Best All Time Game Mythos

[StanJr]

One of the main reasons I play video games is because of the characters and or stories that are usually a part of the game. From Pitfall! to Swordquest, from Mario Bros to Zelda, from Tomb Radier to Final Fantasy, mythos are a big part of gaming. I was just wondering what everybody's favorite gaming mythos or cast of characters would be?

 

For the record, one of my most favorites is the Castlevania mythos. Its your standard Dracula epic, but I get so wrapped up in those games everytime I play them. I love the story and the atmosphere of that series.

 

Anybody else?

[Parcel]

Mortal Kombat had a tremendous storyline. I really wish those programmers understood how to make a real fighting game as opposed to the gore infested crap they made.

[Raccoon Lad]

I like the "mythos" of the graveyard level in spy hunter, the one where the guy gets out of the car

[liquid_sky]

you are all going to laugh at me.. but NARC.. something is gratifing about blasting a drug dealer with an AK and stealing his stuff.. yeah. I always thought the old sierra police quest series also had great mythos... missle command always made me feel somewhat as if i was in control of real missles and those evil cccp commies were bombing me

 

As for modern gaming, has anyone played max payne? holy crap it has a good story line.

[Charlie_]

RUNE on the PC. I got so caught up in this game, to this day, I'm runnign a dedicated deathmatch server out on my works broadband :-)

 

RUNE

 

Charlie

[+Cafeman]

The Sega Genesis and Sega CD game "Eternal Champions". Wow, what a great sci-fi plot for a 2D fighter. The Sega CD game is quite fun too (skip the Genesis one, its an exercise in frustration).

 

The idea is that there is an Eternal Champion, and his dark counterpart, the Dark Champion. The E.C. travels thru time gathering the greatest fighters from all eras -- a Pharoah; a 1900's tough cop; an Atlantean; a futuristic bionic kickboxer; a caveman; etc.

 

If you'd see the Sega CD FMV, you'd know more of what I'm talking about.

[Nostalgic]

My vote is for the early Ultima games, specifically the second trilogy. Those had a very rich game world, unique objectives (obtain virtues, uphold them after they are twisted, and embrace a new culture), an advanced conversation system, excellent supplemental material, and had the right balance of detail to bring you into the game but not overwhelm you, allowing your imagination to fill in the gaps.

[Ze_ro]

I'd have to say that I like the story behind Pong the best

 

Seriously though, Ultima did have an awesome storyline, and it was worked out very well throughout the series. Mortal Kombat's story started out good, but it got incredibly stupid after a few games in my opinion (Mortal Kombat 4 is a disaster). I always thought Fight For Life for the Jaguar had a cool storyline... too bad the game was never terribly popular The idea of fighting the minions in hell for a (slim) chance of regaining your life is pretty damn cool.

 

--Zero

 

(Now that I think about it, the story behind Pong is actually pretty cool... but I'm talking about the story involving Nolan Bushnell, Andy Capp's, etc... not really the mythos in the game itself)

[Ze_ro]

To sort of merge this topic together a bit... anyone remember an old DOS game called Pong Kombat?

 

--Zero

[Parcel]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Cafeman:

The Sega Genesis and Sega CD game "Eternal Champions". Wow, what a great sci-fi plot for a 2D fighter. The Sega CD game is quite fun too (skip the Genesis one, its an exercise in frustration).

 

The idea is that there is an Eternal Champion, and his dark counterpart, the Dark Champion. The E.C. travels thru time gathering the greatest fighters from all eras -- a Pharoah; a 1900's tough cop; an Atlantean; a futuristic bionic kickboxer; a caveman; etc.

 

If you'd see the Sega CD FMV, you'd know more of what I'm talking about.

---

 

One of my all time favorite fighting games, and I mean the Sega CD one. Saturn boxes had a pic of that game teasing a Saturn version but it never showed.

[Mindfield]

Classic: Alternate Reality. This was a game I was able to get so wrapped up in that I lost all sense of time and space. Although there wasn't much of a cast of characters, apart from yourself, the very idea behind the game and the rich world in which everything took place was exceptionally crafted with fine attention to detail everywhere, and a full musical score. The idea of being captured by an alien space craft and transported to a new world (which ultimately would have been revealed to be the craft itself, had the series been brought to completion) to fend for your life and build your character was fascinating to me.

 

Modern: That one's a toughie. I think it would be a toss up between Half Life, Max Payne (a modern graphic-novel style backdrop with a decidedly 1930s gumshoe paperback flavour), Red Faction, and for some reason, Oni. This last I think I liked because it had that Anime charm mixed with great scenery and a great storyline.

[Jess Ragan]

For a fighting game, Fatal Fury had a great storyline with characters that really mattered to you. I think Geese Howard was one of the best bosses ever created not because of his fighting abilities, but because he's a believable villain, a wicked billionaire who's affected the lives of most of the other characters in one way or another.

 

JR