Games With the Best Stories (+ Prayer Request)

Last night, while dealing with horrible back pain, I bookmarked this Kotaku story so I could post about it today, also while dealing with horrible back pain.

GamesRadar apparently posted a list of the top 15 video game stories. They are, in no particular order:

Metal Gear Solid (1998, PlayStation, PC)
Grim Fandango (1998, PC)
The Longest Journey (2000, PC)
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2, Xbox, PC, 2004)
Beyond Good & Evil (PS2, Xbox, GameCube, PC, 2003)
Astro Boy: Omega Factor (Game Boy Advance, 2004)
Portal (Xbox 360, PC, PS3, 2007)
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers (PC, 1993)
Bioshock (Xbox 360, 2007)
Planescape: Torment (PC, 1999)
Fallout 2 (PC, 1998)
God of War (PS2, 2005)
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Xbox, PC, 2003)
Final Fantasy VI (Super Nintendo, 1994)
Silent Hill 2 (Xbox, PS2, PC, 2001)

I'm literally ashamed that I haven't played several of the games on that list, including a few suprises... GTA: San Andreas? Really?!? Astro Boy: Omega Factor?!? What?

But most of the list looks extremely solid? The Longest Journey? HECK yeah. That game had an amazing storyline. Final Fantasy VI? The best of the Final Fantasies. Silent Hill 2? SUPER creepy in a very, very good way. Amazing plot. Bioshock? Totally. Metal Gear Solid? Better than the Tom Clancy novels I've read.

So yeah, it's a pretty great list, in my opinion. I can't actually think of any glaring omissions... Maybe some SNES RPG classics like Earthbound or Chrono Trigger... Oh, maybe System Shock 2 -- haven't played that one, though, I've just heard great things.

I dunno. Mostly this list looks great. I'd probably take out KotOR and GTA, and Portal, while AWESOME, is kinda iffy...

I need to track down a copy of Gabriel Knight...

Anyways, prayer request:

My buddy (sort of. He sent me Eragon on the 360. That either makes us friends or enemies) Don Francis over at GameSpot.com had a bit of a scare the other day when his young daughter fell into the pool and had to be rushed to the hospital. She's alive and well, and it looks as if she won't have any permanent damage, praise God... But this is of course the sort of thing that no parent wants to get a phone call about, so pray for him and his family as his daughter recovers. From what little I know of him from our conversations on New Zealand and 360 Achiemvent Points, Don is a fantastic guy and a great family man, so I'm glad God was looking out for him here.

Ryan Davis Leaves GameSpot

For this blog entry, I could choose between the news of Bobby Knight resigning (which I heard about here on campus a couple of hours ago, when someone shouted over dinner, "BOBBY KNIGHT QUIT?!?"), or something I know a lot more about:

Ryan Davis has announced that he will be leaving GameSpot.com after January 14th ("Happy Valentimes!"). He follows Frank Provo and Alex Navarro in the wake of the extremely controversial firing of Jeff Gerstmann.

He's really the last of the greats over at GameSpot, in a way. I mean, Ricardo is way cool (and now in charge of more things), and Ryan Mcdonald is great... But a ton of the "fan favorites" are gone now. Greg at least left for greener pastures at EA, but with Jeff unfairly terminated and Alex and Ryan walking out in protest, we can't say the same for them.

Bye, Ryan. You'll be greatly missed. You AND Ron Graphite.