Best story in a video game?

[Karamaru]

Vampire the Masqerade for its world and atmosphere anyone played the ghost house section?

Baldurs gate serie I wish they would streamline this game for the modern era because people need to experience this story.

[Aeula]

Witcher, The Mass effect trilogy, Enderal (Skyrim mod, but really well done and game-sized) are the first three titles to come to mind.

The Last of Us was quite good too.

[ZazuuPriest]

Final Fantasy Tactics. The original one or the War of the Lions PSP version, not the compromised shitshow that was Final Fantasy Tactics Advance for the gameboy turds

[Fkiolaris]

The Secret World. I'd fucking kill for Funcom to turn the IP into a franchise exploring the stories of the game-world through all different types of games from different genre's.

They did a bit with the walking simulator that was The Park and while it wasn't necessarily a great game, it was definitely fun to get more of a peak into the stories surrounding one of the iconic locations of TSW.

I came here to say exactly this. I was genuinely amazed by how good the story is in TSW, even though I acknowledge that it is partly because I wasn't really expecting much (being an MMO and all). It's B2P now and you can get it very cheap from third party sellers, so give it a go if you have the chance.

For single-player games, the last one to really impress me was Dragon Age Origins

[AetherMcLoud]

KOTOR

/thread

[Turina]

If you're looking for a JRPG:
Final Fantasy VII - Ignore all of the expanded universe. Ignore the naysayers. Ignore the fanboys. Ignore the hype, and ignore the people saying it is overrated. Play the PC version since it has a slightly cleaner translation (and you'll need it). Play the game, and focus on it for what it is. It's one of the best RPGs of all time. It has everything - great characters, a good (although convoluted) story, great interaction between the characters, and a lot of references, jokes and social commentaries that are both relevant and only noticeable by adults. The kind of stuff that Square doesn't do anymore.
Chrono Trigger - The pinnacle of what a 16-bits JRPG can be. Made by an all-stars team, this is one of those games that are just mind-blowing and will require you to sit and experience it fully. Many endings, many roads, many storylines.
Final Fantasy VI - Together with CT, FFVI represents the pinnacle of a genre. Very powerful moments. Takes a very dark tone after a while like FFVII. Whether it's the best FF or not I think it's fair to say FFVI is the most polished Final Fantasy when it comes down to the raw experience (definitely not the most polished when it comes down to bugs though) that Square wanted to provide you. Much like FFVII the story takes some twisted turns.

The above games are pretty much the only ones that have any chance of impressing you either with plot twists or narrative elements that you will NOT find very often in modern (or older) games. I mean, one of these games has a player character try to commit suicide halfway into the game for what is worth.

If you're looking for a JRPG with politics:
Final Fantasy Tactics - The reference for Strategy JRPGs. Opened up a can of worms with the first (I think) shared universe Square-Enyx did and a bunch of spinoffs. Play the original.
Suikoden 2 - Great soundtrack. The storyline is pretty powerful if you can get yourself immersed into it. I'll be honest though, it might be hard to get into it if you're not a JRPG fan. If you are, then it's one of the best non-final fantasy games from the golden age of JRPGs.


If you're looking for a Western Top-view RPG:
Baldur's Gate 2 - Pretty much the go-to. The story is okay conceptually, but it has a fantastic delivery because both BG2 and its expansion revolve around character studies and they do great in that department. The gameplay is also excellent if you enjoy the genre, a slog if you don't.
Planescape Torment - Very hard to swallow if you're not used to the graphics. It looks and feels considerably more dated than BG2. However this game has one of the best fantasy stories ever written for a video-game, both in the concept and in the delivery. Like FF6/7 it has some... interesting elements that are not very common in video-games.

These two should be your priorities. The games derived from these (Dragon Age, Pillars of Eternity) are great and better in many ways but I don't think they'll offer you anything new if you're looking for story. In particular, I'm recommending these two games because they're fantastic character studies the likes of which very few games modern or old are, and they vastly supersede every other RPG I can think in that specific department.

If you want an FPS:
Bioshock Series - They're very polished experiences as most people have mentioned. The stories are not my cup of tea but there are very good plot twists and the delivery is top-notch.

----------------------------
A lot of these recommendations have different weights depending on your age. I think some games had a very specific timing... if you're young you might not have the stomach to play some of these older outdated games. If you're older on the other hand some of these games might not be as appealing as they would have been if you had experienced them at the time.

If you're a bit older and polish alone won't appeal to you because you don't want more of the same, I'd say go with Planescape Torment and FFVII for RPGs if you can stomach the games looking dated, and The Last of Us and Life is Strange for graphic adventures.

[Poppincaps]

The Last of Us.

A lot of the games listed here have great stories for a video game. The Last of Us has such a good story that it could be made into a movie and win awards.

Bioshock and Infinite are also great examples. To the people saying Mass Effect... I think you're confusing the characters and the story. The characters in Mass Effect are superb, but the story in the series except for ME1 is nothing to write home about.

[Deleted]

Enderal - Free mod for Skyrim with complete new world, fully voiceacted characters and epic storyline.

Best story in a game i experienced in years.

[Merie]

Final Fantasy Tactics.

[Gorsameth]

Planescape Torment

[Vintersol]

Deus Ex 1 & Human Revolution

[FobManX]

Mass Effect
Dragon Age: Origins
Star Wars: KOTOR

[bison91]

You're... You're kidding... Right? Please tell me you're kidding...

no . besides cool gameplay it has a nice story.

[dwightyo39]

Bro! The Legacy of Kain Series & Castlevania Lords of Shadow 1 & 2
You're most pleasantly welcome for these great hours of gaming ur guna get here

I was going to say Soul Reaver: Legacy of Kain. I really enjoyed Castlevania LoS (never played part 2), but after playing through once, never played it again.

[Schattenlied]

no . besides cool gameplay it has a nice story.

Cool gameplay? Oh lord... BF4's campaign was a bug riddled trainwreck.

[Lotus Victoria]

Planescape: Torment was the best game I've ever read. The gameplay is total garbage, but the story is incomparable.

[Deleted]

Mass Effect, Bioshock and Dragon Age are some of my favourites

[paralleluniverse]

Life is Strange.

Nothing else is remotely close.

[Kathandira]

Final Fantasy 3/6. Easily my favorite story in any video game I have ever played. And I played it when it was released (i'm old).

- - - Updated - - -

Final Fantasy Tactics.

Tactics is one of my top 10 favorite games of all time. Everything about it was amazing. Gameplay, Music, Story, Art, all of it!

But I still feel FF3/6 had a better story.

[Reclaimer]

Divinity: Original Sin
Final Fantasy 9
Dragon Age 1
Xenogears
Breath of Fire 3
Lunar : Sliver Star Story
Golden Sun 1 & 2
Bulletstorm ( Yes, 100% for real )