Fire Emblem Path of Radiance if sjrpg count

Xenogears, hands down.

Opinions go a far way, but I really consider Xenogears a remote number one story-wise as a fact.

The story is amazingly deep and philosofical.
And thats not philosofical as in a couple nice quotes and themes, but literally philosofical.
Its almost too much for a game. And in other media like books and movies you wont find much like it in the form of proza.
Its main philosofical influences are Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and Buddhism.
And Freuds, Jungs and Lacans psychoanalysis.
Thats what I got out of it.

One play through will probably not be enough to grasp the whole story and world of Xenogears.
The Perfect Works book is also essential to understand the whole timeline of its more than epic history which consists of thousands of years, eventhough the games itself (gameplay-wise) does take place in one time on this timeline, its full of narrative and scenes from other periods short and long before the game itself.


The cast of playable characters, non-playable and villians is one of the most memorable too.
So is the music.

The games features two battles systems: a "normal" one consisting of characters fighting physically and another one in which the characters fight in large mechs, called gears.

Suikoden 2 has the best story

Here is my list of jrpgs with good stories

Chrono trigger
Xenogears
Suikoden 2
Final fantasy 7
Suikoden 3
Final fantasy x
Xenosaga trilogy
Skies of arcadia
Last story
Xenoblade chronicles

Ff 13 and 13-2 have crap stories. Easily the worst in the series in my opinion. I still own them for some reason though...

I used to think of FFVII as the game with the best story ever, but Xenoblade have taken the title for me now. Story in VII is still amazing though.

Xenogears
Xenoblade
Xenosaga
FF6
FF9
FF7
FF8
Chrono trigger
Lost Odyssey

All turnbased combat :)

This.

And this here. + FFVII. Most memorable characters imo.

Final Fantasy VI.

This one have the most complete history... no spin, continuation, opened end, subjective view, etc.

The only series I find consistent with their stories is the Shin Megami Tensei series. There's maybe two or three bad eggs in terms of story, but the series' stories are mostly excellent especially Persona 2/4, Digital Devil Saga and Devil Survivor.

Other JRPG stories I think are excellent are FF VI, IV, IX, and Vagrant Story.

I mostly find stories in JRPGs bland, cliche, stupid or terrible. I recently beat Tales of graces f, and I found the story bland. Currently playing Ni No Kuni and the story's boring with bad dialogue. 

Story summary without spoilers From Wikipedia = The game takes place in the fictional floating world of Cocoon, whose government, the Sanctum, is ordering a purge of civilians who have supposedly come into contact with Pulse, the much-feared world below. The former soldier Lightning (Protagonist) begins her fight against the government in order to save her sister who has been branded as an unwilling servant to a god-like being from Pulse, making her an enemy of Cocoon. Lightning is soon joined by a band of allies, and together the group. They rally against the Sanctum while trying to discover their assigned task and whether they can avoid being turned into monsters or crystals at the completion.

FFXIII also lacks an EXP system or experience, which I believe is the only game to do so in the series. It has a Crystarium point system where you use these points to upgrade your Roles: Commando, Ravenger, Sentinel, Medic, Synergist and Saboteur.With these 6 Roles you have up to 3 party members at most in the begining stages of the game. Earlier or later you can have less than 3 party member, end game is 3 though. Next you create Paradigm combinations of your own liking/freedom. There are 2 Ally Paradigms or 3 Ally Paradigms using any of these 6 Roles. Sounds complicated? Well guess what I found it tremendiously fun! Reminded me a bit of Phantasy Star 4 with Techniques Combinations, just with way more options/complexity. I found the Battle system a faster paced/better looking Grandia 2 of sorts. The Crystarium leveling is like a skill tree which they call a Sphere Grid. You earn CP from battles and increase HP/Strength/MP etc bonuses as well as new techniques at your choosing, and extra equipment slots for items as well. The chaining attacks and staggering of mobs in the battle system I found extremely fun as well. End game grinding trapz and crafting Ultimate weapons was a joy as well as Gran Pulse missions. (over 100 to do)

I found the story interesting, and it continues on with FFXIII-2 and Lightning Returns. So you have to play them all to critisize the story, and LR is not even released yet...but people talk negative it seems. Imagine if you judged the original Star Wars Trilogy off of Episode 4 and left out 5 and 6? Well that's what people on every forums site I have seem have done to this game. A smart lot don't you think?    <-(sarcasm)

Check it out, and I reccomend getting the strategy guide so you can complete every bit of the game and not get lost or stuck/frustrated for too long. I think it's an amazing game!!

Grandia