It was 'Down In The Bonehoard' that nearly made me quit, but I powered through and even got past the 'Thieves Guild' level and its infernal sewer maze. It was that weird mansion that finally burned me out, and when I finally got through it I quit a short distance into the next level, the 'Haunted Cathedral'. I had read that the Cathedral was among the most intricate levels of the game, which given what preceded it did not bode well, and I was kind of over the whole supernatural element by that point anyway.

System Shock: Enhanced Edition
System Shock 2
Ultima Underworld 1+2
The Black Mirror
Pathologic Classic HD
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
STAR WARS: Dark Forces
SOMA

Oooh...Yeah!

It's actually 16 pages long and I do remember starting to read it. At the time, I thought it was only a sample of 'that famous American Title that everybody has heard about' so I decided to stop my read until I could buy the whole book and just forgot about it.

I would've never guessed such an iconic work could be so short. Guess people now have an insight on how a stupid brain works.

I knew Ellison did participate in the game script, so there's that, I'll gladly take more.

Thanks a lot for the heads up, I'll be sure to read that tonight =)

If kotor is high up on that list, the bar is so low we could throw anything in :-)

Now if you want to consider games that aren't 90% repetitive filler, consider Mafia. It's pretty much all plot, except for the driving parts.

I think Unreal deserves a mention too, although the plot is more subtle and left for you to wonder about, or not. It's one of these games where you can completely ignore all the plot and just play it for the action & immersion. That doesn't make the plot bad, however.

Hmm, what wasn't mentioned... Betrayal at Krondor perhaps? And what about Arcanum?

Thief 3 has the best story of the trilogy imo (even if some of the gameplay is clunky), its narrative was a very satisfying conclusion to the series imo, with nice references to all the factions from the previous games.
Thief 1's story was rather thin imo, iirc the first five missions didn't even have any connection to the main plot. You're only hired by Constantine in level 6, and then the story is barely advanced for the next few levels and only really gets going in the last three levels or so. Bad pacing imo.
imo Kotor is held in high esteem mostly because of the Star wars setting (and it did nail the Star wars feeling perfectly) and because there weren't that many crpgs at the time. I agree its gameplay is thoroughly mediocre (combat is really terrible).
Kotor 2 is more interesting in some ways (even if the gameplay is still terrible), because the story is somewhat deeper and more ambiguous. Big problem is of course that the game is unfinished.
I'll add:

Albion - unique setting, charming story.
Primordia - same.
Age of decadence - doesn't provide some cinematic narrative like the Witcher games or some other titles already mentioned, but I find the Rashomon-like different perspectives you get by playing different backgrounds fascinating.

Witcher
Witcher 2
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion -> Dark Brotherhood quests. Perhaps the Thieves Guild quests too.

You might want to give it another shot at some point. If you made it through the Bonehoard and the Thieves Guild (ESPECIALLY the infernal sewer maze) you pretty much made it past the parts that most players give up on.

Though I have to admit, if supernatural isn't your thing you'll probably enjoy the second one more.

I can't say I disagree. I give the first one credit for coming up with the Thief universe, the cool factions and the lore. But yes, the third one brought it all to a nice conclusion.
You brought up pacing and I also agree. Actually, that's one of the reasons why I prefer the original version to Thief Gold. You'll play the Constantine mission much earlier in the game since the Thieves Guild doesn't cockblock plot progression and the omission of the opera and the Mage Towers (while I love both of these missions - and even the Thieves Guild, once you wrap your head around it) makes things move along much more smoothly.

Advice: buy the game, then go pirate the superior version. The one sold here and on Steam has been brutalized worse than a 4kids anime dub.

More recommendations:

Unforeseen Incidents is the best adventure game that's actually on GOG. I wrote a post on why it's great here.

Arcanum. Industrial revolution comes to a fantasy world. It's not a joke game (okay, there's one joke that sticks out like a sore thumb, but it doesn't impact the plot), and steampunk gear-fapping is limited to a couple branches of the skill tree (out of many).

Primordia. The woke NPCs at RockPaperShotgun have heaped praise on Nier: Automata for its on-the-nose deepities, afraid to admit they like upskirt shots of a skimpily dressed teen girl. Primordia handles everything better (except the upskirt shots -- it doesn't have any, alas.)

King's Quest 6. You don't need to have played the previous ones, and they aren't really any good in 2018 anyway. You're a fairytale prince trying to rescue your princess girlfriend. For the most part it's gently humorous, some scenes tend toward the wackily surreal, but there's a plotline that's Epic with a capital E and that's why I'm recommending it.

Hatoful Boyfriend. It's a mindfuck neo-gothic horror visual novel that's marketed as a dating sim about a human girl chastely romancing pigeons. Yes, seriously. (It's not a one-handed game, if you get my drift, and the girl is never onscreen.)

The Count Lucanor. A fairytale game that reminds me of Loom in its elegant minimalism. The difference is it has twitch elements, and you can die.

Opus Magnum is a puzzle game where the plot is derived from the dialogues in mission briefings. Both the puzzles and the briefings are awesome but rather dissociated from each other. Unlike most other Zachtronics games, the puzzles allow a naive solution and you can technically play it "for the plot", but it's best if you actually like puzzles.

Good to see a man of taste.

EDIT:
Just noticed the topic is GOG games, so many of the games I listed are not eligible. Sorry for that. Will keep them listed though.
END OF EDIT


What hasn't been mentioned yet.

Serious Sam main series (except SS 2) - most of you will probably WTF at this but the background story is actually quite serious (no pun intended). Same case as with Unreal I'd say.
Return to Castle Wolfenstein - a great merge of World War II and the occult. Still one of the most unique takes on it I have seen.
NecrovisioN - necromancy, undead, dragons, magic, vampires and demons in a World War I environment? Sign me up. Especially the twist with the vampires vs demons got me really hard.
Overlord 1 - might not seem like much at first but the final reveal was kind of unexpected.
Red Alert 2 - a great take on an alternative cold war.
Disciples 2 - if dark, brooding and "nobody wins, everyone gets screwed" stories are your thing, this is the game.
Of Orcs and Men - was't expecting much but walked away very satisfied.

Altough I agree with many of the games mentioned, I am surprised there was not a single mention of Hollow Knight! This had one of my favorite plot in any game and the world and lore is so facinating! Just playing through the game and slowly unraveling the mysteries that this dying world contains. It was such a beautiful and majestic feeling! :D I mean I know of a few youtube channel that were litterally made from the plot and lore of this game... So if that's not indication of a good plot, I don't know what is! :P

Also, altough not nearly as close to the same extent, Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight was able to capture this essence too. But the plot and lore of this game were not nearly as fleshed out as Hollow Knight (it was more like a light version of Hollow Knight's plot and lore). ;P

Night in the Woods
Fran Bow
Tales from the Borderlands
To the Moon
NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer

So anyone who would like to add that list?

Which are the best GOG games with the BEST STORY?

I insist on the Legacy of Kain series.

Well this thread has been necro'd...so it's save to chime in with a game that has a life/death scenario and which i liked story-wise a lot lately: Sally Face.