A similar thread

I have to agree, Earthbound was a great game. But the one game that had the best story was Final Fantasy 7. Why? Everything is linked together, but, at first, you don''t understand the connections. As the game continues, new connections are revealed, and existing ones are strengthened, in such a way that the story becomes truly epic.

The concept of mako, and its linkage to materia, and eventually knowledge and life in general, was revealed slowly, and in a mysterious way. Your concept of what mako really is changes. At the beginning, it seems similar to nuclear power. Activists hate it, and it probably isn''t too good for the environment, but it doesn''t seem horrible. As the story progresses, it becomes even more meaningfull and widespread, and you come to see how puny the people are in comparison to this huge force that they are trying to harness. When you think about it, it makes you reflect on what we are doing with nuclear power and other manipulations of nature, and how much we don''t know.

Mako also has a history. The broken-down plants hidden in the mountains have much the same aura as secret World War II experiments like the Manhattan project. It is much like the German researchers, who hid in dungeonlike church basements in the mountains of Norway, working on their experimental reactors, without any idea of what the consequences would be.

Cloud and Sephiroth both fit into this history; they come from the same source. The fact that good and evil are so closely linked adds meaning to the story. So does the fact that Cloud, the "failure" emerges victorious over his seemingly successful counterpart. Other bits of history add to the richness and depth of the story. The failed rocket launch that Cid is involved in again feels like a long abaondoned World War II / Cold War experiment. That fact that this artificial reality has so many parallels with the "real reality" adds all the subtle connotations and associations of the "real reality" to the artificial one.

Mako is also present in nature. In the mountains in the beginning, and later in the lifestream, you see that it is everywhere. The fact that one thing is so multifaceted adds a lot to the story. Everything is mako, in one way or another. The mad scientists, the creepy vampires, the biological horrors, the Genova Project, and the Ancients - they are all part of a single important concept.

The "bad guy" also isn''t entirely bad. You can sort of sympathize with Sephiroth. But he is still a bad guy - make no mistake about that - and, as the story progresses, he becomes more and more twisted. He transforms slowly and gradually from the original character into something much more evil. There is one incredibly important moment in the plot: When Sephiroth kills Aeris. This is perhaps the only game I can think of that kills a real character that you have invested in and grown attached to. It is not as if the story is "A long time ago, he killed my father." Sephiroth kills someone who is very real to you. You feel rage.

Another important thing about FInal Fantasy 7 is what it didn''t do. It used text, not voice acting, and it used cartoonish, unrealistic characters. Both of these things are very, good. The story creates a large and immersive world, but the characters are not supplied to you "in full." You don''t get voices, and you don''t really get an image, aside from a rough idea of what they look like. This leaves much to the imagination, and that is certainly a good thing. When a game tries to be TOO realistic, it almost invariably fails. The human mind does a great job at picking out the few flaws that ruin an otherwise "perfect" scene. But in a game like Final Fantasy 7, it fills in all the details with much more vividness and "realness" than any animation and sound can.

The music also adds a great deal to the story. It sets the mood, and further links concepts. Sephiroth''s gothic choir, and the hearbeat pounding in the silence add even more darkness and depth to Sephiroth than he would have had on his own. In addition, the Sephiroth theme is incorporated into the themes of linked ideas. The theme for "Weapon" incorporates Sephiroth''s; the two ideas are linked by music as well as plot.

These are the makings of a great story.

I probably haven''t really effectively gotten across why Final Fantasy 7 had such a great story. The biggest reason is that I myself am not quite sure. But I do know that no game has ever sent a sent a chill down my spine, or triggered as much anger or emotion in me, as did Final Fantasy 7.

I don''t particularly like or play RPGs much (so I often feel left out around here), but did you have to classify Contra and SFII as "ugly"? Those games didn''t need any real story! It''s like analyzing the stories for Nemesis or Silpheed , or Tekken , or Samurai Showdown , or SNK versus Capcom (for the limit on storyline redundancy)... and yet you think Doom had a good story? (It was somewhere between Cyborg 2 and RoboNinja in the B-story standings).

I think there is nothing to be gained by observing games that added the storyline as an afterthought. Only games that have pushed the boundary of interactive narrative - or have attempted and failed horrendously - will profit this discussion.

So give me back my Contra . Contra rules! Contra forever!

OT: I''ve thought about making a Contra tribute game, and calling it Super-C++ (geddit?)

For "low level story" Harvest Moon is quite possible the best game. It was so great because you had so much freedom. Freedom of story is the best way to make a good story.