Ramza (Or you [insert name here]) and Delita. Best Friends.
One is the Hero of Light and the other is the Hero of Darkness.
Who is which?

Finished this game last night (Took 3 days total time).
Best story of ANY video game EVER.
And I've played all the FF7 chapters and read all the Halo books.

Ninja said:
read all the Halo books.

I hope you are joking.

FF7?

That story is far from being considered as one of "the best". It's actually the opposite, filled with emo main char, emo villain, awesome but totally ignored secondary characters and the most pointless and over-cryed-other-emo-kids death ever (Aeris').

Best story of ANY video game goes to Planescape Torment.

I'd go further and say that Torment was the best "western" style RPG ever made.

I'll agree with that. It's at least the best western RPG that I've played.

What would you say would be the best JRPG then? I would pick from this list - Shadow Hearts: Covenant, Suikoden 3, Xenogears, Grandia III

(Note I've left Xenosaga off the list due to episode 2)

One of the best jrpg ever is Suikoden 2.

I may have played that many years ago. I think.

Final Fantasy VI :V

Secret of Mana :V

Lufia 2 :V

I would pick the Star Ocean series for the best JRPG's but that's me, It's the games I had most fun with in any event, sure not the best plot in the end but still doesn't change how much fun I had with the titles.

As for western RPG's I gotta say that I have never encountered any that I can say that I enjoy, almost all of them completely lack in the story department ( the part where I believe is the most important for games in general ) and many of them also got completely horrible gameplay ( Elder Scroll Series ) sure they have freedom and all but of what cost? I meen freedom is nothing if you don't have a fun and good game in the end. And I'm so darn tired of, "I woke up, I got no memory" type of story. Does this apply to like 99,99% of all western RPG's ? or what?.

But if I must pick one, I guess I'l end up with mass effect, for at least having good plot but lack in other areas.

>>story department ( the part where I believe is the most important for games in general )

SHIT NO!

Gameplay will ALWAYS be the most important part in a game. A game can have the most stupid and pointless story ever, but if the gameplay is awesome, then game is awesome (see: Jet Force Gemini). Game with awesome story but shitty gameplay will be horrible (see: Killer 7).

Period :V

MugiMugi said:
I would pick the Star Ocean series for the best JRPG's but that's me, It's the games I had most fun with in any event, sure not the best plot in the end but still doesn't change how much fun I had with the titles.

I really hated SO3 due to a certain plot twist.

As for western RPG's I gotta say that I have never encountered any that I can say that I enjoy, almost all of them completely lack in the story department ( the part where I believe is the most important for games in general ) and many of them also got completely horrible gameplay ( Elder Scroll Series ) sure they have freedom and all but of what cost? I meen freedom is nothing if you don't have a fun and good game in the end.

There are plenty of people who seem to enjoy sand-box games. I don't for the reasons you've stated. Oblivion/Fallout 3 (as examples) have really awful main plots. The idiots who turned Gothic 3 into a sand-box game really fucked the series.

And I'm so darn tired of, "I woke up, I got no memory" type of story. Does this apply to like 99,99% of all western RPG's ? or what?.

It was a plot device for Planescape Torment as well. Oh, well.

But if I must pick one, I guess I'l end up with mass effect, for at least having good plot but lack in other areas.

Mass Effect was not bad. It actually felt like KOTOR in parts. Really didn't like the planetary exploration, and they should have concentrated on expanding the plot.

The combat/cover system wasn't as good as it could have been.

If there is one modern western RPG I will recommend it is 'The Witcher' You must play it!

well I loved the SO3 plot twist :P It was one of the things who made the game LOL, I don't see why so many have problems with it.

As for mass Effect and plot, if you want to expand it you should pick up the 2 novels, they are both really good and really deepen the plot of some of the characters, granted I haven't read teh second novel yet but the first one was awesome.

As for The Witcher, been thinking to try it just haven't had time yet but definitively will pick it up now when the enchanted version is out.

As for Planescape Torment, I've tried it but couldn't get of the Baulders Gate feeling and never bothered play many minutes more of it. Yeah I do hate BG, pretty much the core game why I hate WRPG in general ( granted some are OKish )

kyoushiro: gameplay is not everything, JRPG's have never had great gameplay but they have NEVER had terrible ones either, WRPG's on other hand have had it, specially the elder scroll series. And as for story, I still state it, for me story is everything in a game, it's enough for me to play Visual Novels, where the gameplay is all just clicking a single button to no end :p, I do recommend you to pick a couple of them up.

MugiMugi said:
JRPG's have never had great gameplay but they have NEVER had terrible ones either, WRPG's on other hand have had it, specially the elder scroll series.

Now you are getting silly.

MugiMugi said:
well I loved the SO3 plot twist :P It was one of the things who made the game LOL, I don't see why so many have problems with it.

Because all the build-up of the plot leads to THAT. Horrible second-rate twist.

As for mass Effect and plot, if you want to expand it you should pick up the 2 novels, they are both really good and really deepen the plot of some of the characters, granted I haven't read teh second novel yet but the first one was awesome.

I don't read TV/game novels.

As for The Witcher, been thinking to try it just haven't had time yet but definitively will pick it up now when the enchanted version is out.

Or buy the original cheaply off of eBay, and download the enhancements from the Witcher website.

As for Planescape Torment, I've tried it but couldn't get of the Baulders Gate feeling and never bothered play many minutes more of it. Yeah I do hate BG, pretty much the core game why I hate WRPG in general ( granted some are OKish )

Original BG is getting a big long in the tooth, but BG2 still stands on its own merits. There is plenty of downloadable mods to update them with as well. Any particular reason why you dislike BG?

Gameplay is the most important part of most games, and it's a lot easier to have reasonable gameplay in an RPG than a good story--just from the fact that good stories are so rare. A good story is nice when it shows up, but most of the time I just want the plot to be well written enough to hold the game together (and to not make me cringe).

BG2 was fun, with a ridiculous amount of content (even out of the box, about 50 hours--never went back for any expansions). I don't remember much of the story, but I know it was good enough to avoid interfering with the game. BG2 is probably Bioware's best game, and probably a close runner-up behind Torment overall, though for entirely different reasons. (KOTOR was good. I'm not a fan of ME--if you even count it as an RPG, since the gameplay was closer to a shooter...)

In a game:

70% gameplay.
29.9% Graphics and Sound.
The rest = story, chars and all that shit. If they fail, game can still be good. And if rest of elements fail, having awesome chars and story won't prevent game from being classified as shit.

kyoushiro said:
In a game:
70% gameplay.
29.9% Graphics and Sound.

Are you sure story is only a 0.01% of the game?

Overgeneralizations...

Story is a factor that can make a game's experience better. However, it's not something that a game needs with urge.

See stuff like, in example, Grandia II. Its storyline is far from being original and it has a cast of very stereotypical characters (a cute tsundere, a hot psycho woman, a trap and lol random-emotionless-girl), and the overall development is enjoyable but too predictable. However, the battle system (way refined and improved from the original Grandia), the leveling up system, the difficult level in some parts and the bosses were worth it, and no wonder why this was one of the best Dreamcast games (PS2 version got some horrible downgrades).

It depends if you are approaching games for gameplay only, or want to view them as a story-telling mechanism. Planescape Torments gameplay was pretty average, but the underlying story, and dialog options, was, and still is, the best.

Maybe I'm getting old, but I want to see more mature story-lines on RPGs. Only the Witcher (And maybe Mass Effect) has made an effort to do so recently.

I've not played Grandia II but I do know that it has one of the best battle systems on a JRPG.

Forgot to mention that the NWN2 expansion 'Mask of the Betrayer' is another excellent choice.

It does have its own problems with the 'hunger' system though. I hate it when a game forces you to play as fast as possible...

Graphic novels and stuff like Monkey Island are like the exception to the rule.

Bur rest of genres do follow the percentages I followed :3

That's why I hate the faggots that go "ZOMG MGS3 BEST GAEUM EVUR COZ IT HAS A DEEP AND ORGASMIC STORYLINE, THOUGH GAMEPLAY IS BORING LOLOLOL". People nowadays gets impressed with any stupid plotline and say it's best story evur.

I've only ever played MGS4 (And liked it) so I can't possibly comment.

Different games have different focuses. Tetris is 100% gameplay; nothing else is relevant. Lumines is 90% gameplay, 10% presentation. Okami is almost entirely presentation--it's an incredible looking (and sounding) game, and the gameplay was just good enough to not detract from that. Not many games have a strong plot focus, but that's partially because it's really hard to write a good story, especially one that fits within a game, but the plot--weak or not--is important to many games to hold the game together, and the importance of the plot varies wildly.

Plot wasn't major in Monkey Island and other LucasArts adventure games, but the *writing* was. Those were some of the funniest games I've ever played, and that made the games more than anything else. (That, and, unlike most Sierra equivalents, the puzzles usually didn't devolve into trying every combination of actions--which mostly meant the gameplay didn't get in the way...) One of the best of category has to be Full Throttle. If you have any taste for the genre and you havn't played it, go run it in a DOS emulator...

Talk about old school.

Never was a big fan of those types of games though 'The Hound of Shadow' did get my attention for a while. I think the last 'interactive adventure' I played was Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned

Still love you all trying to get me wrong about the point that for me, story is the most important thing in games LOL......

In any event I do agree, Full Throttle was an awesome game :) also loved Day of the tentacle a ton. Thought for point and click games NOTHING comes close to The Longest Journey, it's just sad that they ain't doing the final chapter anymore thanks to there FUCKED Up mess with Age of Conan ><, I so wanted to have an end of that story ><.....

Thought for point and click games NOTHING comes close to The Longest Journey

Holy hell, I haven't heard anyone bring up The Longest Journey in the longest time. I'm not a fan of point-and-click games, but that game is probably one of my favorite titles. Have you played the sequel, Dreamfall? Probably the biggest disappointment of all time...

MugiMugi said:
Still love you all trying to get me wrong about the point that for me, story is the most important thing in games LOL......

Well, it must be really clear that you're WRONG :D

Play Killer 7 and then you can tell me if story is the most important element in a videogame, though the base for it (the gameplay) is a complete failure.