what are some games that involve text and/or dialogue that you would consider well-written? writing doesn’t need to be the central element in the game, and i’m encouraging ones where it isn’t (to bring up my perennial example, a friend was talking about the precise and effective dialogue in armored core: for answer, of which there is maybe 20 minutes spoken total.) i find that games that are touted as novelistic in approach are often extremely inept from an actual prose standpoint, even if they do interesting things with the thematic coherence of player action, for instance. to be clear, i don’t mean macro-scale narrative or “good characters” either; i notice that people often ask “does it have writing” to mean “do the characters have moments of expressive differentiation,” vs. like “are words used well and thoughtfully in order to accomplish something interesting,” which is more of what i’m asking. i’m curious about the role of written and spoken words in a game and games where they are both used effectively to a specific artistic end and are executed with precision and craft (though again, not necessarily in a traditionally novelistic or poetic manner). so, to reiterate my criteria: 1. that the writing does something interesting, intentional and compelling within the totality of the work, and 2. that it is written by someone who knows how and what to write, in the same way that the people programming and designing the game know what they are doing and why they are doing it.
I mean the most recent thing that stood out was Disco Elysium?
A few that come to mind right away:
- Demon’s Souls (and its sequels)
- Planescape: Torment
- Portal
- The Secret of Monkey Island (At least, I remember this having good writing but it’s been ages.)
- Vagrant Story
For some games, it’s a little hard for me to separate writing (the story) from writing (what you read or hear) in my mind. Did The Stanley Parable have good writing apart from its structure, for example? Did Shadow of Destiny? (I think so.)
i would say that writing that capably articulates an interesting story does qualify, provided that there is a rich and productive relationship between the micro-level writing and the macro-level Writing.
Secret of Monkey Island has excellent writing, specifically for an adventure game. a thing Ron Gilbert said once regarding the Lucasarts adventure game dialogue tree is that it was an opportunity to tell 4 different jokes. That is basically what Monkey Island is and does and it does it as good as anything else. I really like the whole series up through Curse (and even kind of enjoy Escape in a trashy way) but Secret strikes the perfect tone of feeling like a pirate adventure, but with jokes, instead of being a wacky referential cartoon. The insult sword fighting bit is still really inspired and a perfect example of how the writing fits the tone and premise. And has the dubious honor of including some of Orson Scott Card’s best writing.
I would say the Tim Schafer written adventure games are also very well written in general, but his weakness tends to be that the story feels written first and then fitted nto a game format, whereas the Monkey Islands at their best are structured in a really gamey way (divided into very clear acts, often self contained so you don’t get too overwhelmed) and the writing is tailored toward presenting unusual situations and puzzles to solve. The one TS game that avoids that is Full Throttle by being really linear and minimal (and fucking badass)
i am vindicated
It’s very hard for a game to be comprehensively good without good language
Aether Interactive made words as sharp as possible, to cut with every full stop
Forgotten
Natalie Lawhead is very careful to be sloppy with their words, and sprays them as energetically and synaesthetically as the flashing colors
Kentucky Route Zero arranges its words architecturally, to reinforce the stage backdrops and maintain a strict ratio of suggestion to statement
it was the first one i played so i kind of owe it some appreciation lol
i am always happy when you post in one of my threads (and in general)
I think Bangai-O qualifies by flanking your position that it must be executed with precision and craft. The translated exchanges are raw and apparently absurd, but they have a rhythm and unique language. Was it purposeful? Does that matter?
Mrs. M:
That text comes up again and again, do you think it’s really
complicated?
Riki:
It sure is!
Riki:
When I look at the same text several times, it drives me crazy.
Mrs. M:
The text comes up because you have no skill and are always being
killed!
aww, I really appreciate you too
David Kanaga’s Oikospiel overlaps words and schemes atop each other in order to pull your mind into synchronicities and coincidences that can form music if you just—
listen
oikospiel is so good, kanaga rules
I actually started my post meaning to bring up Ikaruga. Just :
“I make you alive so that you can walk along the right way. But can’t you understand it?”
“You can’t feel the visible things. How can you feel the invisible things?”
“It is impossible to cut off this metempsychosis forever. You can also see it, can’t you?”
i was gonna post my own porn game as an example of well written but i was thinking about how much screaming with delight i did at oikospiel and i just cant be in the same thread
the writer will do something really stuck with me
im a fan of catamites’s writing style a ton too
THE SHADOWBRINGERS EXPANSION IS SO WELL WRITTEN but im not sure how much of that is ‘well written for a jrpg’… hmm no i think its actually good. i think its this way because the person who wrote it is as snarky about jrpg tropes as every person alive who loves them
oh my gosh yes, I don’t care if it’s embarrassing I have to spleen these words back up
the babbling narrator operating on another valence entirely is a device I’m obsessed with and I hope they don’t mind how inspired I am by it, I love polyrhythms
probably had to do w me playing it in japanese at a time when i was seriously studying it, but i remember finding lufia 2’s jrpg-small-talk-dialogues particularly charming. lots of back-hand comments about purpose;
another game that comes to mind is nier. the city of masked people in the desert that has a bilion laws that have to be recited, the segment where the game turns into a visual novel of sorts, the trash-talking between main characters;
westerado is interesing to me. you need to find clues about a certain person’s identity – what they look like and their general location. you do some task by order of someone every other screen travelled. the game is so sparse, it gives a lot of mileage to verbs and adjectives, if that makes sense
the legend of zelda: a link to the past
Star Control 2 has pitch perfect pulp comedy space opera writing. I love all the different alien civilizations. Each of them has some kind of fun and interesting science fiction concept paired with totally goofy character traits. There’s a lot of thought given to the scenarios in which you encounter them while you explore the wide galaxy at your own pace. Their own particular stories and goals slowly converge as you uncover the political dynamics and conflicts that connect them all into the game’s central war.
The Orz in particular have really stuck with me. They’re always teetering between comedy and actually unnerving cosmic horror. The balance is struck so well, you’re always off-kilter around them.
A lot of credit needs to be given to the voice acting, which really sells it.
Yes!
Of course!