RPG’s with amazing stories?

Kinda need an RPG fix and I only play ones with awesome stories. any suggestions? Looking for something with a story like (or as in depth as) FFIX or X

That’s a really tough question and sadly not because there are lots to choose from, but the exact opposite. I am a *huge* RPG fan, but in my heart of hearts I have always felt that most of the great RPGs are great in spite of their stories, and not because of them. Practically all RPGs conform to a formula whereby you will travel with the characters, experience great set pieces and build up, but then see the story rush through an unsatisfying and often badly explained final Act. Suddenly out of nowhere, it’ll be the End of the World, or time travel will happen, or alternate dimensions etc etc. All Square games fit this mould. Even if the story plays out in a sane and orderly way (which isn’t common), the ending will still usually be rushed, and not adequately pay off the build up (all Bioware and Bethesda games fit into this mould).

I know how this sounds, and I repeat that I do love RPGs as a rule. But the main stories are not the best thing about RPGs. The journey with your characters, their interactions, and the big set piece action events along the way are the real draw. The overarching stories almost always disappoint.

Xenosaga (All three games taken as a whole) Xenogear is good too. Maybe Tales of Vesperia….I’m playing FF Tactics on my PSP and the story is rather good so far.

Plus Dragon Quest VIII.

If you’re still looking for titles, I think I may have a few that could help.

The SMT games are great RPGs that do have a focus on "end of the world" type deals, but also have great storylines, character interactions, etc. Doesn’t hurt that the music is awesome and the battle system to fun. The main series titles especially are great at setting a mood and developing the plot. (The persona series is more focused on character interactions and development, while Devil Summoner, to me personally, focuses more on the plot and "gotta catch/train them all" aspect kinda.)

If you have a Wii, Xenoblade has been quite interesting story-wise, as far as I’ve gotten, and it’s by the Xeno(Gears+Saga) team as well. Another interesting enough Wii title so far is Arc Rise Fantastia, and if you want a slow-paced RPG meets dungeon crawler, there’s always Rune Factory. I’m playing Frontier now, and the story isn’t dynamic, but it is very mysterious and seems straight-forward but promising enough.

The NIS games also have fun characters and pretty good stories. I especially liked Phantom Brave and La Pucelle Tactics.

The Baten Kaitos games has a cool setting, fun battle system, and what seems like it’ll be a promising and pretty extraordinary story/plot. (Also by the Xeno series team!)

That’s all I can think of for now, but I’ll totes edit and add more if anything else comes to mind. Erm, if you’re still looking for RPGs, anyway.

Based on what I’ve played, I think I can only suggest Xenogears, Xenosaga, or Digital Devil Saga. My personal favorite would have FFIX, but I see you’ve already played that. I lack a Wii, but I’ve been told Xenoblade is pretty kickass. If you’re still looking for a RPG to play, anyway.

As much as I enjoy RPGs, I won’t deny a lot of them have vanilla stories or are average at best. I also feel presentation has a lot to do with RPGs, as they all follow pretty much the same, if not similar, formula that Vrykolas has mentioned. Still, there’s a charm to them that draws me in, so even if they’re average, I usually wound up enjoying them perhaps more than what they’re worth. That’s how I see it, anyway.

Yeah, I wasn’t saying these games were poor or anything – far from it. Just that the stories themselves are often not the big draw. To take the earlier point about the SMT games, I absolutely love them, but I’m not sure I’d say the actual story was particularly amazing in any of them. They have great moments for sure and the atmosphere and characters (particularly in Persona) are generally outstanding, but the stories themselves are the same old JRPG ‘Madman wants to destroy the world and remake it as a better, purer place – you fight your way up to Heaven and stand up to God/Death/whatever and make the case for Humanity etc etc’.

SMT’s writers have a better handle than most on tragedy, and pretty much all their characters in all their games have really sad and moving stories. Persona 3 is a highlight for me, because the characters overcome their sadness in a very uplifting and triumphant way that feels you feel 100% better about life when it happens. That (for me anyway) makes it stand apart from the others, as the other games are petty much wall to wall misery and pain for your characters throughout (eventually ending in their deaths a lot of the time!)

Lunar Silver Star Story Complete and Lunar Eternal Blue Complete both have amazing stories.

I will not mention anything about them for spoiler sake.

Also the Persona games (pre SMT tag line and post SMT tag line) really draw you in.

Nocturne also has an interesting story.

Xenoblade Chronicles has a truly epic story.

I also love Valkyria Chronicles’ story, but you need to love strategy and gunfights to like the game.

Another good storyline is FFIV. That was a truly amazing story, way ahead of its time.

And lastly, Crisis Core, granted the story is mostly spoiled because it is a prequel, but it doesn’t stop it from being any less heartwarming and sad.

I really enjoy the Fire Emblem games. Most games revolve around the idea of an evil power ruining nations, and those nations have to unite and team up, but learning about some of the character back stories, and seeing where the story goes is always fun.

I can’t believe I didn’t mention it, but Final Fantasy IX’s story was one of the most heartwarming, funniest, dark, and epic stories in a video game I have ever played.

Mario And Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story was the greatest. It had great dialouge.

I’m not going to go too in-depth regarding why I consider these stories the best in video game medium as a whole but suffice to say while most games have stories and characters that could be topped by quite literally any novel, games like these give me hope for the medium as a whole. These aren’t just great stories in a video game, they’re great stories because they’re a video game, these are the holy trinity of video game storytelling for me.

– Mask of the Betrayer
– Knights of the Old Republic 2
– Planescape: Torment

any final fantasy before X
any squaresoft game
illusion of gaia
any enix game that is not DQ related

Final Fantasy: IV, VI and VII.
The Last Story.
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance.
Tales of Symphonia. I never played it but some people think its very sad.

Gothic 1-2-3
Kingdom of Amalur!!!

Whilst KOTOR 2 is one of the best written video games ever, its unfinished status is a real problem. The last couple of hours cram in so many plot lines and threads in a barely coherent (and sometimes utterly incoherent) mess. It isn’t Obsidian’s fault, because the deadline being moved was all Lucasarts. But the fact remains that these final sections (Telos Citadel Station siege, the Ravager, Malachor V etc) are truly awful, and only just about hang together at all, let alone form a satisfying conclusion. Plus the actual end sequences are comically bad, especially the dark side one.

Lucasarts’ greed sabotaged what was IMO, easily the best RPG I’ve ever played. The characters, the lore, the set pieces that give all your characters a chance to have something to say and do, the improved systems… Obsidian really did a first rate job, improving in every way on KOTOR, which was already one of the best RPGs around. Its one of the great tragedies that KOTOR 2 was screwed by Lucasarts in this way, because whoever ultimately is to blame, the game completely falls apart at the end. And that’s hard to take, even when despite that, its still one of the very best RPGs out there.

Well, if the choice of the games I’ve played, this will be:
FF7
Xenogears
Breath of Fire 5
Xenosaga (series)

On PC – only Planescape Torment

Not if i played so much small number of RPG-s, just plot the rest simply seemed too commonplace…

Whilst KOTOR 2 is one of the best written video games ever, its unfinished status is a real problem. The last couple of hours cram in so many plot lines and threads in a barely coherent (and sometimes utterly incoherent) mess. It isn’t Obsidian’s fault, because the deadline being moved was all Lucasarts. But the fact remains that these final sections (Telos Citadel Station siege, the Ravager, Malachor V etc) are truly awful, and only just about hang together at all, let alone form a satisfying conclusion. Plus the actual end sequences are comically bad, especially the dark side one.

Lucasarts’ greed sabotaged what was IMO, easily the best RPG I’ve ever played. The characters, the lore, the set pieces that give all your characters a chance to have something to say and do, the improved systems… Obsidian really did a first rate job, improving in every way on KOTOR, which was already one of the best RPGs around. Its one of the great tragedies that KOTOR 2 was screwed by Lucasarts in this way, because whoever ultimately is to blame, the game completely falls apart at the end. And that’s hard to take, even when despite that, its still one of the very best RPGs out there.

Yes, as I’ve been closely following the "The Sith Lords Restored Content Mod" (http://www.moddb.com/mods/the-sith-lords-restored-content-mod-tslrcm)-project for a long time it’s easy for me to glaze over some of the major problems Kotor 2 has in terms of storytelling. To be honest when it comes to the things you mentioned not even the mod clears all of the issues.

All that said even the rushed end-game does not soil the experience for me. Maybe it’s because endings are often disappointing in deeply immersive experiences like RPGs for me or that I never had high expectations with the game because of it’s bog-standard yet fun predecessor, the Star Wars license and the fact that Obsidian had not proven themselves yet as a designer, so when what I got was beyond anything I had grown to expect from star wars games or video games in general I was ready to forgive a lot.

I think the first three Suikoden games have great storylines and aren’t your typical "hero must save the world" rpgs.

Shadow Hearts II (or Covenant) for PS2. Excellent game with great story.

Anything Breath of Fire.

Anything Breath of Fire.

Except for Breath of Fire V…

A lot of my suggestions have already been said, but here goes:

Any Xeno- game. Xenosaga I is probably the best in terms of pure story depth. II and III were unfortunately rushed, and most likely unenjoyable if you haven’t played Episode I. Xenogears is a brain-tickler, but very enthralling throughout. Xenoblade Chronicles’ best aspect is the extensive journey rather than the story itself.

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness: To this day, the first Disgaea still has the best story of them all, IMO. It’s quirky and hilarious most of the time, but there are parts that are very serious. It’s done well enough to where these very different themes don’t clash with each other. The series is also notorious for its vast amount of end-game content.

Super Paper Mario: This may come as a surprise, and this game is barely RPG-classifiable, but you have to play it to understand. Unlike what Vrykolas was saying in the second post (with which I tend to agree regarding a lot of RPG’s), this game is the exact opposite, and shines brightly near the end of the game. It would be a crime for me to spoil even a sliver of it.

Final Fantasy X: Tidus aside, joining the characters in this struggle is a choice I made emotionally. The forces at play in the story are very engaging.

Pokemon Black/White 1 and X/Y: It took them five generations, but the Pokemon game developers finally created a few stories to keep older or returning Pokemon fans like me interested. The ending of X/Y literally made me cry. No joke.

Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon: This isn’t technically an RPG, but fans of RPS’s tend to enjoy it most. It has JRPG, adventure and old-school Resident Evil elements combined in a post-apocalyptic setting. Sounds weird, but anyone who’s a fan of the PS1/early PS2 era should definitely check this Wii game out. It also has a beautiful soundtrack.

Two words (it’s a title): Bravely Default (3DS) – It has a great story and combat system that people love with a mechanic that allows for multiple hits. It also has the Japanese voices included in the options without an additional download unlike other games that require a download to acquire the Japanese voice option (I like Ringabel’s voice better in Japanese than in English…he sounds so manly in Japanese).

I notice there is a person with a Bravely Default theme (display pic and signature) that posted in this thread.

Tales of Vesperia has great beginning, but I didn’t really like the end. Rather anti-climatic IMO…
Legend of Dragoon have a great story (more than a story, it has a very "journey" feel, the adventure is very pleasant and the univers is great).