Best Plot/Story Rpgs of recent time
 

Browsing through some new rpgs that are coming out/have come out (Valkyrie Profile 2, Shadow Hearts 3) I was reminicing of the days of great, engrossing and wonderful storylines of the past. Things like chrono cross, Chrono Trigger, with their heartwarming and at times dark storylines, Final Fantasy VII, the monster of all storylines, Final Fantasy VII, the one none of really understood wat it was... (Sci Fi AND Fantasy, AND College themes :S).

ARe there any Rpgs that have come out recently, bascially I mean on the PS2, that have amazing storylines, Im getting through Star Ocean , till the end of time rite now, its good, good battle system, but the storyline is pretty weak, almost insultinhly bad at times.

I also got Xenosaga 1, .hack 1 sitting there, but havent had time to play, but they dont seem to be htat great. Also got Suikoden 3, started that, it was terribly boring, but I gotta give it a try...

Point is...ARe there any PS2 Rpgs with a good storyline?
Perhaps those Shin Megami Tensei series? or maybe the awkward looking Shadow Hearts series?

Thanks for all the input guys. (New to the forums, so Hey everyone lol)

Monster of all storylines, FF VII? *sighs and just walks the fuck out before this gets any more inane than it already is.*

All right, I'll pop in and say this before I go. FF VII is NOT the greatest storyline of all time, it's barely even in the fucking ballpark.

And as for PS2 RPGs with a strong storyline, Digital Devil Saga was quite strong, to be sure, and Shadow Hearts 2 was fantastic.

I'll mention Suikoden V for a PS2 title as well. It's the latest RPG I've completed, and I was very satisfied with the story. The game is long, but enough time was spent developing the plot and characters.

Digital Devil Saga and Xenosaga games hands down. Shadow Hearts 2 wasn't so bad either. But yeah FFVII best story line in recent time... I laughed.

digital devil saga is indeed pretty good and is kind of different of the other rpg storyline (it's just the long dungeon and that you get a fight every step or 2 can get annoying at least for me)

Xenosaga EpI is pretty good too! EpII, well I didn't really play alot it's just all the changes, the boring new voice-acting, the "new not-so-good battle system", the long cinematic that now are boring (at least in the first one it was interesting to watch them even if there's a lot of them) but they seem to come back good with EpIII which for now seem pretty good to me.

I for myself like most of the tales of game, tales of eternia was the best for me, but was on the ps1 so probably not new enough for you, but tales of symphonia on gamecube was pretty decent. Can't say about tales of legendia I'm not far enough to say something about the story(but god what they have done with the battle system ; ; )

(god those mods are fast XD)

I'm tempted to come in and categorically say that they are all shit, every last one of them, but I've stumbled across a few unlikely jewels.

I haven't had a chance to play the first two, but Wild Arms 3 and 4 are surprisngly well written. WA3 has a fairly interesting storyline; important characters die off rather suddenly, the heroes behave competently, and I really liked that the game acknowledges your character's levels. Battles against the major villains become less and less hopeless as your party is level 20, 30, 40, until it is completely plausible how you suddenly turn around and defeat them for good at the end of the game.

WA4 wanders a little too far into the land of RPG cliches, but the characters actually talk like real human beings, and the writing carries the plot far beyond it's simple archetypes and recycled events. Having the protagonist come from the standard issue RPG starting village actually has a purpose other than it being The Way Things Are. Even Raquel, who I suddenly realize is more or less Cloud with boobs, manages to completely beat Cloud at his own archetype.

Paper Mario reminded me of why Nintendo is so awesome, even when their marketing decisions are poorly informed. It's funny, and entertaining, yet has a fairly serious game system underneath the light-hearted veneer. It really says something when Paper Mario is a superior game all around to Final Fantasy. Paper Mario 2 is absolutely mine as soon as I get a Wii.

Monkey King beat me to the two games that I planned to gush on about!

Wild Arms 3 tells the tale of 4 travellers who meet up by fate. What starts as a simple meeting by chance at the start, goes beyond an adventure of obligation into an adventure or much larger proportions. For the few hours or so, you follow one group. At the climax of the interaction between your group and this one, then you realize that there is a far more sinister group pulling the strings. There's also somewhat of a rival group that gets in your way throughout the whole game. Things lead to each other and then you're trying to revive the world's guardians. Neat character development as well.
eg. Virginia has never shot her guns before the start of the game! Compare that to towards the end of your journey.

As for the other gem:

Wild Arms 4 deals with themes of maturity. At the start of the game, everything is just hunky-dory for the protagonist Jude. His perfect world quickly shatters soon after a catastrophic event happens and he is thrust instantaneously into a war-stricken world. There are uber-spoilers within the first hour of gameplay! This isn't your typical "hero" quest by a long shot.

For almost every moment of the game after that first hour, all 4 of you kids are on the run from an elite squad of agents bent on capturing the mysterious girl in your group, Yulie Ahtreide. Throughout the whole game we see how Jude matures from childhood into adulthood rather forcefully. We see Arnaud change from his cowardice to bravery. We see Yulie attempt to escape her horrible childhood memories. We see Raquel has troubles of her own, despite being the overkill princess of the group.

Back to the classic:

Wild Arms 1 also shares concepts in common. Tragedy strikes the group of travellers who meet up by chance (common theme), and after a brief period of feeling like they only met up for one event by chance, they realize that they must journey together. The group ends up resurrecting golems and fighting off an alien force. More maturity in the group here, as one of your members is a princess, one is a loner, and the last is an outcast.

I recommend them all!

Well, in the realm of olden times RPG. I'd have to say; Final Fantasy IX. Which you have this mother (Garnet's mother) wanting nothing but power. Though in the end, she was being manipulated by Kuja and Garland.

Final Fantasy VII. Hands down would be my best (along with FFIX), would have my vote in being the RPG to have a deeply emotional story. About one madman (Sephiroth)'s quest for world power. Which he sacrifices countless people (even including Cloud and his team's beloved friend; Aeris).

For future favorite story. My vote would go to Xenosaga, Wild Arms 4 & Final Fantasy XII. As with Final Fantasy XII, you have that "World War III"-esque type of story. Where the Arcadian Empire invades Dalmasca.

I'm going to get hell for it, but I really enjoyed the Final Fantasy X story. And not just because it was Final Fantasy, but because


I would also recommend SMT:Nocturne, but the pacing was so bad that most people wouldn't get the full scope. DDS and Shadow Hearts 2 were excellent, too. And so was Dragon Quest VIII, until about the middle of the game.

Who needs story anyways. Play ICO or Shadow of the Colossus.

I too feel like PS2 rpgs are a little bit of a let down. I don't think anyone has mentioned this so far but I have a soft spot for Breath of Fire V. Its not an amazing story but it has a great concept and its a short play. Ive noticed that as I've grown older, my taste in games and my patiences for long games have changed.

I will take this moment to also recommend any devil summoner game (Digital Devil Saga, Nocturn) and give Xenosaga some credit, although we won't know how "great" the story is until the 3rd one is released.

I don't think any recent RPGs have had worthwhile storylines...Xenosaga was just OK for me, would have been better if it wasn't so damn pretentiously self-important and angst-ridden. I haven't bothered playing ep2 since I've heard nothing good about it and my experience with ep1 has sort of turned me off to the series and 60 hour RPGs in general. SMT DDS had the same problem (being a multipart excruciatingly slow paced RPG) but worse; take all the angst and anime cliches you can find, paint them on a generic RPG (one that would just be a box with the letters 'RPG' on it), give it a bitchin' soundtrack and throw in some horrible buddhist references for good measure. Then break it into 2 half assed chunks with virtually no improvement and expect people to pay twice as much for it. What can I say, it worked for me.

I originally thought that Metroid Fusion has a creative storyline, even though it's not an RPG. Not that it was groundbreakingly good, but it was something I never saw before. Then I dl'ed the Alien movies and saw that the main plot twist along with many monster designs and concepts were blatantly ripped off.

My all-time favorite storyline in a video game (outside of PRESS START of course) is Chrono Trigger, but only because it was so very well executed. The music, the pace (25 hours is perfect for an RPG, there just needs to be a worthy sequel now), the characters (Crono's silence > Cloud's whining any day), the concept, the total lack of angst (save magus perhaps), the fact that you have an objective at all times and are never forced to wander around mindlessly, all of them add up to one of my all-time favorite games. Which is why Chrono Cross was such a disappointment.
For future reference FF7's storyline is shit, sorry but the big plot twist was basically Star Wars' "Luke...I am your Father" with clones/genetic engineering/whatevs. All the other plot twists about Cloud's identity are only possible because you get lied to through the entire game. And it doesn't make it easy to identify with the main character when he can't make up his damn mind about what happened.

The best Final Fantasy storyline is Tactics, which incidentally also happens to be the best gameplay-wise. The main character is actually cool because he doesn't try to be. There is an original conflict that doesn't involve a hitleresque hermaphroditic pretty-boy villain trying to destroy the world for the same reason (aka none) in IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, and probably XII, can't say for sure yet. Of all those storyline rehashes, I'd say it was best done in VI due to the likeable characters and lack of melodrama (Nevermind that Kefka looked like a faggot, he destroyed the fucking panet and didn't whine about it for a second). Too bad the gameplay sucked.

I thought the Metal Gear series had a hilariously crappy storyline but that's an entirely differently topic, and I think I've stated my opinion elsewhere.

I am really enjoying the story-telling of BoF V. I think that its unique graphical style and art direction is part of its story-telling. Also, I am playing through the first Shadow Hearts currently and find I'm always interested in finding out what happens next, along with visiting the new and exotic locations.

Suikoden V...Internal political battles explode into an all-out, no-holds-barred civil war and you get to see everything unfold from your group's perspective (and in time, the enemy's). Helps that the main characters tend to break stereotype (everytime I thought I had one figured out, they did something to make me take notice) and seem quite...alive for RPG characters. That, and you get to see so many different perspectives from the various allies you meet up with. Anyone who's whining about bad storylines recently and hasn't played this...You have no argument (though I hear it hasn't been released yet in Europe). The gameplay is pretty spiffy as well...That is, if you guys care about that stuff.

My problem with FFVII's story is, was and always will be the ending (though I was never crazy about how misleading some parts were). I was with the storyline right up until the lifestream comes and surrounds the meteor and...That's it? That, and the way Shinra is basically written out of things when there was so much more potential than the lousy retread into Midgar. That was enough to alter my opinion on the entire thing from "Wow, I can't wait to see what happens next" to "Eh, maybe these guys were just randomly coming up with stuff and didn't really think things through." The recent influx of FFVII games/stuff (almost a decade later) has done nothing to change that opinion.

Oh, why not. Dragon Quest 8 has an intriguing story, if not just a wee bit cliche`. I'd say though, as far as recent RPGs go, it does sport some of the best character development I've seen in a long time.

The nameless hero does actually have some relevance to the story, especially in the Epilogue which is nameless hero-centric. Jessica gets her own introduction, as does Angelo (both get intros similar to the first 3 Wild Arms games, though not quite so separated), but Yangus's background remains somewhat of a mystery for a while. It's not really known why he follows teh "guv" around through all this dangerous mess until a good ways into the game.

PC character development aside, the NPCs are really where the character development shines. The NPCs have an unbelieveable amount of depth to them, and don't simply exist to continue the story, not the majority of them anyway. Meeting new people was always a pleasant experience, and there were times when I felt like I had to check up on them just to make sure they were allright. Ah well.

Far as the story goes, it's a bit cliche. Stuff happens to a castle, one guy is normal for some odd reason (which you don't find out why until you beat the game and play the Epilogue quest) and that means he has to go save the castle he's been serving since ever. Yadda yadda yadda. Like I said, this game is mostly about the characters in it, and their personalities are likeable and really make the game feel well-made, which it is.

I'll also just lightly toss in my opinions for Wild Arms 3 and 4. Both are fantastic games with excellent stories and great gameplay.

I don't think RPG plots have changed much since Final Fantasy VI, which remains my personal favorite in terms of cast, storytelling, and music, so I like the ones that also try for unique gameplay and atmosphere. That being said, out of the current gen stuff that I've played, I'd suggest SMT Nocturne and Breath of Fire V. It's the great presentation of everything that makes those two seemingly plot-lite games have more engrossing worlds than their more traditional counterparts. Also, if you don't mind the cliched elements, check out Shadow Hearts Covenant. Finally, Suikoden V has a good story, even if the storytelling approach and general setup hasn't changed much from the original game.

Final Fantasy games generally have an okay story. I don't agree that Final Fantasy VII is the "monster of all storylines". I think it had it's moments and was okay, but not fantastic. The thing that turned me off Final Fantasy VII like all most games was the fact that Sephiroth was, to me, just the token all-powerful, messed-up crazy guy. It was okay, mostly because a lot of games have taken that approach to the bad guy.

I think Final Fantasy VI holds the title for best storyline...of a Final Fantasy game. There are games out there that have way better storylines than any Final Fantasy. FFVI, even though it's been done before, looked deeply at war and what people do for power, but besides that the characters were actually characters I cared about. That's important in both Television shows and Video games to me. I have to care about the characters. Most characters (granted there were a few random ones...Gogo being one) had some big goal or point in their story. Relm mostly comes to mind with the fact that her mother died, her father abandoned her and left her with Strago. FFVI really felt more like a novel at times than it did a video game.

Also Final Fantasy Tactics deserves a big nod with it's kind of medieval plot involving feuding families and clans. The initial conflict between Delita and Ramza and the betrayal by Algus was very interesting and that was only within the first chapter of the game.

Anyway, there are some games out there that are way better in terms of story or plotline. Chrono Trigger has always been fantastic and fascinating with the time traveling plot and averting major catastrophe. Plus it was one of the first games to feature multiple endings so that was fun to play out and see which was the best. Xenosaga Ep 1 was definetly something interesting and very mature in it's plotline. I loved how it has the issue involving the realians being regarded just as things and then KOS-MOS comes along and doesn't realize any difference between a human life and a realian.

Anyway, that's just a small list, there are still many I'd love to play and experience. A lot are saying good things about Shadow of the Colossus and I've yet to play it, so I might give it a go.

I'm probably going to be flamed to hell for this, but Tales of Symphonia had a pretty good plot. The characters were meh, and Lloyd (I THINK that's his name ._.) annoyed the hell out of me quite often with his stupidity, but it does have a few good twists here and there.

To be honest, though, it's not the best of RPGs. And it's also DEFINITELY not what I was expecting when I picked it up (I had heard while it was in early development that it was a sequel to Tales of Phantasia, more or less my favorite game of all time, and never bothered to confirm the rumor when it came out).

The ending is incredibly abrupt, though. Seriously, I'm playing the game, wondering "Okay, can I go to the coliseum now?" and finish the dungeon... and the ending pops up. Some mild cursing later, I read up and discover that I can go to the coliseum when the final dungeon is made available.

I very much liked the story of Suikoden 3, because practically the whole game everything is always focussed on the main plot and never on any useless fetch-quests. Very well done.

Of RPGs? Final Fantasy Tactics and Chrono Cross are the only two that I can really say that I love from recent times on the console. All other Post 6 Final Fantasies overall have had "blah" if not shit stories, especially compared with the earlier ones.

For Computer, KOTOR's story destroys any of the Final Fantasies, hands down, as well as Fable, Baldur's Gate, Hell, even Nox and Diablo II.

Although not an RPG, one of the best stories to come out in a game has been God of War. The story in that game is told better than I've seen any RPG story told, and it gives me high hopes for the second installment in February.

Thinking back on what I've played, I've enjoyed quite a few storylines.

Of the obligatory FF series, I've enjoyed VI. Obviously because the characterization was pretty good, and I couldn't find a terrible fault in the game. The story, like FFs in general, is cliched, but I liked it. Discovering one's self is a good theme to sum up the game.

Speaking of characterization, Valkyrie Profile was also very good. Every character had their story to tell, and without characterization, the story would not have held together. I loved how when you meet someone, you know they're going to inevitably die.

And then Xenogears. It had too many twists, but overall good presentation (until the darned second disc...!) Sadly, I couldn't say Xenosaga can live up to it's original. The gameplay was too horrible to even continue to Xenosaga ep 2.

Suikoden II had an almost untouchable storyline of the series in my opinion (although I'm itching to play V). The theme of friendship was displayed very beautifully, and the good vs. bad ending was necessary to get the full impact of the game. Of course, when I first played and got the bad ending, I got depressed just seeing the cover of the game, I couldn't pick it up for a week just to replay it for the good ending. Great story; really made me feel for their bond.

I haven't really encountered a PS2 title that I've really enjoyed and wouldn't mind replaying. It seems like as visuals improve, the story has to decline.

Dragon Quest 8 is my favorite video game of all time from the 2000-2006 time period. Great story and gameplay.

FF4, however, is my favorite game in the 90's period, and since it's better than DQ8, it's my favorite of all time.

I don't think it had a theme of maturity... I mean, yeah, it DID, but it was more a side theme. The main thing that makes the game a insant classic, plot-wise (not to say the game is bad, it's great), is that it dives into Humanity itself, such as how there is no true black and white, good and evil, that everything has a grey area, the horrors that Humanity can commit, and that the people who you think are doing wrong, just might think they're doing right.



And uh, yeah, FF7 is not a shining example of a good plot. It makes no fucking sense half the time.

Right now I am enjoying the story of Valkyrie Profile. It's cool because it isn't your typical random male or female who goes out on a journal to save the world from an evil demon force. Instead you're a goddess who is sent to Midgard, where the humans live, to find souls suitable to fight a war in Asgard for Lord Odin. As Valkyrie, you are able to hear the cry of souls which are close to death and see their story, and some of these can be very interesting and entertaining to watch. The story itself really picks up if you go for the best ending in which she learns more about herself. If anyone plays this game I urge them to at least aim for the true ending on their second playthrough.

Seconded. In fact, I would say don't even play the game without planning on getting the best ending, because it explains so much that goes on during the game. The 'average' ending here is one of the most unrewarding feelings in gaming (but only because the rest of the game is a blast...The 'true' ending is the only one that does it justice).

I kinda liked the Wild Arms 3 story...even though it kinda dragged on too long for me.

I have to say that I recently played through FFX and am deeply impressed with the storyline. Everything made sense, the player was never really left to fill in plot holes on his own, and the characters were all likeable. I almost want to play through it again a third time just for the story...........but thats not happening =

For Playstation 2 I think the best plot is Xenosaga 1. The story is great, it kept me hooked up in the game like crazy. Too bad I havne't had time to play the second.

On PC and Xbox I'd say it's KOTOR 1, amazing story, characters and everything. In my opinion the best RPG in these last 5 years.

I haven't played FFVI, but a lot of people here are saying it has a great plot. I've already download it, I guess I'll give priority to this game.

Just keep in mind that FFVI has great storytelling...which isn't necessarily the same as having a great plot. With FFVI it's how the story is presented that makes it special. It has complexity, but not to the pretentious extent that a Xeno game does. However, unlike Xenogears, it does a great job of presenting its story without coming off as condescending or heavy-handed. FFVI is about sophistication without pretense. If you come in expecting FFVI to be super complex, you might be disappointed. And keep in mind that the story arc (Terra is the main character) has to do with finding yourself and finding a reason to continue fighting. FFVI is about the themes of burden and hope. I wouldn't want you to become one of those irritating people who go around complaining that "the story falls apart" after a certain point. Those guys are a bunch of wusses who can't handle a little bit of open-ended gameplay. :boxing:

Valkyrie Profile's B ending is definitely disappointing. It doesn't do credit to an otherwise great game. I do give it a little credit for making it no secret that there's something not quite right about it though. I felt a bit disturbed by the way events unfolded, so it does add some perspective to things, but I wouldn't recommend that anyone judge the game by it. The A ending is a must-see. Only then can one truly appreciate how amazing the game is.

I think someone should remond the title of the thread "Best Plot/Story Rpgs of recent time"

so I don't think the ps1 era and before that count here >.>

Final Fantasy the monster of all stories. Ha! What have you been smoking?

I'll back up everybody who has mentioned Digital Devil Saga and Shadow Hearts Covenant. Both very good.

I also liked the story of Nocturne in its all simple and easy way. Not as complicated as other stories, but good nonetheless.

Dragon Quest 8 also had a good, well written and executed story. There are som cheesy aspects, but most of it is pretty good.

I pretty much really enjoyed all FF stories. Especially the later ones like FFVII, FFVIII, FFIX and FFX. A story doesn't have to have a bunch of surprises and twists to be a great story. It can just be very well told, involving, and interesting.

I thought Chrono Trigger had a very good story, and Star Ocean 2 and 3 did as well. There are a ton of games I thoyght had great stories.

To the person who mentioned Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic, I say good choice.

I nominate Planescape: Torment.

That would be me. :) I haven't had the chance to play Torment yet, although I'd like to considering the support behind it. Maybe I'll have to try to find it somewhere...

Just how recent are we talking about here?

Anyways, I haven't been into a whole lot of RPGs (I noticed recently that my attention span is shortening; a few years ago, I could sit through a long cut-scene, but now, I find that I'm impatient with just a short, 2-3 minute speech -_-;; ), but here are some of my more cherished RPGs:

Shadow Hearts: The first to the series (although technically Koudelka is before Shadow Hearts), this game introduced me to a more active battle system. I loved the gothic/horror atmosphere, monster designs (god, ESPECIALLY the monster designs <3 ), characters, and the plot, although cliche, was still memorable. Shadow Hearts Covenant was also a great story and game as well.

Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter: This game (and the series as a whole, it seems :( ) wasn't really popular, but I personally loved it. The storyline was simple but pretty original. The game was relatively short for an RPG, but there was some neate character development and interesting plot twists. The battle system, however, was really neat to me; I loved the P.E.T.S. system, and the AP system was really unique. Plus, BoF is probably one of the only RPG games that don't have a heal spell (only items could heal you character's HP)

Having restarted Valkyrie Profile on my PSP, I'd have to put this in there -- also, technically now it fits into the more recent RPG releases. :D

Valkyrie Profile tells a dozen stories all wrapped up in one battle-maiden package. Each of the characters has some sort of tragic past (Yumei ftw ;;) to deal with, and here comes Lenneth to recruit them into a battle between the gods. It's like...

"Hey, I just died. Can I have some peace, yo?"

"No, actually, you can't. Sorry, but you're gonna be immortal and fight in a battle. Kthx."

Won't ruin anything for any of those unfortunate many who've yet to play the game, but it does have some fairly serious heart-wrenching plot twists. And you know VP2: Silmeria's gonna be just as emotional as the first.

As someone who owns every single Breath of Fire game ever released, I fully support this notion. These games are highly underrated. The storyline to V was quite strong, and it thoroughly kicks ass. I mean, it's no FF Tactics, but it's certainly a strong entry.

Deni, did you forget my earlier post..;_;

;_;
I love Breath of Fire V too

I REMEMBERED, but his post was easier to quote because it was closer. :edgarrock:

I haven't liked too many. Xenosaga II comes to mind, even though I didn't care for the first one. Shadow Hearts had its moments, but Covenant was only good in the Russia Arc. Final Fantasy X was okay. Same with Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth, if that counts. (I'd played a copy when it first came out, though, as I'd loved Star Ocean 2.) Couldn't get into Dragon Quarter; I'm not much of one for dungeon crawlers. And FFX-2 wasn't my style.

That's the beauty of Nocturne's plot. The game doesn't spoon-feed the story to you (ahem, FF10, Xenosaga, DDS, I am looking at you), but rather just drops you in the middle of the game's world and lets you discover it for yourself from an insider's perspective.

Covenant, for being...well, weird as all hell, was a pretty good plot too. More games need to do "historical fantasy."

Another thing i like is the lonliness and darkness. For the most part of the game your all alone in this new, bizarre and dark world and the way Atlus kind of shows all this to you is amazing. Not many games have this kind off thing and thats why Nocturne is so special.

I have to go with Wild ARMs 3, also. (I haven't bought 4 yet...maybe when V comes my way? keh)

The story was well-executed, and it took me a while to realize that there were four chapters in the game. Just like a book, the story flowed smoothly enough that I couldn't wait to see what was coming. The only problem I had was the basis of the story--the Filgaia Theory. But that's just because I had just read an article about the Gaia Theory and had seen Spirits Within.

But--I still liked the story.

And I'll probably get shot for this....But, yes, I liked FFX's story. A young girl wants to save her home so badly that she's willing to die for it. Even after she turns her back on her religion, fights a maester, and is deemed an outcast--she still wants to fight for Spira. Now, there were elements to the story that could have been re-worked or just removed (can we PLEASE delete the laughing scene?), but overall, I thought it was a good story--not great, but good.

You KNOW I'm going to bring at least one of these up:

Suikoden III. Yes, it has a good plot. The same scenes from different POVs. I LOVE stuff like this. I've always thought it gives a little more to the story when something like this is done. And you HAVE to play the Trinity Site way--or you miss the whole story. And then you say to yourself--so THAT's why that happened. It's a decent build-up to the climax and ending.

The problem with Suikoden III's plot is that little seems to be accomplished by the end. It really needs a follow-up badly, since it seemed to be setting the stage for something major. Although the hidden perspective if you get all 108 stars added quite a bit to the story, and made me appreciate things I'd found rather dull before.

See, I'll support X. Outside of some terrible dialogue here and there, the story is strong.

But I'm sorry, Lek. Suiko III sucked balls. The ending with 108 stars was great, fantastic... downright brilliant, but the rest of the game was just awful.

I bet we can all agree on Suikoden III > Suikoden IV. Suikoden III was an awesome game to me but Thomas' POV was a pain in the ass and boring at the same time. The game was worth the 80hrs I placed into it. I still think Yuber was waaay too powerful..I recall one army battle where he almost soloed my entire fleet of characters ._..

I really liked Vagrant Story's plot and the whole 'ally/enemy' relationship Ashley had going on with Sidney. It was a nice build up to the stories end and all the plot twists along the way such as

Winter, I think VP has one of the better story lines of all time, and I'll even give you Suiko III being stronger than IV, if only because IV was goddamn painful and had Tactics attached to it, which is even worse, but III is still not a great game. The POV system was predictable and repetitive, as well as giving me an entire storyline I didn't care about. Also... Ducks in millitary helmets? Jesus fuck Christ, Beavers with guitars are better than that. The ducks made me so angry I couldn't appreciate the game at all. Sgt. Joe? More like Sgt. Sucks my balls.

The gameplay or the story? I'm talking the story and its execution. Not the gameplay. Only the story kept me playing.

The story has strong moments, to be sure, but they are ruined for me by the fact that I despised so many of the characters. If I can't care about the character, I won't care about their burning village. I hope it kills your mother, you lame fuck. (Tribal Mom = only saving grace. She was cool.)

Hmm, final fantasy games have good storylines, I will agree with majority of people here, even though FF VII is not the best, it's still enjoyable. The main reason people hyped about it 9 years ago probably because it's the first rpg in 3d engine.

the best storyline I think goes to Xenogears for its complexity and the using of religion symbolism, Chrono series for the whole paradox stuff, Persona II Innocent Sin for the most unusual ending in my gaming history ever.

Final Fantasy Tactics is god, I never bored with it, I have even played the original japanese version before the US release, it's still the most beautiful gem in PSX rpg.



Saga Frontier II actually has good storyline too, but I hate the whole system of the game, it's a downfall after Saga Frontier, my most favorite underrated RPG all the time. ;_;

for dragon quest series... I havent really played much dragon quest games except the addictive monster series. The Dragon Quest's inventory system is just so frustating, but I would like to finish one someday (currently playing dragon quest V and stucked)

I really like to know if there's rpg where all the characters are in gray area, means they could be both good and evil. Usually the storyline develops better than the ones with typical shonen series main characters.

THANK YOU. Saga Frontier is one of the best games ever. I've beaten all 7 scenarios multiple times, and I never get tired of it.

yay for another saga frontier player. you know...



I forgot to ask this, but has anyone played Shin Megami Tensei Series in the original SNES version? these games are proof Japan is atheistic country. the storyline is as radical as hell



but these two games are really hard, as hard as wizardry. I never able to finish them, but thanks to the script, I could enjoy the entire story. The story is quite radical, but I think it's very original and deserve to get more attention from gamers.

I wish I can get my hands on the SMT stuff. Do you have it, eriol? Or the scripts? I could also never even get through the first dungeon in Saga Frontier. How do you guys do it?

Agreement on Suikoden III > Suikoden IV. In actuality, Suikoden IV belongs in the dumpster (with those annoying talking CATS!), so there really doesn't deserve a comparison there. I thought III was good, but after II, definitely not good enough. It's really the emotional climax of the plot that makes Suikoden shine. I thought III should've developed their characters a little more. III's story was decent

At the rate (so far) that I'm playing V, seems like V deserves to be in my best RPG plots in recent games.

Dee, I think you could find the patch and the rom easily by googling. but here's it to save your time.

SMT Rom
http://www.rom-world.com/dl.php?name...tendo&letter=S

Patch
http://agtp.romhack.net/smt.html

Script SMT I
http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/snes/game/564896.html
Script SMT II
http://www.gamefaqs.com/search/go.ph...1299&tp=2.html

btw, which character you chose on saga frontier? if you talk about 1st dungeon... every characters have different 1st dungeon you know ^^;

Well right now i'm going through Suikoden 5. (decided to pick it up after all the praise I hear for it over here) There's something not right though. After the first forest area, I didn't do 1 battle for 6 hours. A WHOLE lot of filler. PLEASE tell me that's the only point in the game where that happens!

To stay on topic, I can't really think of any RPGs I played this generation, that really got me VERY interested with the story. Tales of Legendia did have some AMAZING character development though. The story was good, but not great. There was some really satisfying moments though. ( like the end of chapter 4) I really haven't played too many RPGs this gen though, so once I do, I hope my opinion changes.

Everyone agrees that the beginning parts are slow, and it certainly gets better, but to be honest, I felt it dragged a bit throughout the whole 33 hours that I played of it. (which is nearly the equivalent of two playthroughs of Suikoden and one playthrough of Suikoden II) I had to put it down because I got tired of running errands back and forth between towns. I'd like to go back and complete it sometime when I have a little more tolerance built up for the slow and steady formulaic nature of it.

I wouldn't call the time spent after Stormfist filler...It sets up an important meeting with several of the characters you're going to spend the rest of the game with. Plus, both Stormfist and the events right after that are intended to offer recruitment hints for various characters later on. But yeah, they could be trimmed down considerably. After that though...(good stuff happens)

Suikoden manages to do something a ton of RPG's fail at and that is to have good character interaction and really get a feel for the various perspectives about the events that are going on, which tends to make the overall story more realistic to me. IV utterly failed at this and that's why I could care less about it (and I have yet to play 3). 1,2 and 5 all stand out for that reason though...If I go back and flip through a guide, I can recall what events each character was involved in and what side they were on. And it's been over 5 years since I finished S2.

Megavolt: Are you going for the full 108? It can seem pretty daunting, but I thought the ranks filled out pretty fast everything considered. It's slower than S2 (and I don't know how I got 108 on S1 in 20-21 hours), but that's probably because there's more dialogue overall. Once I knew what I was doing, it didn't add too much to my playtime. Key thing is to keep checking the inns, which I rarely do in RPG's...Especially Raftfleet's (9-10 characters come from Raftfleet's inn, plus Gavaya and Subala right outside) Worst thing is waiting for the castle to get to the second level, since a lot of characters are inaccessible until then.

I printed out quite a few pages just for that purpose. I must admit that I've always found the 108 character thing in Suikoden slightly irksome (I had some bad luck in my efforts to get the best ending in both Suikoden and Suikoden II; reloading save files and even starting the whole game over because you barely missed the time slot for a character or something is downright infuriating), but I'd be more upset getting less than the best ending, so I do it anyways. And yes, it's definitely a bit daunting, and after struggling to get that turtle guy, I won't deny that it factored in my putting the game down and moving to something a little less tedious. I might've continued if I could've gotten Sorensen like the guys at GameFAQs claim I should've already been able to. Walking to the bridge and then back to Sorensen's town over and over without ever getting a different response from him does try your patience.

People complain about how difficult it is to get the best ending in Valkyrie Profile and Suikoden can be even worse since there are 108 chances (much less when you consider those who join you by default, but you get the idea) to fail. I just wish that character recruitment could be less of a hassle and that there would never be a chance to permanently miss a character. It'd be different if it didn't affect the ending, but it does. The concern over possibly missing a character here or there hangs over the entire experience. :/

It is. The game goes into an exciting overdrive after that point. The game guaranteed will run you about 60-70 hours(87 for me).

Oh christ, Genoh was a pain the in the ass to get. I had to pull out the classic, "kill 4 characters so the two remaining ones get more experience" bit. Good thing is once you get him, you can get the lake monster and Richard (if you have Mueller and Wilhelm) real easily afterwards.

It's possible you may be in the middle of an event that's about to happen...This hinders your ability to recruit. You have to talk to the guard at the bridge and he'll tell you about the bridge and Dr. Babbage. Then the whole Sorensen thing plays out. It worked for me...I forget if I had to talk to an NPC to trigger that conversation with the guard.

But yeah...Suikoden has that whole paranoia thing going for it. That's why I always play through twice: once to see how many characters I can get on my own (I managed 57 on my own), the second time is all guide/FAQ. First time is actually more fun for me, since the recruiting becomes like a giant minigame.

/End thread derailment. Gomen ne!

I will also add Suikoden V to my list of best plot RPGs of recent time, after unsuccessfully completing it without 108 stars. However, I'm already nearing the end (Sol-Falena) with four characters missing so I'm on the safe side for now. I think this game was relatively easy in terms of getting characters (with a walkthrough!) since when I recall SI and SII had those annoying last characters that you absolutely needed to get in a certain time slot. And with the fast running option with new game +, replay is a breeze.

I believe what really made Suikoden V's plot shine above other recent RPGs is that it actually had a decent plot. Playing this game right after I played Wild Arms 4 was like comparing a penny to gold. This game's plot was mature and sensical without the typical "bad guy doing evil for no reason" type plot. And almost every character had decent development that made you feel attached. In a way, everything fell into place except I can't quite put my finger on .

GoldfishX, I would suggest for you to play III. It is better then IV by far, and it does have a compelling plot. You even get to see Luc, Sasarai, Futch, Yuber, and I know I'm forgetting some others, again.

Skies of Arcadia and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door repeatedly shoved down our throats the fact that it isn't the plot itself that governs its quality, but the way it is told. Two very different games, but I'll be damned if they didn't suck you in and refuse to let go for the entirety of their tales. Brilliance.

Dee:

Enkidu: