Best Plot/Story Rpgs of recent time

Originally Posted by Monkey King

Wild Arms 3 and 4 are surprisngly well written.

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!

Jam it back in, in the dark.