Is Final Fantasy important anymore?

[Garcian Smith]

Riachu said:

Paul_Warren said:
"Second: Most JRPG stories are terrible, and they're told terribly. Tons and tons... and tons... and tons... of non-interactive text and cutscenes. Your average WRPG can at least tell a story competently - through branching dialogue trees, for example - even if the story itself isn't that great."

Actually it is the other way around branching dialogue trees just take away from the games by giving players too much choice in which direction they go. They don't allow one to experience the unified vision of their creators in the way that the best films and jrpgs do. Romeo and Juliet has simply not been the same play when directors have made the choice of allowing the star-crossed lovers to live at the end of the play.

The stories in the sandbox type WRPGs like Oblivion aren't that good. However, WRPG stories can be good if the game itself is story driven i.e. Mass Effect, Planescape Torment

@Garcian Smith

About that "JRPGs stories are terrible" thing. The way you said it makes it seem like you one of those gamers that think linear stories have no place in video games.

Here are a list of JRPGs that have stories that are atleast decent IMO:

Final Fantasy IV, VI, VII, X

Kingdom Hearts I, II, CoM

Chrono Trigger, Cross

Star Ocean 3

Earthbound

I don't play every JRPG that gets released so forgive me if my list is short. Also, I would like to include FFXII but I want to beat the game before I decide on a concrete opinion on the game's story.

 

 

I'm not someone who thinks that linear stories have no place in video games. A linear story, told well via utilizing the advantages of the medium, can be a wonderful thing. I just finished Half Life 2: Episode 2 tonight, for example; completely linear, and completely amazing.

At any rate, most of the games you listed have middling stories at best, and the fact that they're all overly talky doesn't help at all. And, yes, I've played all of them to some extent. The only ones that I'd consider to have decent stories are Earthbound and maybe Final Fantasy VI (though it's been a long while since I've played the latter), and then, none of them can measure up to something like Planescape: Torment or Half Life 2.