Infinite is really weird to compare to the first Bioshock. It has IMO a better story but far worse writing - better gameplay but significantly worse design.

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46 Points
8 Supporters

It's been forgotten somewhat now that Zero Escape is a series and the director/author is getting to make stuff outside of Zero Escape as well, but at the time 999 was a major out-of-nowhere success story. The game sold like ass in Japan and got popular in the west entirely through word-of-mouth, selling more and more and forcing 999 to be reprinted and restocked several times. That kind of success only happens when a game is able to excite people to the point where they spend too much time yelling at other people to check this new thing out...not that I would know anything about that.

999 taps into the archetype of 'people are trapped in a place with no way out' and adds sprinkles in some puzzle games and good ole' fashioned murder to add some spice to the drama. The game puts the player through long periods of tension that are periodically broken up by bursts of emotion (and usually a dead body). Every answer you receive only brings two more questions with it. Combine that all with an ending that left people reeling and it's not surprising that 999 made the final list.

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Fun fact: 999 has one of the lowest points-per-vote average of any game on the final list. Its highest score was a +6 (unweighted). A lot of people like it but it's no one's absolute favorite.

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Huh, I am now less confident of VLR making it.

Oh yeah, and we'll be be doing five writeups a day until the list is over. Top 20 deserves a bit more breathing room.

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+10
+9
+8
+7
+6 Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky
+5 Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
+4 Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors
+3 MOTHER 3
+2
+1 Final Fantasy VI
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KamikazePotato posted...

Fun fact: 999 has one of the lowest points-per-vote average of any game on the final list. Its highest score was a +6 (unweighted). A lot of people like it but it's no one's absolute favorite.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Huh, I am now less confident of VLR making it.

I feel like these two statements are connected in some way, right?
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Oh man bioshock is gonna make it but Deus ex and system shock 2 won't
Saaaad


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If 999 can get 8 supporters, I can't see VLR not making it. Unless there's some really weird Uchikoshi LFF going on.

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I voted for 999 and havent played VLR.

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VLR is absolutely going to make it.

Also Bioshock Infinite > Bioshock 1 in every way imo.
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VLR is almost certainly the reason for 999 having a relatively low points-per-vote- most of its fanbase would put VLR higher.
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I liked 999 slightly more than VLR, and would probably rank it notably higher in a story-focused list. I would say VLR's strength is in its characters moreso than the story, which is a bit different in my mind at least.

That being said none of them were on my list, although 999 and VLR were both quite good.
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nice banners

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ZenOfThunder posted...

nice banners

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I only put 999 and not VLR.

Really the entire series is worth it, and it was hard to choose. In the end I didnt pick ZTD because it has the best bits and the ropiest bits, and VLR because it is very clearly a bridge. 999 works as a complete story and has no real holes or dodgy bits. It was only +2 though.

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Oh damn TWD was one of the games I didn't expect to get in after reaching the top 20.

+8 Red Dead Redemption 2
+5 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
+3 Mass Effect 2
+2 The Walking Dead

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I'd vote 999 over VLR but either choice is valid. 999 has a really dull translation but subtly uses perspective to foreshadow its twist and the ending is a fantastic use of the DS. VLR is more of a traditionally good VN. Shame about that third game!

As time goes on and AI gets cheaper, I think more people are gonna open up to and appreciate that one on the level of the first two Zero Escape games.

Mac Arrowny posted...

Also Bioshock Infinite > Bioshock 1 in every way imo.

it is definitely more racist, that's the only way a greater than sign would apply here

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I was the lone one that specified Season 1. Really happy it made it on a technicality lol

The best thing about Bioshock Infinite was seeing it's respect start to fall apart in the following weeks and months of release, and people regretting the glowing scores they gave it.

I'm going to be sad when the superior Shock game doesn't make this list (not Infinite)

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Hm Bioshock Infinite

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

That about sums up my thoughts.

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FFDragon posted...

I'm going to be sad when the superior Shock game doesn't make this list (not Infinite)

bioshock 2: minerva's den!

it's a follow-up to a sequel! a 2-2! you had to have voted for it

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999's ESRB description discourages me.

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Advokaiser posted...

999's ESRB description discourages me.

What?

Wait.

No Interactive Elements

Huh??

Bisoshock Infinite's longterm reception would be better if it wasn't the sequel to Bioshock. Still has a lot if issues but talk about standing in the shadow of a giant.


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dammit icon not that 2 shock

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FFDragon posted...

I'm going to be sad when the superior Shock game doesn't make this list (not Infinite)

Did you give it points?!?!

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UshiromiyaEva posted...

What?

Like, it's painful to me that I can't fully enjoy my favorite form of entertainment since there are many acclaimed games whose (mature) content I just can't stand.

That's actually one of my gripes for the gaming industry for the last 15 years Around 70-80% of today's games are too graphic or geared towards adults only.

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FFDragon posted...

dammit icon not that 2 shock

System Shock 2, then?

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The excessive scanty clad women have def turned me off VNs in the past cause I just don't need that in my media

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Advokaiser posted...

System Shock 2, then?

If people voted for system shock 2 I will be very happy

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FFDragon posted...

dammit icon not that 2 shock

but it's better than system shock 2!

(both are very good)

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pezzicle posted...

The excessive scanty clad women have def turned me off VNs in the past cause I just don't need that in my media

I could give you a decently long list of VNs that exclude this type of content, as someone who also does my best to avoid it.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

I could give you a decently long list of VNs that exclude this type of content, as someone who also does my best to avoid it.

im in

always interested in exploring more mediums, especially if the stories are good. this topic has turned me on to a few, i dunno if they feature that kind of content or not

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Obviously it's not like there isn't any cleavage whatsoever in these things, but some of my favs (I only just really started to get into VNs less than a year ago, so there are some recent ones here)

House in Fata Morgana
Umineko

Those are the definitive top 2, no question. They are my STRONGEST recommendations, even excluding the VN specification.

Other favs include Steins:Gate, Raging Loop, and Fatal Twelve. For stuff with more gameplay elements, VA-11 Hall-A and of course Ace Attorney.

I don't know if games like Danganronpa and Zero Escape are gonna be too much. I mean if you're literally just trying to avoid games that are actually borderline porn at times, then they're of course not an issue.

Thanks. Will look into

Nonary had a few characters that were kind of cringe for me. (999 is the only one I played)

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999 has a character with a "bold" wardrobe, and there's one in VLR that's about as bad, plus one that's even worse.

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If characters like Alice in VLR or Lotus in 999 being in the game was too far for you, then Danganronpa probably gets the cut as well.

Fatal Twelve had a character like that too, but I wouldn't let it dissuade you, however it's also probably the lowest on my recommendation list there.

Danganronpa is tamer than the Zero Escape characters in the design department. It's just that you can accidentally stumble on scenes that are cringey. Well, in the case of DRV3, there's one mandatory scene like that, but you can just skip the text when it comes up because it's not pertinent to the story whatsoever.

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Mikan in two is certainly the worst offender of unskippable stuff.

Alice in VLR is probably the worst of it all from a justification standpoint since it was the publisher telling him to anime up the designs and get them tits out so it'll sell better in Japan this time around, or so the rumor goes.

Advokaiser's talking about violent/scary content, not sexual content.
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Danganronpa is by far the worst as far as weird female sexualization goes. The other B8 favorites are all fine i think.

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