Best Plot/Story?

[Village Idiot]

Has anyone played the 'Tales' series yet?

I loved Tales of Phantasia, Tales of Symphonia, and Tales of Eternia (I didn't like Tales of Destiny too much).

Arche & Collet is on my list for best female characters in the history of video games

Oh, btw, did anyone hear the news that there's a Tales of Symphonia anime in the works? Along with a Tales of Phantasia OVA coming out later this year?

Originally Posted by Kamui4356

Super robot wars alpha sounds great. I think I'll see what I can do about getting it, which will probably be nothing unless it's for dreamcast, since that's the only system I have that can play import games.

Don't get SRW Alpha for the Dreamcast. It's nowhere as good as the original version on the PSOne.

[Evan]

Wow,too many games to list... I'll list the most played in my collection...
Final fantasy VII,VIII,X and X-2
Suikoden 1,2 and 3
Tales of destiny I and II
Tales of phantasia and eternia
Grandia 2 and xtreme
RE 2,3 and code veronica
Parasite eve 2
and many more...

[Slade xTekno]

I though Final Fantasy 7 was awesome. Advent Children makes me want to play it again so I can brush up on the story...
Deus Ex was also cool. Haven't played 2 yet because my Video Card stinks...

[Tommy]

As for FF series goes

FF6 best story period.
FF 7 very good.
and FF4 also very good.
The rest were good but didn't leave near the impression those 3 did.

Crono trigger was awesome and so was Cross.

Xenogears is simply just too F@#king awesome, I love it.
Xenosaga I like a lot as well.

The suikoden series is good.

Metal Gear Solid definitly made its mark.

Arc the lad 1 and 2 tie together so wonderfully and 2 is especially awesome.

If there could be only one pick though it goes to FF6.

[Village Idiot]

FF6 was definitely a unique experience for me. An RPG that has no main characters.

[SunDog]

I really don't think the story to ff6 was great at all and the game itself was nowhere near as good as people are always saying IMO. Some games that have really good stories are FF7, Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross. But the best story in a videogame i've ever played is by far Xenogears. The story is so complex and a good mix of fantasy and scifi. I found myself stunned so many times in that game.

[Village Idiot]

Definitely, among RPGs, Xenogears had the most complex and best story I've ever seen, and I've played tons of RPGs.

Anyone played Phantasy Star IV? I loved that game, especially the characters, Rune, Demi, and Rika

[Tommy]

Originally Posted by Village Idiot

Definitely, among RPGs, Xenogears had the most complex and best story I've ever seen, and I've played tons of RPGs.

Anyone played Phantasy Star IV? I loved that game, especially the characters, Rune, Demi, and Rika

Phatasy star IV is so fucking good. I got a genesis for that and shining force 2.
I remember when they were making Phantasy Star Online how pissed I was because it wasn't going to be like the other ones. I still really think they should make another one like IV.

Another memorable experince I have is with playing FF5 I kept telling myself " I can't believe the last boss is named X-Death". Fucking X-Death!!!! I still can't believe that square gave the last boss such a crappy fucking name. And this was after FF4 ( a fantastic game story and gameplay wise) so they have no excuse.

[TheXev]

Tales of Phantasia
Valkyrie Profile (<- Highly recommend if you can find a copy)
Final Fantasy VI
Grandia 1 & 2 (Xtreme blows)
Tsukihime (not an RPG though :P)

Kanon - One of the most emotional game I've ever played. The story is top notch, with the anime version only composing of a mere fraction of the game. The game is also much, much sadder than the anime.

I cried so hard at the end of playing this.

Super Robot Wars Alpha - Imagine a strategy game that takes the characters/storyline of over 15 mecha series such as Getter Robo, Mazinger Z, Evangelion, Gundams, Macross, etc and combines them all together in the same universe to form and epic storyline. Best scene ever: reinacting End of Eva, and stopping it.

My translation group is working on an English patch for this game, but I have yet to play it myself

Another Grandia fan. Yes, grandia does have the best battle system of any RPG. Even though it's turn based, it often feels more like it's in real time. It's really too bad the story sucks in grandia 3, but grandia is the only rpg that I'd actually play for the battles. Usually they're a pain, but in the grandia series they're actually fun. I also recommend grandia 1 for psx. The story starts out average on disk 1, but gets good on the 2nd disk.

Technically Grandia Xtreme isn’t’ Grandia 3, it was a quick Grandia game made to basically celebrate Enix buying out Game Arts. I’d expect to see a real Grandia 3 on some next generation console.

Grandia 2 is responsible for making me miss my Calculus 2 midterm...(don't worry Grandia, I still love you). I played that game for 3 days around 12 hours each day. I just couldn't put it down... it was like "I'll just get to the next plot point and save..." 3 days later I beat the game and said to myself "Crap, I had a midterm this morning".

Damn, I thought I was the only one who did this! roflmao Once I got this game, I played it non stop in 3 days. Luckily this happened just before I got a job for that summer.

Has anyone played the 'Tales' series yet?

I loved Tales of Phantasia, Tales of Symphonia, and Tales of Eternia (I didn't like Tales of Destiny too much).

Its to bad none of the games measure up to the original. Tales of Phantasia on PSX is like what StarWars Special Edition was to StarWars (except ToP PSX actually has worse sound music wise).

I look forward to the American release of ToS this year.

The Korean RPG by Gravity Arcturus is also very cool, but it’s a real pisser the official English release was canceled. Gravity later went on to make Ragnarok Online.

By far, Tales of Phantasia is my favorite RPG, even if I loved the system in Grandia games. The characters combined with the plot were really moving to me. Its to bad Namco is a bunch of dip weeds and most of the original Tales of Phantasia team left to join Enix (later to become Tri-Ace and make Star Ocean, Valkyrie Profile, and many more)

Valkyrie Profile is a game I’m playing through right now (I’m nearly at the end of disc 1). This is another hard game to put down because the plot is so engaging and the system is so unique (seems similar to Xenogears, but not). If you can find a copy of this rare gem, I’d suggest you not hesitate to pay any amount of money for it, as it’s a very valuable game as far as RPG’s go. Its stupid Enix didn’t make another printing of this game, as it’s far more refined then Star Ocean 2, and probably has the best English VA job outside of Grandia 2.

Xenogears is another RPG I have yet to make time for

[Village Idiot]

Agreed, Valkryie Profile was a great game. The storyline (if you follow the best ending path) was very well done as well.

Plus you gotta love an RPG that gave you hundreds of thousands of hp

Has anyone heard about the Tales of Symphonia anime series in the works?

The Tales series has the one thing that many RPGs lack: Character Interaction.

[Chotto_Matte]

Metal Gear Solid 2 .... At the end, omg! You get so absorbed in it that you totally forget it's a game. And all those other hours of movies !
But i'm sure all of you guys want to kill me for saying that
I also actually like the mainplot in Morrowind...

[Tron Bonne]

Suikoden series
Wild ARMs 1
Lunar series, Lunar:SSSC being my favorite.
Shining Force CD and Shining Force 3 Complete
Final Fantasy IV
Final Fantasy VI
Star Wars:KoTOR

[dreamless]

Best overall plot/story belongs to Planescape Torment. It's deep, philosophical, personal, no "beat the evil and save the world" stuff, but focusing on internal conflicts and struggle for self-salvation.

best plot/story that dares to be "different" is Wild Arms 2, you don't see another game where the main villain actually successfully saved the world by killing many innocent people.

best side-story belongs to Xenogears. The main story of the 10000 year long struggle against "God" is just average, but the side story of the internal struggles between Fei's multiple personalities is absolutely fantastic.

best character-drive story/plot is Final Fantasy 6, each character got wonderful stories and great personality development.

best story utilizing time-travel concept is ChronoTrigger, I generally don't like time travel stories since they are cliche, but ChronoTrigger managed to get the time travel very well implemented and really works wonders.

[Roots]

Originally Posted by dreamless

best side-story belongs to Xenogears. The main story of the 10000 year long struggle against "God" is just average, but the side story of the internal struggles between Fei's multiple personalities is absolutely fantastic.

best character-drive story/plot is Final Fantasy 6, each character got wonderful stories and great personality development.

best story utilizing time-travel concept is ChronoTrigger, I generally don't like time travel stories since they are cliche, but ChronoTrigger managed to get the time travel very well implemented and really works wonders.

I agree with everything you said here. The other 2 games I never played so I can't comment. I hope that the game I'm making can become worthy enough to be on this list Yeah I know, I set my hopes too high But I am trying to write the story as best as I possibly can (story link)

[ChibiDusk]

Silent Hill 1: playstation
Silent Hill 3: Playstation 2, Computer
<no need to play sh2 for the plot to be very effective since its not connected with them at all>

Final Fantasy X: playstation 2
Final fantasy X-2: playsation 2
<the ending closure is worth it>

Thousand Arms [not related to wild arms at all]: playsation 1
<cant find it anywhere :'( such a good game, with a dating sim part as well >

Kingdom Hearts: playsation 2

and I second the Lunar series, just that comment makes me want to play them again (Lunar: silver star story, Lunar: Eternal Blue? both for playstation 1)

LOL, and just for fun:
paper mario: n64
<i loved it, dunno why but I did!>

[Tron Bonne]

Has a group ever translated well the Lunar:Magic School game for the Saturn? I have only had ruff translations for that game.

[Guts]

Originally Posted by Tenkoy

Xenogears.

That has one of the most interesting and complex plots I've ever seen in a video game.

So, true. That games the deep end of the swimming pool. Play Xenosaga if you did'nt get enough of it.

Breath of fire 2, mighty addictive, and pretty fun. I like the plot and who turns out to be the "real" bad guy. One of the greatest games i've played on snes.

Seiken densetsu 3, or secret of mana 2. This game is great, its just that. Multiple storys & endings. Colorful characters, and great battle system.

I loved Tales of Phantasia, Tales of Symphonia, and Tales of Eternia (I didn't like Tales of Destiny too much).

I play tales of eternia still. Or "tales of destiny 2" on ps1, Tales of destiny reeks tho thats correct.

[Sugetsu]

Let us not forget about some 3d games, such as Max Payne, Half life, Elder of scroll 3 Morrowind, System Shock 2 (The best FPS ever ) Star Craft (Best Strategy game ever ) Warcraft 2, 3, Diablo 1 & 2 ... mmm blizzar is just awesome at inventing stories

All of these games have an excellent story lines that make you stay in front of your PC for hours and hours

[EvoSpace]

Yay, it's great to know some people have the same taste as me.

Valkyrie Profile
Even though it's not your traditional type RPG, it's still my No.1 RPG. I haven't seen any RPG characters deeper, and a RPG battle system more fun. Try to get the Japanese one if you're able to; it's one of those games where the English dubbing isn't as good.

FFV
All other Squaresoft games are good too, but if I have to choose one, it's this. An epic of epics.

Wild Arms 2, Tales of Phantasia, Grandia 2, Lunar EB, Suikoden II
My favorites out of the classic RPGs. I thought the main producer of Tales of Phantasia left Namco after he made ToP and went to Enix to make Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile. That's why the other Tales games felt kind of different...

[dreamless]

I've played System Shock 2 for 9 times already! it's the best FPS/RPG hybrid to date IMO, and each time it's a different experience as I take a different profession/specialization. However judging from a pure story/plot perspective, it has a great story but not the best or deepest. A lot of PC games have a very balanced story and gameplay combination which makes you play them again and again, but Asian RPGs have the edge when it comes to just story/plot department.

Oh, and I think both Rhapsody of Zephyr and Arcturus The Curse and Loss of Divinity, two Korean PC RPGs, have truely wonderful stories.

Am I the only one here who has played Planescape Torment?