A video game's story is the most important component for me. Even if the gameplay is fantastic, I'll probably only really get invested if it if the story is well done. Games like RPG's have always been among my favorites because of their great story telling. These are my absolute favorite stories from any game. The games listed here will have the best stories I've ever experienced. 

*Spoilers to be expected for any game listed in here*

Batman: Arkham City

Batman quickly worked its way into this list. I was immediately captured by the setting. The concept of putting Batman into a city full of his greatest villains was genius. It allowed all the villains to play a big part in the story, but still focus on the Joker. The story was about the Joker the whole game, but there are so many little subplots that are equally interesting. The gang war between Penguin and Joker, Mr. Freeze and his capturing, Ra's Al Ghul and Talia Al Ghul, and several others. All these stories come together to weave a remarkable tale about the Joker and his impending death. The only cure is made by Freeze, but alas at the end, some of the best plot twists in a video game are created. 

Spoiler for Arkham City Start Here

Ra's Al Ghul is actually the Villain, not Strange, and he is the one behind Protocol 10, a plan to wipe out the City. Ra's kills Strange and then kills himself as Strange destroys the building. Then Joker, who supposedly has been cured invites Batman to a theater, or Talia gets killed. Talia kills the Joker while he is distracted, but it turns out that Joker was actually Clayface. The real Joker, who is actually still dying, then shoots Talia and demands the cure for his disease. Batman defeats Clayface and destroys the Lazarus pit. Batman debates giving the cure to Joker, but Joker jumps him and smashes the cure, which Batman has already taken. Joker looks at him, and slowly starts to die. Batman says even after all Joker did, he still would have given him the cure. Joker soon dies and Batman carries him out the City in one of the most touching moments of any game I have ever played. You really feel for Batman. Joker was his enemy, but it was almost as if he can't live without Joker. The Yin to his Yang, so to say. It is expertly told and expertly presented. 

Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic

Knights of the Old Republic was really my first introduction into the Western RPG world. I couldn't have been happier that it was. I am a big star Wars fan, and always found the tale to be quite fascinating. KOTOR managed to give me that same feeling, but in a video game. The characters really felt as if they were people. Carth struggled with his personal feelings of betrayel. Mission and Zaalbar really felt like a team, Bastila was cold, but also caring at times. They all had interesting dynamics and interacted will with each other. Then the big one. 

Spoilers Start Here

You find out that you are Revan. Darth Revan, one of the most powerful Sith Lords, was thought to have been killed, but Malak reveals that you are actually Darth Revan, You memory was erased and you have been trained to be a Jedi now. That moment left pretty much everyone floored. I was like, no way. Your telling me I am Darth Revan. It was such a shock and still one of the greatest twists in history. 

Then the ending. You can be Light or Dark. Bastila has been converted to the dark side and will convince you it is the way to go. If you go light, you will turn Bastila back to the Light Side and Kill Malak. Ending the Sith reign. You will be known as the Revanchist. The bad ending however is more exciting. You will join Bastila, kill your friends, and then even make your Wookie ally kill his best friend. It is twisted, but very exciting. You kill all of your friends and then march on Malak and kill him as a well, thus taking over the Sith reign. It is quite interesting. 

Kingdom Hearts

The story is weird. It is almost intangable really. I understand this. But that is part of what I love about it. The concept of Disney and Final Fantasy mixing together is weird, almost dumb. Yet it works perfectly. The blend of Disney charm, but still a serious overlying story is done remarkably. All of the Disney World have their own stories, usually a twist or even a direct re-telling of a popular Disney story. Yet there is a bigger story revolving around hearts and this place called Kingdom Hearts. The first games story is fairly simple, bad guy, you fight him, kill him, save the say, but the second game gives a lot more complexity. It introduces a group of XIII people, that actually includes other people who aren't members, but are, and things like that. It becomes weird, but still awesome. 

If you really play all of the games, then you can kind of follow it. It is weird, but the Organization XIII, Ansem, the Disney characters, and the Final Fantasy characters all add to the charm and the complexity of the story. It is really deep and creative. Its hard to explain my love of the story, but most people who've played it will agree that it is interesting. 

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

The game that pretty much revolutionized story telling in a video game. This game made you feel emotions you probably never felt in a game. This game showed that a game can tell a story, and that it can be an experience, not just a game. The characters never speak, only through text, and your main character doesn't even do that. Yet still this game tells more of a story than some games that are fully voice acted. 

Potential Spoilers, but if you never played this game, correct your life. 

The story is quite simple. Zelda is a princess, Link is her savior, Ganondorf is the villain.  The game is so much more than that though. It utilizes time travel very well. The first time you see Link draw the Master Sword out of the Stone in the Temple of Time, its almost a religious experience. It is really powerful, the music, the angle of the camera, and then whenever you get out you are now seven years older. This is awesome. 

When you leave the Temple of Time though, that excitement deflates. The lovely townsfolk have been converted to zombies. They try to kill you, the town is in ruins. The castle that once overlooked the town is now an evil fortress for Ganondorf. Zelda has been captures, and it seems all hope is lost. You must create a bridge to Ganondorfs castle, and you must find several emblems from the dungeons. Upon defeating Ganondorf and rescuing Zelda, the castle begins to crash. This is very intense. You race out of there, and then start to have a happy ending. Then Ganon appears, not dead and now a giant pig. You defeat him, thrust the sword into his skull, and finally have your happy ending. This whole experience is incredible, and can only be experienced, not told about. 

Mass Effect

Spoilers Throughout for all three games

Mass Effect is easily one of the best things to happen to gaming, and its story is the best thing about it. It is such an expertly woven tale. It takes place over three games, with all of your choices linking throughout. You become Commander Shepard. This is your journey. There will be hard choices to make, and some very sad moments. This game manages to pull emotion out of you very easily. 

The first game is probably my favorite. It is written by Drew Karpyshyn, who also wrote KOTOR. He leads you through several worlds hunting down Saren, who has brainwahed the Geth. Or so you believe, but it is really the Reapers, a sentient race of machines that destroy the world every 50000 years. The cycle has begun. On this mission you are forced to kill off one of your party members, either Ashley or Kaiden. This is one of the first big choices in the series. You can also choose to save the council or let them die. Or save the Rachni Queen. Choices like this happen all the time, and they have an impact on all the other games. You feel bad for the character your sacrificing, and they keep coming up again and again. You have to live with that. It really is emotional. 

the last game, Mass Effect 3, nails the story as well. While I'm not a huge fan of the second games story (it felt like a filler for me) the third game made up for it. The atmosphere is that of wartime. You really feel like bad things can happen, and they do all the time. Friends will die. You will see characters die, and more may die depending on choices. Planets will be in ruins, and the finale will leave you thinking if your choice was right. I really felt that the ending was a philisophical choice. Kill off all synthetic life, control all the Reapers, or fuse them together, Synthetic and Organic, against their will. It was deep, and had me sitting there thinking for a while. It was an awesome experience. And the whole story leading up to it. Meeting the varying races and solving their problems. Really gathering an army for this final fight was so cool. It is a story I will remember forever. Certainly the best I have ever experienced. 

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Thank you for reading. I want to give a shout-out to Stranger. Congrats on finishing an awesome series today. I'm glad you took up the challenge and had the ability to finish it. It was awesome, the whole way through. I hope you all enjoyed this post, and see you next time. 

Blaze6106