The pieces that most emotionally changed you, the ones that made you care for these fake, fictional characters. The ones that stuck with you most, and impacted you. Or ones that ya just enjoyed. I dunno, but my choices are:
. Telltales the walking dead (season one and two so far)
. Firewatch
. Valiant hearts
. Halo reach
Now for you! I'd sure like to hear your favorite video game experiences!

 

It might be just recency bias, but Final Fantasy VII Remake is damned near groundbreaking in many ways. I mean, there's the controversial story elements that are tearing the internet apart, yes, but there's near-unanimous consensus on how amazingly the characters are handled. With every line they utter and every expression and gesture they make, you can just feel the emotions they carry radiate off of them. Every character introduced will be your new favourite, first for how much nostalgia they manage to harness in the first few seconds of meeting them, and then with just how well they read and interact and feel like they could be real people placed into extraordinary circumstances.

One of my favourite pieces of "ambient" storytelling, in contrast, is courtesy of Prince of Persia (2008). You just get lost in the setting, and getting to know the only companion by your side, and it's just magical.

Most entertaining storytelling? Off the top of my head, I'm gonna go with Portal/2. Simultaneously immersive, hilarious, and thought-provoking. Really has a way of sticking with you.

 

Portal has a great narrative and I'm still peeved that Valve can't count to 3. Someone needs to get them to catch up on Sesame Street  


I loved the major plot reveal in Knights of the Old Republic that

Spoiler

the player is Revan

In Assassin's Creed III, for the opening revelation regarding Haytham I had pretty much the same reaction as Desmond - "Wait... what…?"

I loved the story of Assassin's Creed Rogue because it put a new perspective on the whole mythology.

 

I have to admit I absolutely loved RAID SHADOW LEGENDS!!!!!

 

Probably MGS3

 

I know it's not emotional but the final Codec conversation in Metal Gear Solid 2 due to how prophetic it was.

 

I like a good dark badass dad story
The Last of Us
Witcher 3
God of War (PS4)

MGS 3 has one of the beat game stories ever too.
Borderlands 2 is great.

 

That's why I like telltales the walking dead season one so much. Lee is freaking awesome

 

Supergiant games does pretty well with storytelling. Bastion and Transistor are both master classes in telling a touching story in an action rpg.

Final Fantasy Tactics is one of my personal favorites. There’s a GoT level depth buried in the game. It’s focused on Ramza and Delita, but you can really research the hell out of the War of the Lions that is playing out in the background. And the final fates of Ramza and Delita are well done.

Among the Final Fantasy main series games FFVI is arguably the best though. There’s so much there and it’s very well done.

 

Ya Season one was amazing. Lee is the highlight of that series heck maybe the best TWD character including comics and show.

 

Agreed. Him and Kenny. Both extremely well written and fleshed out characters. Two of my most favorite in all of fiction maybe!

 

The subtle use of the setting to allude to the story in half life 2 and portal games is some of my favourite.

The moment in the first portal game when you see that blood and hidden “the cake is a lie” graffiti That made me realise that it was an actual lab setting with a sinister and violent backstory rather than just a inconsequential game/puzzle setting was one of my favourite story telling moments in gaming history.

I have no idea how well it has aged but I remember silent hill 2 having some amazing storytelling and brilliantly sinister characters and moments throughout.

 

I'm more of an oldschool gamer, so Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 6. Back then, what really helped to drive the emotions was the musical score. Back in those days, not very many games would have that kind of emotional impact from the characters and story, so it kind of left it's lasting imprint in my gaming heart.

Metal Gear Solid games and Last of Us are also good ones. I was moved by a good number of the deaths within the Gears of War series.

But seriously, the music in video games is such an important ingredient in the conveying of emotions. I'll be listing to certain songs in my car while driving, and sometimes I will just start crying, thinking about the game. Back when I was younger, the very thought of that was hilarious to me. I had a friend that admitted to me that she would cry sometimes from the music. But here I am, years later, and doing just that. Maybe it was because I had gained some more tragic heartbreaking life experiences.

 

SH2 still holds up. If anything, it keeps getting better with age.

 

The Last Of Us has the best narrative of any game I’ve played.

I also have to agree about Portal and MSG3. I’d nominate Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite, both of which have amazing stories, especially if you analyze the minutiae.

Probably the best story in a Final Fantasy game IMO is FFX. The bittersweet ending really stands out among FF games.

 

My top pics are Witcher 3, Last of Us, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness/Time/Sky, Spider-Man PS4, Batman Arkham Series and the Sly Cooper Series.

 

Assassin's Creed has a few, Odyssey chief among them.

Hollow Knight with its Dark Souls-esque lore, just done in a more appealing style.

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem. Just, the way the stories are told and connected.

Spiderman PS4, for one of the best-written adaptations the character has ever seen. Being in a game makes it all the sweeter.

The Messenger has fantastic storytelling all around. It lures you in on a simple nostalgia trip and by the end? Well... Yowza.

Honorable mention to the Megaman X games. Not my personal gold standard anymore, but its its s a series and a world I love to revisit every now and again.

 

Based purely on story telling, the character's they built up......


John Marston's last stand.


Damn thing near broke me. And the song Dead Man's Gun playing over the end credits afterwards did break me.

 

Oh yeah, definitely. Both rdr games are incredible pieces of story.

 

Halo 1-3. Halo 4 had good emotional moments, while Halo 5 was bleh...
The Sonic games don't have good stories, but really good slow moments that are separated from the goofy moments. My favorite plots in the series are Unleashed due to the friendship between Sonic and Chip, and how Chip matures as a character. Shadow the Hedgehog had a garbage all over the place plot, but seeing him finally part ways with Maria's death is satisfying, it shows they were dedicated so much to the plot to give Shadow his own game to end his arc. Sonic 06 also had a bad story, but any scene involving Shadow is awesome. It shows how he is no longer "who am I, what is my name" and he becomes "If the world turns against me, I'll fight like I always have." Goofy series, good emotional and badass moments.
Spider-Man PS4 I like for being a good story and focusing on a more adult Spider-Man, instead of a teenager.
Walking Dead by TellTale, the plot wasn't as good past seasons 2-4, but I still enjoy the entire series.
Manhunt provides social commentary on alot of the world's problems.
Ultimate Spider-Man game had such a good story, it was actually canon to the comics. Until War of the Symbiotes basically retconned everything, and now the game takes place in it's own separate universe. The comics are in earth-1610 and the game is in earth-trn005. In a way it's canon to the multiverse.
I don't play alot of plot heavy video games. They either lack one, very simple (Mario), are either there to set things up (Doom), or aren't taken that seriously (Sonic Colors and Forces).