What do you consider solid writing in a game ?

[1000bluntz]

There was one side quest in Deus Ex: Human Revolution where you went to this dudes apartment and when you get there it's been broken into and he's in the bathroom bleeding out with a bullet in his stomach. You have to get information from him so he urges you to inject him with morphine so he can remain coherent enough to talk to you but at the end of the dialogue he begs you to overdose him so he can die an enjoyable death and after you do, you watch him smile and nod off in his pool of blood.

I thought the game played pretty mediocre (especially compared to the early deus ex games) but I always thought it had fantastic writing.

 

[Inignem]

A good writting for a game involves adding authentic reasons to the characters. Most videogames have heroes that are heroes for the mere sake of being heroes and villians who are only villians because they are either nut or just enjoy evil itself.

The few games that I have played where that does not happen have been the first Bioshock and... meh I cant recall other game.

 

[SirRob]

I like it when everything connects to an underlying message or moral. Like in Persona 4, with the message that you have to admit to your faults and face reality.
I also like seeing characters interacting with each other and getting something meaningful out of those interactions, like in Fire Emblem.

 

[Ley]

Like if I straight up GASP or cry or something. Or stuff that makes you think. I really enjoyed the assassins creed franchise in that sense.

Hell, even borderlands 2 had good writing? That ending? With Jack and angel? fuckin nuts.

 

[Punnchy]

When a game makes me literally say "No fucking way" or influences me to a point that I will cry or scream. That is good writing, things that are not overly complex and get the message across and make you feel satisfied or disheartened do that for me.

 

[Imperial Impact]

I like it when everything connects to an underlying message or moral. Like in Persona 4, with the message that you have to admit to your faults and face reality.

But NGE did that long before P4 did.

 

[PastryOfApathy]

I don't have like a criteria, I just kinda know it when I see it. A couple examples I guess would be The Walking Dead and Psychonauts.

 

[CaptainCool]

I think good writing has multiple levels to it.
First of all, the story has to make sense. Even if it is a fantasy game. A story can still make sense within its own universe, it just needs good exposition in that case.
Then it depends on how well it handles the subject of the story. Does it make us care for the characters? Does it introduce the characters well? Are the characters unique and not just copypasted? If they are copypasted (like using mythological characters as a base) are they copypasted well so that the character still feels unique but yet familiar?

I think the better way to explain it is to use a game that heavily relies on the story but got it all wrong: Final Fantasy XIII.
The game has no exposition at all. You are just being thrown into this fantasy world and no one bothers to explain anything. The only proper exposition that you get is through data logs in the menu. You absolutely have to read everything in there to make any sense of the story. The crucial aspect for the motivation of your enemy is hidden away in a data log that you get shortly before you finish the game. And it's not even satisfying... Actually, when you think about it it doesn't make any damn sense at all.
The game also doesn't portray any of the characters as likable.
And one scene made me particularly mad... The "heroes" crash into an old building and one of them explains "oh! This is an "arc"! They used it to train people like us in the past! Maybe we should go through this!". The game literally tells you that the next couple of hours will be nothing but grinding for levels in the most linear hallway the game has yet presented. Now THAT is good story telling!

Then there is this "Bathendalus" character... I can't even be bothered to look up if I spelled his name right... He is essentially a god. And he fights you multiple times.
He is always all like "Haha, you can't beat me! >=D" but then you totally kick his ass and he is all like "Muahaha! Being beaten by you was my plan all along! >=D"
After the second battle he presents the heroes with some sort of plane which would take them directly where he wants them to be. What do our heroes do? Sure, they get on the plane without hesitation... This god guywants them to end all life to summon the god HE believes in and they just roll with it. Do you see why I said these characters are unlikable?

Then there is the character Raines... You fight him, he turns into a lump of chrystal because he "fulfilled his focus". No one knows how to revert this effect. But then, 10 hours after you beat him, HE IS JUST BACK with no explanation!

And in the end they win because friendship. The end.

The whole game is a load of bullshit and the worst written game I have ever played.

 

[Conker]

No real criteria. Things kinda just have to fit together and work.

Bioshock Infinite was a very well-written game, though it had a few parts that were too video gamey all things considered. But as a multiverse story, it handled things well with as few plot holes as possible, and Elizabeth and Booker were just really well-done characters.

I found the new DMC: Devil May Cry game to be well written. It was immature at times, but it knew what it was supposed to be and what it wanted to be so it played to its strengths. Dante had more to him than "asshole with weapons" and the shoutouts to They Live were quite nice. There were some really good moments, and even the boss fight where "FUCK YOU" was shouted back and forth about ten times was funny. Wasn't Literature, but it made me laugh.

The death of Dom's wife in Gears 2 was great. People complain about it, but I don't know why. It was handled so well and was genuinely touching. Dom really was the best character of the series, so it was kinda bullshit that they offed him in Gears 3. The writing of that scene wasn't as good as the death in the previous game, that's for sure. Marcus has no emotive range other than angry and really angry.

Soul Sacrifice on the PSVita had absolutely shit shit shit fucking shit writing. So there's a counter example.

 

[Kamek_Sans]

Kid Icarus Uprising

Not gonna describe its writing or give examples
just


every game needs to be written like uprising