Games with good lore

[May90]

Bioware, Obsidian and Bethesda RPGs, Witcher series, Planescape: Torment and Blizzard RTS/RPG games are all pretty awesome in this regard.

[Jester Joe]

Dragon Age and the Witcher are probably what I would suggest exactly too.

Maybe to a lesser degree, Dark Souls, although this is more problematic because the lore isn't really there, it's mostly statements on armor and items that are pieced together through the little story you get, and a lot of fan theories and stuff.

[Deleted]

The Final Fantasy lore is well done and I like it's MMO story alot (FF14).
There is so much lore and everything seems to be connected somehow, it's amazing.
The game is actually worth it for the level experience itself, if you enjoy reading quest-texts and such. The amount of "fluff" and background story is gigantic (not kidding).

While I enjoy the gameplay of WoW alot more, the storytelling/story itself is way beyond anything WoW has to offer. The music, the camera, the cutscenes, even the villains... everything seems to be superior and while it certainly has it's "childish" (which is what you'd consider the game's comedic moments.. so much slapstick humor), the universe itself seems to be alot more "mature" too.

The best thing about the game is that the raids/dungeons have amazing stories as well.
I remember doing a quest at lvl 10 and the characters you met then lead to a hard-mode dungeon encounter later at level 50. Not only that, but the story that lead to said encounter/dungeon was both creepy and heavyhearted (poor girl )

The game has a lot to offer, you should give it a try... it's funny at times, but also sad and gloomy and then it's also brutal/dark from time to time.
At least for people who enjoy lore heavy games, or bother reading texts/questslines, it's totally worth it. It's barely an overstatement if I say that nearly every quest is a small story by itself... which is also the reason why people think (rightfully so) that the level experience is extremely "long" and slow.

But they adjusted that for new players.
The base game is relatively cheap too, give it a try and keep/stop playing after you tested it.

[Mechazod]

The Legend of Heroes series has some great lore and world building, a lot of times connecting between games. Trails in the Sky and Trails of Cold Steel in particular are two of the best classic new-age JRPGs out there. You come for the fantastic mechanics and stay for the story and character development.

Falcom in general always had decent lore for their series, a lot of times connecting between games that would then spin off into their own series that would start its own line of sequels.