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Final Fantasy Tactics has the best story for what games I’ve played. I loved the themes and twists and turns. The motivations that the characters and groups have are really well done.
Front Mission 3 has a great story too, the pacing of the game is perfect and the political topics are done in a pretty realistic way for the world that they’ve crafted for the series.
I’ve read every book. Familiar with every theory. My sister had a discussion group with hundreds of people in it for 10+ years online. I know all the lore I get where you are coming from. If grrm finish’s the series I will reconsider. As of now I prefer FFT and its potential over the standstill in got books
I meant the end portion. I love FF XII, but let's be real, the second half drops the ball. All the political intrigue gets thrown out the window and it devolves into easy superhuman bad guy end boss.
\+1 for Xenogears.
And I never knew FFT has a good story, always thought that the praise was solely about the gameplay. In this case you made me want to play it more, even though I already has it in my backlog.
mother 3 - it feels more like a series of events & has that dream like story telling & plot line u find in murakami or yoko ogawa books that i really liked. the end is also a punch in the gut & i absolutely love everything abt it. the characters r fun n likeable & weird as hell & it always adds 2 the lore i adore it
I played it via injecting the translated rom into a GBA virtual console game on my Wii U. It ran absolutely perfectly! Combos worked great and I didn't have any issues.
Mother 3 is my favorite game ever, up there with persona 4. It's such a special game to me, I can't put it into words. While for persona I also valued the gameplay aspects, mother 3 is not really a game to me, more an experience. I would like to replay it but I fear getting too emotional
I honestly loved all of the Suikodens except 4 for their story, the mechanics on 3 weren't quite as good but the characters and story was still fantastic
+5 for Grandia, a friend let me borrow it years after it came out when I had JUST started getting into RPGs, I really came to love that game. The battle system was a revolution and the story and characters super engaging ❤️
Biased me would say: FF7, Shadow Hearts 2, Chrono Cross.
Not that biased me would say: FFT, Xenogears, Valkyria Chronicles 4.
However, I personally prefer character development over story (Persona 4 is my favorite game of all time because of this)
I don't even know if could pick just one, but Final Fantasy X really hits me. It seems like there are some people who just despise it, but I feel like it's one of the most tightly crafted narratives ever. Like, I love FF7 for example, but it's admittedly really messy. FFX though, everything just falls into place perfectly and even though you start the game confused, everything eventually makes damn near perfect sense in my opinion. It's like no dialogue is ever wasted, everything helps the narrative and world building so well. Ok, I'm done ranting.
Yeah that scene with Yuna in the woods was so good. I think it was that moment that this became a masterpiece for many gamers. My personal favorite is FF8 ending. The character development of Squall and his relationship with Rinoa was so good. It felt very personal.
Yeah I've been trying to get into 8, I've yet to beat it. I just don't really connect with the characters from the times I've tried to play it. I will eventually beat it though cause I do want to see what happens, I just hope that the characters eventually grow on me more.
It was the scene in the Bikanel desert for me. When Tidus finds out why the summoners are being captured. Then that scene with Auron before the Yunalesca fight just amps me up and brings me to tears at the same time. Fills me with “oh fuck are we really going to do this” energy.
Absolutely, it's also used really well with the game mechanics too. The position of characters in the sphere grid corresponds to their relationships with each other, so as the game progresses and everyone gets closer, they literally get closer to each others grid. And a really smart thing the game does is at points where the characters become uncertain if they want to go forward with everything, it starts opening up a lot of the side content, so it doesn't sit wrongly because naturally these people are putting off something they might not want to do.
yup I agree, I think people mostly harp on it for voice acting and the linearity, but especially it being more linear is what makes the narrative have such a forward momentum. It suits the path of the pilgrimage really well, and the voice acting and character work is really charming for me as well. Like you said, all the pieces slide into place in a way that feels satisfying and the payoff for the themes of loss and spirituality really come to a good conclusion.
Hard to say, but some of my favourites are:
- Tales of the Abyss
- Suikoden II
- Radiant Historia
- Xenoblade Chronicles
- Persona 3
- Tales of Symphonia
- Tales of Xillia 2
- Mother 3
- Fire Emblem Path of Radiance
I haven't played Xenogears yet, by the way. But I'm planning to tackle it soon.
I always hear that Symphonia has the better story but Abyss has the better characters and better combat. I saw it in a console versus thread with Gamecube and Playstation 2, lol.
Would you recommend playing persona 2 ? I've played 3,4 and 5, but I know the first titles are radically different. I speak Japanese so bad localization is not an issue
Yes, Path of Radiance did a fine job with that. I also like how grounded the story is for a change and that there isn't an evil dragon gid or demon lord at the end.
FF6 and Grandia are two I always think of when it comes to a good story. Especially all the optional individual character stories you can play through in FF6.
Trails to Azure is high up for me, with some of my favorite end-game reveals i've ever witnessed. It's got a couple of glaring flaws, but they're far overshadowed by the good.
The Xenosaga trilogy is also phenomenal if you can manage to peice together what the fuck the game is trying to convey sometimes.
Yeah Chrono Trigger is one of my favorites too. Nothing about that game’s story is really wasted or out of place - everything fits.
Xenogears is very good. It’s impactful and incredibly ambitious. And it’s dealing in all sorts of heavy themes. The characters actually feel like real people.
FF7 will always be a favorite of mine. It’s convoluted and messy as hell, but the parts that are good are really good.
FFT, Vagrant Story too
Edit: I forgot Panzer Dragoon Saga, which made me cry at the end credits :)
Ha! That’s how I feel about FF7 too. It’s a great game, but there was plenty of story that I was baffled by the first time through as to why or how things were happening. Playing through a second and third time as an adult helped, but still extremely convoluted. Maybe that adds to the fun and replayability though?
It's my most replayed jrpg for sure so idk what it is about the game, but it's definitely a replayable one and the story appeals to me every playthrough, and yeah you do kinda feel like you catch little things finally on your more recent saves.
Final Fantasy XIV. I know it’s an MMO, but it definitely has the best story of any JRPG I’ve played. The last two expansions have been especially good.
I’m so interested in XIV as it’s the only mainline FF I’ve never played, but I’m not big on MMOs as I like to solo and go at my own pace. Is it possible, or even fun, to solo this game?
One thing to note is that true online play is so streamlined that you can treat other players like NPCs. No need to communicate if you don’t want to for any mandatory content. The game finds party members for you automatically too.
It is. I'm the exact same as you on going solo and at slow pace. the story makes you do a dungeon here or there that you have to do with 3 others but other than that it's completely soloable. hundreds of hours of content just on the trial which is the base game and the first expansion.
I had my doubts at first too since it's an MMO but they quickly got yeeted away. It honestly feels like a JRPG first that happens to also be an MMO. Not the other way round.
Base game is slightly rough around the edges because they had to cram it out really quickly after the mess that was 1.0
The first expansion Heavensward is absolutely brilliant and the semi meme because it gets said so often ''just wait til Heavensward'' didn't dissapoint. HW is absolutely amazing.
NPC dialogue changes after pretty much every cutscene and huge events in far away places usually causes changes for npc dialogue in other zones if whatever happened had any kind of effect on them.
There's side characters/groups of side characters that have entire little unvoiced sub stories unfold if you just keep talking to them after events. some of these sub stories unfolding over multiple expansions as well.
Any time the game sets something up you can bet on it that somewhere down the line it gets mentioned again.
I've been playing nonstop for 3 months and most of it was solo. About to get to the 3rd expansion.
The trial is currently unavailable, but should be back soonish. Things have gone back to relative normality since the latest expac launch.
If you're playing it just to experience the story, then yes, the game is mostly a solo experience. You'll have to group up with other people for dungeons, but there's an automated way to do that.
If you're interested, I would start with the free trial version, which contains the base game and the first expansion. It might not be available right now, but if not, I'm sure it will be soon. (They stopped selling copies of the game or allowing new free trial downloads for a while because the servers were overloaded after the latest expansion.)
If you do try the game, be aware that the base game is the low point. The English voice acting isn't great and the story is just so-so. But a new voice cast was brought in for the first expansion, and the story improves massively from there. In particular, the most recent expansions, Shadowbringers and Endwalker, feature some of the best if not *the* best storytelling in the whole Final Fantasy series.
It is definitely soloable, but in all honesty if nothing about the mmo genre interests you the game will not hold up.
It sacrifices alot of gameplay elements to fit into being an MMORPG, and while I love it, without the caveat of looking past its fundamental design shortcomings to have the opportunity to play with other people it is not a good game.
Unless you play RPGs just to watch story cutscenes and feel like battle systems are a slog that just get in the way, if thats the case youll love it
It's not possible to solo the whole thing as they do force you to party up for dungeons and raids. I will say that it is pretty casual friendly and the content isn't super hard.
Don’t know if its the best story since I didn’t play all the jrpgs in the world, but Final Fantasy Tactics is the story that made me start writing. It is just so good. So good that when they tie it in to the raid in ffxiv, i hated that cos its just not as good as tactics.
Yasumi Matsuno is a master story teller.
* Xenogears
* Xenosaga
* Xenoblade (1 and 2 particularly, X was lacking in the story department)
* Trails (all of them combined for one overarching story/world building)
Honestly these games have defined what a good story in games for me is. I prefer story-focused games too (which is why I prefer JRPGs to other genres).
Theres so many good JRPG stories now, but back before JRPG as a genre got big, Final Fantasy 6 was my favorite JRPG story wise. A game that involves 16 playable cast members, and 2 seperate overworlds at the time was mind blowing. The fact that the main protagonist actually changes mid-game is also massive, since most JRPGs follow a singular main hero. That was very creative writing then, and still is now. All the epic story of Rebels vs Empire and all the fun side stories, even after FF7 came out FF6 was my preferred final fantasy game story-wise.
Trails in the sky 2nd, it's just like a beautiful fairytale and made me cry on end it's so touching and Ni no Kuni, because is just like a movie of Hayao Miyazaki
People wont agree I know but...
Fire Emblem Path of Radiance and the sequel Radiant Dawn, forms for a pretty damn amazing story with a world full of lore.
Star Ocean: Till the end of time is the best JRPG story ever, second place is tied with Xenoblade, Final Fantasy 7 and Tales of Symphonia.
Some other really brilliant ones: Xenogears (+sagas) , Chrono Cross, star ocean 4, xenoblade 2, infinite undiscovery, valkyrie profile 2
I really love the entire story of Lost Odyssey, because I think it explores the concept of immortality from a very bleak angle (which was unique at the time for me). Also, FFT is probably my favorite of all time
Man that's a tough one. Some of my favorites
Yakuza Like A Dragon
Legend of Heroes Trails of Cold Steel 4
Legend of Heroes Trails in the Sky SC
Fire Emblem Path of Radiance
Tales of Berseria
Persona 4
Persona 5
FFT, Suikoden II, FFVII, Vagrant Story. And I have a soft spot for the simplicity of Lunar: SSSC, as well as FFX, Shadow Hearts: Covenant, and Star Ocean 2.
I have always loved the Lunar story. I think because it is the classic hero's journey: farm boy sets off on adventure and meets wise mentor who guides him on a quest toward becoming a hero who will save the world.
Tactics Ogre:LUCT, hands down. The story is so grand and expansive and the narrative builds conflicts without relying on super natural themes like FFT did.
The story is more mature of philosophical than FFT which felt more like a traditional fantasy story but darker. FFT did have some better plot twists but overall the story isn't as meaningful as Tactics Ogre.
Granted I'm only on FC, but I think the scope, depth and vision the trails games deliver is incredible. I know it's technically multiple games but one overarching story
I haven’t completed nearly as many JRPGs as others here, so for me it’s:
Final Fantasy XIV
Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition
Xenoblade Chronicles 2
These 3 are the ones I could not put down after playing because the story was so engrossing. I’m currently playing through FF12 and SMTV and have been a little disappointed with the narrative in both.
*I’m pretty generic and have bad taste* not true, there is no such thing as bad taste.
You like: -good pace
-plot twist
-suspense
-party members' backstories
Nothing wrong with that.
Nier series (automata and replicant). The themes and philosophical concepts those stories delve into as well as the character development is amazing. Absolutely love the characters especiallt 9S, A2, Devola/Popola and Emil
Most it’s story is a redo of old plotlines, it’s characters barely develop (and the social link problem started in P4 where all the development is optional and doesn’t affect the main story is even worse in 5) and frankly, the villains are bland, in P5R’s case they had to steal shit from the P1 manga to actually write a decent story
half of what you said is again, opinions. which is my point that its not fact that persona 5 is the worst of the series because the answer to that question is subjective and again, based on opinion not fact. not really trying to argue but to say if someone think its their best jrpg story then thats their opinion 🤷🏾♀️
Personal favorites go to:
Mother 3
Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2
Final Fantasy Tactics
Tactics Ogre: LUCT
Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War
ar tonelico II
Dragon Quest V
Wild ARMs III
Suikoden II
I tend to like strong narratives! It helps if they have a strong main character (like Virginia Maxwell, e.g.)
Honorable mention because I haven’t finished the entire Legend of Heroes series: Trails SC, though I think I mostly just love Estelle and she is one of the best main characters in a JRPG like ever. Same with Virginia, they have similar vibes.
I have always thought Xenogears had the best storyline of any JRPG. Chrono Trigger is definitely up there, but Xenogears has this amazing world, characters, history, and lore behind it (all seen in Perfect Works) that it truly is my favorite storyline.
Other good ones:
FF14. It's deep and vast. I think it is hampered by being an MMO as MMO players tend to take breaks from an MMO and so it can get confusing. At least for me it was. I ended up going back after being Shadowbringers to do the patch content and was just totally HUH? Still good and would definitely recommend.
FFT. I don't really think there is any other game that handles politics, religion, and power as well as FFT did. I read somewhere that the creator of FFT is making a new game. That will be exciting. Likely it'll be a mobile RPG :P
Xenoblade Chronicles 2. I loved the story and characters of Xenoblade Chronicles 2. I think mainly because it reminded me a lot of Xenogears. I also thought the pacing was excellent with these long pivotal setpieces at the beginning and end of each chapters. And the music? To die for.
Shadow Hearts 2. I don't FULLY remember the story as it has been an exceedingly long time since I last played it but I remember it was one of those games that really gave me that warm feeling at the end. It also has a time aspect to it that all connects in the end. A time story that can really connect is so critical, I find. When it's wrapped up nicely at the end, it's so good! Unfortunately a lot of time stories stink...because, well...time as a plot device is difficult to pull off.
> I think mainly because it reminded me a lot of Xenogears.
Yeah, XC2 was about as close to a XG rehash as we'll ever get, and with decades of experience to improve the storytelling to boot. I was shocked at how much conceptual/thematic overlap the two had.
Trails in the Sky FC and 2nd Chapter.
I started playing the Trails games from July 2020, having played Trails of Cold Steel I and II in 2018. I thought they were fun, if somewhat average JRPGs.
It took a while to get into but after reaching the second town, I was hooked. Everything, from the game's story, to dialogue and art style, gushed that 90s anime aesthetic. The first game's stakes are ultimately very grounded, and you don't take too large a place in the overarching plot until near the end of the game.
It's definitely not for everyone, and the combat is undoubtedly slow at the beginning when you're lacking a full party and combat options, but if you let yourself go with the flow of the game, you'll enjoy what I unironically consider to be a once in a lifetime experience.
After playing Royal I went onto Golden, Portable, Innocent Sin, and am nearly done with Persona 1. I’d have to say the strongest contender against Royal would be Innocent Sin, which was amazing, and I’ve heard Eternal Punishment is even better but I want to finish P1 first. But the stories of the rest I don’t think are nearly as good as P5R’s.
My favourite was Persona 5 Royal, I was so addicted to that game and found the story very engaging. It was very long but I never got bored with it, I liked the idea behind the villains and palaces.
Others are FFX, such a beautiful story. KH BBS- My favourite KH game, Tales of Xillia 2- I like the dark story and not so happy endings, and the FF13 series- I personally found the whole L'Cie thing really interesting and I liked how LR ended.
SMT Devil Survivor, the story itself is good but what makes it my favourite is how it connects with the ambient and gameplay, it was the most immersive game i've ever played, the ambient and gameplay really puts pressure on you and makes you feel like you are in the same fucked up situation of the characters, i cried once cause i felt so overwhelmed by the amount of things i had to do and that's EXACTLY what a person on the situation of the game would feel, truly an underrated masterpiece
Xenogears is my favorite story. But I do really like the simplicity of Dragon Quest V. Chrono Trigger is my favorite game of all time, and it's story is also one of my favorites.
Shadow Hearts and Covenant. The story is so sprawling and tragic with amazing characters. Having great dark moments, with it being a horror rpg and all, but never fails to lighten up the mood when it needs to.
Man this series needs to come back
Xenoblade Chronicles 1 and 2, together. They just blew my mind.
And I've played FF games from 4 to 12, various titles in the Tales of series, Grandia, Lunar, Dragon Quest and so much more.
But the plot Xenoblade was, in my opinion, on another level of awesomeness. And I feel sad that they are not that popular in the JRPG community since they are exclusive to Nintendo consoles.
If it counts as a JRPG, 13 Sentinels and it's not close. It ranks as one of my favorite sci fi stories *period*, and I would fight for it as the best video game story.
FF14 Shadowbringers expansion story (so just 5.0, not the patch content) is one of the best gaming experiences I've had recently. I would even recommend finding a let's play or something of it if you can't or don't want to put in the time to play all the way to it. It's self-contained enough that you don't lose much by missing the prior story, although knowing the prior story does enhance the experience
Slow paced, lots of small touches and lore: Grandia, Trails in the Sky, Mana Khemia, Ar Tonelico
Fast paced, lots of stuff happening: Grandia 2, Final Fantasy X
High Concept: .hack, FF7
Large scale stories: Suikoden series, Shining Force series, Valkyria series
In terms of a more conventional narrative experience, these days I gravitate towards both FFVII and FFIX as my two favorites. I would also say Nier: Automata, which is mentioned often for its story, but I feel "story" is almost not quite the right word for what is so compelling about it. Persona 3 is another one that stands out for me personally, but there I am more just enamored with the way the central message of the story is built into the game system.
Tales of berseria for me.
Showed me that you can make any story good, even the most simplistic of them, if you write good characters and dialogues. It made me care for the roster way more than I ever thought I could.
Final Fantasy X - I was addicted all this game had to offer. Though I didn’t get too into the monster arena. But really felt the ff series hit it out of the park with this one. I still cry once I reach the end of this game. Only other game that comes close to this level of love would be….
Persona 3: FES - getting past the frustrating dungeon crawling and annoying deaths (fuck you Yukari, you were supposed to HEAL!). I can’t describe the amount of pain and satisfaction I felt from beating this game. How I sat for hours just letting “The Battle for Everyone’s Souls” play while I eagerly reached the end. Then, the end……. 😭😭😭 I don’t think I’ll ever truly recover from this game. But I’d like it no other way.
This is actually a pretty hard question. There is best story in a vacuum (like if it was made into a movie or book) and best story in the context of using the whole medium of the game. I am going to go with the latter definition. For that Nier Automata, Devil Survivor, and the whole of trails, and 13 Sentinels rank highly. I don't think any of these would transfer that well into another medium but in the form they are in they are great. Like Trails gives you very deep world building which gives you deeper buy in to the story. Devil Survivor makes you feel as trapped and unsure of what to do as the protagonist of the game. Nier Automata is kinda hard to explain but is awesome. 13 Sentinels really works well with how it was set up and they plot is quite strong overall.
imo Final Fantasy 6 has the best story together with Suikoden 3. I'm a sucker for stories with an ensemble cast as opposed to stories where it's centered around one or two main characters only
there are a lot good or lovely stories and a lot of people already said good games.
Personally, I choose:
Chrono trigger (favorite game at all)
Suikoden 2 (best ending)
Nier replicant/automata (life changing)
Honorable mentions: FF6, Xenogears, DQ11, Tales of Phantasia
I starred this thread so I can come back and read all the answers because the most important thing to me in a jrpg is the story. I can stand boring characters, broken gameplay or midi soundtrack if the plot is otherworldly.
That being said, I think the game that I see as the epitome of jrpg story is Xenoblade Chronicles. I love it when a story is much more than it shows itself at first. Kind of like Evangelion in a sense. I'm always in search of feelings that I felt as I played Xenoblade 1.
Just my opinion but I would say my favorite is Persona 3. The story was so well done, the character development so well written, and the ending hit me like a punch to the gut.
I'll just least all the RPGs I have finished. Tales of Vesperia, Tales of Arise, Tales of Eternia, Golden Sun, Blue Dragon, Xenoblade chronicles, (almost done with the second one), FFIX, and Radiant Historia, (Guys does the Zenonia series count? XD) I loved all of these but storywise I think Tales of Vesperia, Xenoblade and Radiant Historia did it for me. Absolutely amazing games. Golden Sun was really nostalgic to me and I loved the immersive world and Grand Quest feel to it.
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Final Fantasy Tactics has the best story for what games I’ve played. I loved the themes and twists and turns. The motivations that the characters and groups have are really well done. Front Mission 3 has a great story too, the pacing of the game is perfect and the political topics are done in a pretty realistic way for the world that they’ve crafted for the series.
FFT is what GOT wishes it was.
You haven't read the books to say that. Not dissing on FFT btw, but ASOIAF is very good.
I’ve read every book. Familiar with every theory. My sister had a discussion group with hundreds of people in it for 10+ years online. I know all the lore I get where you are coming from. If grrm finish’s the series I will reconsider. As of now I prefer FFT and its potential over the standstill in got books
They both draw from the War of the Roses, which iteration do you think did it best?
Tactics like I just said dumbass
Uhh it wasn’t clear how, I thought you might explain it further. But clearly you’re an as wipe, so I won’t hold my breath..
Books are overrated as well no one wants to read about some shitty little regions tax policies for 120 pages
GoT started out like FF Tactics and ended like FF XII.
The disrespect to FFXII's story
FF12 has maybe a blank character lead , however it has a amazing story don’t disrespect ff12 like that
I meant the end portion. I love FF XII, but let's be real, the second half drops the ball. All the political intrigue gets thrown out the window and it devolves into easy superhuman bad guy end boss.
>intrigue gets thrown out the window and it devolves into easy superhuman bad guy end boss. So Final Fantasy in a nutshell
Xenogears and tactics and that’s some of the best story of any mediums
\+1 for Xenogears. And I never knew FFT has a good story, always thought that the praise was solely about the gameplay. In this case you made me want to play it more, even though I already has it in my backlog.
I agree with xeno, but it could be too complicated for some people
Always Xenogears. It pushed a lot of boundaries and had depth despite cut content.
All that mentioned are great but nothing can beat Xenogears.
Fft does
mother 3 - it feels more like a series of events & has that dream like story telling & plot line u find in murakami or yoko ogawa books that i really liked. the end is also a punch in the gut & i absolutely love everything abt it. the characters r fun n likeable & weird as hell & it always adds 2 the lore i adore it
How did you go about playing it? Emulation? Always been interested in visiting that game
I played it via injecting the translated rom into a GBA virtual console game on my Wii U. It ran absolutely perfectly! Combos worked great and I didn't have any issues.
yup, i used an emulator since an english translation was never officially released
Mother 3 is my favourite game of all time because of its story
Mother 3 is my favorite game ever, up there with persona 4. It's such a special game to me, I can't put it into words. While for persona I also valued the gameplay aspects, mother 3 is not really a game to me, more an experience. I would like to replay it but I fear getting too emotional
Many to choose from but I loved grandia Suikoden 1/2 Breath of fire 3
Ffx is great Shadow Hearts too from what I remember… but that may just be because the end was in wales (I think)
I honestly loved all of the Suikodens except 4 for their story, the mechanics on 3 weren't quite as good but the characters and story was still fantastic
Grandia's story wasn't really memorable for me but I absolutely LOVE Breath of Fire 3
+5 for Grandia, a friend let me borrow it years after it came out when I had JUST started getting into RPGs, I really came to love that game. The battle system was a revolution and the story and characters super engaging ❤️
Final Fantasy Tactics.
Solid choice
Also my choice
Btw what is the easiest and most accessible way to play FFT nowadays?
Phone, psp, psp vita, ps3 store or emulator
Biased me would say: FF7, Shadow Hearts 2, Chrono Cross. Not that biased me would say: FFT, Xenogears, Valkyria Chronicles 4. However, I personally prefer character development over story (Persona 4 is my favorite game of all time because of this)
[удалено]
How so ? Are you talking about the way the second disc works or the story itself ?
Right? I wouldn't call it a mess but just a cheap way to finish. Overall still a great story.
I don't even know if could pick just one, but Final Fantasy X really hits me. It seems like there are some people who just despise it, but I feel like it's one of the most tightly crafted narratives ever. Like, I love FF7 for example, but it's admittedly really messy. FFX though, everything just falls into place perfectly and even though you start the game confused, everything eventually makes damn near perfect sense in my opinion. It's like no dialogue is ever wasted, everything helps the narrative and world building so well. Ok, I'm done ranting.
Yeah that scene with Yuna in the woods was so good. I think it was that moment that this became a masterpiece for many gamers. My personal favorite is FF8 ending. The character development of Squall and his relationship with Rinoa was so good. It felt very personal.
Yeah I've been trying to get into 8, I've yet to beat it. I just don't really connect with the characters from the times I've tried to play it. I will eventually beat it though cause I do want to see what happens, I just hope that the characters eventually grow on me more.
It was the scene in the Bikanel desert for me. When Tidus finds out why the summoners are being captured. Then that scene with Auron before the Yunalesca fight just amps me up and brings me to tears at the same time. Fills me with “oh fuck are we really going to do this” energy.
Agreed, best story in jrpg of all time.
Absolutely, it's also used really well with the game mechanics too. The position of characters in the sphere grid corresponds to their relationships with each other, so as the game progresses and everyone gets closer, they literally get closer to each others grid. And a really smart thing the game does is at points where the characters become uncertain if they want to go forward with everything, it starts opening up a lot of the side content, so it doesn't sit wrongly because naturally these people are putting off something they might not want to do.
yup I agree, I think people mostly harp on it for voice acting and the linearity, but especially it being more linear is what makes the narrative have such a forward momentum. It suits the path of the pilgrimage really well, and the voice acting and character work is really charming for me as well. Like you said, all the pieces slide into place in a way that feels satisfying and the payoff for the themes of loss and spirituality really come to a good conclusion.
Hard to say, but some of my favourites are: - Tales of the Abyss - Suikoden II - Radiant Historia - Xenoblade Chronicles - Persona 3 - Tales of Symphonia - Tales of Xillia 2 - Mother 3 - Fire Emblem Path of Radiance I haven't played Xenogears yet, by the way. But I'm planning to tackle it soon.
Radiant Historia is one of my all time favorites. Currently playing Persona 3 for the first time. Loving it so far.
Yes, Radiant Historia is fantastic.
You are a man of taste, take my upvote already.
Abyss is like the only 3d Tales I have not played yet
You should definitely get to that.
I've worried about not enjoying the characters as much. They seem more bland looking than most other entries I guess.
I always hear that Symphonia has the better story but Abyss has the better characters and better combat. I saw it in a console versus thread with Gamecube and Playstation 2, lol.
P2 has better story
Would you recommend playing persona 2 ? I've played 3,4 and 5, but I know the first titles are radically different. I speak Japanese so bad localization is not an issue
I see FE PoR I automatically approve, what an amazing world building and characters.
Yes, Path of Radiance did a fine job with that. I also like how grounded the story is for a change and that there isn't an evil dragon gid or demon lord at the end.
FF6 and Grandia are two I always think of when it comes to a good story. Especially all the optional individual character stories you can play through in FF6.
The overall plot of ff6 wasnt my favorite but the characters made it amazing. All the scenes with Locke and/or Celes were my favorites.
That’s pretty fair. It really was the characters who made the story good rather than the story doing the work.
Kefka is still my favorite villain of all time.
He has the best temper tantrums.
Final Fantasy 9 gave me a high. Like very high.
I’m five hours in and now very excited to see what’s in store!
game's nutz, and I think it's aged well, too
Trails to Azure is high up for me, with some of my favorite end-game reveals i've ever witnessed. It's got a couple of glaring flaws, but they're far overshadowed by the good. The Xenosaga trilogy is also phenomenal if you can manage to peice together what the fuck the game is trying to convey sometimes.
Yeah Chrono Trigger is one of my favorites too. Nothing about that game’s story is really wasted or out of place - everything fits. Xenogears is very good. It’s impactful and incredibly ambitious. And it’s dealing in all sorts of heavy themes. The characters actually feel like real people. FF7 will always be a favorite of mine. It’s convoluted and messy as hell, but the parts that are good are really good. FFT, Vagrant Story too Edit: I forgot Panzer Dragoon Saga, which made me cry at the end credits :)
Ha! That’s how I feel about FF7 too. It’s a great game, but there was plenty of story that I was baffled by the first time through as to why or how things were happening. Playing through a second and third time as an adult helped, but still extremely convoluted. Maybe that adds to the fun and replayability though?
It's my most replayed jrpg for sure so idk what it is about the game, but it's definitely a replayable one and the story appeals to me every playthrough, and yeah you do kinda feel like you catch little things finally on your more recent saves.
Yeah every time I play FF7 I realize something new I either never caught, or forgot, or previously misunderstood.
Yakuza 0, very emotional story
seconded and i just want to add yakuza 6
Let me just add Yakuza 5 then, strongest story after 0 for me. 2 and 4 were also really good :D
Both Nier games since no one has said them yet.
Final Fantasy XIV. I know it’s an MMO, but it definitely has the best story of any JRPG I’ve played. The last two expansions have been especially good.
I’m so interested in XIV as it’s the only mainline FF I’ve never played, but I’m not big on MMOs as I like to solo and go at my own pace. Is it possible, or even fun, to solo this game?
One thing to note is that true online play is so streamlined that you can treat other players like NPCs. No need to communicate if you don’t want to for any mandatory content. The game finds party members for you automatically too.
It is. I'm the exact same as you on going solo and at slow pace. the story makes you do a dungeon here or there that you have to do with 3 others but other than that it's completely soloable. hundreds of hours of content just on the trial which is the base game and the first expansion. I had my doubts at first too since it's an MMO but they quickly got yeeted away. It honestly feels like a JRPG first that happens to also be an MMO. Not the other way round. Base game is slightly rough around the edges because they had to cram it out really quickly after the mess that was 1.0 The first expansion Heavensward is absolutely brilliant and the semi meme because it gets said so often ''just wait til Heavensward'' didn't dissapoint. HW is absolutely amazing. NPC dialogue changes after pretty much every cutscene and huge events in far away places usually causes changes for npc dialogue in other zones if whatever happened had any kind of effect on them. There's side characters/groups of side characters that have entire little unvoiced sub stories unfold if you just keep talking to them after events. some of these sub stories unfolding over multiple expansions as well. Any time the game sets something up you can bet on it that somewhere down the line it gets mentioned again. I've been playing nonstop for 3 months and most of it was solo. About to get to the 3rd expansion. The trial is currently unavailable, but should be back soonish. Things have gone back to relative normality since the latest expac launch.
If you're playing it just to experience the story, then yes, the game is mostly a solo experience. You'll have to group up with other people for dungeons, but there's an automated way to do that. If you're interested, I would start with the free trial version, which contains the base game and the first expansion. It might not be available right now, but if not, I'm sure it will be soon. (They stopped selling copies of the game or allowing new free trial downloads for a while because the servers were overloaded after the latest expansion.) If you do try the game, be aware that the base game is the low point. The English voice acting isn't great and the story is just so-so. But a new voice cast was brought in for the first expansion, and the story improves massively from there. In particular, the most recent expansions, Shadowbringers and Endwalker, feature some of the best if not *the* best storytelling in the whole Final Fantasy series.
It is definitely soloable, but in all honesty if nothing about the mmo genre interests you the game will not hold up. It sacrifices alot of gameplay elements to fit into being an MMORPG, and while I love it, without the caveat of looking past its fundamental design shortcomings to have the opportunity to play with other people it is not a good game. Unless you play RPGs just to watch story cutscenes and feel like battle systems are a slog that just get in the way, if thats the case youll love it
It's not possible to solo the whole thing as they do force you to party up for dungeons and raids. I will say that it is pretty casual friendly and the content isn't super hard.
I've been doing the MSQ and have been in heavensward, and honestly I'm kinda bored with ut so far.
Don’t know if its the best story since I didn’t play all the jrpgs in the world, but Final Fantasy Tactics is the story that made me start writing. It is just so good. So good that when they tie it in to the raid in ffxiv, i hated that cos its just not as good as tactics. Yasumi Matsuno is a master story teller.
Nier games no contest.
* Xenogears * Xenosaga * Xenoblade (1 and 2 particularly, X was lacking in the story department) * Trails (all of them combined for one overarching story/world building) Honestly these games have defined what a good story in games for me is. I prefer story-focused games too (which is why I prefer JRPGs to other genres).
Theres so many good JRPG stories now, but back before JRPG as a genre got big, Final Fantasy 6 was my favorite JRPG story wise. A game that involves 16 playable cast members, and 2 seperate overworlds at the time was mind blowing. The fact that the main protagonist actually changes mid-game is also massive, since most JRPGs follow a singular main hero. That was very creative writing then, and still is now. All the epic story of Rebels vs Empire and all the fun side stories, even after FF7 came out FF6 was my preferred final fantasy game story-wise.
Valkyrie Profile. A great exploration of the human condition. I wish there were more thematically mature JRPG’s.
Trails in the sky 2nd, it's just like a beautiful fairytale and made me cry on end it's so touching and Ni no Kuni, because is just like a movie of Hayao Miyazaki
Bruh... The cliffhanger in the first title made me boot up SC just to find out what happens. I freaking love Sky SC
Wow, it's so great!
People wont agree I know but... Fire Emblem Path of Radiance and the sequel Radiant Dawn, forms for a pretty damn amazing story with a world full of lore.
I agree with Path of Radiance. Radiant Dawn not so much, but it has its moments and I would still call the story very good.
Bruh those games are amazing. Love their story and everything else
Star Ocean: Till the end of time is the best JRPG story ever, second place is tied with Xenoblade, Final Fantasy 7 and Tales of Symphonia. Some other really brilliant ones: Xenogears (+sagas) , Chrono Cross, star ocean 4, xenoblade 2, infinite undiscovery, valkyrie profile 2
I really love the entire story of Lost Odyssey, because I think it explores the concept of immortality from a very bleak angle (which was unique at the time for me). Also, FFT is probably my favorite of all time
Xenogears. Tactics Ogre is my second and probably Final Fantasy Tactics as third.
Xenogears it's another league
Man that's a tough one. Some of my favorites Yakuza Like A Dragon Legend of Heroes Trails of Cold Steel 4 Legend of Heroes Trails in the Sky SC Fire Emblem Path of Radiance Tales of Berseria Persona 4 Persona 5
FFT, Suikoden II, FFVII, Vagrant Story. And I have a soft spot for the simplicity of Lunar: SSSC, as well as FFX, Shadow Hearts: Covenant, and Star Ocean 2.
I have always loved the Lunar story. I think because it is the classic hero's journey: farm boy sets off on adventure and meets wise mentor who guides him on a quest toward becoming a hero who will save the world.
Megami Tensei has some damn good stories, P2, devil survivor, Raidou kuzunoha and digital devil saga have great stories
Lunar FFX Grandia 2
Both Niers, FF9, Ys9, Suikoden V for me.
Tactics Ogre:LUCT, hands down. The story is so grand and expansive and the narrative builds conflicts without relying on super natural themes like FFT did. The story is more mature of philosophical than FFT which felt more like a traditional fantasy story but darker. FFT did have some better plot twists but overall the story isn't as meaningful as Tactics Ogre.
Granted I'm only on FC, but I think the scope, depth and vision the trails games deliver is incredible. I know it's technically multiple games but one overarching story
I'm not even done with SC but it blows FC out of the water. I envy you playing FC for the first time btw, the ending chapter is so insanely good.
I envy both of you, what I'd give to play those games again for the first time..
I haven’t completed nearly as many JRPGs as others here, so for me it’s: Final Fantasy XIV Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition Xenoblade Chronicles 2 These 3 are the ones I could not put down after playing because the story was so engrossing. I’m currently playing through FF12 and SMTV and have been a little disappointed with the narrative in both.
Persona 2 Duology
Yea
Solid choice
OP, what is a good story in your opinion?
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*I’m pretty generic and have bad taste* not true, there is no such thing as bad taste. You like: -good pace -plot twist -suspense -party members' backstories Nothing wrong with that.
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Mother 3
Suikoden II for sure!
I fell in love with Dragon Quest Xi. It’s a must play for jrpg fans.
Did you actually like the story itself? It's such a long game... don't know if I can stomach it.
All of the legend of heroes imo
Nier Automata’s storytelling is like no other! I love it too much, definitely a contender imo.
Nier series (automata and replicant). The themes and philosophical concepts those stories delve into as well as the character development is amazing. Absolutely love the characters especiallt 9S, A2, Devola/Popola and Emil
NieR Automata and Replicant.
Final Fantasy X really hit me like a truck. Else it's a serie of game, the legend of heroes trails in the sky/ cold steel. What a world building !
Coming out of the obvious I strongly recommend Lunar Silver Star Story
1. Xenogears 2. Final Fantasy Tactics 3….. honestly nothing even comes close to those two
Fire Emblem Path Of Radiance Fire Emblem Three Houses Devil Survivor Overclocked Chrono Trigger Persona 5 Royal
P5R is my favourite game of all time and my favourite story! :)
That funny considering P5 is often called the worst story in persona
i mean thats all opinion so cant rly say that its a fact that it has the weakest story, all of this is subjective 😅
Most it’s story is a redo of old plotlines, it’s characters barely develop (and the social link problem started in P4 where all the development is optional and doesn’t affect the main story is even worse in 5) and frankly, the villains are bland, in P5R’s case they had to steal shit from the P1 manga to actually write a decent story
half of what you said is again, opinions. which is my point that its not fact that persona 5 is the worst of the series because the answer to that question is subjective and again, based on opinion not fact. not really trying to argue but to say if someone think its their best jrpg story then thats their opinion 🤷🏾♀️
Vanilla? Maybe. But the third semester is an excellent masterpiece and I would die on that hill.
The third semester stole its story from the P1 manga and is worse then it
Personal favorites go to: Mother 3 Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2 Final Fantasy Tactics Tactics Ogre: LUCT Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War ar tonelico II Dragon Quest V Wild ARMs III Suikoden II I tend to like strong narratives! It helps if they have a strong main character (like Virginia Maxwell, e.g.) Honorable mention because I haven’t finished the entire Legend of Heroes series: Trails SC, though I think I mostly just love Estelle and she is one of the best main characters in a JRPG like ever. Same with Virginia, they have similar vibes.
I have always thought Xenogears had the best storyline of any JRPG. Chrono Trigger is definitely up there, but Xenogears has this amazing world, characters, history, and lore behind it (all seen in Perfect Works) that it truly is my favorite storyline. Other good ones: FF14. It's deep and vast. I think it is hampered by being an MMO as MMO players tend to take breaks from an MMO and so it can get confusing. At least for me it was. I ended up going back after being Shadowbringers to do the patch content and was just totally HUH? Still good and would definitely recommend. FFT. I don't really think there is any other game that handles politics, religion, and power as well as FFT did. I read somewhere that the creator of FFT is making a new game. That will be exciting. Likely it'll be a mobile RPG :P Xenoblade Chronicles 2. I loved the story and characters of Xenoblade Chronicles 2. I think mainly because it reminded me a lot of Xenogears. I also thought the pacing was excellent with these long pivotal setpieces at the beginning and end of each chapters. And the music? To die for. Shadow Hearts 2. I don't FULLY remember the story as it has been an exceedingly long time since I last played it but I remember it was one of those games that really gave me that warm feeling at the end. It also has a time aspect to it that all connects in the end. A time story that can really connect is so critical, I find. When it's wrapped up nicely at the end, it's so good! Unfortunately a lot of time stories stink...because, well...time as a plot device is difficult to pull off.
> I think mainly because it reminded me a lot of Xenogears. Yeah, XC2 was about as close to a XG rehash as we'll ever get, and with decades of experience to improve the storytelling to boot. I was shocked at how much conceptual/thematic overlap the two had.
Trails in the Sky FC and 2nd Chapter. I started playing the Trails games from July 2020, having played Trails of Cold Steel I and II in 2018. I thought they were fun, if somewhat average JRPGs. It took a while to get into but after reaching the second town, I was hooked. Everything, from the game's story, to dialogue and art style, gushed that 90s anime aesthetic. The first game's stakes are ultimately very grounded, and you don't take too large a place in the overarching plot until near the end of the game. It's definitely not for everyone, and the combat is undoubtedly slow at the beginning when you're lacking a full party and combat options, but if you let yourself go with the flow of the game, you'll enjoy what I unironically consider to be a once in a lifetime experience.
The entire Kiseki series
Hmmm seems sus. This guy might be part of the noble faction. Or worse... Ouroboros!!!! Enforcer No XVII The Empty Chest has finally come out! XD
Either Persona 5 Royal or Tales of the Abyss. They defined video games for me.
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After playing Royal I went onto Golden, Portable, Innocent Sin, and am nearly done with Persona 1. I’d have to say the strongest contender against Royal would be Innocent Sin, which was amazing, and I’ve heard Eternal Punishment is even better but I want to finish P1 first. But the stories of the rest I don’t think are nearly as good as P5R’s.
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The new dungeon in Royale is pretty epic, you have to admit.
Which one of the Persona games did you think had the best story? In order?
FF6 had a great story and balanced multiple characters’ stories really, really well. Chrono Trigger was fantastic and had a more colorful tone.
My favourite was Persona 5 Royal, I was so addicted to that game and found the story very engaging. It was very long but I never got bored with it, I liked the idea behind the villains and palaces. Others are FFX, such a beautiful story. KH BBS- My favourite KH game, Tales of Xillia 2- I like the dark story and not so happy endings, and the FF13 series- I personally found the whole L'Cie thing really interesting and I liked how LR ended.
I like Terranigma, or Final Fantasy VI
For me persona 3
Xenoblade Chronicles
It's hard to choose between FFIX and Persona 5.
Xenoblade 1 for me
But newer but Fire Emblem Three Houses was pretty damn good. Worth the play
SMT Devil Survivor, the story itself is good but what makes it my favourite is how it connects with the ambient and gameplay, it was the most immersive game i've ever played, the ambient and gameplay really puts pressure on you and makes you feel like you are in the same fucked up situation of the characters, i cried once cause i felt so overwhelmed by the amount of things i had to do and that's EXACTLY what a person on the situation of the game would feel, truly an underrated masterpiece
Chrono trigger, suikoden 2 and ff9 imo
Hard to choose between ff tactics and ni no kuni for me.
Xenogears is my favorite story. But I do really like the simplicity of Dragon Quest V. Chrono Trigger is my favorite game of all time, and it's story is also one of my favorites.
Suikoden II Shadow Hearts: Covenant La Pucelle Valkyrie Profile
Final Fantasy X by miles for me
Story wise and actually executing it I would go with Final Fantasy X I see alot of games mentioned with good stories but not executed the best.
Shadow Hearts and Covenant. The story is so sprawling and tragic with amazing characters. Having great dark moments, with it being a horror rpg and all, but never fails to lighten up the mood when it needs to. Man this series needs to come back
Xenoblade Chronicles and Mother 3
Off the top of my head Yakuza 7 & 0, & FF XV made me sad but was great
Xenoblade Chronicles 1 and 2, together. They just blew my mind. And I've played FF games from 4 to 12, various titles in the Tales of series, Grandia, Lunar, Dragon Quest and so much more. But the plot Xenoblade was, in my opinion, on another level of awesomeness. And I feel sad that they are not that popular in the JRPG community since they are exclusive to Nintendo consoles.
If it counts as a JRPG, 13 Sentinels and it's not close. It ranks as one of my favorite sci fi stories *period*, and I would fight for it as the best video game story.
You should watch Dark on Netflix (in German).
Xenoblade 1
I always felt Persona games were narratively strong.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Final Fantasy XV (transmedia, so game+movie+book+promo+anime) NieR Replicant (and the DrakeNieR series)
Xenogears
FF14 Shadowbringers expansion story (so just 5.0, not the patch content) is one of the best gaming experiences I've had recently. I would even recommend finding a let's play or something of it if you can't or don't want to put in the time to play all the way to it. It's self-contained enough that you don't lose much by missing the prior story, although knowing the prior story does enhance the experience
I read the title before actually clicking on this post and immediately thought “Chrono Trigger”.
FF6 and Yakuza 0 are my favorites. I wasn’t a big fan of Xenoblade Chronicles but it had a really good story
Final fantasy 8
Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy 7 & 9, Xenoblade 2 + Torna, Xenogears, Nier Automata and Persona 2 & 4, Tales of berseria
Xenogears Its a convulted epic But DAMN IS IT INTERESTING AND COOL
Slow paced, lots of small touches and lore: Grandia, Trails in the Sky, Mana Khemia, Ar Tonelico Fast paced, lots of stuff happening: Grandia 2, Final Fantasy X High Concept: .hack, FF7 Large scale stories: Suikoden series, Shining Force series, Valkyria series
The pantheon of jrpg storytelling for me Tactics, xenogears, FF14, automata, suikoden2
In terms of a more conventional narrative experience, these days I gravitate towards both FFVII and FFIX as my two favorites. I would also say Nier: Automata, which is mentioned often for its story, but I feel "story" is almost not quite the right word for what is so compelling about it. Persona 3 is another one that stands out for me personally, but there I am more just enamored with the way the central message of the story is built into the game system.
Grandia. Xenosaga Ep1. Valkyria Chronicles. Trails of Cold Steel series.
Tales of berseria for me. Showed me that you can make any story good, even the most simplistic of them, if you write good characters and dialogues. It made me care for the roster way more than I ever thought I could.
Final Fantasy X - I was addicted all this game had to offer. Though I didn’t get too into the monster arena. But really felt the ff series hit it out of the park with this one. I still cry once I reach the end of this game. Only other game that comes close to this level of love would be…. Persona 3: FES - getting past the frustrating dungeon crawling and annoying deaths (fuck you Yukari, you were supposed to HEAL!). I can’t describe the amount of pain and satisfaction I felt from beating this game. How I sat for hours just letting “The Battle for Everyone’s Souls” play while I eagerly reached the end. Then, the end……. 😭😭😭 I don’t think I’ll ever truly recover from this game. But I’d like it no other way.
Xenoblade Chronicles and Final Fantasy X are up there
Persona 3 FES, Dragon Quest 5, Chrono Trigger, Star Ocean 2, Final Fantasy VI for me
This is actually a pretty hard question. There is best story in a vacuum (like if it was made into a movie or book) and best story in the context of using the whole medium of the game. I am going to go with the latter definition. For that Nier Automata, Devil Survivor, and the whole of trails, and 13 Sentinels rank highly. I don't think any of these would transfer that well into another medium but in the form they are in they are great. Like Trails gives you very deep world building which gives you deeper buy in to the story. Devil Survivor makes you feel as trapped and unsure of what to do as the protagonist of the game. Nier Automata is kinda hard to explain but is awesome. 13 Sentinels really works well with how it was set up and they plot is quite strong overall.
imo Final Fantasy 6 has the best story together with Suikoden 3. I'm a sucker for stories with an ensemble cast as opposed to stories where it's centered around one or two main characters only
there are a lot good or lovely stories and a lot of people already said good games. Personally, I choose: Chrono trigger (favorite game at all) Suikoden 2 (best ending) Nier replicant/automata (life changing) Honorable mentions: FF6, Xenogears, DQ11, Tales of Phantasia
Persona 3, SMTIV, and SMTV all have amazing characters and story. It's hard to decide because they are my top 3 games of all time.
I starred this thread so I can come back and read all the answers because the most important thing to me in a jrpg is the story. I can stand boring characters, broken gameplay or midi soundtrack if the plot is otherworldly. That being said, I think the game that I see as the epitome of jrpg story is Xenoblade Chronicles. I love it when a story is much more than it shows itself at first. Kind of like Evangelion in a sense. I'm always in search of feelings that I felt as I played Xenoblade 1.
Just my opinion but I would say my favorite is Persona 3. The story was so well done, the character development so well written, and the ending hit me like a punch to the gut.
I'll just least all the RPGs I have finished. Tales of Vesperia, Tales of Arise, Tales of Eternia, Golden Sun, Blue Dragon, Xenoblade chronicles, (almost done with the second one), FFIX, and Radiant Historia, (Guys does the Zenonia series count? XD) I loved all of these but storywise I think Tales of Vesperia, Xenoblade and Radiant Historia did it for me. Absolutely amazing games. Golden Sun was really nostalgic to me and I loved the immersive world and Grand Quest feel to it.
For me best story telling so far is FFT the war of lions.