10 Best Written Video Games

[Silent_Storm]

http://listverse.com/2011/05/09/10-best ... deo-games/

Silent Hill 2 takes third place

Receiving a letter from his wife asking him to come to their special place, James Sunderland becomes drawn to Silent Hill. It is a quiet town they had frequented in the past, before the sickness took her from this life; she’s been dead for three years now. Upon entering Silent Hill, James encounters gruesome monsters and exaggerated versions of humanity, including a girl oblivious to what is happening around her, a man who has killed someone, and a woman who’s a spitting image of his wife, although she is dolled up and does not possess his wife’s subdued behavior. Finding more and more clues that lead to the revelation of the murder of your wife, Silent Hill 2 addresses your problems with analogies and metaphors. Silent Hill isn’t a town, it is your emotional being, and every door and corridor could contain a clue to James’ past, and the further you delve in, the more you must fight the mental blocks that portray him in innocent and culpable lights.

[Piers909]

BioShock, Portal or SH2 should've taken #1 honestly. The original Half Life is a good game but it isn't anything special story wise.

[Typographenia]

Bwahahahahaha! This list is a freaking joke!
Oh man, that was good for a laugh.


The fact that something like ME2 and Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy makes it in the "top ten best written games" completely invalidates this list. Not to mention they didn't even put something like Planescape: Torment on there.
Oh well, good job (I guess) to SH2 for making this list.


Edit: Just saw the honorable mentions section, and the fact that Kingdom Hearts was considered is beyond believable.

[Aerith Gainsborough]

The only game I've played from that list is Silent Hill 2, but my boyfriend says that Mass Effect 2 is a very good game. I need to play it. I won't mention what I think is the best game because everyone here can guess what it is...

[SilentWren]

^Does it have something to do with your screen name, by any chance?

[Aerith Gainsborough]

^Of course. I always use that name, though. I'm not very creative and it helps me remember my username better, but I really like Aerith and FFVII, and FF in general. Ha.

[Violent Corpse]

Don't know about others, but SH2 and SotC truly deserve this. I think that list is seriously missing out, though. All the games listed are pretty good games overall, but not necessarily the BEST WRITTEN games..

[in zero]

I'm surprised there is no Final Fantasy on there, but I'm happy that I've actually finished 5 of the games on the list, three of which are some of my personal favorites. I must be attracted to games with good writing, hmmm..

And SH2 should've been above Half-Life, as much as I love HL.

[amphreded]

Oblivion?
While I agree that there's a lot of efforts put into that game, especially on the lore, but the main storyline did not wow me. Actually, I have already forgotten what it's about.

[PoemOfTheLastMoment]

I'm just sad that silent hil 2 DID NOT make it to the smithsonian institute....

but on the plus side, MGS 1 and 2 made the list!

[Zeraylph]

\I know Nic Swaner

I had no idea he wrote this list.
Silent Hill 2 made the list!!!

hmmmm. I find it very odd why he included Silent Hill 2 on his list.

I used to talk to him about the Silent Hill Series on AIM, and he told me "I was obsessed with the weird games" But He loves Halo and Shadow of the Colosseus quite a lot, and he always thought of the Silent Hill series as very weird and not the kind of game he's interested in playing...

He was wanting me to give him some hints of well written games, and kaboom I sent a wall of text at him.
But I think I somehow influenced/convinced him to put that on his list, since I told him that SH 2 had well thought things, and a very nice story too.
Goody!

Nic is also a very good sig designer LOL. I wish I could design like him.

[SPRINGS02]

Metal gear 2 should of been on there. Also while portal is a great game, i really don't think it should be on that list.

[stopped_clock]

I would disagree with that, I think that Portal is probably one of the most well written games ever. Whilst the story isn't exactly complex or epic in any way, the actual writing is perfect. I've never played a video game with such consistently excellent dialogue.

Not sure how Oblivion got on there though. Sure it's a pretty good game, but I don't see anything special about the writing. I would have thought the original Fallout games, Planescape Torment or The Witcher would have been more appropriate rpg's for this list.

[Zeraylph]

I agree definitely about MGS series
and the classic Fallout 1 - 2.

Those deserve honorable mentions too along with Planetscape.

[KiramidHead]

Yeah, MGS 2 should have gotten on the list or in the honorable mentions simply because of how daring its writing is.

[Violent Corpse]

And MGS 3...

[Doctor Eggnog]

Hmmm, that would be a damn hard list for me to make. Rarely does the WRITING of a game stand out for me. Let's see...

Sly 3 had a lot of witty dialouge.
And...

God it's really hard for me to think about game dialouge without the voices and visuals appearing in my head and making the actual quality of the writing murky! It shouldn't bother me so much but I love making lists. Hm, when I was younger the Final Fantasy games seemed like they had good writing, but now that I've grown up I've noticed a lot of crappy writing in them. Anyway, kudos to MGS and SH2 for making the list. They deserve it... I think ... Pretty sure.

And Aerith G., I used to be a huge FFVII fan, and like many I was affected by "her big scene". HA! I am now the only forumer ever who has mentioned that scene without spoiling it! Yay me!

[Violent Corpse]

The Legacy Of Kain series.

[clips]

I thought Heavy Rain was written pretty well....i think it would've been superb if they would've tweaked and polished the plot just a little bit more. I loved Ethan's character...i felt his pain throughout the entire game...and the romance scene could've been a bit more rewarding if they would have built it up a bit more...at any rate i thought this game should've been up there.

[EndlessDark]

Old topic I know but I really can't believe Shadow of the Colossus is on it. It's a visually gorgeous game and morally ambiguous but since hardly anyone talks and there's very little actual story I don't think it should get a writing credit.