It's very rare. The ones I admire are generally the ones that tell a story with few words, because there are almost no talented writers in the industry. But there was Grim Fandango, Full Throttle, there was Planescape Torment, there is Mother 2 and 3, Shadow of the Colossus, etc. My preference tends to lean toward the games that understand the idea of nuance, where less is more. One doesn't need a twelve hour cutscenes to show the grief of a child for the loss of her mother, for example. A short, melancholy, dialogue-less moment in a mirror is more than enough to say it all (Mother 3).
Games are a visual medium. So few games actually utilize the visuals to tell the story. They think gamers are retards and so they must be smacked across the face with every turn of the story, so they are beat over the head with the obvious themes and one dimensional characters and scenarios.
Oh my no dude. FFVII's story is without a doubt offensively bad. None of it makes any sense, and the writing...dear God. I don't know Japanese but the English version is so full of fucked up shit that whatever sense the story might have made at one point is gone to North American audiences. Somehow I suspect it sucks just as much in Japanese, though. FFX is just a complete mess. But none of them are as bad as FFVIII, at least.
TOTALLY agree. Since it's such an integral part of controlling your teammates, it is necessary they should all be unlocked immediately. Also, with a future gambit game, they needed a few more commands available for slightly more nuanced play.
But it is such an incredible foundation for Ally A.I. that it should become the gold standard if SquareEnix ever comes to their senses and stops letting Nomura develop FFVersusXIII for fifteen years.
