+1 Legacy of Kain and Elder Scrolls, and i'd say Assassin's Creed pretty well thought out.

Actually, I can't recall which original dev I saw interviewed, but he criticized this choice as well. They needed to have come up with something else as the Super Mutants clearly didn't "fit".

Admittedly, some shit be retconned, I still think there's a wealth of history and info in there (and outside the games, sorta) that is fairly expansive even for a RPG.

I'd definitely have to go with the Ultima series. In particular, the second trilogy. I still rank Ultima V as my all-time favorite game ever.

Some of you guys are confusing lore and story (as in, script, etc). For example, Demon's/Dark Souls story is almost nonexistant, but I hear their lore is pretty amazing.

I agree, the lore in the Myst series is amazing, almost overwhelming if one is to consider the companion novels.

Why are you leaving out URU though ? I tend to regard URU as the single biggest contributor to the series in terms of lore, both in terms of what you learn in loco and in terms of available material to peruse, so i'm curious as to why you'd leave it out.

I don't think the URU games are bad, but I think it did take the series in a completely different direction. The "original" myst series focused on one family, while URU is more background story about the world itself. This is not bad, but I just found that I got a closer attachment with the characters in the first series of myst games. Also, I like the pre-rendered style of the game better than realtime 3D. Riven simply looks better than the last URU game released. This of course is just my opinion and personal feeling on the matter. I'm sure others will disagree and that's cool.

Absolutely, URU and EoA have a much broader scope than the other games in the series that, like you mentioned, focus mainly on Atrus' family. For me however the story conveyed trough Atrus' family was always at its heart a story about the downfall of a civilization, about the D'ni, about the Art and its implications and without URU and EoA, mostly URU, it's an ambivalent, incomplete and unfulfilled story. I understand that moving away from the more intimate focus of the other games may not have pleased everybody but, for me, URU is the one that tells most of the true story, both (relatively) recent and ancient.

As a game Riven is definitely my favourite though, no argument there ;)

Haha.

While listening to Susumu Hirasawa's Forces (Godhand mix) I remembered one particular fantasy world that is definitely in my top 3 favorite fantasy worlds.

Namely "Berserker". -> Granted, while there are few console games made of it, its all about the manga. Actually the best, grimmest, most badass manga on earth once it gets properly started (it doesnt actually start from beginning, but err returns there quite fast). Also the lore and world are HUGE - in many ways litteraly larger than life as the main characters find out...

If you dont know what Berserk is, then off you go to mangareader.net or such site, read few volumes and then run to shop to order the physical volumes because you simply have no choice.

..There is anime as well, but I do heavily recommend the manga unless you have somekind lethal of allergy to manga (comics). Also the anime stops where the manga's story is just starting to move on the second gear.

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By the way, where are all the games of Elric of Melnibone and The Eternal Champion? Its great and grim setting as well, although (in my humble opinion) nowhere near Berserker. But then again, none are.

Though stereotypical, I enjoyed the Crusader lore. The dystopian world and the enforcers.

Fun game, but the setting itself wasnt too detailed was it? Though I bought both of them long time ago, I havent played them in years...

Syndicate/Syndicate wars would propably go to same category.

Beneath the steel sky is adventure game, so i think it reveals a bit more of the actually world. I think i lost my save games at some point and never actually finished it... Have to correct this :)

Dreamweb was great cyberpunk/dystopian game as well, but unfortunately very short. Loved it all the way though.

"Hell: A cyberpunk thriller" always sounded interesting, but i never had chance to play it. Would anyone confess? http://hardcoregaming101.net/hell/hell.htm

Lucky you. Seems to be the daily deal on Steam!

And it's absolutely worth buying. A very unique and entertaining game for quite a low price.