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  1. #1
    The Unstoppable Force May90's Avatar
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    RPGs with the best stories/characters

    Hey guys.

    I love games with a strong focus on lore, story and, especially, characters. Three my favorite game series ever are KotOR, Mass Effect and Dragon Age. I'm going to buy Neverwinter Nights 1, 2 with all expansions soon and play them as well, as people say they are as amazing as KotOR. Baldur's Gate 1,2 and Planescape Torment are also in my plans, but outdated graphics stops me right now from playing them.
    SWTOR, I didn't like that much, as story is only a relatively small part of the game.

    Aside from Bioware games, I enjoyed very much Kingdoms of Amalur - there is no companions and story is merely satisfactory, but the lore is amazing and characters are quite well made. Wouldn't play the second time though since gameplay is very repetitive.
    Deus Ex: HR was also interesting, but it is not an RPG, fairly speaking. More like an FPS game with unusual mechanics and few characters.
    Fallout series... Didn't get into it. Post-apocalyptic lore is not to my taste. And the conversations are too short and simplified, IMO.
    Witcher... Looks fine, but also a little bit... Let's just say I don't plan on playing the game any time soon.

    So, do you guys know any other RPG games like these (Bioware games, Kingdoms of Amalur, etc.)? I stumbled upon Kingdoms of Amalur just by luck, reading review of Mass Effect 3 and noticing that this game comes with pre-order, so I guess I could miss other such games as well. How old a game is, doesn't really matter, anything after, say, 1998 would do.

    Thanks! ♥

  2. #2
    Theres a sticky thread for this.

    Witcher 1 and 2. If you happened to like the paper-thin story of kingdoms of amalur then trust me on this. Its a true RPG. I was also turned off by witcher just by watching youtube vids, and the first 10 mins of combat from witcher 1, but stick with it you will like it. The story is also really brilliantly written imo.

    Assasins Creed (except 1), Dreamfall: Longest Journey , Fable 1 are also some of the games i played with ok story

    Final Fantasies X & XII using PCSX2 you can blow up x6 the original resolution enable some graphic tweaks, fxaa, widescreen hack etc. And it looks as pretty as their HD versions that will be released on ps3.
    Last edited by Yizu; 2013-09-05 at 12:12 AM.

  3. #3
    The Lightbringer Ultima's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Yizu View Post
    Final Fantasies X & XII using PCSX2 you can blow up x6 the original resolution enable some graphic tweaks, fxaa, widescreen hack etc. And it looks as pretty as their HD versions that will be released on ps3.
    I'm not actually sure I understood that.

  4. #4
    He's referring to a Playstation 2 emulator and all the different options you can change in it.

  5. #5
    The Witcher series. Easily my favorite fantasy RPG series. And with The Witcher 3 coming out in the future, now is the best time to play them.

  6. #6
    Chrono Trigger, and I really also enjoyed the characters in Dragon Age Origins.


  7. #7
    Well you've pretty much named all my favourites except Ultima VII and Darkside of XEEN :P

    Quote Originally Posted by Yizu View Post
    Theres a sticky thread for this.

    Witcher 1 and 2. If you happened to like the paper-thin story of kingdoms of amalur then trust me on this. Its a true RPG. I was also turned off by witcher just by watching youtube vids, and the first 10 mins of combat from witcher 1, but stick with it you will like it. The story is also really brilliantly written imo.
    I started playing Witcher, the feel of the game is brilliant but that combat is puketastic. Need to force myself to play it more.

    Quote Originally Posted by Yizu View Post
    Assasins Creed (except 1)
    Whaaaaaat AC1 was great.
    Quote Originally Posted by Tojara View Post
    Look Batman really isn't an accurate source by any means
    Quote Originally Posted by Hooked View Post
    It is a fact, not just something I made up.

  8. #8
    Field Marshal Dozar's Avatar
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    AC1 was really quite unique and a ton of fun for it's time. Of course i went to buy AC2 and was disappointing to find it was pretty much the same exact game, kinda a letdown. the yearly releases just isn't viable for any game in my opinion. Dark Souls was fantastic, though famous for being incredibly difficult. Far Cry 3 while its more of an Fps with rpg elements had a fantastic story and characters, one of my favorite recent games. Also Monsters Den, the flash game is to this day one of my favorite rpg's of all-time, its near perfect text based dungeon crawling!

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Mormolyce View Post
    Well you've pretty much named all my favourites except Ultima VII and Darkside of XEEN :P
    I would have loved Ultima 7 if I could have finished it without all the bugs. I can remember being so excited for that game and then pissed beyond reckoning when it slowed down to a crawl after 5 minutes. I really wish they would restart the series.

    Edit: Sorry I mixed ultima 7 and 9. 7 Was great but 9 gives me a bad taste in my mouth to this day.
    Last edited by derotitis; 2013-09-05 at 03:18 AM.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Mormolyce View Post
    I started playing Witcher, the feel of the game is brilliant but that combat is puketastic. Need to force myself to play it more.
    You'll get used to witcher 1 combat, when you get the timings, knowing proper weapon swaps, and it wont feel as clunky when u get your stuns and talents. Witcher 2 is a totally different game though, not the same as Witcher 1 combat, but its also hard combat at the start and gets easier later.

    AC1 sucked so bad, so repetitive, and you don't even have to play it to appreciate the series.

  11. #11
    I'm a big fan of JRPGs. I have to say point blank, my favorite RPG of all time, which I have spent well over 1000 hours playing is Namco's Tales of Symponia. Story-wise, it is a little too similar to FFX, but they probably have to be my favorite characters in any RPG.

    A very close second would be Grandia 2. The music would have to be the determining factor in what makes that awesome, but it really helps you connect with the characters on a very deep level. I don't think any other video game story has made me cheer at my screen before, as I'm pretty addicted to depressing stuff, and rarely get excited about anything. Grandia 1, although even more dated, for the PS1/Dreamcast, was pretty amazing as well - you start out as a snotty little boy, and fall in love with him, his sister, and his girlfriend as you watch him become a man as he goes on an adventure around the world. It's a true man's romance. Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy 7 deserve honorable mention, because they're defining turning points in the development of RPGs as we know them. While I didn't get particularly attached to any of the CT characters, Nanaki/Red XIII still stands out to me as a character done right. And finally, I have to mention Xenosaga. Xenosaga is a series of three video games (and many more mangas, as well as I believe it's connected to Xenogears, PS1). It's a very slow story, and cliche at times, but towards the very end, it gets remarkably good. I'm not sure I'd recommend this as one of the greatest, because maybe the moment it gets so good just feels so much better because the rest of it was so mediocre. At any rate, you get plenty of time to get to know the characters inside and out.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by derotitis View Post
    I would have loved Ultima 7 if I could have finished it without all the bugs. I can remember being so excited for that game and then pissed beyond reckoning when it slowed down to a crawl after 5 minutes. I really wish they would restart the series.

    Edit: Sorry I mixed ultima 7 and 9. 7 Was great but 9 gives me a bad taste in my mouth to this day.
    Yeah 9 seemed pretty awful, games were transitioning from 2d to 3d and some of them got shitty 3d versions.

    But 7 was buggy as hell on some computers too, I remember there was one where the longer you played the more the world glitched, like random furniture and objects would start appearing in random places in the map, like all the coordinates were corrupted.
    Quote Originally Posted by Tojara View Post
    Look Batman really isn't an accurate source by any means
    Quote Originally Posted by Hooked View Post
    It is a fact, not just something I made up.

  13. #13
    -> Final Fantasy 6
    -> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 and Throne of Bhaal
    -> The Witcher 1 & 2
    -> Planescape Torment
    -> Morrowind

  14. #14
    Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

    It has a compelling story and is filled with memorable characters.

  15. #15
    Deleted
    Story and characters?

    (J RPG´s)
    Final Fantasy X
    Persona 1-4
    Suikoden 5
    (Not so serious but still good story)
    Mario & Luigi: Bowser´s Inside Story

    (Western RPGS)
    Dragon Age Origins

  16. #16
    Mars: War Logs.

    Not the best, but it's hard to find a modern storydriven RPG these days, and given it's price-point it's worth a shot (I believe there's a demo).
    "In order to maintain a tolerant society, the society must be intolerant of intolerance." Paradox of tolerance

  17. #17
    Play "To the Moon". demo available here http://freebirdgames.com/to_the_moon/
    It's one of the best stories I have ever seen in a video game.
    I don't think this matters nearly as much as you think it does.

  18. #18
    Arcanum and Infinity engine games are pretty easy to setup with resolution and interface fixes that make them look decent.

  19. #19
    Final Fantasy IV was the first Final Fantasy that grabbed me with the plot.
    Final Fantasy VI is good as well, though I feel a bit too heavy on number of party members to choose from (though that can offer some replay value)
    Chrono Trigger is fantastic and with multiple endings depending on how you use time to approach the final boss, it gives multiple play throughs.

    Often overlooked and underappreciated is Lunar: Silver Star Story on Saturn (or was it Sega CD) and later re-released as Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete on Playstation. It did very well in sales and was the #2 selling RPG of its year behind Final Fantasy VII.

    I loved Dragon Age: Origin. There's also the original Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate though I didn't get into either game's sequel (I hear Baldur's Gate II is awesome).

    Most of these games are going to be more strength in their story than the lore of the world, but they're totally worth it.

    Oh, and Secret of Mana. It's an action RPG from SNES and is totally worth it. First time I legitimately got sad from the story of an RPG.

  20. #20
    Try Bastion. It's short, but it is excellent.

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