JRPG's With the Best Plots

It's a bit of a generalization that people play JRP Gs more for story and characters than actual gameplay but it certainly holds true for me. I can tolerate bad combat and terrible dungeons so long as the plot interests me.

As it stands I have many, many JRP Gs to play. I'm a complete novice in the genre to be honest, even if I have beaten most Final Fantasy's.

So my question to you all is which Japanese role-playing games have the most fascinating or well-done narratives?

Xenoblade Chronicles?

Tales of Symphonia, easily.

Great characters, a good look into racism(while not making it just outright stupid), and very funny lines. I just love Presea's snark.

Persona 2.

Imma say EarthBound before anyone else can before me.

But seriously, the Mother series as a whole has awesome stories.

Definitely agreed. Heck, many of the SMT's have good plots. But aside from that, Trails in the Sky (Ti TS, for short...) also has a really good story; shame that the sequels haven't been localized yet, but thankfully, the first game still works well enough on it's own. FFVI deserves props for doing so much for RPG stories at the time it was made, and it's still a fun game today. Suikoden is often called the best game in the Suikoden series, and for good rest; the story is still the best in the series, and still stands up. And finally, there's the Lunar games. Their stories are cliche, sure, but they're told very well, and the characters are great.

Aaaaaaand I think that's all I've got for now. Question, though; by JRPG's, are we referring just to RPG's made in Japan, or can Western games made with a JRPG style count as well?

edited 28th Apr '13 6:44:09 PM by kkhohoho

Tales Of Symphonia, for having an Idiot Hero who actually learned from his mistakes and matured instead of bashing people over the head with his stupidity because wow look guys his weaknesses were strengths all along. Also, the characters were likeable and provided plentiful shipping fuel.

Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door. That game is too funny to be legal, and I always look forward to the Glitzville section in particular.

Chrono Trigger. Probably the best time travel story in any game ever.

The World Ends With You. This game was just what I needed as a self-absorbed, friendless 13-year-old. The characters make me laugh and cry, and Neku's development was perfect. Now I'm just waiting for the sequel in my head starring Joshua, Neku, Beat, and Minamimoto on a road trip across America, because that would be the funniest thing ever.

I was mainly thinking just of JRP Gs but I guess a game that is in the style of a JRPG can count... Are we talking like Avatar or Samurai Jack but in game form?

I guess I should probably say that, of the JRP Gs I have completed, Xenogears stands tall and beats the rest down in terms of plot and characters. Fucking love that game.

I would say all the Xeno games (Xenogears, Xenosaga, Xenoblade), hampered a bit by production woes in the case of the former two.

Also, I would think Shadow Hearts 1 and Shadow Hearts Covenant and, this is kind of silly, but the Ar Tonelico trilogy. Yeah, the plots are surrounded by some weird fetishistic stuff and the second one got a godawful translation, but the worldbuilding is excellent.

I personally, adore the Persona Series. But Shin Megami Tensei in general have some pretty nifty plots with world destruction and choices to be made of it.

Anything made by Atlus or Nippon Ichi.

Aside from that... eh, nothing nowadays. Unless you want to check out older stuff.

Any timeframe is fine by me. In fact, if i had to pick a time, I actually prefer SNES or PS 1-era games.

edited 28th Apr '13 7:07:40 PM by Nikkolas

Oh, well I wouldn't know too much. I was too young back then to appreciate JRP Gs.

Some earlier Idea Factory games on PS 2 were okay, but you might need an EU PS 2.

Okay leaving aside the big franchises like Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Tales, and SMT/Persona I'm going to say these are the top three:

1. Xenoblade Chronicles-The story is cliched in a lot of places but it is told incredibly well and the characters are all likable in my opinion. The game is incredibly long but the story has enough twists and turns that you never go "Ugh, another new objective? End already!"

2. The World Ends With You-This story is not about some war in some magical land or a dark god awakening. It's just an Urban Fantasy about a group of kids that gets thrown into an incredibly bizarre situation and learn from their experiences.

3. Chrono Trigger-This game may be easy to break but I play it for the plot so that doesn't matter. It's...honestly I don't know how to describe it because the world can't seem to tell if it wants to be science fiction or fantasy. Somewhat fitting given the character designer also made Dragon Ball. Anyway to get back on topic, this game is one of the best time travel stories I've seen. Also the characters are just so weird but so lovable at the same time.

edited 28th Apr '13 7:32:21 PM by Kostya

Word of warning: Don't try playing TWEWY on an emulator. The controls are so touch-based that it almost NEEDS to be played on an actual DS.

You could try the iOS version but I don't know how that turned out. I'd suggest DS just to get the original experience but if it's a good port then that's always an option.

TWEWY is also available on IOS now, so the DS isn't the only option.

The iOS version of TWEWY is the best imo. Higher quality sprites and sound really add a lot. Plus it has even more music.

I'd recommend a DS because buttons.

Persona 3 and 4 (especially 4)

Tales of Vesperia

.Hack (mostly G.U. but the original 4 had their good plot points too)

You liked P3&4, then you've gotta play 2. Trust me, it's that good.

Do you need to play both Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment to appreciate P2? Each game runs almost a $100 it seems.

There is the PSP versions but I can't play that shit.

edited 28th Apr '13 8:34:16 PM by Nikkolas

Paper Mario Sticker Star.

Kidding.

You better have been fucking kidding. lawlz.

Hey, Paper Mario is awesome. Haven't played that one though.