Best adventure game plot of all time

[Milad241]

hello everyone!
I didn't see any thread like this in forums so i made one.if there are enough replies we can make an all time ranking too.
my turn:

5.Still life
4.Discworld noir
3.Broken sword 1
2.Longest journey
1.Grimfandango

[dantebk]

Tough question! Off the top of my head, I came up with this ...

1 Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within
2 Grim Fandango
3 Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire
4 Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
5 King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow

But this is almost the same as my Top 5 in general, except with no Monkey Island. (Monkey Island is hilarious, but the plot? Not exceptional)

[AprilLives]

Seems like my all time favorites are also the games that have plots I like. Each is very different from one another and each is original.

I might have a different opinion if I had played every single game ever made. My list so far is:

1 Riven
2 The Longest Journey 1
3 Syberia 1
4 Grim Fandango
5 Myst

[QFG]

Hon. Men.: Longest Journey, KQ7, QFG1 and 2, Space Quest 4
5 Indiana Jones, Fate of Atlantis
4 Monkey Island I
3 King's Quest IV
2 Grim Fandango
1 Quest for Glory IV

[Psychocandy]

It's interesting to note that I missed out several of my favourite games when compiling mine. No Monkey Island, no Post Mortem... Perhaps a truly gripping plot is further down my priorities list than I thought!

1) Grim Fandango
2) Moment of Silence
3) Longest Journey
4) Pathologic
5) Still Life

[Milad241]

why did everyone only choose 5 games?
i think it's my mistake,i should have explained more!
you can choose up to 10 games,
first game gains 10 points ,second 9 points,....the last one gets 1 point.

[Harald B]

Wow, I can't even come up with five games I've played that had a particularly great plot. I hope that's due to being hard to impress, rather than due to being oblivious to plot quality. I've never played most of the games in this thread, though I probably should. Oh well, I'll just leave some spaces open:

1) KGB
3) Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Hon. Men.) The Dig

[Max Gruber]

Agatha Christie: And then there were none! But it is a book actually!

[Tomi]

Well this is basically the list of my favorite games, but without the MI series and Myst.

1. Broken Sword I
2. Gabriel Knight III
3. Grim Fandango
4. Full Throttle
5. Dig ( Harald B - Thanks! I forgot about that game, I have to replay it soon :) )

[TiAgUh]

Photopia, does it counts? :P

[robinb1]

The first Sherlock Holmes game I played when I was younger, one of the best plots is in The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel.

[Terramax]

1. Broken Sword 1 (obviously)
2. Silent Hill 2 (if it counts)
3. Still Life
4. EDIT: Post Mortem - not Grim Fandango, as it steals many ideas from other stories.
5. Full Throttle (clearly film material).

[Keregioz]

I agree with most answers...
Games that were not mentioned yet:
Sanitarium had an interesting plot. Dreamfall. Black dahlia.

[Milad241]

Until now these games have most votes:

1.Grimfandango
2.Broken sword 1
3.Longest journey
4.Indiana jones and fate of atlantis
5.Still life

[Milad241]

The first Sherlock Holmes game I played when I was younger, one of the best plots is in The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel.
I agree with you,it has a great story.

[BuGz]

1. Grim Fandango. A true film noir, I still can't believe no one came even close 10 years later...
2. Blade Runner. I love the movie, and this game managed to re-create the BR universe and fully immerse the player. Oh and multiple endings :P
3. The longest journey. Nevermind the weird puzzles, it's an awesome journey!
4. Sanitarium. Too many weird puzzles hahahah, still an unique experience.
5. Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers.

[maladroid]

Those that first come to mind:

1. Grim Fandango
2. Discworld: Noir
3. Loom
4. Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers
5. Day of the Tentacle
6. Syberia
7. Dreamfall

Also, I Have no Mouth and I Must Scream seems like a potential candidate, as far as I can tell, but since I have played only a very small portion of the game I cannot really back that up.

[QFG]

I'm going to elaborate; I would edit my previous post, but I guess that window of opportunity has passed, since I can't find the "edit" button anymore.

5 Indiana Jones, Fate of Atlantis
4 Monkey Island I
3 King's Quest IV
2 Grim Fandango
1 Quest for Glory IV

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis: because of the multiple paths you can take, because of the interesting and often funny characters (Sophia was actually a very good sidekick, and performed all the usual functions of that role), because of the interesting story (orichalcum!), and because of good use of those classic villains, the Nazis.

The Secret of Monkey Island: I recently found my original copy of this, complete in the box with manual and everything... and was overjoyed! This plot had it all: the humor, the undead, a classic anti-hero, memorable characters, memorable locations, the great GREAT Caribbean soundtrack, and - of course - the Head of the Navigator (see avatar).

King's Quest IV: This one resonates with me because of the various fairytale references, always present in the King's Quest series but especially rich in the fourth game. The great and sometimes spooky locations, the memorable heroine (I loved Rosella!), the great soundtrack.

Grim Fandango: All the obvious reasons - the wonderful originality and humor, the great dialog, the great locations, the GREAT music score, good story progression, great supporting characters (Glottis!), the works.

Quest for Glory IV: I had a hard time choosing which of the series to pick; but this one had the most magic, I think. Vampires, sorcerers, the roached Chief Thief, the nice twists on cliches (Igor and his ... master...), Frankie, the Old Man and Anna, Baba Yaga and her hut, you name it. All the characters are unforgettable. The humor was superb, of course, and the story ended up having huge resonance.

[Collector]

Quest for Glory IV: I had a hard time choosing which of the series to pick; but this one had the most magic, I think. Vampires, sorcerers, the roached Chief Thief, the nice twists on cliches (Igor and his ... master...), Frankie, the Old Man and Anna, Baba Yaga and her hut, you name it. All the characters are unforgettable. The humor was superb, of course, and the story ended up having huge resonance.
Not to mention narration by John Rhys-Davies. It is one of my two favorite games.

[GhostPirateLechuck]

1)Broken sWord 1
2)Gab Knight 3
3)Gab Knight 1
4)Sherlock Holmes (Jack The Ripper one)
5)Kings Quest 6 (I love the mix of all the fairy tales)

[Ah-Pook]

1.Gabriel Knight: Sins Of The Father
2.Dreamfall
3.Grim Fandango
4.Broken Sword: Shadow Of The Templars
5.The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: Case of the Serrated Scalpel
6.The Dark Eye
7.Indiana Jones And The Fate Of Atlantis

[JKR]

I loved The Dig's story. It was probably the first really serious Adventure game I had ever played. And Indiana Jones had a great story too, but I never beat it because of those blasted Sun Dial puzzle things! Blast them!!

I would have loved the Runaway: Dream of the Turtle story, but then... you know what happens at the "end" if you played it. Grrr...

[Se7en]

1.Still Life (cause I know how it ends...)
2.Full Throttle (just plain awesome)
3.Grimfandango (I'll always love Manny)
4.Longest journey (no comment)
5.Syberia 1 (the automaton world was pretty freaking cool)

[Keregioz]

1.Still Life (cause I know how it ends...)


Don't you think it's about time for us to know too ??...:shifty:

[Journeyman]

1.Still Life (cause I know how it ends...)


I really wanna know too. Someone finish this story, please. I'm quite sure a complete Still Life would be my favorite AG of all time.

[cwapitm]

Everyone's probably already mentioned the ones I would mention, but I'd like to point out Culpa Innata because the plot has really drawn me in and I'm always waiting for what happens next.

[Keregioz]

Everyone's probably already mentioned the ones I would mention, but I'd like to point out Culpa Innata because the plot has really drawn me in and I'm always waiting for what happens next.


I agree but.... in the end you never know what happens next...

[smulan]

I agree but.... in the end you never know what happens next...

The murder case is solved and brought to an end, what else do you want - someone delivering flowers to Phoenix?

[Keregioz]

The murder case is solved and brought to an end, what else do you want - someone delivering flowers to Phoenix?

you can't be serious... There's a whole subplot about the renovators which we never find out what they are and what they do. Actually, in my opinion, the way it is presented is as the murder is the subplot which serves as the cause for discovering a whole bigger plot about a major conspiracy. It's possible to play the game and miss this subplot, i really hope you didn't, though, cause it was the most interesting aspect of the game. There are some other unanswered questions which I don't remember right now, like for example mata hari's behaviour but those are less important.

p.s. Sorry about the thread hijacking...

[Matan]

1. Grim Fandango
2. Sanitarium
3. Day of the Tentacle
4. The Last Express
5. Gabriel Knight

Though I'm pretty sure I missed some really good ones - these are just off the top of my head.

[smulan]

you can't be serious...
I am. That kind of argument is exactly what people had against Dreamfall.
Both CI and D are great games partly because everything isn't put on a silvertray with every subplot merged into one big happy end.
What about Poenix relation to her boyfriend, well you have to accept neither that subplot is solved and brougt to marriage or separation or whatever...

[Keregioz]

I am. That kind of argument is exactly what people had against Dreamfall.
Both CI and D are great games partly because everything isn't put on a silvertray with every subplot merged into one big happy end.
What about Poenix relation to her boyfriend, well you have to accept neither that subplot is solved and brougt to marriage or separation or whatever...

First I must point out that i consider both dreamfall and culpa innata excellent games and they're both in my favorites list. That being said I totally disagree with you ... but I'll won't go any further with this argument because it's not related with this thread.