You're not going to find too much last gen that's had good story. For games released last gen with decent writing for the storylines, I'd say the Atelier games and Tales of Graces F. White Knight Chronicles 2 also wasn't really boring, but nothing special. The Neptunia games have so so, about half/half. Some games that had mediocre, boring, or poorly written storylines would be Ni No Kuni, Final Fantasy 13, Dragon's Dogma, Dragon's Crown, and Star Ocean the Last Hope.
None of this is based on gameplay though. While the Atelier games might have some good character development, the gameplay is less RPG like and more time management, so you might not even like the game. The Neptunia games aren't good, so whatever enjoyment you get out of the games will come from some of the character dialogue here and there, but certainly not the gameplay. Dragon's Crown and Dragon's Dogma are good, but the storyline and writing is so boring it would put you to sleep. Thankfully the story on Dragon's Crown and extremely short and it's mostly gameplay.
Games this gen, Persona 4(and a previous gen) is less gameplay mostly story and character development, SMT4 is less story, more gameplay. SMT4 has a great storyline though and some of the best writing and character development in a video game. Soul Sacrifice which only has RPG elements, has a lot of text but a ridiculously poor and extremely boring storyline, especially in execution.
In gens prior to last, I think there are a lot of JRPGs with good story and gameplay though. Xenogears, Xenosaga 1 and 3, Tactics Ogre Let Us Cling Together, and Final Fantasy Tactics are a few of the very best storylines in JRPGs. But other games with good stories are the Suikoden series, Wild ARMs series, Legend of Legaia and Legaia 2, Tales series, etc.
Most PSX JRPGs had good storylines, a good portion of PS2, SNES, Genesis, Sega CD, and all versions of Gameboy as well.
| BasilZero said: If you want storyline wise - it depends on what kind of story you want. |
No FFVI 
Despite enjoying the stories in Xenogears, Final Fantasy VI, and Suikoden II, my personal pick for best story in a Japanese RPG is Final Fantasy Tactics. The game had political intrigue, social unrest, abuse of religion, and so on, that I really enjoyed. It's actually one of my favorite Final Fantasy games, above several of the main entries.
BasilZero said:
I actually wrote it but erased planning to put it sometime later lol.
But storyline wise the FFs that have had a poor start up to storyline or overall storylines are the original trilogy and FFV (which was made similar to them) personally compared to the other games in the mainline series. |
FFV story is much better than XIII's.
| gergroy said: 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... |
Glad someone mentioned Xenosaga trilogy as I just bought all 3. No one ever mentions FF7 dirge of cerberus is it garbge cuz I also picked it up.
FinalFantasyXIII said:
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!! |
Ah, thank you! Much appreciate, I will try and get them when possible.
| Hurr1cane said: No one ever mentions FF7 dirge of cerberus is it garbge cuz I also picked it up. |
The story sucks but the game is good. One of the best PS2 third person shooters in my opinion.
Well the actual stories in most JRPGs are usually quite odd and overcomplicated, but other things that could be grouped under "story" such as characters, writing, cinematics and lore are far better than any other genre. The majority of JRPGs do have good stories and are not purely combat.
I thought Final Fantasy XIII had excellent characters, cinematics and lore, but the story itself fell to pieces at times, especially at the end. Final Fantasy XIII-2 is significantly worse in all aspects in my opinion.
Totally agree about Persona 4 Golden having a great story. The characters and writing are leagues above anything else, i'd say it has the best story purely because of that. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII would take 2nd place.
About Us |
Terms of Use |
Privacy Policy |
Advertise |
Staff |
Contact
Display As Desktop
Display As Mobile
© 2006-2026 VGChartz Ltd. All rights reserved.
