What do you consider to be the five best written RPGs?

[Wolf Kanno]

For a medium that is known for it's storytelling aspect, I find that the gaming community has spent more of it's time focusing on other genres that have really used the medium to tell some really personal and deep stories. So what about the genre that made storytelling an important part of the gaming process? What do you consider to be the five best written RPGs, whether they had great characters, and amazing world, great history and lore, or maybe the game touched on deeper themes, what are your top five and why?

[Fynn]

I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting some that were better, but these are the five off the top of my head:

- Final Fantasy Tactics Advance - I love the controversial theme, how the motivations of the hero really divided the people who played this. Every time I play the game (or see someone play the game or talk with them about the game), I notice something new. As dealing with escapism is such a big theme in here, FFTA just hits all the right marks for me.

- The World Ends With You - this story is just perfectly structured, gripping you from start to finish and really effectively connecting you with its main characters. The tone is deceptively light as some really heavy stuff happens here, but really, every villain is memorable and every important scene packs an emotional punch.

- Final Fantasy Tactics - the moral ambiguity of... well, pretty much everyone, and the realistic take on politics (I don't mean it being based on any real system, I'm talking more about how people act) are what makes this game awesome, IMO. I love how despite being so focused on the politics (or maybe because of it) this is a tale about humanity, sacrifice, love, and all those other things that make us tick.

- Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories - Sora's progression in the story is as disturbing as it is engrossing. There's really so much done well in this game, from the pacing, through the emotional scenes, and then there's the Riku segment which is one of the best moments for the series.

- Radiant Historia - this is the SNES RPG honed to perfection. Memorable characters, a fascinating plot, and really cool pacing, connected to the dual timelines mechanic. Much like TWEWY, this game doesn't pull punches and really keeps you invested at all times.

[Pumpkin]

Ah this is hard, but I'll try. Also, I'm looking at this from a subjective point and not which I think are objectively the best written. Also, I go more for themes and which themes I think are best, more than just which were the best executed

Final Fantasy IX
One of the many reasons I love this game. It has the underlying theme of coming to find your place in the world and accept the things you cannot change. This has been a pretty big life struggle for me, so touching on those themes was great.

Xenosaga
So it went off the rails in a few parts, but Xenosaga taught me so much about certain religions and philosophy and blended it in to this epic tale that touched on a lot of themes I find interesting. Like human life and reality and corruption and all of these things.

Tales of Hearts R
Learning to accept your emotions, good and bad, and not letting them run your life and control you. Everyone has negative emotions and negative aspects of themselves, but it's part of what makes you who you are. You just need to learn how to cope with them.

Persona 4 Golden
Learning to accept and deal with the truth instead of just lying to yourself and others because you don't want to face it or don't want others to know about it or whatever. Learning and accepting to deal with the truth is an important step to reaching your goals.

Xenogears
This story got me interested in psychology and philosophy. While it gets pretty convoluted, I love seeing the themes of like the ego and id, repression, all of the religious themes, the higher vs lower beings etc.

[FFNut]

I'll give it a go. I'm guessing I'll miss some though.

1. Final Fantasy Tatics. The story is so great. It is a must play.

2. Breath of Fire 2. I loved this game so much when I was younger. It gave a unique way of traveling and really it was a great JRPG. It's only downside was the translation.

3. Final Fantasy VI. This game captured me and I never put it down. I never had a walk through for it so there were many things through those years I was proud to say I found on my own such as the Air Anchor for Edgar.

4. Breath of Fire III. This game was simply a great game. Loved it and plan on playing it again soon.

5. Super Mario World. It is a game I still play to this day and enjoy the trout out of it! It has held up as one of the great Mario titles.

[Forsaken Lover]

Xenogears - 'nuff said

Mass Effect 2 - Absolutely fantastic character writing.

NieR - Had some interesting ideas and an absolutely amazing ending. Ending D, by the way. I also just played it for the first time so...

Chrono Trigger - I prefer Cross' story but Cross' writing is...yeah. CT undeniably tells its story really well. Some excellent characters, too.

And...Idunno. I gotta think for Number 5.

[Depression Moon]

Super Mario World is a platformer and the only game I felt that really had a great story was Final Fantasy IX.

[Vyk]

Xenogears, easily. I loved everything about the game, from the art style, to the combat system. But the story and writing were really up there for me. It went to some dark and fascinating places most games, let alone RPGs are afraid to even make jokes about, let alone actually face. And I had absolutely no problem with the second disk, because I just loved experiencing the story it had to tell

KotOR 2, while the story may have been a little contrived, the characters and dialog were exemplary and some of the most engaging character conversations and interactions I've ever experienced. I believe it was also one of the first times I ever experienced a romance written into a game. When the girly girl character I fancied most of the game actually reciprocated and professed her feelings for me in game, it was so well written and acted I legitimately blushed. Full blown basement dweller nerd experience, perhaps, but it was a really compelling experience and is just an example of how well the characters and their writing are done

I'd have to give a nod to Final Fantasy Tactics as well, even though I absolutely hate that game and everything it represents, as the epitome of what Japanese Strategy RPGs are (or have become?), since it's all cut scenes, battles, and grossly limited menu driven towns and NPC interaction. No ability for a player to have any down time or explore or anything an RPG should offer. And yet that story. So deep and twisty-turny, with so much treachery and politics, I might as well just watch Game of Thrones with a controller in hand. A well done story, and the lore is there. Just not a well fleshed out world, I can't interact with it, so I get burned out with it and every other game like it way too fast to ever really enjoy. But I won't deny its good writing

Planescape is generally heralded as the best written cRPG of all time, and I can't really argue, but I think a lot of it is lended from the art style and atmosphere and music and stuff. The writing is good, but the story is sparse for large portions of the game, and not a lot is given to very many characters. I'd honestly have to rank Baldur's Gate 2 above Planescape in most regards. They may have similar dedication and delivery, but the effectiveness is way more well done with Baldur's Gate. More characters, more dialog, more development given to them, more fleshed out villain. And hell, the characters even ended up being a heck of a lot more relateable and likable, because of that. And I loved the characters in Planescape, but in my experience they don't hold a candle to the team in Baldur's Gate 2

I kinda want my last vote to be for Final Fantasy VII since I love the characters, world, and atmosphere so much, but in good conscience I can't really back up that argument. VII's writing was pretty good. Beyond competent, but not stellar. Though I'd gladly make that argument for VI, and I think I will. VI would be my number five: best written game. Last place, but still really really good. For a 20 year old game with nothing but sprites, midi, and translated text. It turned out fantastic. And for such a large cast, everyone was given such love and development and screen time. It's hard to choose a favorite character, or even a favorite set of characters. And we even love the villain. VII can't even get that. Sephiroth was admired by a bunch of pre-teen boys who thought long hair and long swords and super powers were cool. But nobody gave a trout about his personality. But it's hard to deny how amusingly awesome and lovable the psychopath Kefka became. Granted, much like with KotOR 2, I make this argument more around the character writing than the plot. But good lord, those characters :3

[Formalhaut]

Damn, this is a tough question. I'll limit myself to strictly JRPGs. These are in no particular order:

1. Persona 4: Golden - I was having a really tough time deciding whether or not to go with Persona 4 or Persona 3, but I went with 4. For me, the Persona series excels in brilliant character development and world building, particularly in Persona 4. I really felt engrossed in Inaba, caring for all the wacky characters that inhabit it. Each main character is given room to grow, and the underlying themes behind it (of seeking the truth, bonds) are great. The animation goes even further by adding the fear of abandonment as a trait of Yu Narukami; not wanting to leave Inaba where his friends are which briefly draws out his shadow. This is touched upon in the game also.

It has a few issues. The pacing can be questionable at times, and I never felt as if Yosuke really got over his latent homophobia. The animation is particularly bad in this regard by roping in Yu to share in Yosuke's fears. But these issues are minor, and doesn't really detract from the overall presentation of the game.

2. The World Ends With You - I'm basically just parroting what Fynn said, and this game definitely deserves greater praise and attention. Heck, it deserves a sequel - I'd play it. I won't repeat what he already said about it, only to say that the game is incredibly well-written which is superficially light, with a deep layer of pathos and maturity which really plays with your emotions.

3. Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth - A tad of a curveball, but bear with. The game is light, at first. Hey look, they're chibis! How quaint! Admittedly, it does crank up some characters up to eleven with ham. Chie discusses meat pretty frequently, Akihiko wants protein in everything. These characters already have plenty of development in their respective games, so I didn't feel as if I missed genuine sincerity, and they formed part of the comic relief. On the other hand, characters such as Shinjiro and Ken are granted more time to breathe, especially Shinjiro, who doesn't really get the time to make much of an impression in his original game. PQ Shinji is far better than P3 Shinji, and that's arguably true for Ken as well.

But what makes the game compelling is the theme of time. You cannot escape it, but you can use all the time you have to make an impact on people's lives. That is essentially the central point of the game. I won't spoil, but the games final third of the game is the best, with several poignant scenes that made me hit the feels. Most striking is the sense of anguish you get when you remember that none of these events are remembered by any of the cast (not so much of a spoiler, seeing how it takes place in the middle of both games and is never referenced). Because of this, all the fantastic development for Shinji and Ken is reversed, along with the harsh reality of theirs and other character's fates. This is particularly true for the Persona 3 side, but in both games, things take a real turn for the worse after September, and some of what happens might have been avoided. But regardless, the friendships forged between P3 and P4 are forgotten. The ending just has a feeling of sadness, which is very surprising given the supposed lighter nature of the game.

[Fynn]

Ah trout. Forgot about the Personas. Though I would personally choose 3 as the best written. Not only do I prefer the theme of death and facing it, living a full life, and maybe there's good things about death, and how it's about loss, but I also thing this game did characters better. While 4's characters were also very cool, they relied a bit more on anime stereotypes, whereas I always felt the P3 characters were more like actual people you could encounter. Also, their development is tightly connected to the main story, instead of being relegated to social links, which is something I think worked better. Also, it's interesting how all their personal stories revolve around losing someone dear to you. Be it through death or otherwise, every party member has to deal with that loss.

[FFNut]

I was thinking of adding Earthbound(mother 2) as well. Also Uncharted Waters New Horizons.

[Pheesh]

Tough for me cause I don't play as many RPGs as most people here. I'll do the ones I can think of.

Kingdom Hearts. The first game has it all for me. It's sweet, sad, fun, and unlike the other entries in the series is basically a self contained game. I think you would benefit most from playing it at a certain age, because it could be perceived as quite childish I guess, but I think that's something that is easy to set aside. I just love the game so much and I wouldn't be able to play it as many times as I have if the story wasn't great.

KotOR2 for basically the same reasons vyk mentioned. It's probably the most immersed I've been in my individual character in an rpg. My love of Star Wars as a universe and actively 'wanting' to get lost in it has a lot to do with this, but it still facilitated this desire better than any game up to that point.

Mass Effect 2. One word: Gripping. From the moment it starts to the conclusion it sets such a fantastic and epic scenario. Getting your old crew together and building up to the suicide mission is really engaging.

That's all I can think of for now but I'll add more as I think about it.

[Fynn]

I was thinking of adding Earthbound(mother 2) as well. Also Uncharted Waters New Horizons.

Have you played Mother 3? It's even better, IMO

[Ayen]

Final Fantasy VI explored a lot of mature themes in a way that was still appropriate for younger audiences, and I would legit let my kids learn about those things through playing FFVI, even though they wouldn't think anything of it and just kill monsters for the lulz.

Final Fantasy X had a lot of (albeit not even subtle) religious references sprinkled throughout and I always enjoyed it both as a kid and an adult. As well as the characters and the world, and Yuna is so fleshed out she feels like a real person at times, and one I can actually relate to.

Xenogears gives absolutely no smufts and isn't afraid to screw with your mind like you're watching Evangelion.

Mass Effect is a great Sci-Fi action-adventure, and straight up shows a realistic portrayal of how humans would react if we all banded together after the discovery of aliens. Like a bunch of racist assholes who wonder why the aliens in turn treat us as badly as we treat them.

KoTOR had the greatest twist in SW history since "Luke, I am your father," and I'll not hear a single word against it!

Because you would've typed it, and I can't hear your typing.

[FFNut]

I was thinking of adding Earthbound(mother 2) as well. Also Uncharted Waters New Horizons.

Have you played Mother 3? It's even better, IMO

Earth Bound was my only experience with the series but loved it to death. Once I started I never put it down. I'll download Mother 3 and put it in my backlog.

[Midgar Mist]

In no particular order, here are mine

-Final Fantasy 7
-Final Fantasy 9
-Final Fantasy 10
-Grandia (the only thing I hated was the Bogus comment so....ive been contradictory and i love it)
- I really wanna say FF 10 -2 had its good points but you will all kill me so........Final Fantasy 5


You can't ask me to put these in order, they are like my children, CHILDREN dammit