4 ms·

Are you aware of any games made in the last 20 years with writing quality comparable to Star Control II (or Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri)?

bee_rider 5y ago
The wonder and technology descriptions in Alpha Centarui were so amazing, I don't think they'll ever be beat. Like the rest of the game, they did a really great job of providing just enough information to let your mind run wild. I miss when games used to provide giant reams of text like that. There was a game, "Lords of Magic" that came with, essentially, a small novel's worth of entirely superfluous setting information (in the form of a little book!). It had the kind of background fluff you'd normally find in a D&D manual. I think I spent about as much time with the book, as with the game.
- thaumasiotes 5y ago
  Lemmings 2 came with a novella setting the backstory. I probably spent more time reading the novella than playing the game.
- sdenton4 5y ago
  All of the Elder Scrolls games (eg, Skyrim) contain ridiculous amounts of background text. I seen to remember lots of books in Pillars of Eternity as well. Oh, and the lore scattered around in Cultist Simulator is also quite something...
- brimble 5y ago
  Morrowind is much-beloved among fans of weird, complex video game fiction with tons of depth and plenty of text. I once read (on here, I think) that there was one person responsible for most of the weirdness and quirkiness of the setting in Morrowind (and the earlier two Elder Scrolls games, surely?), who left Bethesda after it was released, and that's why Oblivion and Skyrim feel so much more like a generic fantasy setting. It's playable on any common desktop OS via OpenMW (you'll need a copy of the game for the art, level data, sounds, et c, though), which is also far more stable than the official binary, and has some nice QOL improvements baked in.
  - bee_rider 5y ago
    True! I guess Alpha Centauri really stuck out because it is so unexpected to have something like that in a turn based strategy game, they tend to be pretty dry.
  - burnished 5y ago
    I think that would be Michael Kirkbride. My understanding is that he is responsible for some of the more interesting elements of the lore.
ianbicking 5y ago
I've never saw a mention of this, but I've assumed Alpha Centauri got a lot of inspiration from Frank Herbert's Pandora Sequence [1] - specifically the native ecology. Book 1 and 2 are flawed but have lots of interesting ideas; book 0.5 and 3 are more a bit more iffy, though book 0.5's concept of soldering your way to the singularity is a very 60's take. If Alpha Centauri's concept of parallel colonization by a group of rivalrous and ideological charismatic leaders is explored in a book as well, I bet that would be fun. [1] https://www.goodreads.com/series/129586-the-pandora-sequence https://www.goodreads.com/series/129586-the-pandora-sequence
- chongli 5y ago
  The book Albion’s Seed presents an historian’s theory that the United States is the result of parallel colonization by four ideologically and culturally distinct groups. Slate Star Codex had an excellent review of it [1]. [1] https://slatestarcodex.com/2016/04/27/book-review-albions-seed/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2016/04/27/book-review-albions-se...
- jerf 5y ago
  IIRC, Alpha Centauri's manual had a set of influences listed at the end, and Herbert was definitely in there. It is arguably the clearest single influence to the setting.
  - ianbicking 5y ago
    Oh yeah, reading the PDF [1] the first fiction book listed: "THE JESUS INCIDENT Frank Herbert A speculative and philosophical tour de force by my favorite science fiction author. You’ll probably have to search used bookstores for this one, but it’s well worth it. My favorite science fiction novel ever. A clear inspiration for the story of Planet." That manual is quite something! Moon comparisons, a long short story, tons of background material on each attribute of the planet...
ajmurmann 5y ago
Totally different genre, but Disco Elysium must be one of the best written games ever. I think it's the only game from which I will occasionally look up quotes
sjackso 5y ago
Sunless Sea comes to mind.
kitsune_ 5y ago
Disco Elysium
mcphage 5y ago
Spiritfarer has some wonderful dialog.
jerf 5y ago
Mass Effect 1. 2 and 3 are still not bad, but I can't quite say with a straight face they rise to that level. They coast on the writing in Mass Effect 1 in a lot of ways, and one way of reading the famously controversial ending of Mass Effect 3 is that's when the fumes they were coasting on ran out. The franchise after that sunk into mediocrity as the writers were just imitating what they didn't really understand.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

bee_rider 5y ago

The wonder and technology descriptions in Alpha Centarui were so amazing, I don't think they'll ever be beat. Like the rest of the game, they did a really great job of providing just enough information to let your mind run wild. I miss when games used to provide giant reams of text like that. There was a game, "Lords of Magic" that came with, essentially, a small novel's worth of entirely superfluous setting information (in the form of a little book!). It had the kind of background fluff you'd normally find in a D&D manual. I think I spent about as much time with the book, as with the game.

thaumasiotes 5y ago
Lemmings 2 came with a novella setting the backstory. I probably spent more time reading the novella than playing the game.
sdenton4 5y ago
All of the Elder Scrolls games (eg, Skyrim) contain ridiculous amounts of background text. I seen to remember lots of books in Pillars of Eternity as well. Oh, and the lore scattered around in Cultist Simulator is also quite something...
brimble 5y ago
Morrowind is much-beloved among fans of weird, complex video game fiction with tons of depth and plenty of text. I once read (on here, I think) that there was one person responsible for most of the weirdness and quirkiness of the setting in Morrowind (and the earlier two Elder Scrolls games, surely?), who left Bethesda after it was released, and that's why Oblivion and Skyrim feel so much more like a generic fantasy setting. It's playable on any common desktop OS via OpenMW (you'll need a copy of the game for the art, level data, sounds, et c, though), which is also far more stable than the official binary, and has some nice QOL improvements baked in.
- bee_rider 5y ago
  True! I guess Alpha Centauri really stuck out because it is so unexpected to have something like that in a turn based strategy game, they tend to be pretty dry.
- burnished 5y ago
  I think that would be Michael Kirkbride. My understanding is that he is responsible for some of the more interesting elements of the lore.

ianbicking 5y ago

I've never saw a mention of this, but I've assumed Alpha Centauri got a lot of inspiration from Frank Herbert's Pandora Sequence [1] - specifically the native ecology. Book 1 and 2 are flawed but have lots of interesting ideas; book 0.5 and 3 are more a bit more iffy, though book 0.5's concept of soldering your way to the singularity is a very 60's take. If Alpha Centauri's concept of parallel colonization by a group of rivalrous and ideological charismatic leaders is explored in a book as well, I bet that would be fun. [1] https://www.goodreads.com/series/129586-the-pandora-sequence https://www.goodreads.com/series/129586-the-pandora-sequence

chongli 5y ago
The book Albion’s Seed presents an historian’s theory that the United States is the result of parallel colonization by four ideologically and culturally distinct groups. Slate Star Codex had an excellent review of it [1]. [1] https://slatestarcodex.com/2016/04/27/book-review-albions-seed/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2016/04/27/book-review-albions-se...
jerf 5y ago
IIRC, Alpha Centauri's manual had a set of influences listed at the end, and Herbert was definitely in there. It is arguably the clearest single influence to the setting.
- ianbicking 5y ago
  Oh yeah, reading the PDF [1] the first fiction book listed: "THE JESUS INCIDENT Frank Herbert A speculative and philosophical tour de force by my favorite science fiction author. You’ll probably have to search used bookstores for this one, but it’s well worth it. My favorite science fiction novel ever. A clear inspiration for the story of Planet." That manual is quite something! Moon comparisons, a long short story, tons of background material on each attribute of the planet...

ajmurmann 5y ago

Totally different genre, but Disco Elysium must be one of the best written games ever. I think it's the only game from which I will occasionally look up quotes

sjackso 5y ago

Sunless Sea comes to mind.

kitsune_ 5y ago

Disco Elysium

mcphage 5y ago

Spiritfarer has some wonderful dialog.

jerf 5y ago

Mass Effect 1. 2 and 3 are still not bad, but I can't quite say with a straight face they rise to that level. They coast on the writing in Mass Effect 1 in a lot of ways, and one way of reading the famously controversial ending of Mass Effect 3 is that's when the fumes they were coasting on ran out. The franchise after that sunk into mediocrity as the writers were just imitating what they didn't really understand.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]