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Which RPG (all generations) Has The Best WRITING?

I love Skies of Arcadia but just had to sell my GC version a year or so ago because the prices people were willing to pay for it were quite astronomical.

I wouldn't say it has the best story though. Just little ot.
 
The dreams in Lost Odyssey are the best writing - that's what happens when you get a great translator working on some great original text - but the game itself isn't nearly as impressive.

Surprised no-one's mentioned Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Making games funny is arguably trickier than making them dramatic, and there's some terrific writing in those two.
 
Hero of Canton said:
Surprised no-one's mentioned Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Making games funny is arguably trickier than making them dramatic, and there's some terrific writing in those two.
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I thought the Mystery in the Train chapter in TTYD was pretty nicely written.
 
Razor554 said:
Xenogears first disc.
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I love xenogears storyline and characters, but i dont think it classifys as having good writing.
Best written rpgs are easily planescape torment and baldurs gate 2.
Fallout 1 & 2 also have some great writing in them.
On the j-rpg side there's mother 3.
 
ZephyrFate said:
I wouldn't say Skies of Arcadia has great writing whatsoever, in fact, it's really quite stock writing for a jRPG. SoA is an awesome game because of its world, the airship mechanic, and the lush visuals and soundtrack.
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I'd say that SoA's story is pretty cliched but it's told very well. There's a lot of charm to it, but a lot comes from all the other things you mentioned.
 
I'm going to have to say Fallout 2.

Well I mean it should be Torment theoretically but I enjoyed the humor of Fallout 2 a bit more.

Honestly talking about JRPGs is kinda difficult since you're comparing the localization and translation unless you are fluent in Japanese and English. It's not the same thing.
 
Not really sure of the "writing" but I'm playing Chrono Trigger right now for the first time ever and the story/plot is amazing.

The game is pretty fun too.
 
the thoroughbred said:
Hey what was the consensus on the 4 GC RPG's? I never bought them, but they are going for silly prices now.

Baten Kaitos
Baten Kaitos: Origins
Tales of Symphonia £75 sealed, £65 s-h
Skies of Arcadia. £75 circa sealed
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Both Baten Kaitos games form a stellar series. As for ToS, I absolutly hated it. Typical Tales of ... game, so if you like them, give it a try. If you don t know if you like them:

Pos.:
- Game has great graphics
- ... and a nice OST.

Neg.:
- Horrible (as in "holy shit horrible") characters which put you to sleep.
- Boring story, seriously!
- Bad, BAD, BAADD localization. (as all Tales of ... games, no voiced skits for you bitch!)


Neutral:
- Tales of fighting system. (I hated it but I can see that its quite appealing to a lot of people)


Skies of Arcadia, I actually never played.

My vote goes to Odin Sphere btw. :D .
 
AniHawk said:
I'd say that SoA's story is pretty cliched but it's told very well. There's a lot of charm to it, but a lot comes from all the other things you mentioned.
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My only major problem with SoA is its cliched last half. A minor annoyance I have with it is that the other worlds (such as the Arabian-influenced Red Moon area, or the Aztec-like Green Moon area) all speak the same language, for some reason. Some minor dialect tricks would have helped.
 
I chuckle all the time while playing FFIX. Sometimes it's because the writing is good (so soft/kill him moments) and sometimes it's just the naive moments and Zidanes only angst scene. Lovable game writing wise.


Havent played too many western RPG:s really, but I remember Fallout 2 being really enjoyable.
 
I really really tried to enjoy the Persona games 3-4...

But...there is only so much of a game I can play before I hit my limit and get bored. Their very good games I just can't invest the amount of time Atlus would like me to invest. If they could give me a 50-70 hour Persona which includes side-quests etc and not have to play game+ to get all the best stuff...that would be awesome.
 
I know it's out of the timespan but I'd pick any of the SNES era JRPGs over the most recent ones (Chrono Trigger, Illusion of Gaia, Terranigma).
Also, how could someone say FFXII had a good writing? It must have had the worst FF story since the series existed X_x
Btw I'd pick Suikoden II and this:
The shocking revelation about The Slayer of God's identity alone in Xenogears is enough to make it one of the best turns in a RPG story
 
They may not have the best writing, but I enjoyed the writing in Earthbound and Mother 3 (Fan-Translation).
 
As far as JRPGs go, FFXII probably has the best. It's got some excellent lines from Basch and Larsa.

I'd jump on the Planescape Torment bandwagon, but the game bored me to no end. Don't get me wrong, of what I played the writing was good, but between the walls of text and slow gameplay I just couldn't push myself to play it more. I really wanted to like the game, but I just couldn't. :(
 
Wow a lot of people saying Planscape, I take it it's still worth playing today? I never played it, for whatever reason.
 
I know it's probably not true but i will say FF VI ! Not the more complex but so mature and unique for its time! Ans so different from other FF after that. (I'm talking about plot)
 
Oh gee, another Planescape: Torment appreciation thread? Well, I'm in.

You meant which game (all generations) has the best writing, right?
 
I really enjoyed the dialogue of Jade Empire, though the story itself I found to be very cliche. I'd probably say that TWEWY has my favorite RPG story to date. Sure, it's full of teen angst, but it touches upon some pretty profound, metaphysical ideas that you don't come across in most other video games, regardless of genre.
 
Regarding video game writing, there is not a single game out there that is even close to the brilliance that is Planescape: Torment.
 
I am very strict concerning this point. So here is my strict selection :

-Vagrant Story in its English localization : great story, characters and dialogues
-FFT for its amazing story, characters and background.
-FFXII for its mature dialogue and characters.

To a lesser extent I would say Xenogears too.
 
Hikash Winzalf said:
I am very strict concerning this point. So here is my strict selection :

-Vagrant Story in its English localization : great story, characters and dialogues
-FFT for its amazing story, characters and background.
-FFXII for its mature dialogue and characters.

To a lesser extent I would say Xenogears too.
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ugh
 
Planescape: Torment
Vagrant Story (English localization)
Lost Odyssey's Thousand Years of Dreams

Zanasea said:
All the RPGs that Yasumi Matsuno wrote, of course.

Both plot and writing are fantastic in FFXII, by the way.
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Alex O'Smith, the head translator for his games, said it's relatively easy due to the number of ancillary notes Matsuno writes for his games about the characters and settings.
 
FFXII plot is trash because the main character is useless to the story, if they had kept Basch instead then it would have been a whole different game. Alex O. Smith's localization though is stellar.
 
In no particular order

Lost Odyssey
Tales of Symphonia
FFX
Tales of Vesperia
Xenosaga 1 & 2
Baten Kaitos 1 (I didn't play 2 yet for some reason but I guess it's good)
 
FFXII's plot is a mess, but its a wonderfully written/translated mess. There are some absolutely lovely bits of incidental text that show the writers really cared about what they were doing.

Couple of my favourites: (mild spoilers)

There's an minor npc on Mt. Bur-Omisace watching the chaos following the Arcadian attack and the assassination of the Gran Kilitias who says something along the lines of "I wish it would all burn away, not smoke and sputter so". In context its quite heartbreaking, to me anyway.

Then there's the zen like proverb used to describe the "stack of stones" item. "The world to a child, the weight of the world to an old man". Lovely!

Also have to defend Kazushige Nojima. As a scenarist (plotting, not neccessarily writing) in my opinion he's the absolute best in the world and has been since FF7.

(VERY spoilerish hereafter so beware!)

The perspective shifting involved in revealing the Cloud/Zack duality and the events in Nibelheim (particularly, the "in Cloud's mind" bit) just blew me away back in the day.

FF8 is arguably even better, as it is generally less operatic in its excess and deals with many of the same themes in a more subtle and mature manner.

FFX is brilliantly plotted. Spira its cultures and metaphysics are wonderfully detailed, and its a smart well constructed story to boot. The central conceit (Tidus and the "dream Zanarkand", endlessly summoned by the prayers of the fayth) is worthy of serious literature or film.

I'd also add Kingdom Hearts is quite an achievement too, getting the Mouse House to agree to some of the darker stuff in there whilst binding together all their franchise elements is no mean feat.
 
O.DOGG said:
Another vote for Planescape: Torment. No other game can compare to it.
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It can't be said enough.

The downside of its incredible story though is that I always play a character with high Intelligence so I can have the most in-depth conversations. I always have a strong desire to know Dak'kon's history.
 
...a few of my favorites

Blood_Omen_-_Legacy_of_Kain_Coverart.png
Vampire_-_The_Masquerade_%E2%80%93_Bloodlines_Coverart.png
Final_Fantasy_XII.jpg
 
TormentCover.jpg
BloodlinesCover.jpg


I'll go with those two as well. You really have to play Bloodlines as a malkavian to really see the genius crazy come out, it's amazing. Wish more games were written like that.

Shake Appeal said:
Any answer that isn't Planescape just shows the poster hasn't played Planescape.
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That type of thing is said all the times about different things, but this is one of the few times it is undeniably correct.

There's more text in Planescape Torment than the Lord of the Rings Trilogy books, combined (~800,000 words vs ~600,000). And it still gets an average score above 90. I dare any game today to try that, would never even come close.
 
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