Is there an obvious “everyone should play ___” recommendation, that has story and characters with depth and believable motives?
Edit: I realize that was kind of a lazy question so thanks to everyone for the answers!
What games do you think excel at story/character?
The average perspective of literary studies presents characters in media as often not made to simulate humans but be symbols for ideas, conflict, groups, emotions.
https://thepointmag.com/criticism/real-characters-literary-c...
Portal is a puzzle game with a bit of a silly story to move the puzzles along. I didn't care about the protagonist, in the same way that I don't care about the art work in a chess game. It's lovely but I'm not emotionally invested in it in the same way I'm not emotionally invested in Fast and Furious.
Bioshock 1/2/Infinite was similar. The world had been lovingly crafted, the antagonists and enemies had backstories but the main character was not anyone I cared about. Having a backstory is completely different to having a relatable protagonist that I want to see succeed.
For every Logan there are 6(?) X-Men films that are just explosions.
For example, there is a high degree of ludonarrative dissonance, and quite regularly an emotional or otherwise important event will take place, to absolutely zero fanfare or reaction from the party. You just get dropped back into the game.
I know it is a matter of scope and available resources, but it reminds me a lot of how one might compare the narratives of GTA: San Andreas vs GTAV. Many prefer the overall plot, scope and worldbuilding of GTA: San Andreas vs GTAV. But due to time crunch and constrained resources, parts of the game had to be cut and it really shows.
More typically of games of its time, San Andreas can very abruptly take you in and out of the narrative experience, to the point that some emotional cues are lost. Red Dead Redemption 2 on the other hand excellently bridges this gap, possibly in the most organic fashion to date from any video game.
I hope Larian can look toward recent games such as Red Dead Redemption 2 and Cyberpunk for guidance on how to handle a narrative-heavy experience more organically and holistically.
but yeah as far as compelling characters through games alone, Pentiment was incredible around the same time
It is a masterpiece. I've played many games but RDR2 is on another level. It's like taking control of a character in a book and take him until the last page.
I tend to think that the LCD game is no different than the equivalent movie.