Examples of Great Writing in CRPGs

[Guard Dog]

There is no way around it. For a CRPG to be any good it MUST have a well written hook, good story, interesting characterization, and sharp dialogue. Game play mechanics are not enough to save a CRPG. If you think about the really good games, they follow the novel formula point by point. Introduction, conflict, rising action, climax, falling action, conclusion. But as important as good writing is, it is so rare in games today. That is the reason why we still talk about Torment now almost ten years later. That is why we still play BG over an over. Good writing is what separates NWN2 from Dungeon Siege. It's why you remember and replay one, and remove the other and sell it on eBay.

 

So what are some examples from games you have played where the writing was just exceptional? It can be a particular character that was well written, a particular dialogue string, subplot, character back story, or something else that impressed you.

 

For me the one that made the biggest impression was the first conversation between TNO and Deionarra's ghost in the mortuary in Torment. Up to that point I was wondering what the heck that game was about, a why was I playing it. After reading that and hearing her fore telling, I was hooked. That has to be one of the best hooks in any game I've played.

Edited August 7, 2007 by Guard Dog

[Tale]

The hooks of Baldur's Gate 2 for me were Minsc and Irenicus. Irenicus just has that classic villain feel to him that's not too cheesy, but keeps him memorable. Minsc is funny and I feel everything needs good humor.

 

The hook for Torment for me was the writing on your back. You're no farmboy out to save the world, you're just trying to get some memories back using clues scrawled into your own flesh.

 

I don't think this discussion should be limited to CRPGs. Just so long as we don't get confused between games we like for reasons other than story that attempt a story and games we like for their story. It's a harder distinction to make than it seems.

 

The game with the absolute biggest hook for me was Xenogears. I've raved about it in multiple threads, I rave about it practically every chance I get. My personal photo is a major character from this game. The hooks for me in that game are nearly countless. My first hooks were the mingling of sci-fiction and more traditional fantasy. Your character starts off little more than a simple youth in a village. Then the giant robots appear and start fighting each other! Then a mystery begins. The way the writers weaved Christian Gnosticism, science fiction, fantasy, and abnormal psychology into a unified epic really appealed to me. The stories that appeal to me most have a depth of well written backstory and I would be challenged, and challenge others, to find one with a deeper backstory than the one Xenogears presents. It goes back nearly to the dawn of human life on that planet and still feels personal. Because the back story of the hero, heroine, and villain reaches that far back without turning into a prophecy.

 

Despite the wide spread of opinions of the game, I also include Final Fantasy VII in my games with a great story. The back story may not be as deep as Xenogears, but it is deep. It also breaches into abnormal psychological considerations. Many games are satisfied to simply define a character's personality. Final Fantasy VII and Xenogears actually give explanations for why the character is how they are and they do it beyond the cliched conventions. Sephiroth is arguable in that regard, but Cloud I would never consider that way. He's a character whose personality was all based on a lie he convinced himself of.

[Monte Carlo]

I think that the IWD2 backstory idea was underrated. I liked the reverse ethnic-cleansing parable, it was original for a fantasy CRPG and worked as a generic back-drop for a game not centred on a single player character. The efficacy of the writing / story to what the game seeks to achieve is the point.

 

Oh, and of course, most of the dialogue of JA2. Priceless.

[Aram]

There is a hell of a lot of work to writing a good RPG. Not only does the backstory need to be good, but so do these massive pages upon pages of character dialogue. Every character needs a detailed history and personality. And then there's these endless, hundreds and hundreds of sidequests. Sidequests totally unrelated to the main plot typically make up the majority of American RPGs. Each one needs its own engaging to story and characters to hold the player's interest. If they're just generic quests that don't give the player a reason to want to finish them besides a generic reward of exp or money, the game will not be good no matter how deep the overall story is. The sidequests become to repetitive, and the player gets bored.

 

The best example I can think of is Planescape Torment again. Every sidequest felt important somehow. Each was unique, and had a unique and engaging subplot to go with it. One quest actually involved you simply walking from one end of a small area to the other and back again to deliver a message between two people. Somehow it was still interesting, and though there were ten or twenty quests almost exactly like this, they each felt unique. That's my idea of good writing in an RPG.

[Meshugger]

- When you first meet Deionarra in Planescape: Torment

- The writings on the walls at your own maze in Planescape: Torment

- Bah, almost everything in Torment was well written

- Most of the characters in Vampire: Bloodlines were really well written

- S.H.O.D.A.N.'s taunting in System Shock 2

- Kreia in KotOR 2 had her moments

- Deus Ex had a pretty simple conspiracy-story, but the characters were very mature. Arguing with the A.I. at Morgan Everett's home in Paris is a personal favourite of mine.

 

I probably forgot some of final fantasies and other RPG's, i was too impressed with PS:T, so everything else is easily forgotten.

[Blarghagh]

Baldur's Gate's replayability also resides in it's choices and huge amounts of content. I've replayed the game several time, once I had a savegame that said I spent 200 hours on it, yet I am almost certain that I still missed plenty of sidequests, dialogue and character interaction. For example, I only recently found out about the way Jan Jansen and Minsc interact, simply because I had never used them together.

[Arkan]

Anachronox was an example of good writing that didn't take itself to seriously.

[Zoma]

Anachronox has awesome NPCs in terms of strangeness. Right next to PS:T.

 

I mean, how many games has a shrunken planet as your PC which uses its Orbital defence system to perform its attacks? Magnificent!

[GreasyDogMeat]

I loved Anachronox. Along with Chrono Trigger, it was the only Japenese style RPG that really hooked my interest with great areas, music, fun characters and stories that didn't take themselves seriously. I found myself actually lol multiple times during cutscenes and the characters were all so unique and enjoyable. My only complaint was the 'to be continued' ending that, obviously, wont be continued.

 

Another thing both games did was to pull a few attempts at tear jerkers, which actually succeeded in a few ways because they break up the humor of the stories and situations, but at the same time didn't take it too far.

 

Planescape Torment stands out as the best example of great writing in a CRPG. It is really hard to pick the best examples in PS:T. It was one of the only CRPGs that was able to carry itself in many spots with writing alone. That says a lot.

 

The worst example of writing for me was Temple of Elemental Evil. The dialogue was bad, but what made it truely awful was the voice acting. It literally sounded like Troika had gone out on the streets and said: "Hey! You! You wanna make 30 bucks? Come in here and read these lines!". I know ToEE was a remake of an old module, I LOVE remakes of old modules, but you don't have to leave the dialogue as bad as it was and not updating the writing.

[Musopticon?]

If you played TOEE as a pnp session simulation attempt(and brought your own snacks) it was pretty spot on, "voice acting" included.

[Spider]

If you played TOEE as a pnp session simulation attempt(and brought your own snacks) it was pretty spot on, "voice acting" included.

 

Clearly the standards of roleplaying are quite low in Finland. If anyone in my playgroup sounded as dull and uninspired as the NPCs in ToEE I'd have quit playing with them a long time ago. If anyone sounded like Zaxis (or whatever his name was) I'd probably be in jail for murder by now.

[GreasyDogMeat]

'Voice acting' like ToEE might be acceptable in a PNP group sitting around a table, but it shouldn't be acceptable in a video game rendition with supposed production quality.

 

As bad as the voice acting was, I DID enjoy the music. I thought the Hommlet tune was particularly soothing.

[Tigranes]

For me the one that made the biggest impression was the first conversation between TNO and Deionarra's ghost in the mortuary in Torment. Up to that point I was wondering what the heck that game was about, a why was I playing it. After reading that and hearing her fore telling, I was hooked. That has to be one of the best hooks in any game I've played.

 

I remember playing Torment when I was 13; the fella (thirty-something) assured me that it was a lot better than BG2, which I had wanted to borrow. I got up to the TNO-Deionarra thing, and I remember.. not being daunted by the amount of text, exactly (I like reading), but hopping through the options like I was trying to fit together a puzzle. Guessing at what the 'best' answer is, and trying to extract most loot/info then move on. But the dialogue wasn't really kind to that kind of mechanisation, and I remember being quite frustrated. I wandered around the Hive a bit, but foundi t the same, and quit.

 

Picked it up later, around... 16? After BGs/NWN, when I was hunkerin' for CRPGs and decided to try PS:T and Fallout. I approached the same dialogues with a lot more relaxed approach, and I was rewarded. For me, though, the hook wasn't Deionarra's dialogue but Mourns-for-Trees in the hive; that was when I really understood how unique and fantastic the gameworld was.

 

Meanwhile, I thought BG2's opening sequence was pretty well done, mainly because Irenicus' VO was masterful. I never got 'hooked' on KOTOR, JE or NWN1; for Fallout it was Marcus in Broken Hills reminiscing about the Master.

[Zoma]

I loved Anachronox. Along with Chrono Trigger, it was the only Japenese style RPG that really hooked my interest with great areas, music, fun characters and stories that didn't take themselves seriously. I found myself actually lol multiple times during cutscenes and the characters were all so unique and enjoyable. My only complaint was the 'to be continued' ending that, obviously, wont be continued.

 

I suddenly have the strangest desire, HOPING Obsidian would buy the Anachronox IP from Eidos.

[GreasyDogMeat]

That would be awesome.

 

Oh, for those who have never played Anachronox and have no intention of trying it... but still might have some interest... here is Anachronox the movie. (Basically they took all of the cutscenes of Anachronox and spliced them together to make a machinima)

 

http://www.machinima.com/films.php?id=231

 

It is not complete, they did cut out a few good scenes... like the sock eating prophet.

[Lare Kikkeli]

Aside from Torment, some NPC's in BG2 including Irenicus and the Fallouts there hasn't been any memorable CRPG writing. Then again i've never played Bloodlines or Arcanum more than a few hours. It's sad isn't it, that all of my favourite games have been done my more or less the same group of developers

[Pop]

I thought KOTOR2's writing was pretty well done. Kreia was a good villain. The VOs were generally good as well, although I kind of wished they had got somebody other than Ben Stein for Bao-Dur.

[Rosbjerg]

BG1 & 2 + TOB, KOTOR1 & 2 stands out in my memory as some of the best acted games and most well written all in all.

 

But best story I've ever experienced is The Longest Journey - I felt very drawn in to the universe, the characters and the story was well crafted and well told/delivered. Inspiring game on all levels. Only drawback was that the puzzels could get a bit tedious.

[Guard Dog]

KOTOR2 was pretty well written from top to bottom. But the part that sticks out to me was the cutscene where the LS Exile confronts the 3 jedi masters on Dantooine and Kreia intervenes. She reveals why the exile turned his/her back on the force. That was so well done, and so not Star Wars in theme which made it good.

[Guard Dog]

And of course, you have to mention HK-47s entire dialouge tree in KOTOR. Anyone know who wrote that part?

[Spider]

David Gaider iirc.

[St_Jimmy]

The first 2/3 of Indigo Prophecy.

Then I realized that a video game could never have a story as good as a movie or a book, because the plot completely dies once the police are chasing you.

 

Then I regained faith through Deus Ex.

Edited August 8, 2007 by St_Jimmy

[Tale]

Fable!

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[Musopticon?]

Deus Ex(I keep writing "Desu sex") and PS:T are the only crpgs I've actually felt like I was involved in something, rather than being a stats-inventory construct that the player uses to take part in a kiosk fantasy novel. IWD 2 and BG 2 had moments of that involvement as well, but I haven't actually played BG 1 beyond Cloakwood and never even touched IWD 1 or any expansions for any IE games, so don't take my word for something substantial.

Edited August 8, 2007 by Musopticon?

[Dark_Raven]

BG 1 & 2, both Kotors, Bloodlines and the Fallout games had good writing.

 

NWN struck out and NWN2 was forgettable.