Complexity is one thing, but Xenogears and Saga just suffer far too much from story padding for it's actual Plot to be believable. Religious overtones are cool but only when done right. Just don't feel that they were in that series. And in full disclosure......Xenosaga's story was much better than gears.

Chrono Trigger/Cross are also quite superb mainly because it is one of the few stories that does Time Travel justice. Its not just a means of doing/then undoing past mistakes (cough*ffxiii-2*cough).

Does Demon's Souls count as a JRPG these days? because the Story mythos in that game is also super good in my eyes. Just like how Pyreflies is woven into the gameplay and plot of FFX, Demon's Souls weaves souls into every aspect flawlessly.

To this guy, FFIV will always, always have the best rpg story, "j" or otherwise.

Do you think that Saga handled religious overtones better than Gears? I thought it turned out a good bit more nonsensical (probably when it brought real-world religion into the mix, as opposed to perfectly fine symbolism).

Xenogears without a doubt.  By a long shot.  

And Final Fantasy IV is just classic Shakespeare, love it.  It's the game I judge all other RPGs by to this day.

So much this.

I never felt such chills or held my breath and felt so stunned as I did when Mahanon arose from the ocean.

I had to save the game and watch the intro FMV again dozens of times with tears in my eyes.  I felt so small and had difficulty breathing, I just felt so numb when EVERYTHING finally came together.  I replayed the game in my head fast foward and remembered all the little things like the missing human skulls that didn't appear until 10,000 years ago, etc.  I never felt so scandalized by a video game story before.

And then that ending song... 10,000 years of anguish finally at an end.  I was an emotional wreck for weeks while I reconciled with Perfect Works and learned everything I could about this story.

I can't argue with those saying Final Fantasy X as it is my favorite Final Fantasy of all time.

Hard to say. Maybe Pokemon Ruby.

It's not the greatest but I'm gonna go with Valkyrie Profile anyway, just to give it some well-deserved love.

Not sure... but this thread has piqued my interest in Xenogears

All great choices so far. It's sad that I haven't beaten too many of the great PS1 gems. One day....My vote is going to be very niche compared to all of you, I vote for

Front Mission 1

Without spoiling anything, it's a story about revenge, with a lot of twists, many f**ked up, which leads to a satisfying conclusion. Not necessarily a happy ending, but a conclusion which is feels like just that. It's an ending that sticks with you for a while.

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You should start tallying all the Lost Odyssey, XenoGears, and Chrono Cross votes, all great games.