The Best and Worst Video Game Plotlines

Even lovers of video games have to admit that many of the plotlines are terrible—and even haters of video games should admit that sometimes, the plotlines are great. Here are the five best and five worst stories the medium has given us.

[Wintersun616]

I'm going to disagree with you on FF XIII plot. The plot was excellent, it's just the way it was presented was horrible. The plot was very understandable and very good if you read the datalog and actually stopped to think what are the characters motives and what's driving them forward. But I can see how easy it would've been to get confused if you didn't take the time to read and digest the datalog. But also I think that if you don't take the time to do that, you shouldn't be calling the plot bad, because it wasn't. It was how they portrayed it, that was bad.

Also mentioning MGS2 as one of the worst stories, but forgetting all about the other MGS games? MGS1, 3 & 4 are easily in my top 10 best video game stories of all time.

[Godmars290]

The fact that XIII's was *presented* badly, requires research as weel as consideration, proves that its a bad story. By contrast FFIV does an excellent job of developing its characters and plot. You don't have to stop and think.

And MGS2 was bad compared to the other entries, especially its ending, because it was like taking acid.

[Wintersun616]

There's a difference between bad storytelling and bad story. FF XIII had bad storytelling but not a bad story.

I know MGS2 wasn't that good compared to the other entries, I was just saying that why weren't any of the other MGS games mentioned in the "best" portion of the article.

[TopDudeMan]

Final fantasy XIII had a good plot, it's just it wasn't told very well. It plunges you straight into that world and you sort of have to stumble across all these definitions of made-up words in the glossary to understand what the hell the characters are talking about.

Other than that, I liked it and I did like the ending.

As for zelda, (I have a limited knowledge in it) how come Ganon keeps coming back?

[Tanir]

zelda's story is almost non existant, basically a hero wakes up, the princess iss captured, he gets the master sword, beats ganon and recycle.

in simpler terms......Mario's story, sept with an elf. zelda isnt played for story, so u basically know the story now, ur welcome lol. and its the same for almost all the games, sept majora's mask and the ds games since all other links are different

[Pozzle]

I don't know...I would definitely argue that FFXIII's story is flawed because the characters motivations and certain plot elements aren't in the actual game itslef, but rather they appear in the datalogs instead. If someone has trouble understanding the game because they didn't read the datalogs, that's not their fault. That's the game's fault.

IMO all the info needed to understand a game's plot should be in the game's plot itself. Not in large text boxes located within the menu. If you can't understand the plot of a game without needing to go to a menu, then I'd definitely argue that that counts as a "bad story".

Imagine playing through a game like (for example) Uncharted, but having to constantly check the menu updates to make sure you haven't missed a plotpoint. It just wouldn't be much fun, let alone a well-done story.

With that being said, FFXIII certainly isn't one of the worst plotlines of all time...even with the need to read everything in the datalogs. I mean, has the article author played a game with an average review score under 6 or 7/10? There are some terrivle/confusing/messy/downr ight ATROCIOUS game plots out there, and FFXIII isn't exactly one of them.

[Tanir]

how can ANYone say that ff13 had a bad story when most people never even finished it? -_- trollism, is contagious on n4g, almost everyone has it now

[Greyfoxdbz]

I've finished it and I think its crap.
The story is uninteresting, the characters are awful except lightening. I mean who wants to hear some wimpy kid with a boomerang for a weapon moan about his mommy for 80% of the game, or how Snow wants to save the world and Serah all the time. It's like they couldn't find anything interesting to fill the gaps. vanille is annoying, Sazh can't keep hold of his kid and has chocobo poop in his hair.
I mean if you don't care about the characters why should you care about the story that revolves around them?

[admiralthrawn87]

Shenmue has a great story.

Uncharted so far is an awesome action/adventure story

[MrSpace]

FF13 had a shit plot...

Admit it....ffs, that's one of the many reasons why it's
hated by the majority of gamers.

Oh and for god sake Tanir we get it you love the game....you think anyone that hates it is a troll or dosen't know any better.

Denial ain't just a river in Egypt you know

[just_sayin]

i thought auto-battle was the reason everyone hated it. Leave Tanir alone stop acting like douche everytime a Xiii article or something about it here u are bashing it. If she enjoyed it then fine. You didn't fine but u troll every article about xiii

[ginsunuva]

Gta best story my a$$

[Quagmire]

Assassin's Creed should be on the list, its probably one of the best narratives this gen has to offer

[coolbeans]

This seemed like a serious article until Dragon Age: Origins. It's about as generic as fantasy games come.

[Sakkaku]

Yeah sorry everyone, but Final Fantasy 13 was a horribly written game and just executed awfully. The funny part about it is that the international version released ANOTHER BLOODY BOOK to "Clear up" plot holes and confusion AFTER WRITING A BOOK FOR YOU TO READ IN THE ORIGINAL GAME!
Though all the fault lies in the director game Motomu Toriyama is horrendous with story lines, in which his past tells everything:
Final Fantasy X-2 Director
Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings Director
Final Fantasy XIII Director
and soon to be Final Fantasy 13-2 (just a warning)

Btw: I don't mind reading text (I played and enjoy lots of rpgs in my life), but if the game requires you to read a encyclopedia to figure out whats going on, it was badly written, and to still be unclear on a few things afterwards is just GARBAGE. (ME and ME2 didn't is all I have to say.)