MMOs with great lore and story

Ralphie2449 · April 26

One of the most important parts of an MMO for me is to actually care about the world and to feel immersed in it, and a good story/lore presentation is vital for that.

Many mmos these days dont seem to bother with story or even lore in any meaningful way, they create utterly generic character customization, they dont even bother with creating some more unique memorable races that arent just human with slightly different accessories.

Sometimes they put the story intern write walls of text to put in random books in game that 99% of the playerbase wont bother reading.

FF14/Swtor are obviously designed around story and a unique example so no point focusing a lot on them, they are simply done right.

What other MMOs you feel created interesting lore and story that hooked you in and made you care about the universe?

Destiny 2 would definitely be one of them, even though as a new player nothing makes sense, if you stay around for a few seasons, see characters and interacting and the story it actually feels like an interesting universe.

The secret world was another great example, not only you are in the modern world but with secret societies fighting but there's also a ton of monsters and mysteries around.

Even if an mmo is great in the aspects of progression and visuals, like new world for example, the lack of coherent story and lore really makes you just "not care" about the world, you play it in a far too mechanical way rather than being immersed in it.

ferhat.mousavi · April 26

As an independent designer/developer, I am developing an MMORPG like you described. The first thing I did in January 2023 was write a story. I tried to create a base for the game. I'm still enriching the story.

I started designing and developing the game after the story.

Linif · April 26

Ralphie2449 said:

One of the most important parts of an MMO for me is to actually care about the world and to feel immersed in it, and a good story/lore presentation is vital for that.
Many mmos these days dont seem to bother with story or even lore in any meaningful way, they create utterly generic character customization, they dont even bother with creating some more unique memorable races that arent just human with slightly different accessories.
Sometimes they put the story intern write walls of text to put in random books in game that 99% of the playerbase wont bother reading.

FF14/Swtor are obviously designed around story and a unique example so no point focusing a lot on them, they are simply done right.
What other MMOs you feel created interesting lore and story that hooked you in and made you care about the universe?
Destiny 2 would definitely be one of them, even though as a new player nothing makes sense, if you stay around for a few seasons, see characters and interacting and the story it actually feels like an interesting universe.
The secret world was another great example, not only you are in the modern world but with secret societies fighting but there's also a ton of monsters and mysteries around.

Even if an mmo is great in the aspects of progression and visuals, like new world for example, the lack of coherent story and lore really makes you just "not care" about the world, you play it in a far too mechanical way rather than being immersed in it.

World of Warcraft. In the last handful of expansions (I'm going to say Cata onwards) haven't been written well, in my opinion, I thought it had good lore and story when I first started playing in Wrath of the Lich King.

Playing WoW after years of playing Warcraft 3 felt incredible, and I felt really immersed. But this may be a testament to Warcraft 3's story telling rather than WoW's, as I don't think I would have enjoyed it nearly as much without playing W3 first.

DafAtRandom · April 26

Often seen as the red-headed stepchild, EQ2. Maybe not the best storyline, but the lore is vast, if you take the time. There are MANY book quests that are just that, lore. And then of course all the heritage quests.

I'd recommend playing on a TLE server though...the live servers are out of whack.

Sovrath · April 26

I suppose Lord of the Rings Online, especially at the start.

Scot · April 26

And here I am agreeing with Ralphie, its one of those days.

Story is neglected these days, I would add the rather obvious ESO to the list.

Gorwe · April 26

This is more of a LFG topic, but nvm. Let's answer.

SWTOR, ESO and LoTR:O are the big 3 here. These are really good experiences even outside the MMO framework(SWTOR and LoTR:O especially so). Guild Wars(both imo, but 1 more so) and The Secret World can be part of this. Cryptic games(Neverwinter, ST:O) are also quite alright. Iirc, Blade and Soul also had a good martial arts revenge story. Don't know anything about B/S these days though.

You also have MMOs that don't have a story that's of note, but have vast / interesting / beautiful lore. This is where the likes of EQ 2 come in. Very immersive experiences should you get acclimated to the rest of the game.

I also greatly care about gameplay. And how it's implemented within the game. This is where the games often fall apart. Ludonarrative disonance et al. I would rather have a game with weaker story, but greater immersion(say Warhammer Online) than a game like LoTR:O which is a work of art, but often flounders and flails around with gameplay elements. Such a thing(often visible in LoTR:O and ESO) instantly takes me out of experience. Making even EQ2, let alone SWTOR, more immersive.

Theocritus · April 26

Scot said:

And here I am agreeing with Ralphie, its one of those days.

Story is neglected these days, I would add the rather obvious ESO to the list.

Story is the least important thing to me when I look for a MMO to be honest.

Quizzical · April 26

Sovrath said:

I suppose Lord of the Rings Online, especially at the start.

LotRO's storyline is completely incoherent. People seem to say it's good because the books were good, but the game itself does not have a good storyline or even a mediocre one.

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Gorwe · April 26

Quizzical said:

Sovrath said:

I suppose Lord of the Rings Online, especially at the start.

LotRO's storyline is completely incoherent. People seem to say it's good because the books were good, but the game itself does not have a good storyline or even a mediocre one.

Maybe so. But you can't say that it don't have a great lore. Gameplay could definitely be better(not to mention animations and models), but immersion factor is top notch. Can't deny that.

cameltosis · April 27

Theocritus said:

Scot said:

And here I am agreeing with Ralphie, its one of those days.

Story is neglected these days, I would add the rather obvious ESO to the list.

Story is the least important thing to me when I look for a MMO to be honest.

I'm right there with you.

I couldn't care less about the story, it's a very rare day that I enjoy a story in any form of computer game.

Part of that is simple snobbery / elitism. I read a lot of books, and an average fantasy book still has a story 10x better than the best story-focused games. The best books are simply in another world compared to games.

Part of it is simply the medium itself. I have never thought that games are good at telling stories. There is *always* a disconnect between what I am doing as a player, and the story that is being told. Beyond that, the writing itself is usually extremely generic, and the story often divorced from the gameplay.

The only MMORPG where I enjoyed the story was LotRO, and only at the start. It's the only MMORPG where I felt the story was both well written, and well connected with the gameplay. I still found it boring, but it was better that everything else. Then, of course, they added quest markers to the game. The story no longer needed to be connected with gameplay, so Turbine stopped writing well.

Gorwe · April 27

But the books aren't visual at all. That could be important to a lot of people.

cheyane · April 27

I would not compare books to games as they are different mediums. The fact is that a visual representation together with you being physically in the game and interacting with the characters is something one cannot do in a book and that makes the stories in games a completely different experience from reading a book.

Naturally a book can have a more fleshed out story because of the number words and depth it has but immersion in a game can achieve a very engaging and very different feeling of belonging to the actual world the game creates. This is simply because you're physically controlling the movements of the character you're playing and your actions and decisions have an impact that isn't at all like how you might feel about what the protagonist in a book does.

I certainly read a lot of books and yet I have never felt my experiences in a game as something very like them at all. I love being immersed in a game story and living it out. Perhaps my imagination just runs away with me when I am playing. For me every piece of dialogue and scene that unfolds before me is an exciting world that I can pretend to be part of.

I loved reading the Harry Porter books but actually being in Hogwarts was a totally different experience. It is of course a given that a well written story in a game has a lot to do with it.

In Everquest when I was playing and doing my Epic Quest I truly felt like I was going on a great quest and I doubt any book about someone else doing a similar quest would have managed to evoke the same feeling of finally holding that magnificent staff at the end of that ardous quest in my hands.

If you look at table top gaming how different is the experience of playing the game like Critical Role does and simply reading about them as characters in a story about their adventures. I am quite sure you can see the game is a vastly different experience from watching them play for instance or even when you play as one of them.

A story in a game and a story in a book are different things we can enjoy and be equally entertained.

Kyleran · April 27

EVE was my favorite MMORPG because it was where my own story plus those of the players I interacted with came together to create the best gaming experience I ever had.

Never played FFXIV but I found SWTOR way too forced and formulatic for my liking. LotRO was a bit better but it seemed far too WOW like back at launch and I've never been back so no idea what it plays like since.

Dammam · April 28

Kyleran said:

EVE was my favorite MMORPG because it was where my own story plus those of the players I interacted with came together to create the best gaming experience I ever had.

Never played FFXIV but I found SWTOR way too forced and formulatic for my liking. LotRO was a bit better but it seemed far too WOW like back at launch and I've never been back so no idea what it plays like since.

While the setting of EVE is fictional, the stories themselves are far more real. Conflict, friendships and betrayals, the rise and fall of players and factions are all things that actually happened within the game's fictional space. Parts of that story are vivid to me because I was there a decade ago, while others are vague or unknown to me but may be known and significant to you.

I think it's useful to think of the parts of a story - setting and plot - as separate elements in a game. For MMOs, I care about the setting but not so much the plot. Plot-heavy MMOs always break immersion for me, as they tend to have many, many players repeating the same plot points. Single-player RPGs can focus on plot and even do it well, but when we are all the "Hero of Shaemoor" in GW2, for example, it's a little weird. Add to that layering and story instances and all the other systems inserted into MMOs to help manage each player's own progress through the story and it starts to feel like a "square peg, round hole" scenario. I played SWTOR as a single player game almost exclusively as it was basically KOTOR 3 to me with a shared, online world for some reason. With MMOs, I'd much rather have a very interesting setting and game systems that let me interact with that setting in fun and engaging ways. Then the story is basically my own journey and how that affects and is affected by the journey other players are having in that shared world.

DarthBotto · April 28

I want to believe that Ember Sword could have the best lore. Unfortunately, I've not been with the company for half a year now, so I have no idea how much the breadth of the game's story will be make it in or it its execution will even be competitive. Basically, the potential vs. the delivery could be vastly different.

Amaranthar · May 2

Dammam said:

Kyleran said:

EVE was my favorite MMORPG because it was where my own story plus those of the players I interacted with came together to create the best gaming experience I ever had.

Never played FFXIV but I found SWTOR way too forced and formulatic for my liking. LotRO was a bit better but it seemed far too WOW like back at launch and I've never been back so no idea what it plays like since.

While the setting of EVE is fictional, the stories themselves are far more real. Conflict, friendships and betrayals, the rise and fall of players and factions are all things that actually happened within the game's fictional space. Parts of that story are vivid to me because I was there a decade ago, while others are vague or unknown to me but may be known and significant to you.

I think it's useful to think of the parts of a story - setting and plot - as separate elements in a game. For MMOs, I care about the setting but not so much the plot. Plot-heavy MMOs always break immersion for me, as they tend to have many, many players repeating the same plot points. Single-player RPGs can focus on plot and even do it well, but when we are all the "Hero of Shaemoor" in GW2, for example, it's a little weird. Add to that layering and story instances and all the other systems inserted into MMOs to help manage each player's own progress through the story and it starts to feel like a "square peg, round hole" scenario. I played SWTOR as a single player game almost exclusively as it was basically KOTOR 3 to me with a shared, online world for some reason. With MMOs, I'd much rather have a very interesting setting and game systems that let me interact with that setting in fun and engaging ways. Then the story is basically my own journey and how that affects and is affected by the journey other players are having in that shared world.

I agree.
As far as Lore, I do want it deep. I want that as a foundation for widescale, but small, attempts to wreak evil for some cause or goal.
Imagine that the lore is based on other plane, such as the planes of hell and the elemental planes, and their excursions into our world are to gain some artifact, destroy some ancient enemy, collect souls or whatever.

I'm not too interested in one great evil wanting to destroy the world. I'd rather see a bunch of one-offs pop up here and there, and grow unnoticed until discovered by actual Player activity.

A lot of this could be directed by a GM, but be restricted to NPCs, until the GM achieves a basic goal, which then allows the GM to take a more active role.

Hell, this GM might even disguise himself as a human and interact with Players in a regular way, buying weapons, reagents, etc. to beef up his NPC minions.

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MMOs with great lore and story

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MMOs with great lore and story

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Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV