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Games like Winter Voices--but good?
Balgair
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Though the excessive time I spend playing blops would suggest otherwise, I'm actually infatuated with games that offer deep and rich story-content. I stumbled across Winter Voices on Steam, and was drooling with interest, at first. The gorgeous illustration and imagery-laden (though approaching pretentious) dialogue pitched the game up as some sort of interactive poem-- which seemed pretty awesome. After playing the demo and reading some reviews, it was apparent that I'd gotten my hopes up for something that wasn't quite real. If you've played, you know what I'm talking about. The combat system is painfully tedious and dull. But the whole ordeal managed to whet my appetite for something of the same genre. So I ask you: what should I look into?
TL;DR
I want to play a PC game with a rich a storyline, dramatic art or scenery, and a cinematic or poetic vibe. Any suggestions? I'm not afraid of a slow pace at all, but if something's just kind of shitty, like the combat system in Winter Voices, I probably won't be able to stomach it.
For the record, Mass Effect 2 is probably the deepest game (story-wise) that I've played in recent history--and that's not terribly deep in my book.
TL;DR
I want to play a PC game with a rich a storyline, dramatic art or scenery, and a cinematic or poetic vibe. Any suggestions? I'm not afraid of a slow pace at all, but if something's just kind of shitty, like the combat system in Winter Voices, I probably won't be able to stomach it.
For the record, Mass Effect 2 is probably the deepest game (story-wise) that I've played in recent history--and that's not terribly deep in my book.
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I think it's on Steam too!
The story is pretty fantastic, *especially* if you're playing through it for the first time, and take the time to read all of the dialogue and descriptions. One fairly unique thing about Planescape is the extent to which your actions and options are determined by your character attributes: if your dexterity is high, you can sometimes snap an enemy's neck before he calls for help; if your strength is high, you can bash things open and intimidate people. More significantly, if your intelligence and wisdom are high, you get access to a much wider range of dialogue options than you do if it's low, which is why most people advise doing your first playthrough as a mage rather than a thief or fighter.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/braid-review
Beyond Good and Evil
The Longest Journey is amazing. It will draw you in and not let go.
Dreamfall is even more amazing when you factor in the better graphics and an absolutely killer soundtrack that still haunts me.
Here is a story the first companion you find (a floating skull) tells you randomly at one point, it has always stuck with me.
Morte: "Fine, fine..."
"An elderly man was sitting alone on a dark path, right? He wasn't certain of which direction to go, and he'd forgotten both where he was traveling to and who he was. He'd sat down for a moment to rest his weary legs, and suddenly looked up to see an elderly woman before him. She grinned toothlessly and with a cackle, spoke: 'Now your *third* wish. What will it be?'"
"'Third wish?' The man was baffled. 'How can it be a third wish if I haven't had a first and second wish?'"
"'You've had two wishes already,' the hag said, 'but your second wish was for me to return everything to the way it was before you had made your first wish. That's why you remember nothing; because everything is the way it was before you made any wishes.' She cackled at the poor berk. 'So it is that you have one wish left.'"
"'All right,' said the man, "I don't believe this, but there's no harm in wishing. I wish to know who I am.'"
"'Funny,' said the old woman as she granted his wish and disappeared forever. 'That was your first wish.'"
Winter Voices looks (and I'm unfamiliar) to be mostly in the "adventure" style with rpg elements (hell, I think EVERY game now has rpg elements)?
Torment is, universally, spoken of as one of the best RPGs out there. I have always had issues with it due to the 2d BG-style overhead gameplay and the sheer size of the game, itself. If you like more "classic" rpg, it would be a good choice.
On re-reading your post I'd again vote for Dreamfall. It has some beautiful landscapes and scenes, is far more "dramatic" (cutscenes!) than most RPGs of the same era and really, really feels like a piece of art. I suggest Dreamfall specifically because the graphic imagery is far better than the first game, and draws you in so deeply. I actually played Dreamfall on the XBox back when it was released, before I ever touched TLJ. I subsequently went back and played the first one out of not being able to let go of the world.
There's no real "action" in Dreamfall. A few ill-conceived sneaking scenes and a handful of very basic fighting sequences exist, but are really, really secondary to the point 'n click adventure/story approach (which I find better for deep story games, in general).
Another to suggest is Trace Memory, if you happen to have a DS around. It's probably dirt cheap, but included some awesome puzzles and a lot of slowly-revealed story which was, IMO, well written and executed.