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RPGs with great characters, world and writing

yurqqa

yurqqa

Member
I found similar topic, but it was in 2009, so I decided not to necropost.

What do you think are RPGs that have good writing/script and that have interesting fleshed-out characters and believable world ?

The ones that I personally loved:

Disco Elysium - just the king of writing. I can't say I could completely understand the motives for all the characters, but they are great and consistent within their personality
Trails in the Sky 1st - great characters that are not just cliche characters of every JRPG. Schera and Olivert are just fabulous
Persona 4 - just great feeling that you are at school age again with a great mystery to solve and a mix of SMT that makes it just perfect. Great characters
KOTOR - I played it long time ago. I don't know it it still holds up, but still remember it fondly
Anachronox - for the time it was hilarious with really great ensemble of characters

The ones that seems to have what I want, but dropped it since I don't have good time playing them:

Witcher 3 - don't know why. I think I'll try for 5th time
Planescape: Torment - tried it several time since release. Now I'm playing it again and I feel that it's a great game, but the world just doesn't click with me
Trails of Cold Steel games - finished the 1-st one, dropped 2nd, but they are just getting more and more teenage themed with more stereotypical characters
Pillars of Eternity - Looks interesting, but stylistic of the language is a bit not my cup of tea. I've read tons of text in Disco Elysium with pleasure Here it also looks well written, but feels a bit tedious

Never played, but maybe a good contender - please confirm if that's really so:

Fallout: New Vegas
Vampire: Bloodlines
Xenogears - Tried only the beginning, but outdated mechanics put me off. I just love Xenoblade, but mostly because of the exploration. The writing and characters of Xenoblade are nothing special.
Suikoden V - played for only couple of hours, so almost nothing

There are a lot of great RPGs out there, but some are great with fighting mechanics (like Grandia 2), some with nonlinearity (Deus Ex), some combine several great things (Divinity: Original SIn 2).

What I'm asking is living breathing world with non-cliche characters and great writing.
 
MiyazakiHatesKojima

MiyazakiHatesKojima

Banned
Demon's Souls and Dark Souls if you pay close attention.

Every line of dialogue is essential and crucial to understanding the story and lore of the game.

Both games elevate flavor text to new heights. Pay close attention to the cryptic history written in item descriptions.

The worlds tell a story on their own. Masterclass of Environmental storytelling in both games. The world-building is great too, if again you pay close attention and let your imagination play a role.

The NPCs you meet throughout your journey are unforgettable and help immerse you in their respective worlds. You will meet both friends and foes.

Incredible works of art that will have a long-lasting effect on you.
 
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DunDunDunpachi

DunDunDunpachi

Banned
A recent one: Kingdom Come Deliverance. I picked it up last year on GAF's recommendation and sunk a lot of time into it this year.

Great characters? Check. I have my favs and I have NPCs that I dislike, but all of them feel believable, which itself is a hard bar to pass for an RPG these days.

Great world? It doesn't have a million NPCs or towns, but what is there feels lived-in and interesting. I'm regularly finding new details or witnessing interactions between villagers that I never saw before.

Great writing? Well if getting lost reading the codex entries what was going on in the 1400s in that region of Europe is any indication, yes. The biggest draw for me is that I am playing as Henry, not as a pre-game generated hero. You can still guide Henry's actions of course, but he's a very well written hero with his own personality quirks and mannerisms. It's the first RPG in a long while to get me interested in the main character's story in such a way.
 
M

Macapala

Unconfirmed Member
Xenogears does have a great story, seriously it's really good, but it takes a while before it gets interesting. The story is a hell of a lot better than anything you'll see in the Xenoblade games.

There is a lot of tedious shit in the game though, so maybe watch a let's play instead.
 
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Spaceman292

Spaceman292

Banned
Witcher 3 is the best one. Keep trying.

Vampire the masquerade is probably my favourite. Just remember to install the unofficial patch so that the game doesn't make your PC explode. Suikoden 2 is fantastic too, but if you don't 100% it you get a shit ending.
 
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yurqqa

yurqqa

Member
Souls games just take to much concentration for the fights and my soul is torn apart by the enemies, so i'm usually in no condition to notice any subtleties - I'm always waiting for the death around next corner. :)

FF 7 - yes, I'm currently playing Remake, but I've replayed the original recently and now many moments feel tedious in Remake, although it's a great game overall and perfect as a Remake.

Skies of Arcadia is a great game overall, but I can't say it has particulary good writing or very memorable characters (maybe I simply don't remember). Overall world and airship battles on the other hand - Just great !

I don't think I'll be able to replay old Phantasy Star or Shining Force - the time is too limited to play with the old mechanics that take a lot of time. I really appreciated the cheats in the switch release of FInal Fantasy games.
I think anything earlier than FF6 is too much for me right now.

I think I could try Kingdom Come, but first I need to get into Witcher 3. I have a feeling I should like it. :)

I already bought Automata and New Vegas, they are waiting for me.

As for Panzer Dragoon Saga - I waited for emulators to get better. I think I'll give it a try on emulator on Nvidia shield TV. Should be working now.

Thank you for your suggestions.
 
GreyHorace

GreyHorace

Member
The Witcher series of games have all three considering they've got Andrzej Sapkowski's books as source material. Even before CDProjektRed turned Geralt of Rivia into a gaming icon, Sapkowski's world was fascinating in it's depth and moral complexity and his characters were shades of grey often faced with hard choices. CDPR merely needed to build upon a solid foundation to make their games the acclaimed titles that they are. I dare say they've done a better job translating a licensed material into an RPG than Bioware did with both Dungeons and Dragons and Star Wars.

Speaking of Bioware, I'd suggest Dragon Age: Origins as another example. It's an original IP created by them and it's world and characters are both pretty great. Plus the writing is the best work they've ever done up to that point. Shame the sequels went to shit later on.
 
synchronicity

synchronicity

Member
MiyazakiHatesKojima said:
Demon's Souls and Dark Souls if you pay close attention.

Every line of dialogue is essential and crucial to understanding the story and lore of the game.

Both games elevate flavor text to new heights. Pay close attention to the cryptic history written in item descriptions.

The worlds tell a story on their own. Masterclass of Environmental storytelling in both games. The world-building is great too, if again you pay close attention and let your imagination play a role.

The NPCs you meet throughout your journey are unforgettable and help immerse you in their respective worlds. You will meet both friends and foes.

Incredible works of art that will have a long-lasting effect on you.
Click to expand...

No doubt about it. I really love the efficient minimalism narratively. The series knows it's a game first, and within that framework still delivers non-intrusive depth and wonderfully interesting content story-wise. It's the best of all worlds.

tenor.gif
 
Moogle11

Moogle11

Banned
Witcher 3 was definitely tops for me. Most sidequests had good self contained stories, even some of the simple monster hunts etc. The combat was meh, but I really don’t care unless it’s hard, frustrating or requires grinding. This and many RPGs I just mosrly played one easy as I’m their first the story, lore, characters and getting lost in a detailed world.
 
Clarissa

Clarissa

Banned
Zero no kiseki and Ao no kiseki.

I grew so attached to Lloyd, Elie, Tio, Randy. KeA and Zeit when it was all over. =(
 
yurqqa

yurqqa

Member
Clarissa said:
Zero no kiseki and Ao no kiseki.
Click to expand...

I wanted to try Zero recently.

But I heard that unfinished translation on PSP is awful.

New translation for PC version was released recently, but I just can't find the game anywhere. There was a link to one of the japanese shops that sell it digitally, but the site doesn't work as intended.
I tried to just find the version to download, but found only the one with integrated PSP translation.
 
The Cockatrice

The Cockatrice

Member
MiyazakiHatesKojima said:
Demon's Souls and Dark Souls if you pay close attention.
Click to expand...

No. I'd say the mysterious, obfuscated writing and world has quite a lot of charm but overall they're not great at all.

DunDunDunpachi said:
A recent one: Kingdom Come Deliverance.
Click to expand...

Pretty good choice but it was very jank as a whole experience It kinda ruined some of the atmosphere and while I agree the game looks insanely realistic it also lacks anything unique or worth exploring and most characters are average due to meh voice acting.

My personal choices would be

Persona 5 Royal even tho my first playthrough of the original game years ago, I kinda disliked it but after playing it again it just grew on me a lot even if the writing was dumb as shit.
Divinity OS2 was shockingly good regarding the characters. I mean gameplay and world build I expected amazing things coming from the first but did not expect to truly like some of the characters like Lose.
Witcher trilogy and Mass Effect trilogy without a doubt have the best characters ever made but everyone knows that.

I could never get attached to Obsidian rpg's characters. Most are forgettable even if they had some good writing.
 
B

Bladed Thesis

Member
MiyazakiHatesKojima said:
Demon's Souls and Dark Souls if you pay close attention.

Every line of dialogue is essential and crucial to understanding the story and lore of the game.

Both games elevate flavor text to new heights. Pay close attention to the cryptic history written in item descriptions.

The worlds tell a story on their own. Masterclass of Environmental storytelling in both games. The world-building is great too, if again you pay close attention and let your imagination play a role.

The NPCs you meet throughout your journey are unforgettable and help immerse you in their respective worlds. You will meet both friends and foes.

Incredible works of art that will have a long-lasting effect on you.
Click to expand...
Agreed.

The lore in Dark Souls and Demon's Souls in particular is so rich and lush if you actually pay attention. The item descriptions, every word spoken by NPCs, it all ties together and forms a web that really starts to take shape.
 
DelireMan7

DelireMan7

Member
I agree with the Souls. But again you have to pay close attention to every details :)

Surprised that Dragon Age : Origins was not mentioned. Great writing and characters.
 
Joho79

Joho79

Member
DunDunDunpachi said:
A recent one: Kingdom Come Deliverance. I picked it up last year on GAF's recommendation and sunk a lot of time into it this year.

Great characters? Check. I have my favs and I have NPCs that I dislike, but all of them feel believable, which itself is a hard bar to pass for an RPG these days.

Great world? It doesn't have a million NPCs or towns, but what is there feels lived-in and interesting. I'm regularly finding new details or witnessing interactions between villagers that I never saw before.

Great writing? Well if getting lost reading the codex entries what was going on in the 1400s in that region of Europe is any indication, yes. The biggest draw for me is that I am playing as Henry, not as a pre-game generated hero. You can still guide Henry's actions of course, but he's a very well written hero with his own personality quirks and mannerisms. It's the first RPG in a long while to get me interested in the main character's story in such a way.
Click to expand...

That priest you spent some time with. It was great!
 
Guilty_AI

Guilty_AI

Member
I really liked Crosscode. A JRPG-style of game with a good more lighthearted story (although still serious when it needs to) with great characters and setting. And unlike a lot of JRPGs, its mechanics are pretty fun and fleshed out, mixing beat'em'up with some tactical elements more typical of RPGs as well as platforming and zelda-like level design.
 
klosos

klosos

Member
Baldurs Gate 1 & 2 (especially 2) is a masterpiece . my personal best game of all time.I cant wait for 3 to hit early access.

to me the characters like Viconia Devir and Edwin Odesseiron and unforgettable.
 
kiphalfton

kiphalfton

Member
Final Fantasy XV. It has a huge world that's densely populated, interesting side quests, the best team/party in any RPG, a robust magic system, oh and did I mention the main villain being the best in the FF series:lollipop_smiling_hearts:

This is the game of the generation for me. And I've played all the mainline FF games, so I know what I'm talking about.
 
YukiOnna

YukiOnna

Member
Persona 3
Trails of Cold Steel Series
Final Fantasy XIV
Xenoblade 2
Tales of Vesperia


Could list more, but I feel these are the first to come to mind as those that excel in what they set out to do in terms of characters, world and writing. Vesperia may seem weird since a lot of people call it generic, but its execution that matters and none of the modern Tales games have come close to Vesperia's handling of it.
 
Silvawuff

Silvawuff

Member
FFXIV post realm reborn (basically the main story level 1-50) has fantastic story/characters spread cross three expansions so far. It could stand alone as a single-player FF title and I would highly recommend subbing to experience it and just ignoring the grindy MMO stuff. It could easily stand alone as a main-line single player Final Fantasy.

Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter - Only three main characters, you have to escape from an underground fallout shelter. A really, really deep one. It's a harrowing journey and I don't want to spoil much, but damn it's good. It really needs a remaster/port badly.

FFVIII - One of the greats. I think FFVIIR is really presenting the story in a unique way and if you give it a chance, it will suck you right in.

Night in the Woods - You take on the role of Mae Borowski, college dropout that returns to an oppressed town in the rust belt of the US. It's a brilliant game with a lot of different themes, and it presents a well-executed dialogue about mental illness. The writing and characters are so good. Definitely worth playing.
 
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M

Marlenus

Member
Chrono Trigger.

I can recommend bloodlines and kotor2 but definitely install the fan patches, makes both more stable and restores stuff that was cut due lack of time.
 
Clarissa

Clarissa

Banned
yurqqa said:
I wanted to try Zero recently.

But I heard that unfinished translation on PSP is awful.

New translation for PC version was released recently, but I just can't find the game anywhere. There was a link to one of the japanese shops that sell it digitally, but the site doesn't work as intended.
I tried to just find the version to download, but found only the one with integrated PSP translation.
Click to expand...

I played both Zero and Ao on the ppsspp emulator with English patch. The translations may not be perfect but it's good enough for me to understand the story fully and grow very attached to the characters. Actually I think the fan translations were good enough.


When the official English version is out for both Zero and Ao, I'll definitely buy and play through them again because they are that good. And I need to give Falcom my money.

Zero - 8/10
Ao - 9.5/10

Ao ranks up there with Trails In The Sky 2.
 
Cactuarman

Cactuarman

Banned
klosos said:
Baldurs Gate 1 & 2 (especially 2) is a masterpiece
Click to expand...

What klosos klosos said. If the world of Planescape didn't click with you maybe give BG2 a try. Committing to both 1 & 2 may be a bit too daunting so honestly you could probably just watch a story recap of 1.

IMO BG2 is the pinnacle of RPG writing (Planescape too but I can easily see how the world would be unappealing)
 
yurqqa

yurqqa

Member
Cactuarman said:
What klosos klosos said. If the world of Planescape didn't click with you maybe give BG2 a try. Committing to both 1 & 2 may be a bit too daunting so honestly you could probably just watch a story recap of 1.

IMO BG2 is the pinnacle of RPG writing (Planescape too but I can easily see how the world would be unappealing)
Click to expand...

Thank you.

I’ve played and finished both BGs - we’ll see what the 3rd one has in store for us.
I also played through Mass Effect 1 and 2, bt haven’t finished 3rd.

What I also forgot to mention are Fallout 1/2. They had great characters and dialogue (at least as far as I remember).

If we forget about RPG part for a bit, Shenmue/Yakuza/Judgement have great characters an hilarious dialogues/situations.
Interesting to see what the new one with RPG mechanics will feel like.

Are there any Good RPGs with some over the top characters ? Shadow Hearts were great at that.
Maybe Sylvando from DQ XI fits the bill. Other characters are not that unique, but overall great recent RPG.
 
killatopak

killatopak

Gold Member
DQV is considered to have the best story in the series. Just have to trudge through the older graphics and battle system.

If you want to play it, consider doing it on the PS2 emulator with the fan translation.
 
yurqqa

yurqqa

Member
killatopak said:
DQV is considered to have the best story in the series. Just have to trudge through the older graphics and battle system.

If you want to play it, consider doing it on the PS2 emulator with the fan translation.
Click to expand...

As far as I remember, in that game you have some limit how much could you transform and after that you just lose.
I think for some it adds the tension and the interest. For me it added wrong kind of tension. I wished it could be optional.
 
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