Look here.
What games have awesome writing?
Printable View
Look here.
What games have awesome writing?
I love good dialogue. I hear Modern Warfare 2 has a good script.
Final Fantasy IX, MGS3.
Deus Ex has my personal favourite writing in any game, I love the dialogue that takes place between some of the characters, like JC and the Morpheus AI. It also has some amusing lines, like the classic "What a shame".
Final Fantasy Tactics remake and Final Fantasy 12 helloooo.
Final Fantasy VII (with a few translation errors I admit)
Final Fantasy VIII
Actually most FFs really - but those are the one I thought had the best - IX is pretty close.
Hmmm... well Uncharted 2 received near universal acclaim for its writing last year and playing/seeing the game multiple times it probably is one of the best put together scripts in gaming history.
Brian Cox's performance as Scolar Visari in Killzone 2 still gives me chills to this day, Visari is probably the all-time greatest fictional charismatic dictator in the history of video games.
The Metal Gear games have always been very well written to me, despite perceived convolution of the last game, it's still one of my all time favorite stories. I think the themes as well as characters and plot are all on a level video games are really overlooked for.
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Psychonauts win the thread.
I agree with the guy above me. Tim Schafer games and the Uncharted series have some of the best writing in any game.
Final Fantasy games are known for quality story telling, NOT for its writing. They all have horribly cheesy dialogue, even despite the terrible translations, but that sometimes is part of the charm. Especially when it's all text, and you're not actually "hearing" the cheese.
Oh, and, just for the record, you heard wrong. Modern Warfare 2 is a Michael Bay movie. From big exploding set pieces right down to its writing.
Edit by Kishi: Please edit your post rather than double-posting.
I'm probably gonna sound really fan-boyish, but I still think that the later FF games have astounding writing - The Earlier ones have it too, but most of it gets lost in the translation (that's not to say that the later ones don't have translation fluffs aswell - there is a whole project in the FFVII board for just that), but for the most part the dramatic moments actually made me feel the way the game clearly made me feel - it didn't matter that the were no voices because I could "hear" it as I read it, I personally believe the FF games were actually more "alive" without Voice Actors - It's just my opinion, but there you go.
I really enjoyed Assassin's Creed II's writing and dialog, and the voice acting was quite good as well. Really though, it's Command and Conquer Red Alert 3. Come on people. Seriously. Freaking Tim Curry, George Takei, and Jonathan Pryce.
Mass Effect 1 and 2, Dragon Age Origins (and I'm going to assume Awakenings here) Fallout 3, Gears of War 1 and 2 (pretty much 2 very solid games on all fronts here)
From the ff series I'd disagree with the writing of VII maybe the Japanese comes of better but the english version I felt was a let down in comparison to some of the other titles, I think that FFIX had an excelently written story however it did take a player to actually sit down, relax and take their time to truly enjoy the story.
I kind of got that with VII - I realize that it lost things in the translation, but I actually played the game consectivly - so I saw it from both angles - for example when on my second play though I knew what "clones" were so I could scrtutinize things more clearly - like for example the second time I played (or maybe third) I realized that (SPOILER)some of "clones" are the Nibelheim towns people.
But Yeah, FFIX had a great storyline, but I also feel that VII and VIII did.
FFT, Lunar SSSC, and Suikoden II have some of the best writing I've seen in a game. Every Suikoden except IV has good writing, though (some of the plot developments of IV made me *facepalm*).
Okage: Shadow King
The Mass Effect games.
Chrono Trigger.
Golden Sun.
Fire Emblem (the first US GBA one had the best, but several of the others had good writing as well).
Vagrant Story.
Shouldn't a Monkey Island game or two be mentioned? Or Grim Fandango or something? And from what I hear, Planescape: Torment took Baldur's Gate's storytelling and dialogue to the next level. I've heard some people rave over the System Shock games. And original Fallout. Though pretty much anything Black Isle/BioWare/Obsidian is basically a shoe-in. I'm trying to think of that other PC game everyone loved back in the day...
Monkey Island.
I dunno if it was the writing or the acting, but I loved how Jade was delivered in Beyond Good and Evil <3
grand theft auto
Demon Stone was written by R. A. Salvatore xD
I'll second the Mass Effect mention and throw in FFXIII.
EDIT: I also second/third/fourth/fifth/whateverth Uncharted 2, which probably beats the two others, now that I think about it.