What game series do you think needs better writing

[VeloZer0]

Has a game with an underdeveloped world and poor writing ever captured your imagination? What games come to mind that you would like to see fleshed out in a competent manner?

My pick is Mega Man X. The world just seems like it has so much potential, with the growing pains of humans and reploids as the two races awkwardly co-exist. Add the ever present Maverick attacks that are seemingly going on and I think it would be a very interesting place.
Unfortunately Capcom has shown me that they are completely incapable of making a coherent story more than a paragraph in length, but I can dream.

What game/series do you wish was expanded upon?

[Storm]

I thought the plot of the Mega Man X series became more interesting in X5 and X6, although a large chunk of the plot for X6 was lost due to the worst Japanese to English translation EVER. There were massive hints in these games that Dr.Wily was somehow still pulling the strings, even though he was supposed to be long dead (The "W" forming behind the Shadow Devil, Sigma talking about an "old man" who hates X and created Zero, Isoc in X6 being able to completely neutralize Zero). I was fully expecting some great revelation in X7 or X8, yet Capcom decided to focus on introducing Axl and the New Generation Reploids.

So yeah, I agree, the Mega Man X series definitely could have used some better writing.

[Rad Bromance]

I wish there was some sort of story formed that connected all the Final Fantasy games.

[G13]

Didn't Dissidia do that? :confused:

Edit: I actually think GTA could use better writing.

[Dreddz]

Any series that isn't GTA or Uncharted.

[Madame Adequate]

The Elder Scrolls needs to look to Morrowind in future and pretend Oblivion never happened.

http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy178/Automilf/morrowvsobv-1.jpg

Fallout 3 was considerably better than OB but still pretty braindead. Hopefully Summerset Isle will be an improvement.

[Chris]

The LEGO games are some of my all-time favorite, but they often skip scenes from the movies in the games that I often consider to be of great importance. That being said, LEGO doesn't make any excuses about what kind of games they make, and I do think they vastly improved the concept with the recent Harry Potter entry. :D

Looking forward to the upcoming LEGO Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Can't wait to see if they stick to the same concept.

[Shoeberto]

The Metal Gear Solid games.

Okay, so MGS1 and Snake Eater were damn fine examples of how to write self-contained stories that also lend themselves well to the overall continuity. Sons of Liberty and Guns of the Patriots, however, were examples of how too much retconning, deus ex machinas and overzealous plot decisions can make a story exhausting. I haven't played anything other than 1-4, and I love the overarching story, but the way the deceptions and plot twists and all that stack up by the time I finished MGS4, I was wishing Kojima would just tone it down a lot.

[Flying Arrow]

Most games that attempt to be serious or important need better writing. Action games like Bayonetta certainly don't need good writing (although it certainly would have helped) but games that aim to enthrall the player with stories generally aren't pulled off all that well in the gaming industry.

The first that came to mind when I saw the thread topic was Final Fantasy - first because it's generally my favourite series, and second because it desperately needs a kick in the ass in the writing department. Square were really on the right track with VI and VII (back in the mid-90s!) but haven't developed from there at all. In fact, I'd argue they regressed as VIII, IX, X, and XIII are all complete and utter messes story-wise. They aren't just confusing; they don't make sense and rely on cheap tricks to surprise the player. That's inexcusable. (And I'm not even mentioning the obscene use of cliches and fanservice, which is usually enough to kill the effectiveness of any story.) XIII is particularly badly done. I've never seen another game show me one thing in cutscenes and then reveal something else in the in-game codex. Hell, since when is a codex used to reveal a major plot-point not touched on by the in-game action? Shameful. I hope SE will learn from this, but I know they won't.

Another series that came to mind is Metal Gear Solid. I remember 1 being solid enough, if silly. 2 was an absolute monstrosity. 3 was not so bad either, if I remember correctly. Overall, the series is not terrible, but taken as bigger picture, it's embarrassingly silly. I've never played 4, and can only assume it picks up where 2 left off plot-wise. I can't speak to it's quality, but generally when two further games are required to clean up the mess of one, it's generally due to sloppy writing.

Oh, and the bloated and overwrought dialogue. Shut the smurf up, Hideo.

[blackmage_nuke]

Any game that doesnt explain the setting because they assume you've read the prologue in the instruction manual before the game starts to know whats going on in the story.

[Shiny]

The Resident Evil series because "Jill Sandwich" is unacceptable. Resident Evil 1 was probably one of the most unintentionally hilarious games I have ever played. I would also like to see Capcom make a game ending for these that don't involve things blowing up at the end like they tend to do in literally every friggin' RE game.

[Madame Adequate]

We don't get howlers like "master of unlocking" and "Jill sandwich" anymore but Resident Evil really does need to undergo a major change if the plot is to make any sense.

However, it is blasphemous to suggest that the ending could be anything except giant explode.

[Bolivar]

I don't know if games can necessarily be saved by "better writing." I know Gears of War 2 and Modern Warfare 2 both brought on real writers to handle the plots; Gears had only a very minor, yet noticeable, step in the right direction, but MW2 was like payment to a corrupt dictator because there was essentially no plot at all.

I think what would save games the most is creative directors and producers who have genuinely interesting stories to tell and care a great deal about bringing an imaginative vision to life. We have plenty of games that get the job done anyway without them, I don't think games should try to pretend to be better by hiring storywriters, that only makes a more bloated budget.


The Metal Gear Solid games.

Okay, so MGS1 and Snake Eater were damn fine examples of how to write self-contained stories that also lend themselves well to the overall continuity. Sons of Liberty and Guns of the Patriots, however, were examples of how too much retconning, deus ex machinas and overzealous plot decisions can make a story exhausting. I haven't played anything other than 1-4, and I love the overarching story, but the way the deceptions and plot twists and all that stack up by the time I finished MGS4, I was wishing Kojima would just tone it down a lot.

I think maybe Kojima gets over-ambitious, then tones it down like from MGS2 to Snake Eater and from MGS4 to Peace Walker. Still, every game has wonderfully written dialogue, and deals with major issues in real life (information proliferation in MGS2, the privatization of warfare in MGS4). The story structure, however, did indeed become too comprehensive in MGS2 and 4, but I can't fault them when they do so much on the other fronts of writing.

[Depression Moon]

I'd argue they regressed as VIII, IX, X, and XIII are all complete and utter messes story-wise.

WHAT!? YOU GOT TO BE CRAZY!

[Madame Adequate]

I think what would save games the most is creative directors and producers who have genuinely interesting stories to tell and care a great deal about bringing an imaginative vision to life. We have plenty of games that get the job done anyway without them, I don't think games should try to pretend to be better by hiring storywriters, that only makes a more bloated budget.

Pursuant to this, I think the best way to help would be to integrate story and character as an integral part of the game, indeed fundamental (In the literal sense of the game not being able to exist without it). The story should be decided before a single piece of code is written and the game should be built to accomodate it. In reality, folks make a game and shoehorn a plot into it because it's pretty rare that a company will just say, for instance, "a bunch of people are having a fight, enjoy your Tekken guys" or "Here are some guns and monkeys, you can figure the rest out". We're in this weird sort of place where story is considered necessary* in almost all circumstances, whilst being regarded as a burdensome afterthought a lot of the time.

So I don't really think the problem is storywriters or their absence, in fact I think it's a very good idea to bring in people who know how to write a story, but the story needs to be approached by someone who is a gamer as much as they are a writer - someone who understands the medium, genre, conventions, etc. - but regardless of who is involved it should either be a central and fundamental part of the design which directly informs the rest of the game, or it should just be said that the story is unecessary and here's some quirky characters beating each other up.

* I've got a feeling that this arose as a response to the charges in the 90s that games were gratuitous murder simulators, and thus a story-based justification for your heinous acts became necessary.

[LunarWeaver]

I want so hard to like Resident Evil and its characters, but the writing is so cheesy. Although at this point I've just accepted it for what it is. They are games I love despite it all. The new game for the 3DS looks to keep everything in cheesy order from the trailer, but then that stars Chris and Jill again, who are a boy scout and tits in blue and not much else. I mean, Jill has existed since 1996 and somehow has less of a personality than the Gears of War crew, and they all have exactly one trait assigned to them.

[Ryth]

Final Fantasy desperately needs better/good writing. Either the stories are outright awful (VIII) or fall apart near the end (IX).

[Goldenboko]

Final Fantasy desperately needs better/good writing. Either the stories are outright awful (VIII) or fall apart near the end (IX).

The fact that this is the second person to say FFIX was written poorly disturbs me greatly.

[Bolivar]

* I've got a feeling that this arose as a response to the charges in the 90s that games were gratuitous murder simulators, and thus a story-based justification for your heinous acts became necessary.

lol, probably in part, that's a good point.

[NeoCracker]

I'm probably in the minority here, but I find the world and characters of the Elder Scrolls games (Just III and IV, as I've not played the others) To be incredibally boring and lack luster.

Fall Out 3 was better in that regard, though still far from where I think it should be, though I could at least enjoy that setting more due to a funner setting, and at least a few interesting characters.

[Flying Arrow]

I'd argue they regressed as VIII, IX, X, and XIII are all complete and utter messes story-wise.

WHAT!? YOU GOT TO BE CRAZY!

No, actually I am perfectly sane and level-headed. Except for the ground-up bodies in my freezer (what can I say, I like my women like I like my coffee).

But really, there is some good stuff in IX's story, but not a lot. Most of the plot elements on their own could have been enough to carry the game (if written as such, that is) but smashed all together I find them to be a complete and utter mess. Especially the ending, dear Christ. Still love Vivi's story, though. Gotta love Vivi.

[Ryth]

Final Fantasy desperately needs better/good writing. Either the stories are outright awful (VIII) or fall apart near the end (IX).

The fact that this is the second person to say FFIX was written poorly disturbs me greatly.

I actually love FFIX, and I love most of the story, and it has probably the best cast of characters in the entire franchise. Like I said, the game simply fell apart at the end. A lot of character arcs finish prematurely-- Steiner stops mattering once he decides to stay at the castle, Dagger ends once she cuts her hair, Freya is totally forgotten by the end of Disc 2, and frankly Quina and especially Amarant don't even matter.

The plot should have been more about political tensions and empire-- they should not have had Kuja at all, and the plot was done once Terra came into the picture. I love the game to death, its one of my favorite in the series, and I think it has a better story than most of the games in the franchise, but it does suffer from mistakes so elementary that any semi-intelligent writer should have been able to catch and revise it without a second glance.

[Depression Moon]

IX's story is perfect in every way. The fighting game genre from all I've played lacked some serious story. I would like to see one someday that can have a great story along with great gameplay.

[Yue Kitsune]

Pokemon, i love it but holly c@&$% it'd be nice if i had a better goal than just catching all the pokemon and beating the champion. how about some convoluted conspiracy by a government agency (or a government of any kind for that matter, lol), or a war about to break out between two of the towns.

fighting games could use a coherent story also, the only problem with that is each character becomes the "main character" when you play through their story. i think BlazeBlue has done a fairly decent job of making some of the storylines match up, but since i just got it recently i can't say for sure.

and thinking about it, i'd hafta agree about FF IX. i'm playing through it again after years of not being able to; thank goodness sony made it downloadable. but i seem to remember some random final boss just ganking you at the end, no prior mention or warning or anything, just surprise but shex.

[Bunny]

Eternal Sonata was a game that could've been amazing had the storyline and subsequent dialogue not been incredibly campy and childlike. Infinite Undiscovery, The Last Remnant, and Blue Dragon are three more recent titles that pop to mind with lackluster dialogue that does nothing but hurt the otherwise intriguing story and setting.

As far as Final Fantasy games, their biggest link between games (aside from the inclusion of Cid, Chocobos, Moogles, etc) are the somewhat campy dialogue and the major use of the more frequent RPG clichés. The games are good but not as good as they should be.

[Slothy]

Bioware games.

Yeah, I went there. KOTOR relied on a bunch of Sci-Fi genre conventions that are old hat now, a fair few Star Wars cliches, including villains who are evil just because, and the whole thing is capped off by a plot twist so obvious that I still wonder how anyone is surprised by it, let alone how they could consider it one of the best plot twists in gaming.

Mass Effect is pretty much more of the same minus any attempt at a real plot twist. Same reliance on genre cliches, which wouldn't be a terrible thing except that they do a poor job of making me empathize with their talking heads so that even when dealing with issues like the morality of destroying an alien race to protect the galaxy or trusting them to play nice it all falls flat with me. In fact, the whole Mass Effect universe fell flat with me because the NPC's and areas generally aren't very engrossing.

And on the issue of morality in these games, treating every decision as being stark good and evil bores the hell out of me. I'll admit that I haven't played any of their games besides these, but I can't stand the way they handle moral choices in either of them.

[VeloZer0]

And on the issue of morality in these games, treating every decision as being stark good and evil bores the hell out of me. I'll admit that I haven't played any of their games besides these, but I can't stand the way they handle moral choices in either of them.
I find black and white decisions in games usually tends to make them unplayable. I'm the kind of person who when given the choice between option A and B will usually do option C. When a game starts dolling out heavy choices I usually just quit because none of the options are what I would do.


Pokemon, i love it but holly c@&$% it'd be nice if i had a better goal than just catching all the pokemon and beating the champion. how about some convoluted conspiracy by a government agency (or a government of any kind for that matter, lol), or a war about to break out between two of the towns.
Or flesh out the ecology of the world a little better.

[Meat Puppet]

The Elder Scrolls needs to look to Morrowind in future and pretend Oblivion never happened.

http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy178/Automilf/morrowvsobv-1.jpg

Fallout 3 was considerably better than OB but still pretty braindead. Hopefully Summerset Isle will be an improvement.
Agreed. I’m not sure what they were thinking with Oblivion... it’s like they just wanted to make it like this big epic action movie or something. Except somehow also be very boring.

What annoys me is that throughout the earlier games, and especially in Morrowind, there was a setup for the death of Uriel Septum or whatever the hell his name is. Like it was something the series was working toward. Including the ambiguity of Uriel’s sons (that they might not actually be his), unrest in the Imperial province and so on and so forth. Well, Uriel does die but luckily so do his sons (solving that problem) in an assault that would make Sly Stallone blush!
It’s like they just thought they’d wipe the whole thing clean in the first 10 minutes of the game because it would be too boring or something. Which comes back to my opinion that Oblivion was tainted by perverts who wanted it to be some blockbuster action title or something

[blackmage_nuke]

The plot should have been more about political tensions and empire-- they should not have had Kuja at all, and the plot was done once Terra came into the picture.

I disagree, I think the point of FFIX was to return to a simple fantasy without all the complex war and environmental sustainability metaphors which drenched the previous 3 games. In my opinion this bit of change was what made IX so enjoyable. It's a shame Necron made no sense whatsoever though.

[Bolivar]

Final Fantasy desperately needs better/good writing. Either the stories are outright awful (VIII) or fall apart near the end (IX).

The fact that this is the second person to say FFIX was written poorly disturbs me greatly.

I actually love FFIX, and I love most of the story, and it has probably the best cast of characters in the entire franchise. Like I said, the game simply fell apart at the end. A lot of character arcs finish prematurely-- Steiner stops mattering once he decides to stay at the castle, Dagger ends once she cuts her hair, Freya is totally forgotten by the end of Disc 2, and frankly Quina and especially Amarant don't even matter.

The plot should have been more about political tensions and empire-- they should not have had Kuja at all, and the plot was done once Terra came into the picture. I love the game to death, its one of my favorite in the series, and I think it has a better story than most of the games in the franchise, but it does suffer from mistakes so elementary that any semi-intelligent writer should have been able to catch and revise it without a second glance.

Gotta disagree there, although this shouldn't really turn into a IX thread. FFIX just wouldn't have been a Final Fantasy if it kept going on about the stuff in the beginning. All the games have to start off about one thing and end up about something else, like a good Simpson's episode.

[Depression Moon]

Nah Necron made plenty sense. He represented life, existence itself. After Kuja destroyed the crystal and tried to take everyone's life along with his, Necron emerged to remove the universe out of existence. Destroying the crystal is what summoned him. Zidane saw him as an extension of Kuja's anger and fear. Kuja attempted to wipe everyone out from existence and hear comes this god-like being of the universe to end all their lives. Vivi had questioned his own existence and this Necron proved to him that he very well exists and to take arms up against the being who wished for it to end for him, his brothers, and his friends.

When the party defeated him it proved the power of hope, love, and the will to live is the more sturdier than a 30ft thick titanium wall.

[Mo-Nercy]

All fighting games. I grow tired of the clichéd stories that always come up in fighting games. I'd really like some in-depth, character-exploring cutscenes to link the individual fights in a Story Mode together. The Bouncer had something of the right idea going, in my mind, but that was more of a beat 'em up, action fighter than a straight-forward fighting game. Later installments of Soul Calibur are doing it a bit too, with the world map view and your character roaming around it. It could use a bit more than a few lines of text to link the previous fight to the next though.

[Wolf Kanno]

The Metal Gear Solid games.

Okay, so MGS1 and Snake Eater were damn fine examples of how to write self-contained stories that also lend themselves well to the overall continuity. Sons of Liberty and Guns of the Patriots, however, were examples of how too much retconning, deus ex machinas and overzealous plot decisions can make a story exhausting. I haven't played anything other than 1-4, and I love the overarching story, but the way the deceptions and plot twists and all that stack up by the time I finished MGS4, I was wishing Kojima would just tone it down a lot.

Actually... MGS1 and 3 did far more retconning than 2 and 4. MGS1 rewrote a lot of MG and especially MG2, while MGS3 rewrote most of what was established about Big Boss in the first three Metal Gear titles. Hell any game that stars Big Boss pretty much retcons the timeline.

Beyond that, I will agree that MGS2 took the series into a weird direction by being a bloated conspiracy theory with an Evangelion inspired finale but to be fair to MGS4, it was a title trying to tie all the pieces together and it had to drop into some weird territory to connect the titles and bring a conclusion to Solid Snake's story. Its not really as bad as MGS2 was, even if 4 did have a lot of questionable story elements. I'm just surprised it was all worked together into something coherent, I was worried it was going to drop into a VR "it was all just a dream" cop out ending so what transpired really did work out for the best imho.

[blackmage_nuke]

Nah Necron made plenty sense. He represented life, existence itself. After Kuja destroyed the crystal and tried to take everyone's life along with his, Necron emerged to remove the universe out of existence. Destroying the crystal is what summoned him. Zidane saw him as an extension of Kuja's anger and fear. Kuja attempted to wipe everyone out from existence and hear comes this god-like being of the universe to end all their lives. Vivi had questioned his own existence and this Necron proved to him that he very well exists and to take arms up against the being who wished for it to end for him, his brothers, and his friends.

When the party defeated him it proved the power of hope, love, and the will to live is the more sturdier than a 30ft thick titanium wall.
Well they shoudlve said that in the game

So i guess it was bad writing

[NeoCracker]

Nah Necron made plenty sense. He represented life, existence itself. After Kuja destroyed the crystal and tried to take everyone's life along with his, Necron emerged to remove the universe out of existence. Destroying the crystal is what summoned him. Zidane saw him as an extension of Kuja's anger and fear. Kuja attempted to wipe everyone out from existence and hear comes this god-like being of the universe to end all their lives. Vivi had questioned his own existence and this Necron proved to him that he very well exists and to take arms up against the being who wished for it to end for him, his brothers, and his friends.

When the party defeated him it proved the power of hope, love, and the will to live is the more sturdier than a 30ft thick titanium wall.
Well they shoudlve said that in the game

So i guess it was bad writing

No, bad writing is explaining why something is symbolic, which is exactly what Necron was.

The big FF IX story flaw was that most characters started to lack importance less then half way through the game, and seemed more like tag-alongs, albeit highly interesting and entertaining Tag-alongs.

[blackmage_nuke]

Nah Necron made plenty sense. He represented life, existence itself. After Kuja destroyed the crystal and tried to take everyone's life along with his, Necron emerged to remove the universe out of existence. Destroying the crystal is what summoned him. Zidane saw him as an extension of Kuja's anger and fear. Kuja attempted to wipe everyone out from existence and hear comes this god-like being of the universe to end all their lives. Vivi had questioned his own existence and this Necron proved to him that he very well exists and to take arms up against the being who wished for it to end for him, his brothers, and his friends.

When the party defeated him it proved the power of hope, love, and the will to live is the more sturdier than a 30ft thick titanium wall.
Well they shoudlve said that in the game

So i guess it was bad writing

No, bad writing is explaining why something is symbolic, which is exactly what Necron was.

The big FF IX story flaw was that most characters started to lack importance less then half way through the game, and seemed more like tag-alongs, albeit highly interesting and entertaining Tag-alongs.
Im all for Subtlety and symbolism but symbols shouldnt come up completely at random without any explanation of why theyre there besides *I AM AGAINST EXISTANCE, NOW I SHALL DESTROY YOU*!! It was a ridiculus change from the rest of the game.

[black orb]

>>> Right now, Final Fantasy..:luca:

[NeoCracker]

Nah Necron made plenty sense. He represented life, existence itself. After Kuja destroyed the crystal and tried to take everyone's life along with his, Necron emerged to remove the universe out of existence. Destroying the crystal is what summoned him. Zidane saw him as an extension of Kuja's anger and fear. Kuja attempted to wipe everyone out from existence and hear comes this god-like being of the universe to end all their lives. Vivi had questioned his own existence and this Necron proved to him that he very well exists and to take arms up against the being who wished for it to end for him, his brothers, and his friends.

When the party defeated him it proved the power of hope, love, and the will to live is the more sturdier than a 30ft thick titanium wall.
Well they shoudlve said that in the game

So i guess it was bad writing

No, bad writing is explaining why something is symbolic, which is exactly what Necron was.

The big FF IX story flaw was that most characters started to lack importance less then half way through the game, and seemed more like tag-alongs, albeit highly interesting and entertaining Tag-alongs.
Im all for Subtlety and symbolism but symbols shouldnt come up completely at random without any explanation of why theyre there besides *I AM AGAINST EXISTANCE, NOW I SHALL DESTROY YOU*!! It was a ridiculus change from the rest of the game.

It didnt' change the tone at all. The entirety of the struggle against Kuja and Garland is a fight to prove the validity of their existence, as it were. When Kuja destroys the crystal, Necron comes as at he embodiement of all that they have been fighting since the very beginning, the very will to see the end of them.

I'm really wondering what you think the actual tone of the game was now. :p

[Wolf Kanno]

I think you are missing blackmage_nuke's point NeoCracker. Its not about symbolism and change of tone as much as it was the fact the final boss is a literal 11th hour villain. At least CoD and Zemus had a bit of villain time instead before the big final battle. The fact the Ultimania is required to even understand why the guy is there is pretty bad as well in terms of writing.

[NeoCracker]

Except you don't need the Ultimania to understand why he's there, you just need to read his dialogue. :p

[Wolf Kanno]

Why he's in the game :p

[Shoeberto]

The Metal Gear Solid games.

Okay, so MGS1 and Snake Eater were damn fine examples of how to write self-contained stories that also lend themselves well to the overall continuity. Sons of Liberty and Guns of the Patriots, however, were examples of how too much retconning, deus ex machinas and overzealous plot decisions can make a story exhausting. I haven't played anything other than 1-4, and I love the overarching story, but the way the deceptions and plot twists and all that stack up by the time I finished MGS4, I was wishing Kojima would just tone it down a lot.

Actually... MGS1 and 3 did far more retconning than 2 and 4. MGS1 rewrote a lot of MG and especially MG2, while MGS3 rewrote most of what was established about Big Boss in the first three Metal Gear titles. Hell any game that stars Big Boss pretty much retcons the timeline.

Beyond that, I will agree that MGS2 took the series into a weird direction by being a bloated conspiracy theory with an Evangelion inspired finale but to be fair to MGS4, it was a title trying to tie all the pieces together and it had to drop into some weird territory to connect the titles and bring a conclusion to Solid Snake's story. Its not really as bad as MGS2 was, even if 4 did have a lot of questionable story elements. I'm just surprised it was all worked together into something coherent, I was worried it was going to drop into a VR "it was all just a dream" cop out ending so what transpired really did work out for the best imho.
Haha, good point. I'm glad it didn't degrade into that, either. Mostly I thought it was silly having Big Boss still be alive but aside from that, you are right. It did a pretty good job of tying it all together - I guess the long-winded nature was a result of the other games messing up the continuity a good bit.

[Skyblade]

Pokemon, i love it but holly c@&$% it'd be nice if i had a better goal than just catching all the pokemon and beating the champion. how about some convoluted conspiracy by a government agency (or a government of any kind for that matter, lol), or a war about to break out between two of the towns.

The Gamecube games were definitely the best written of the Pokemon series. They cut out a lot of stuff (gyms, HMs, random battles), but what was left was surprisingly well done. I still wish Nintendo would make another game continuing the saga of the Shadow Pokemon.

Most recent Square-Enix games. Their writing has just gotten terrible lately. I mean, heck, even their games that I've loved, like FFTA2, suffer from some serious writing problems.

[Jessweeee♪]

Final Fantasy? My God have none of you played a Star Ocean game? I just finished one not too long ago and it was really terrible. The battles were pretty fun, but the writing...just...ugh. I thought maybe it was the black sheep of the series and took at look at the others, but no, they're all pretty terrible. If we're talking about giving a series better writing let's give it to the ones that really really need it. Not the ones that are pretty good but not perfect :(

[Wolf Kanno]

That's just a Tri-Ace thing, almost all of their games have pretty awful writing and it doesn't help their VA work is pretty bad too...

[DK]

So massively disagree about Mega Man X series, I couldn't give a :bou::bou::bou::bou: how crap the stories were, hell the less care given the better afaic. All that matters is the gameplay being incredibly rage inducing, and Zero being a harbinger of destruction. Series is perfect as it is.

[Flying Arrow]

Final Fantasy? My God have none of you played a Star Ocean game? I just finished one not too long ago and it was really terrible. The battles were pretty fun, but the writing...just...ugh. I thought maybe it was the black sheep of the series and took at look at the others, but no, they're all pretty terrible. If we're talking about giving a series better writing let's give it to the ones that really really need it. Not the ones that are pretty good but not perfect :(

I've tried to block SO out of my memory. Now that you've reminded me, I'd like to change my vote.

[The Space Pope]

Fallout, but I'll stick with FO3 since more than 6 people have played it.

The game had a good idea for a plot but it was executed terribly imo, and James dying had zero impact. I really didn't find any of the characters all that interesting outside of Mr. Crowley and Mr. Burke, though a lot of the minor characters got a laugh out of me.

Then of course half the Fallout canon is contradicted in this game which makes for horrible continuity (not that I care, personally). Slightly related, depending on how you played, characters would talk to you about things that you either never did or didn't even happen yet, which kind of :bou::bou::bou::bou:s on the whole "choose your own adventure" idea.

Speaking of which, the DLCs. Broken Steel awkwardly tries to expand on the story but erases any things you may have done as an evil character. Not blowing up Raven Rock yet Liberty Prime does while you were comatose and tainted Aqua Pura not having anywhere close to the effect that Eden was talking about. The biggest one of course is that you can't join the Enclave, even if you do everything in their favor :(. And since when does Radiation poisoning make you slip into a coma for two weeks, only to recover with no negative effects? Point Lookout had a nice little side story to it but nothing that Bethesda didn't do in Shivering Isles. Never bothered with the other DLCs though since they seem to be nothing beyond reskinned items and more bugs.

I did like the little bits of information and background in the various terminals, and the hidden dialogue options for many characters. Having to somehow convince NPCs to reveal information to you rather than randomly blurt it out made the interactions feel a bit more worthwhile.

Another thing is...we...ll.....I...uh...................................

Whoops, must've froze.