I need some help building my education and knowledge of game storylines in order to write a really good and deep storyline for a game. As far as increasing education goes, I want to learn more about philosophy. Are there any good links on storylines or even game design that will lead me to conclusions on this subject without making me read three books worth of material?

I'll give you an example of what 'I' consider a good storyline, this is from a game that is actually poor due to being buggy and it is a kid's game strangely enough, but I consider the story on paper to be top-notch - dramatic but not as confusing as something like Final Fantasy:

Wikipedia (Sonic 2006):

In Soleanna, the Festival of the Sun's opening ceremony is disrupted by the arrival of Doctor Eggman who seeks the Flames of Disaster from Princess Elise. He captures Elise before she tosses the blue Chaos Emerald to Sonic the Hedgehog who arrives there. He meets Miles "Tails" Prower and they rescue Elise; Tails distracts Eggman's robots while Sonic and Elise escape. Meanwhile, Shadow saves Rouge the Bat, who dropped the Scepter of Darkness that unleashes Mephiles the Dark, a creature in Shadow's image who reveals Shadow sealed him within the scepter ten years ago, before opening a wormhole which transports Shadow and Rouge to the future: a post-apocalyptic world that is caused by the Flames of Disaster and a fiery monster named Iblis. There, Silver and his friend Blaze the Cat meet Mephiles who reveals Sonic as the Iblis Trigger and sends the two back in time using the purple Chaos Emerald. Silver and Blaze are separated upon arrival, with Silver witnessing Eggman's attack on Soleanna and Sonic's departure. He meets Amy Rose who accompanies him to find but defends Sonic when they find him, while Eggman recaptures Elise. Sonic flees and meets with Tails and Knuckles the Echidna, before Eggman lures them into a trap sending them into the future where Tails discovers Elise and Eggman died one day before Iblis was released. Shadow and Rouge find a shutdown E-123 Omega, and reunites with Sonic, Tails and Knuckles. Using two Chaos Emeralds, they return to the present. Shadow faces Mephiles, but learns in the future he was imprisoned by Omega, blamed for the destruction. Shadow and Omega returns to the present-day.
Shadow and Silver travel ten years into the past and learn Iblis and Mephiles are parts of the Duke of Soleanna's project to harness the power of the city's god Solaris. The Duke gives Shadow the Scepter of Darkness, which he uses to seal Mephiles, while Silver and the Duke seals Iblis into a young Elise's tears, the dying Duke asks his daughter not to cry for her tears could release Iblis. Sonic fails to reach Eggman's destroyed ship with Elise inside it, but Silver sends Sonic back in time so he can save Elise. With Shadow, Rouge and Omega defeats Mephiles' clones, Silver and Blaze (at the cost of her life) stop Iblis in the future.
After surviving Shadow's attack, Mephiles holds up the purple Chaos Emerald in use and seemingly kills Sonic with an energy blade behind him, causing Elise to cry and unleash Iblis. Mephiles bonds with Iblis, recreating Solaris to rip the time-space continuum apart. As everyone mourns Sonic's apparent death, Silver notes that seven Chaos Emeralds' power would revive Sonic, telling everyone to find all of them. As they are all gathered, Elise gives Sonic a kiss which allows him to transform into his super form who copies some of his powers to Shadow and Silver, and together they defeat Solaris. Sonic and Elise go back in time, finding Solaris' original form as a single white flame. Elise blows out the candle to erase Solaris from existence and the story's events so that Solaris can befriend Elise again, rebooting the timeline. The game ends with Sonic watching Elise in the festival show; the two display signs of faintly recalling their friendship.

This storyline features:
Death (multiple times)
A deceptive villain, Mephiles
Originality (sealing a villain in a young girl's tears)

Could the storyline be even better? Yes. But it's still what I consider a pretty good story.

Thanks. I wasn't sure.

I'm in school for Game Art & Animation, so I'm really busy. When I'm not learning in school, I choose to learn further in my free time. But I agree about three books not being enough for philosophy. So if I had to choose an area of philosophy, it would be metaphysics.