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Best Story Driven games on Vita and 3DS

I saw the title and came in here to say "999 and VLR", but I saw the edit in the OP and everyone else suggesting those games.

The World Ends With You
Soul Hackers
Xenoblade
Phoenix Wright

Just a few off the top of my head.

And of course there will be Zero Time Dilemma in 2016.
 
Suikoden 2 is a very good story driven RPG. Some themes are very mature for its time.

I'm always surprised when I see people like VLR. I hated it so much, i thought it was incredibly dumb and annoying to "play". 90% of the second partof the game is replaying scenes you already played just to see another dumb ending. It's too bad because the voting system had its moments.
 
kurahador said:
Stella Glow
Corpse Party
SMT Devil Survivor 1 & 2
Vanguard Bandits
any Professor Layton games
Jeanne D'Arc
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Now this has gotten me curious. I wanted to get the game because it's imageepooch's last game, a spiritual successor to their luminous arc games (which were a guilty pleasure of mine) and spurred by the surprisingly positive impressions of gaf importers. But I always thought it was more to do with the gameplay; is the story really that good?
 
Lots of great recommendations here, I also highly recommend 999/VLR and Corpse Party, Hotel Dusk (and it's sequel Last Window, though you need to import that from EU).

To add one that I don't think was mentioned, I loved Time Hallow for the DS, it's a time travel adventure/visual novel game.
 
Quick question about Steins:Gate. Is there a lot of boring descriptive text like 999 or does the vast majority of the text come straight from characters like Danganronpa?

Bonus question, other than "purple prose" is there a better way to describe the difference?


I'll mention Thomas Was Alone as a possibility, even though the story wasn't that great the narration, characters and their arcs were and I'd say that's the strength of many of the games listed in the OP but that's a YMMV situation.
 
Another vote for Ace Attorney and 999. Add Ghost Trick on there as well. Not sure who told you Persona Q is story driven, but it's a DRPG. Just enough story to bore you between glorious dungeons. Get Dragon Quest IV and V on 3DS. On Vita, you'll want to look into the PS1 era. Maybe Stein's;Gate.
 
ChasingComets said:
Now this has gotten me curious. I wanted to get the game because it's imageepooch's last game, a spiritual successor to their luminous arc games (which were a guilty pleasure of mine) and spurred by the surprisingly positive impressions of gaf importers. But I always thought it was more to do with the gameplay; is the story really that good?
Click to expand...

It's not that the story is FFT/Valkyria Chronicles good --- it's chock full of anime trope in fact, but the game balanced and develope it well enough that all those tropey elements never become too overbearing.
I'd put the story at the same level as one of those good Tales game.

That said, I'm only around 6+ hours in.
 
They've all been mentioned already, but throwing in my support of

999 / VLR
Ace Attorney games
Hotel Dusk / Last Window

Make sure you play the games in their proper order though, ESPECIALLY 999 / VLR.
 
A few peeps mentioned Hotel Dusk, but I also recommend Last Window. It's only been released in Japan and Europe, it shouldn't be too hard to import in the US.
Yeh, Steins;Gate is definitely something to get if you're a fan of Time Travel theories and Virtue's Last Reward.
 
999/VLR are probably your safest bet. Specially the former, that game literally blew my mind and no other game since then has been able to do the same.
 
Broken Age on Vita. Playing through it now and it's an absolute treat. I haven't reached Act 2 yet though where it supposedly breaks down.

The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us are great too, just be prepared for the jank.
 
be warned: if you don't like replaying games you won't really "get" 999/VLR. even if you do "get" them, i found the actual dialogue and writing pretty bad but there are a few "mind blowing" story moments that people love. i wasn't a fan.

Ghost Trick and Ace Attorney 1-3 are some of the best written games ever made, so those are my no-brainer picks
 
I've played a lot of story-driven games -- some epic, others minimalist.

For some reason, the Hotel Dusk games are the ones that stand-out in my mind as experiences I randomly ponder on from time to time.
 
If you love comedy - Ace Attorney
If you love adventure/puzzles - Professor Layton
If you love Saw, philosophy and mind=blown - 999, then VLR
If you love Battle Royale and/or love dark material - Danganronpa 1&2
If you love horror and/or extremely dark material - Corpse Party & Book of Shadows, Blood Drive
If you love noir mystery - Hotel Dusk
If you love supernatural mystery - Ghost Trick
If you love RPGs - Persona 3 FES & 4 Golden (I haven't played the earlier ones)

They are all worth playing, depending on your mood and make sure you play them in release order:

  • 999 before VLR
  • Danganronpa 1 before 2
  • Corpse Party->Book of Shadows->Blood Drive
  • Professor Layton and the Curious Village->Diaboloical Box->Unwound Future->Last Specter->Mask of Miracle->Azran Legacy
  • Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney->Justice for All->Trials and Tribulations->Apollo Justice->Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth->Dual Destinies
  • After you have completed the Professor Layton and Ace Attorney games above.....Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.
 
Just for some different suggestions:

Ar no Surge
htoL#niQ (minimalist, but I adored the story)
Soul Sacrifice Delta
XBlaze is kind of okay.
 
El Aleph said:
Try Grim Fandango on the Vita. All the other worthwhile titles have already been mentioned.
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Grim Fandango is one of the best written games of all time. If someone is interested in story-driven games, they're doing themselves a huge disservice skipping this title.
 
Since 999/VLR are already covered:

Jigorath said:
As for PS1 classics...

Suikoden I and II
Paraste Eve 1 and 2
Xenogears
Wild Arms 1 and 2
Vagrant Story
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment
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MrDoctor said:
soul hackers on 3ds

check out growlanser and tactics ogre on psn
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These guys know what's up. I'd also add Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume (DS), Front Mission (DS) and SMT: Strange Journey (DS) to the list.

If OP is just after visual novels/Japanese adventure games:

Jake Hunter (DS)
Hotel Dusk (DS) and its sequel Last Window (DS)
Flower, Sun & Rain (DS)
Theresia (DS)
Ghost Trick (DS)
Sweet Fuse (PSP)
 
Since they haven't been mentioned a lot, I highly recommend Radiant Historia for DS, and Chrono Cross for PSN. I agree with many of the other suggestions though.

I might get flamed for suggesting Chrono Cross, but for you OP, I will make that sacrifice.

thesonovabeach said:
I'm always surprised when I see people like VLR. I hated it so much, i thought it was incredibly dumb and annoying to "play". 90% of the second partof the game is replaying scenes you already played just to see another dumb ending. It's too bad because the voting system had its moments.
Click to expand...

He mentioned enjoying other visual novels, and as VNs go that's actually one of the most accessible systems of revisiting scenes that the genre has ever had to offer. Most of them will make you play through the entire VN again to get the alternate endings.
 
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