Brandon Sanderson's list: Honorable mentions - KOTOR, Witcher 3 5. Infamous series 4. Hades 3. Undertale 2. Bioshock series 1. Final Fantasy X Wesley Chu's list: 5. Stellaris 4. Bioshock series 3. Witcher 3 2. The Last of Us 1. Grand Theft Auto 5
It's hard for me, because FFXIV is sooooo much better of a story (In my opinion of course) but because it's an MMO that takes many hundreds of hours and lots of group content to complete, it's so much harder to get into, much less complete
If I'm being objective, the man I am today and having revisited other entries in the series and other games of the era, there are "better" games in one category or another. But man if FFX isn't a magical cocktail, particularly at the time it hit me in my life. It's for sure my overall favorite.
While it is not my favorite FF game, I defend FFVIII way more than I should. Lol... X is the game I hated when I first played it in highschool, but I appreciate it more now. I actually prefer it as stand-alone without the sequels. I think it is oddly beautiful that Tidus was the one who was gone in the end, especially since Yuna always had planned for it to be her. The sacrifice of that is so enormous. My favorite is 4, 7, or 7 depending on the day... Guess I am basic lol.
I'm not even sure I can even place it above the bottom 3 of the series. I recently replayed it and it still missed all the marks for me. I'll replay it again in a bit as I'm going through all the games at the moment, but it just strikes me as a good story told poorly.
I can't believe Brandon still hasn't player OuterWilds. It's never left my mind as the best narrative playstyle out there. I'm certain he would love it!
I love that Wes came RIGHT out of left field with Stellaris for emergent storytelling. It's VERY different, certainly not "narrative"... but I'd also suggest Rimworld as a good game for similar reasons. The events that can happen and how you respond (and the mistakes you make) will create a story. My most memorable was accidentally sending a colonist to consume a corpse rather than bury it. And the madman did it, become psychotic and then I had to deal with a psychotic cannibal for a while.
Disco Elysium has some amazing setpiece moments, and so many times failing your roll is so much more entertaining than succeeding. Giving the hotel manager the double bird as you trip backwards over the lady in the wheelchair, singing karaoke, and sailing to the island with the boombox were such great moments.
@tonyfriendly4409 100%. It has somewhat ruined most videogame writing for me now, though, with just how great and evocative it is. But yeah, there are so many intensely profound, beautiful, hilarious, weird, and insane moments in that game.
Glad to see Inkle representation on yours! I was really hoping they would get on one of their lists because they're just SO good, especially Heaven's Vault
You both should check out Outer Wilds. Its my very favorite video game with an absolutely beautiful story. I will say, its one you can only experience it once, so don't look up anything about it before playing, just play it
@@robertkruger5744 There is no perfect ending. The mother either dies(bad ending), or she gets taken by her husband, who has a long history of violently abusing her, on a probably hopeless quest to heal her failing mind(less bad ending)
@@CoolHandLuke7 oh I know. Normally, yes no fully happy ending. But there was a way to sequence break and save everyone. You would almost never do it by accident but it might be worth looking into :)
1) Legacy of Kain series 2) Vagrant Story 3) Final Fantasy VII (original version) 4) Bioshock 1+2 5) Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time trilogy Honourable Mentions - Xenogears, Valkyrie Profiles: Lenneth & Silmeria, Medievil, Ico/Shadow of the Colossus. Positions 1+2 could have gone either way and there is a bit of a gap between them and the others which I actually had to think about. _Legacy of Kain_ has an outstanding continuous narrative with amazing writing and voice-acting throughout. It is also a fascinating example of how a narrative can evolve over a series' lifespan from one game to the next. _Vagrant Story_ is practically a movie in its own right, with a stunning localisation and scene direction. While the gameplay can be a slog the story is as amazing as it is intriguing throughout. Choosing a favourite narrative from a _FF game_ is no easy feat but I have to give it to VII over X (which is still pretty close). I'm very fond of VIII and VI is certainly worthy (I oddly never gelled with IX that much). VII was my first FF and still the best narrative overall. I love _Bioshocks 1 + 2_ and feel that an aggregate between them is a great balance in all areas (wasn't impressed by Infinite). I even have a decently sized Triptych of Rapture on my living room wall along with the 3 posters from the B2 special edition. _The Sands of Time_ trilogy has a great narrative running through it, both adventurous and poignant, well acted and with a nice 'full circle' element. Xenogears has a stunningly complex story behind it but is let down by its unfinished state (plus still hasn't technically come here to Europe). The first and second Valkyrie Profile games have great interconnected stories not just to the main plot but all the little Einherjar origins too, plus Silmeria has the best progression of a wet noodle protagonist to a 'storm the gates of heaven' badass. Though primarily a comedy game Medievil has a pretty great hero's journey for its protagonist Sir Daniel Fortesque (4-tess-Q). Though extremely minimalist in their stories Ico and Shadow of the Colossus are both masterpieces of understated adventure.
It is a massive time investment, but the Trails series is a great piece of storytelling that is still ongoing. There are currently 11 entries in the series split across several story arcs with an overarching story connecting them. Aside from the great main story and characters, there are nearly a thousand named npcs that each have their own unique personalities, dialouge, relationships, and dialouge thay changes dozens of time throughout each game. Many of the npcs appear through multiple games since they take place in similar locations, so all these npcs each have their own individual storylines and arcs. The games are massive, and each one takes well over 80 hours to do. They are also extremely text heavy, with cold steel 3 having a larger text count than the first five harry potter books combined. There are even full novellas in the games that you can read as well. I highly recommend people check it out, or at least check out the incredible music each game has
I have never heard Brandon talk about infamous before, despite having listened to him so much. I love infamous, it is why I bought a PS3. Amazing 3rd person shooter disguised as a superhero game. Last reply of 1 and 2 was about 18 months ago, I reply them ever ~4-5 years. The story of the first game, specifically the twist at the end, is very creative and well done and leads very well into the second game.
I am right there with him on Stellaris having great stories. The events in the game allow you to build your own stories through various playthroughs and each playthrough feels so unique depending on your choices and the choices of the PCs. I still have grand stories about finally defeating the raiders or joining with other nations to hold off the two awakened empires in the war in heaven. Getting some of the random events that totally shift your society in one way or another to the point where it changes your narrorator can be so fun. I do love the bio trophies robots where you take over the world to force all the organic pops of the world to endure Mandatory Pampering.
I feel like the emergent stories of games like Stellaris, Rimworld and Crusader Kings can be very engaging as the whole game is much more abstract, so you're building much more of the narrative in your own mind and filling in the gaps. But I rarely get emotionally affected when something happens, it's more of a 'oh that's a cool story beat' type reaction.
Enter the gungeon was only briefly mentioned, but it contains a weapon that is a stormlight archive reference. There's a gun called Sprun that turns into the Windgunner
Shadowbringers soundtrack my second favorite RPG soundtrack of all time behind Chrono Cross. While I like Nobuo's work as a collective, both Shadow Bringers and Chrono Cross are above any singular FF game from Nobuo for me. As far as story, it was pretty good as well as far as JRPGs go. My biggest complaint has always been that most RPGs stories pale in comparison to Novels. I thoroughly enjoyed Shadowbringers. I came back to the game for it and have not come back for End Walker yet... But I am sad I am not raiding... Getting old with no time.
When it comes to narrative, I have to mention the Legacy of Kain series. Gameplay-wise it has it's rough parts, but the storytelling was way ahead of it's time
1. The Last of Us Part II 2. The Last of Us Part I 3. God of War 2018 4. The Witcher 3 5. The Longest Journey If I can group narrative series together: 1. The Last of Us Part I and II 2. God of War 2018 and God of War Ragnarök 3. The Longest Journey/Dreamfall/Dreamfall Chapters 4. Mass Effect Legendary Edition 5. Uncharted 1-4 I haven't finished it yet, but Baldur's Gate 3 will absolutely be joining my best ever list.
I know EXACTLY what part in Ninja Gaiden that Brandon is talking about. It's actually fairly infamous because of how impossible it was to get past that stupid bird. When I was a kid I also thought that some of the cheat codes were kind of like save game passwords that my actual friends had created. My best friend and I borrowed Metroid from one of his friends and then he lost the cheat code that would start you without her suit or something and I was like "try his name! Try his brother's name! Maybe it's his birthday?!"
Cool!! I keep seeing this book on Goodreads and have wanted to read it since I first saw it. The cover is beautiful. KOTOR is great. I had played FFX-2 but only played X for the first time this past summer because of you. Most of the sidequests are incredibly frustrating, but the story (which I didn't know the depth of before) is pretty great. (I actually understood the story of VIII but that I could never beat on PS2 while X-2 and X and XV were soooo much easier to beat)
I (like Dan Wells) loved the martial arts fantasy Jade City and the rest of the Green Bone Saga, plus a couple other YA books specifically covering Chinese culture in literature, so I’m definitely going to pick this book up as it seems a bit more in line with other epic fantasy books. This is also a great video idea, cool seeing old mates together like this
One of my favourite narrative-driven game is Control. It was not only an amazing story with a good gameplay, but it made me discover a lot of books which inspired the creation of the game (such as "House of Leaves" by Danielewsky and the Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer). For cosmere fans who played the game: I kinda imagine something like Polaris when I think about a Dawnshard.
House of Leaves has the distinguished honor of being the single hardest book to read that I have ever finished. One of the best books I've ever read. But also, I am never reading it again, lmao
I would have to say... 1. Star Craft 2. Horizon Zero Dawn 3. Halo (up through Reach) 4. Myth and Myth 2 Soulblighter 5. God of War & God of War Ragnarök 6. Free Space 1&2 7. Ghost of Tsushima 8. Mass Effect Trilogy 9. Days Gone 10. Last of Us part 1 I couldn't decide on what to cut to make it 5. Even now I have more that I would probably want to put as honorable mentions.
I've always wondered if Brandon ever played Alpha Centauri, not only is it one of the better 4x games to be made but it has a really cool story that unfolds as you progress trough it. Easily one of the cooler Sci-Fi stories in terms of the setting and characters. Endless legend did a similar thing in a really neat fantasy setting tho I never found it as compelling.
My 5 favorite narrative games are: Honorable Mentions: Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door, What Remains of Edith Finch, Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker 5. Golden Sun 1 & 2. 4. Tales of the Abyss 3. Bioshock 1 & 3 (Never got around to 2) 2. Metal Gear Solid 1-4 (specifically 4.) 1. Final Fantasy X 38:25
I just read Art of Prophecy and instantly noticed a lot of similarities in style and ideas with some of Brandon's work (while being its own thing of course). Now I know the origin story!
My current favorite game is hollow knight. It builds lore like the souls games. The story itself is super awesome. The attention to detail is insane the music is 10/10. I thought it was going to be a 30 hour game. Ha silly me. It's easy to double that and still be doing new things and finding hidden secrets. (FFX was my favorite but has been recently dethroned to 2nd place under hollow knight.)
Hmm, these were interesting lists! I guess this would probably be mine after about 5 minutes of thought: 1. FF7/FFX (I can't pick one, play them both!) 2. Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together 3. Horizon Zero Dawn 4. Beyond: Two Souls 5. A Plague Tale I'm really curious what Brandon and Wesley would think of Beyond: Two Souls and Plague Tale. Both were quite interesting in story and gameplay mechanics!
Great list from both. Wes's choice of Stellaris might seem a bit strange at a first glance but the beauty of it, especially with mods that add extra events is the emergent storytelling which is different every time you play. Are you a fanatical egalitarian militarist who will conquer the galaxy... so that all may live a life of utopian abundance? Or are you a MegaChurch corporation, creating powerful alliances with your neighbors so that you can open up branch offices on their planets and convert their populace while making a bank? Perhaps you are a xenophobic authoritarian led by a God Emperor, ready to purge the galaxy of the xenos? Anyways, my list is: 5. Dragon Age: Inquisition 4. Warcraft 3 3. Hades 2. Witcher 3 1. Mass Effect 3
This was so fun. MY TURN! 5. Kingdom Hearts 4. Marvel’s Spider-Man 3. Elden Ring 2. God of War/God of War Ragnarok 1. Breath of The Wild/Tears of The Kingdom
Would love to see other people’s lists, but here is mine - ICOS / Last Guardian. (Both amazing and full the same space) - Uncharted / Last of Us (I might lean Uncharted more because my family watched as well) - The Wolf Among Us - Wildermyth (set characters to your friends and kids and it gets emotional) - Baldurs Gate 1-3 (3 being best coop I’ve played in awhile)
My list: 5) Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri 4) Shadowrun trilogy 3) Trine series 2) Yakuza series (especially 0 and Like a Dragon) 1) Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous
omg I just read the Art of Prophecy a couple of months ago. I love the twist on the chosen one and mentor tropes. The book is great and get wait to get the sequel !
I watched Brandon's top video game video the other day, so I'm very happy he's played Bioshock and watched The Last of Us now, after saying then he wouldn't. You can almost turn TLOU into a shooter by making the difficult to taste and just crank the ammo found.
As a fantasy nerd it really surprised me that one of my favorite narrative video games series is about court room drama. I just love the Ace Attorney games and I would definitely recommend them if you haven't tried them yet!
Regarding favorites, for story, one that hit me the hardest was Red Dead Redemption 2. After I finished the main story, I just put down my controller and just sat there staring at the screen, just feeling the emotions hit me. Star Wars: The force unleashed, although fairly basic regarding story, was also pretty impactful for me when I was younger. Metal Gear Solid 5 was pretty good (to me) as well, especially with two endgame missions, (and one with out any significant spoilers) you had to say goodbye to a companion character and another where you had to kill some of your own men, all while they saluted you.
The early game console discussion here was interesting! (And very much in my wheelhouse.) I do have to say there was no ET game on the Intellivision. I was surprised to learn there was a Ninja Gaiden on Master System which Brandon talked about. I think what Wesley was talking about with the spinning attack was Shinobi, which was available on Genesis. Wesley was thinking "Injustice" when Infamous came up. And the GTA with the cousin calling you to go bowling is IV.
Wow, Brandon really broke down why Hades worked so well. I finished it, and I normally get bored of roguelikes quickly, what he said might explain how it held my attention. But I have also played every game by the devs so it might have just been brand loyalty at this point. And Final Fantasy X is the best FF game, the story is perfect. Huge accomplishment, and I love every bit of it, and the gameplay is great too. I caught the FFX influence in Yumi and the Nightmare Painter immediately.
I'm replaying FF8 right now! My top 5 would be... 5 - Chrono Trigger 4 - Batman Arkham series 3 - Bioshock trilogy 2 - Metal Gear series 1 - Fallout series
Would have to think longer about how to populate the other 4 spots, but number one for me would be "Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth". The only issue with that game is that you have to play "Utawarerumono: Mask of deception" first and "Utawarerumono: Prelude to the fallen" is highly recommended (and arguably needed) as well.
I think a few games that would be on my personal list that weren't mentioned here: Bastion (also by Super Giant Games, publisher of Hades), Final Fantasy 9, Xenogears, Thomas Was Alone, The Stanley Parable, the original Halo trilogy + Halo Reach and ODST, and the indie horror game Signalis. Some of those would be honorable mention, and that's not in a specific order. Also I think I'd give Chrono Trigger honorable mention.
As game Baldur’s Gate 1-2 with all extra and “Big Picture” makes the list. That story is awesome. This BG3 is nothing to that. Still suffering of more visuals than story thing.
So, I thought about this for a while. Not sure my list is perfect, I could move games around, and I might if you ask me another time. Honorable mention: Halo, RDR1, Bloodborne. 5. Fallout New Vegas 4. Final Fantasy 6 3. The Last of Us 2. Mass Effect Trilogy 1. Red Dead Redemption 2
I'm actually surprised there's no immersive sims like Prey or Dishonored here. Magic systems, immersion, got it all for the fantas/sci-fi nerds. Bioshock walked so Prey could run.
I got good enough that I could do Contra on one or two lives. Prince of Persia, on the other hand, you had to beat in 60 minutes on one life. I never did it, but I got close a few times.
my favorite list of favorite games (big reason cause ot their story and characters): 1. Mass Effect series 2. The Witcher series (The Witcher 3 being my favorite game of all time) 3. Dragon Age series 4. Yakuza (Like a Dragon, Judgment) series 5. Cyberpunk 2077
14:20 the myths never paint hades in a bad light, hes quite literally one of the chillest gods. it’s hollywood that has changed everyone’s perception of him. hollywoods version of hades is basically just the devil lmao it’s so lazy & dull. even more so bcos greek mythology is sm better than christian mythology but now the general public think hades is boring & dull like the devil
You know what’s funny? I did the same thing with last of us lmao but not because I didn’t like the style of gameplay, just because I didn’t have a PlayStation at the time. I eventually got one and played the remaster myself and it was phenomenal
Unrelated: But I love how everyone just forgot bout the existence of warbreaker it just doesnt exist. And then today I realized WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR NIGHTBLOOD FOR 14 GOD DAMN YEARS I M A G I N E. Its been so long its unreal
It's funny to me that y'all love the Witcher card game so much. My husband watched me play, and I would literally hand him the controller so he could play the Gwent for me because I couldn't have cared less about it. I avoided it whenever I could.
Brandon Sanderson's list:
Honorable mentions - KOTOR, Witcher 3
5. Infamous series
4. Hades
3. Undertale
2. Bioshock series
1. Final Fantasy X
Wesley Chu's list:
5. Stellaris
4. Bioshock series
3. Witcher 3
2. The Last of Us
1. Grand Theft Auto 5
bless
I'm MAD nobody mentioned FFVII
My top 5: Witcher 3, Xenogears, Planescape Torment, Mass Effect series, Final Fantasy VII (og)
I'm surprised Red Dead 2 isn't on here, but I assume they haven't played it as it's quite long. And it's also relatively new I guess
How no mass effect?
Fun fact about Enter the Gungeon- There is a weapon called a "Sprun" that changes into a radiant weapon. The description is really cool.
And the weapon is called "windgunner"
Hey heeyyyy A fellow Gungeoneer! @@noth1ingoriginal535
Oh really! That’s great.
Literally playing Enter the Gungeon while I listen to this and I just picked up a sprun.
@@stevenmathews9355 No waaaaay! It's such an awesome weapon huh? I've only gotten it a few times it's pretty rare.
Infamous was playstation 3 for those wondering. One of the first PS3 games I played. Fantastic series.
I'm just throwing this out here but I would totally tune into a twitch stream of Brandon Sanderson trying to beat Castlevania
Are you trying to come up with ways to slow down his writing?
Because I'm on board with that.
@@marcusdowningthe rage might inspire him to write faster
Well, having these two talk about classic video games is exactly what my soul needed right now.
Bravo.
'Classic' Ouch!
Idk if this exists already, but I'd love to see something like this between Brandon and Christopher Paolini
Christopher's a good friend. I'll be sure to have him on sometime. He's quite charming and eloquent when it comes to this sort of thing.
Two of the most homeschooled/fantasy nerds ever sit in the same room. It would be AMAZING.
It happened
I love that i can count on Brandon Sanderson to defend FFX as the best in the series.❤
It's hard for me, because FFXIV is sooooo much better of a story (In my opinion of course) but because it's an MMO that takes many hundreds of hours and lots of group content to complete, it's so much harder to get into, much less complete
Nothing will ever surpass FFX as being my favorite video game. It's just perfect in every way for me.
If I'm being objective, the man I am today and having revisited other entries in the series and other games of the era, there are "better" games in one category or another. But man if FFX isn't a magical cocktail, particularly at the time it hit me in my life. It's for sure my overall favorite.
While it is not my favorite FF game, I defend FFVIII way more than I should. Lol... X is the game I hated when I first played it in highschool, but I appreciate it more now. I actually prefer it as stand-alone without the sequels. I think it is oddly beautiful that Tidus was the one who was gone in the end, especially since Yuna always had planned for it to be her. The sacrifice of that is so enormous.
My favorite is 4, 7, or 7 depending on the day... Guess I am basic lol.
I'm not even sure I can even place it above the bottom 3 of the series.
I recently replayed it and it still missed all the marks for me.
I'll replay it again in a bit as I'm going through all the games at the moment, but it just strikes me as a good story told poorly.
I can't believe Brandon still hasn't player OuterWilds. It's never left my mind as the best narrative playstyle out there. I'm certain he would love it!
I’d absolutely LOVE to hear his thoughts on OW! It’s such a wild ride (for lack of a better word c: )
I love that Wes came RIGHT out of left field with Stellaris for emergent storytelling.
It's VERY different, certainly not "narrative"... but I'd also suggest Rimworld as a good game for similar reasons.
The events that can happen and how you respond (and the mistakes you make) will create a story.
My most memorable was accidentally sending a colonist to consume a corpse rather than bury it. And the madman did it, become psychotic and then I had to deal with a psychotic cannibal for a while.
Stellaris was an unexpected and welcome surprise. Love that game
Great lists! My five favorite games that I like for their narrative:
1. Disco Elysium
2. Hades
3. The Banner Saga
4. Heaven's Vault
5. 80 Days
Disco Elysium has some amazing setpiece moments, and so many times failing your roll is so much more entertaining than succeeding. Giving the hotel manager the double bird as you trip backwards over the lady in the wheelchair, singing karaoke, and sailing to the island with the boombox were such great moments.
@tonyfriendly4409 100%. It has somewhat ruined most videogame writing for me now, though, with just how great and evocative it is. But yeah, there are so many intensely profound, beautiful, hilarious, weird, and insane moments in that game.
Great list man ! The Banner Saga is an underrated gem
Glad to see Inkle representation on yours! I was really hoping they would get on one of their lists because they're just SO good, especially Heaven's Vault
Banner Saga is great. One of the few story driven games that I have gone through multiple times to see the different endings. Especially true of 2/3.
So happy Infamous got a shout out. That game was so phrnomenal and I want more.
You both should check out Outer Wilds. Its my very favorite video game with an absolutely beautiful story. I will say, its one you can only experience it once, so don't look up anything about it before playing, just play it
The Bloody Baron's quest in The Witcher 3 is probably my favorite video game storyline.
Definitely up there! There’s a cheeky way to get a perfect ending to it too lol. I don’t remember how but it’s possible!
Sameeee
@@robertkruger5744 There is no perfect ending. The mother either dies(bad ending), or she gets taken by her husband, who has a long history of violently abusing her, on a probably hopeless quest to heal her failing mind(less bad ending)
Finishing that was the moment where the game went from "this is fun" to "oh, this is one of the best games ever made, isn't it?"
@@CoolHandLuke7 oh I know. Normally, yes no fully happy ending. But there was a way to sequence break and save everyone. You would almost never do it by accident but it might be worth looking into :)
The Trails Series!!!!! Number 1!!
1) Legacy of Kain series
2) Vagrant Story
3) Final Fantasy VII (original version)
4) Bioshock 1+2
5) Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time trilogy
Honourable Mentions - Xenogears, Valkyrie Profiles: Lenneth & Silmeria, Medievil, Ico/Shadow of the Colossus.
Positions 1+2 could have gone either way and there is a bit of a gap between them and the others which I actually had to think about.
_Legacy of Kain_ has an outstanding continuous narrative with amazing writing and voice-acting throughout. It is also a fascinating example of how a narrative can evolve over a series' lifespan from one game to the next.
_Vagrant Story_ is practically a movie in its own right, with a stunning localisation and scene direction. While the gameplay can be a slog the story is as amazing as it is intriguing throughout.
Choosing a favourite narrative from a _FF game_ is no easy feat but I have to give it to VII over X (which is still pretty close). I'm very fond of VIII and VI is certainly worthy (I oddly never gelled with IX that much). VII was my first FF and still the best narrative overall.
I love _Bioshocks 1 + 2_ and feel that an aggregate between them is a great balance in all areas (wasn't impressed by Infinite). I even have a decently sized Triptych of Rapture on my living room wall along with the 3 posters from the B2 special edition.
_The Sands of Time_ trilogy has a great narrative running through it, both adventurous and poignant, well acted and with a nice 'full circle' element.
Xenogears has a stunningly complex story behind it but is let down by its unfinished state (plus still hasn't technically come here to Europe).
The first and second Valkyrie Profile games have great interconnected stories not just to the main plot but all the little Einherjar origins too, plus Silmeria has the best progression of a wet noodle protagonist to a 'storm the gates of heaven' badass.
Though primarily a comedy game Medievil has a pretty great hero's journey for its protagonist Sir Daniel Fortesque (4-tess-Q).
Though extremely minimalist in their stories Ico and Shadow of the Colossus are both masterpieces of understated adventure.
Vagrant Story! yes!
I saw Wesley speak this year at DragonCon - had no idea about his past relationship with Brandon. He's brilliant, really excited to watch this.
It is a massive time investment, but the Trails series is a great piece of storytelling that is still ongoing. There are currently 11 entries in the series split across several story arcs with an overarching story connecting them.
Aside from the great main story and characters, there are nearly a thousand named npcs that each have their own unique personalities, dialouge, relationships, and dialouge thay changes dozens of time throughout each game. Many of the npcs appear through multiple games since they take place in similar locations, so all these npcs each have their own individual storylines and arcs. The games are massive, and each one takes well over 80 hours to do. They are also extremely text heavy, with cold steel 3 having a larger text count than the first five harry potter books combined. There are even full novellas in the games that you can read as well. I highly recommend people check it out, or at least check out the incredible music each game has
Still no mention of Disco Elysium this game is such a hidden gem
It is objectively the best written video game of all time. I assume these just have not played it.
I have never heard Brandon talk about infamous before, despite having listened to him so much. I love infamous, it is why I bought a PS3. Amazing 3rd person shooter disguised as a superhero game. Last reply of 1 and 2 was about 18 months ago, I reply them ever ~4-5 years. The story of the first game, specifically the twist at the end, is very creative and well done and leads very well into the second game.
I am right there with him on Stellaris having great stories. The events in the game allow you to build your own stories through various playthroughs and each playthrough feels so unique depending on your choices and the choices of the PCs. I still have grand stories about finally defeating the raiders or joining with other nations to hold off the two awakened empires in the war in heaven. Getting some of the random events that totally shift your society in one way or another to the point where it changes your narrorator can be so fun.
I do love the bio trophies robots where you take over the world to force all the organic pops of the world to endure Mandatory Pampering.
It makes so much sense Brandon likes Infamous lol I loved it too. Played the first one multiple times. Enjoy the others as well.
I feel like the emergent stories of games like Stellaris, Rimworld and Crusader Kings can be very engaging as the whole game is much more abstract, so you're building much more of the narrative in your own mind and filling in the gaps. But I rarely get emotionally affected when something happens, it's more of a 'oh that's a cool story beat' type reaction.
I am so into this video. This felt like a conversation I actually have with people. Anytime either of you said a game I was like “OH I LOVE THAT ONE!”
Didn't expect Infamous for Brandon Sanderson. They are really good.
Enter the gungeon was only briefly mentioned, but it contains a weapon that is a stormlight archive reference. There's a gun called Sprun that turns into the Windgunner
Ff6 was the best one imo. Definitely the best 2D rpg of that style.
I agree, but FF6 and Chrono Trigger are really close in my mind.
Honestly did not expect the last one as a number 1 but the justification was absolutely perfect lol.
Final Fantasy 14 is an investment. But that game has the best story I have ever experienced in a game. Shadowbringers and Endwalker were perfect.
100%
Shadowbringers soundtrack my second favorite RPG soundtrack of all time behind Chrono Cross. While I like Nobuo's work as a collective, both Shadow Bringers and Chrono Cross are above any singular FF game from Nobuo for me.
As far as story, it was pretty good as well as far as JRPGs go. My biggest complaint has always been that most RPGs stories pale in comparison to Novels. I thoroughly enjoyed Shadowbringers. I came back to the game for it and have not come back for End Walker yet... But I am sad I am not raiding... Getting old with no time.
When it comes to narrative, I have to mention the Legacy of Kain series. Gameplay-wise it has it's rough parts, but the storytelling was way ahead of it's time
1. The Last of Us Part II
2. The Last of Us Part I
3. God of War 2018
4. The Witcher 3
5. The Longest Journey
If I can group narrative series together:
1. The Last of Us Part I and II
2. God of War 2018 and God of War Ragnarök
3. The Longest Journey/Dreamfall/Dreamfall Chapters
4. Mass Effect Legendary Edition
5. Uncharted 1-4
I haven't finished it yet, but Baldur's Gate 3 will absolutely be joining my best ever list.
I know EXACTLY what part in Ninja Gaiden that Brandon is talking about. It's actually fairly infamous because of how impossible it was to get past that stupid bird. When I was a kid I also thought that some of the cheat codes were kind of like save game passwords that my actual friends had created. My best friend and I borrowed Metroid from one of his friends and then he lost the cheat code that would start you without her suit or something and I was like "try his name! Try his brother's name! Maybe it's his birthday?!"
Cool!! I keep seeing this book on Goodreads and have wanted to read it since I first saw it. The cover is beautiful.
KOTOR is great.
I had played FFX-2 but only played X for the first time this past summer because of you. Most of the sidequests are incredibly frustrating, but the story (which I didn't know the depth of before) is pretty great. (I actually understood the story of VIII but that I could never beat on PS2 while X-2 and X and XV were soooo much easier to beat)
I like that Brandon Sanderson plays stellaris, one of my main builds is the DDF.
I (like Dan Wells) loved the martial arts fantasy Jade City and the rest of the Green Bone Saga, plus a couple other YA books specifically covering Chinese culture in literature, so I’m definitely going to pick this book up as it seems a bit more in line with other epic fantasy books. This is also a great video idea, cool seeing old mates together like this
One of my favourite narrative-driven game is Control. It was not only an amazing story with a good gameplay, but it made me discover a lot of books which inspired the creation of the game (such as "House of Leaves" by Danielewsky and the Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer).
For cosmere fans who played the game: I kinda imagine something like Polaris when I think about a Dawnshard.
House of Leaves has the distinguished honor of being the single hardest book to read that I have ever finished.
One of the best books I've ever read. But also, I am never reading it again, lmao
Hades is my favorite game ever ever ever. So glad to see Brandon representing it 🔥
San Francisco-based Supergiant Games do not have a single game that isn't a masterpiece. Can't wait for Hades 2 next year.
@@Nick.Georgiev I very much agree. I'll see you on release day 🤝
I love this guy. Does he have a RUclips channel or anything?
His link is in the description
Just picked up The Art of Destiny and cant wait to dive in!
I would have to say...
1. Star Craft
2. Horizon Zero Dawn
3. Halo (up through Reach)
4. Myth and Myth 2 Soulblighter
5. God of War & God of War Ragnarök
6. Free Space 1&2
7. Ghost of Tsushima
8. Mass Effect Trilogy
9. Days Gone
10. Last of Us part 1
I couldn't decide on what to cut to make it 5. Even now I have more that I would probably want to put as honorable mentions.
I've always wondered if Brandon ever played Alpha Centauri, not only is it one of the better 4x games to be made but it has a really cool story that unfolds as you progress trough it. Easily one of the cooler Sci-Fi stories in terms of the setting and characters.
Endless legend did a similar thing in a really neat fantasy setting tho I never found it as compelling.
Yes! SMAC is so good.
Just wanted to throw out that Brandon was thinking of GTA4 when he's talking about the cousin calling you to go bowling. Close, but one number off!
My 5 favorite narrative games are:
Honorable Mentions:
Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door,
What Remains of Edith Finch,
Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
5. Golden Sun 1 & 2.
4. Tales of the Abyss
3. Bioshock 1 & 3
(Never got around to 2)
2. Metal Gear Solid 1-4 (specifically 4.)
1. Final Fantasy X 38:25
Awesome! My top 5 story games are: Bioshock Infinite, Tomb Raider 2013, Last of Us, The Witcher 3 and Metal Gear Solid.
I just read Art of Prophecy and instantly noticed a lot of similarities in style and ideas with some of Brandon's work (while being its own thing of course). Now I know the origin story!
I know it was a longshot, but I was so so hoping for 13 Sentinels to get a nod here. Easily such a memorable experience to go through its story
"What remains of Edith Finch?" - Go! Play it! This is the narrator driven video game you shouldn't miss. Do it!
Love ya Brandon, thank you for aiding us in our writing careers
My current favorite game is hollow knight. It builds lore like the souls games. The story itself is super awesome. The attention to detail is insane the music is 10/10. I thought it was going to be a 30 hour game. Ha silly me. It's easy to double that and still be doing new things and finding hidden secrets. (FFX was my favorite but has been recently dethroned to 2nd place under hollow knight.)
For any watch nerds out there. Wesley is wearing a Bell & Ross BR series sports watch. I think its the BR01.
Hmm, these were interesting lists!
I guess this would probably be mine after about 5 minutes of thought:
1. FF7/FFX (I can't pick one, play them both!)
2. Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
3. Horizon Zero Dawn
4. Beyond: Two Souls
5. A Plague Tale
I'm really curious what Brandon and Wesley would think of Beyond: Two Souls and Plague Tale. Both were quite interesting in story and gameplay mechanics!
Is that a Bell&Ross watch Wesley's wearing? A man of taste!
kotor 2 being honorable mention level is great considering it was unfinished and infamous! man this guys a gamer love to see it
Brandon still remembering the Konami cheat code 30 years later is amazing.
If you were a child of the 80's, you will remember the code until the day you die.
Such a cool top 5. Great video.
Great list from both. Wes's choice of Stellaris might seem a bit strange at a first glance but the beauty of it, especially with mods that add extra events is the emergent storytelling which is different every time you play. Are you a fanatical egalitarian militarist who will conquer the galaxy... so that all may live a life of utopian abundance? Or are you a MegaChurch corporation, creating powerful alliances with your neighbors so that you can open up branch offices on their planets and convert their populace while making a bank? Perhaps you are a xenophobic authoritarian led by a God Emperor, ready to purge the galaxy of the xenos?
Anyways, my list is:
5. Dragon Age: Inquisition
4. Warcraft 3
3. Hades
2. Witcher 3
1. Mass Effect 3
Halleluiah that someone else had an Intellivision. I had an original Intellivision. We loved that console.
This was so fun.
MY TURN!
5. Kingdom Hearts
4. Marvel’s Spider-Man
3. Elden Ring
2. God of War/God of War Ragnarok
1. Breath of The Wild/Tears of The Kingdom
Would love to see other people’s lists, but here is mine
- ICOS / Last Guardian. (Both amazing and full the same space)
- Uncharted / Last of Us (I might lean Uncharted more because my family watched as well)
- The Wolf Among Us
- Wildermyth (set characters to your friends and kids and it gets emotional)
- Baldurs Gate 1-3 (3 being best coop I’ve played in awhile)
My list:
5) Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
4) Shadowrun trilogy
3) Trine series
2) Yakuza series (especially 0 and Like a Dragon)
1) Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous
I love the Infamous games, really underrated IMO.
YOOOOOO I can't believe Brandon played Infamous!
The first one was amazing
omg I just read the Art of Prophecy a couple of months ago. I love the twist on the chosen one and mentor tropes. The book is great and get wait to get the sequel !
Hes talking about FFX while im reading Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, it all makes sense now
I watched Brandon's top video game video the other day, so I'm very happy he's played Bioshock and watched The Last of Us now, after saying then he wouldn't. You can almost turn TLOU into a shooter by making the difficult to taste and just crank the ammo found.
Wesley seems rly nice
As a fantasy nerd it really surprised me that one of my favorite narrative video games series is about court room drama.
I just love the Ace Attorney games and I would definitely recommend them if you haven't tried them yet!
Infamous was my fucking childhood it is so rad to hear him mention it!
inFamous needs more love. Such a good series.
Regarding favorites, for story, one that hit me the hardest was Red Dead Redemption 2. After I finished the main story, I just put down my controller and just sat there staring at the screen, just feeling the emotions hit me. Star Wars: The force unleashed, although fairly basic regarding story, was also pretty impactful for me when I was younger. Metal Gear Solid 5 was pretty good (to me) as well, especially with two endgame missions, (and one with out any significant spoilers) you had to say goodbye to a companion character and another where you had to kill some of your own men, all while they saluted you.
The early game console discussion here was interesting! (And very much in my wheelhouse.)
I do have to say there was no ET game on the Intellivision. I was surprised to learn there was a Ninja Gaiden on Master System which Brandon talked about. I think what Wesley was talking about with the spinning attack was Shinobi, which was available on Genesis.
Wesley was thinking "Injustice" when Infamous came up.
And the GTA with the cousin calling you to go bowling is IV.
Wow, Brandon really broke down why Hades worked so well. I finished it, and I normally get bored of roguelikes quickly, what he said might explain how it held my attention. But I have also played every game by the devs so it might have just been brand loyalty at this point.
And Final Fantasy X is the best FF game, the story is perfect. Huge accomplishment, and I love every bit of it, and the gameplay is great too. I caught the FFX influence in Yumi and the Nightmare Painter immediately.
I would never have expected GTA V as hitting the number one spot. Colored me fascinated.
Will definitely put it on my read list
My list
5: Gauntlet Dark Legacy
4: Earthbound (inspiration for undertale)
3: Super Metroid
2: Dark Souls II
1: Morrowind
Hollow Knight, Blasphemous, Frostpunk... these games also deserve some love
I'm replaying FF8 right now!
My top 5 would be...
5 - Chrono Trigger
4 - Batman Arkham series
3 - Bioshock trilogy
2 - Metal Gear series
1 - Fallout series
Please tell your editor to bequeath us video timecodes!
I'm not terribly surprised that Brandon likes playing stellaris as a rogue servitor.
Would have to think longer about how to populate the other 4 spots, but number one for me would be "Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth". The only issue with that game is that you have to play "Utawarerumono: Mask of deception" first and "Utawarerumono: Prelude to the fallen" is highly recommended (and arguably needed) as well.
I think a few games that would be on my personal list that weren't mentioned here: Bastion (also by Super Giant Games, publisher of Hades), Final Fantasy 9, Xenogears, Thomas Was Alone, The Stanley Parable, the original Halo trilogy + Halo Reach and ODST, and the indie horror game Signalis. Some of those would be honorable mention, and that's not in a specific order. Also I think I'd give Chrono Trigger honorable mention.
Happy to see Stellaris :D
As game Baldur’s Gate 1-2 with all extra and “Big Picture” makes the list. That story is awesome. This BG3 is nothing to that. Still suffering of more visuals than story thing.
I know no one probably cares but my list is
5: RDR 1
4: GTA 5
3: The Last of Us
2: The Witcher 3
1: RDR 2
So, I thought about this for a while. Not sure my list is perfect, I could move games around, and I might if you ask me another time.
Honorable mention: Halo, RDR1, Bloodborne.
5. Fallout New Vegas
4. Final Fantasy 6
3. The Last of Us
2. Mass Effect Trilogy
1. Red Dead Redemption 2
By definition this is going to be a CONTROVERSIAL list lol
I'm actually surprised there's no immersive sims like Prey or Dishonored here. Magic systems, immersion, got it all for the fantas/sci-fi nerds. Bioshock walked so Prey could run.
Great lists.
My top 5
1. The Last of Us (both games)
2. Red Dead Redemption 2
3. Ghost of Tsushima
4. Spider-Man PS4
5. Uncharted 4
I got good enough that I could do Contra on one or two lives. Prince of Persia, on the other hand, you had to beat in 60 minutes on one life. I never did it, but I got close a few times.
my favorite list of favorite games (big reason cause ot their story and characters):
1. Mass Effect series
2. The Witcher series (The Witcher 3 being my favorite game of all time)
3. Dragon Age series
4. Yakuza (Like a Dragon, Judgment) series
5. Cyberpunk 2077
Man, if there was some B-roll of each game this video would slap hard.
X-2 is insanely fun...if you treat it as fanfiction. If you treat it seriously its a mess, but as fanfiction it's so much fun.
14:20 the myths never paint hades in a bad light, hes quite literally one of the chillest gods. it’s hollywood that has changed everyone’s perception of him. hollywoods version of hades is basically just the devil lmao it’s so lazy & dull. even more so bcos greek mythology is sm better than christian mythology but now the general public think hades is boring & dull like the devil
I would love to ask you twos opinion on the Kingdom Hearts franchise
You know what’s funny? I did the same thing with last of us lmao but not because I didn’t like the style of gameplay, just because I didn’t have a PlayStation at the time. I eventually got one and played the remaster myself and it was phenomenal
Half Life & Half Life 2 are still some of my favorite games for world building and story even though there is no ending for the story.
Unrelated: But I love how everyone just forgot bout the existence of warbreaker it just doesnt exist. And then today I realized WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR NIGHTBLOOD FOR 14 GOD DAMN YEARS I M A G I N E. Its been so long its unreal
No Dragon AGe or Mass Effect :C
But great lists!
It's funny to me that y'all love the Witcher card game so much. My husband watched me play, and I would literally hand him the controller so he could play the Gwent for me because I couldn't have cared less about it. I avoided it whenever I could.
If TW3 main quest was as well written as its side content it would be my number 1