JRPG's With the Best Plots

So after that, people will say it does count because it's a JRPG, then someone will say that JRPGs have tropes and such associated with them that Dark Souls doesn't have, then someone will say that the term JRPG has lost meaning, and ultimately endless bickering will ensue.

tl;dr Those who disagree, just say you disagree.

edited 29th Apr '13 9:22:02 AM by fillerdude

I DISAGREE WITH MYSELF!

Oh, okay.

edited 29th Apr '13 9:34:19 AM by fillerdude

Dark Souls, like its predecessor, is interesting in how it turns the typical duality of choice in similar video games on its head by essentially giving you no real choice of action, but many choices of perspective through insight; thus in the end your ultimate goal will always be the same, but your motivation will vary and it feels a lot more substantial than your typical "Join the guild to become a thief, learn some lore, then forget it again, because it doesn't mean jack shit to the main plot" approach in other RP Gs.

Eh, JRP Gs and WRP Gs have become distinct genres that are not tied to where the games are made. Anachronox is more a JRPG and Dark Souls is more a WRPG.

Your philosophy falls on deaf ears.

Agreed. Still think Dark Souls is a good game to bring up in any videogame storytelling context though.

it helps that its lore and setting are actually interesting of course.

they make you work to get it, and the fact that it actually feels like a reward when you get it is awesome.

Amen!

Gods, I wish I could play Dark Souls, but I never want to touch Games for Windows Live again.

Shadow Hearts has an unconventional approach for a JRPG story, especially regarding its presentation (gothic horror elements in early 20th century Europe), though it does wind down to the usual "kill God" eventually.

edited 29th Apr '13 1:01:16 PM by lu127

shadow hearts covenant continued the story, improved over the previous game in pretty much every way, and ended in quite an ingenious way~

koudelka, the prequel to the shadow hearts series, has terrible gameplay, but good, well developed characters and a nice story and some frankly amazing voice acting for its time, so id recommend watching an lp of it.

I especially liked the relationship between Yuri and Alice. If only the visuals weren't so meh. Thankfully, the sequel improved pretty much everything. Except for romance with time travelling mum. That was plain weird.

Well obviously this thread can keep going but after considering all the games listed, I've decided to start with Persona 2. I will probably play a lot of the other games listed eventually but at the moment P2 will hopefully be the first non-Xenogears JRPG to blow my mind in terms of plot and characters.

It helps that someone on Gamefaqs also recommended the game for fans of Xenogears, citing how both games had a similar "feel" to him.

Ya know, one series that hasn't been mentioned at all in this thread but was a favorite on another forum where I did the same topic, is Front Mission.

To quote a person who recommended it "Front Mission. It knows how to do war drama drat darn well."

edited 29th Apr '13 1:25:40 PM by Nikkolas

I'd like to add Inazuma Eleven to the list, especially the 2nd and 3rd games in the series. The series is very Mother 3-like in style: Strange. Funny. Heartrending. With a little dash of Tales of Symphonia thrown in for good measure, in that what starts out looking like a very standard basic plot starts foreshadowing something much deeper, then it takes a very sharp turn into epic territory midway through. (I11 was done by the same people as Professor Layton, and it really shows.)

Though it's a real shame that I11 has yet to see the light of day in North America and got a very sub-par localization in Europe.

edited 29th Apr '13 1:44:42 PM by PoochyEXE

Dragon Quest VIII, not a complicated convoluted story, but a very well-made plot.

Live a Live, Legend of Legaia, Zone of Enders: The Fist of Mars, I wouldn't say they have the best of all time plots, but they should keep you interested. That's all that comes to mind for now that hasn't been listed before.

Edit: And for something completely not at all what you asked for. Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure.

edited 29th Apr '13 1:47:54 PM by jeorg

oh, right, forgot to mention

Sakura Wars (mostly 5 because FUCK YOU TOO, SEGA)

The Mother Franchise and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon.

Speaking as someone who actually managed to get a hold of a copy of Sakura Wars 5 (10 euros used, felt really pleased with myself), I say that it doesn't belong anywhere near a list of "best JRPG plots".

The World Ends With You fantastic story and manages to invert a good many of the usual JRPG cliches.

It was... alright, but the characters were still good, and the story was really all about them, with the rest of the plot merely serving as dressing. That can still make for an enjoyable narrative if done right, and I think it was.

I feel kind of odd explicitly recommending it, but I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Wild Arms 2.

Ahh, so many of my favorites were mentioned!! Yes! To do the list again —

Tales of Symphonia. It starts off cheesy and gets better from there. Multiple shocking plot twists, all solid characters with great development, interesting and well-presented themes of racism and trust... Just all-in-all amazing JRPG. (and if like it Tales of Abyss also had a really good plot, especially for replaying it, and if you get desperate for more Tales games then Tales of Graces F had a good-enough plot and the best RPG battle system I've seen yet. Tales of Eternia was good too...and it's not like the unmentioned Tales games are unbearable to play, but not every game can be gold like Symphonia.)

The World Ends With You (funny, great character development, endlessly deep battle system I mean seriously, I replayed it three times and I'm still missing pins wtf)

Skies of Arcadia. It's kind of like One Piece: The Game. Energetic combat sky pirates, large cast of interesting characters and gung-ho saving-the-world fun. Nothing too deep story-wise (or gameplay or graphics-wise, actually) but I really enjoyed it. For a more casual adventure...

Odin Sphere for the PS 2, if you'd count it as a JRPG. You only have one character at a time but there is a cast of five and the game has a very developed story with complicated character relationships. And it's so pretty and fighting is so fun *A*

Anything Disgaea! I sold my soul to Disgaea DS: Hour of Darkness, and have recently been playing the fourth game. Very funny dialogue, shockingly dark plot twists for an otherwise upbeat series and a rather addictive battle system (okay, that's an understatement. you'll lose sleep in the Item World. it's so dangerous).

..I think that'll be all for now.

I still haven't played 2, but in terms of story, I would say Wild Arms 3 is up there. I wouldn't rank it in my top five or so favorite games, but my complaints are more atmospheric than narrative-based; the setting is depressingly desolate (although of course, this is part of the story.)

The Tales series in general strikes me as having surprisingly proactive protagonists. In most games you're chasing down the villain or trying to collect the MacGuffins before they do or otherwise reacting while in the Tales series you're much more likely to identify some problem with the world (usually metaphysical/magical) and take steps to fix it on your own, often without the villain even being aware of what you're doing.

The Wild Arms series in general is pretty good. I'd rank 3 slightly behind 2, but that's probably my nostalgia talking rather than an objective analysis. The first game is kind of a simple plot about heroes fighting demons, but it has enough character development on both sides to be interesting. The 4th is an acquired taste but has it's strong points (most notably the feeling of weakness and desperation against every boss, which is tied into the theme of adults vs children), but the 5th just Jumps the Shark, in my opinion.

Wild Arms XF is pretty good too.

edited 29th Apr '13 2:42:59 PM by Clarste