Recent plot and character driven games

Streeteh · 4 Apr 2010 at 13:01

This is a hard one to quantify i know but hopefully some of you will be able to help. Basically i really want a RPG with a great storyline where the main focus of the game is also said storyline. The reason why i ask is because of Final Fantasy XIII, it just felt like the storyline was there as a tool to introduce you to the endgame content. It gets you there in the last quarter of the game, but it pretty much says:

'Hey, check it out, there's this huge area to explore with loads of content, but it's got nothing to do with the storyline really. If you want to follow the storyline you'll need to leave here and come back later.'

I hate that, i want the majority of the content to be geared towards fully fleshing out a story, if it isn't i have no motivation to continue, especially if it involves grinding. I want deeper characters, a plot that actually makes sense and as a bonus some decent voice acting would help (don't mind if it's in Japanese or whatever). Some more recent examples of these sorts of games would be Valkryia Chronicles or, to a lesser extent (due to a rather lacking story) Lost Odyssey.

I've played Mass Effect 1+2 and Dragon Age, pretty much the only recent western RPGs geared completely towards the story and characters involved within. On the JRPG front i've played Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon (detested, couldn't finish), Final Fantasy XIII, Valkyria Chronicles and Disgaea 3, only one of those actually gave exactly what i wanted.

Now i think about it, it doesn't even need to be a RPG, Uncharted 2, Heavy Rain and Infamous all supplied what i'd consider an enjoyable story with some well fleshed out characters. So yeah, any good story driven games with good characters to recommend?

apeZ · 4 Apr 2010 at 13:45

Bit of a tangent, but have you looked at GTA IV? Or even Fallout 3? Big stories, but still lots of space to just 'do your thing'.

Streeteh · 4 Apr 2010 at 13:46

apeZ said:
Bit of a tangent, but have you looked at GTA IV? Or even Fallout 3? Big stories, but still lots of space to just 'do your thing'.

Both of those games are the opposite of what i'm asking for. I want a game where the story is the main focus, whereas particularly in Fallout 3 and to a lesser extent GTAIV, the storyline is second to doing 'sidequests'.

decmatt · 4 Apr 2010 at 13:50

Old one but KOTOR had a very good story

whitecrook · 4 Apr 2010 at 13:55

Legend of Zelda - series, try twilight princess, wind waker, majoras mask, ocarina of time.

Streeteh · 4 Apr 2010 at 13:55

decmatt said:
Old one but KOTOR had a very good story

Very good shout, and exactly the sort of thing i'm after. Sadly i've already played both

whitecrook said:
Legend of Zelda - series, try twilight princess, wind waker, majoras mask, ocarina of time.

Again, very good, but played them all.

whitecrook · 4 Apr 2010 at 13:59

Broken Sword - never played it but it's supposed to be good?

Streeteh · 4 Apr 2010 at 14:02

whitecrook said:
Broken Sword - never played it but it's supposed to be good?

Argh! Again that's a fantastic suggestion but i've played them

They're utterly sublime though, you should play them

Phatjayunoi · 4 Apr 2010 at 14:09

Yakuza 3? And hopefully 4 in the future if it will get localised as that game also expands to 4 main characters.

This whole series is very character driven and it is technically an RPG as well in the same vein Shenmue was.

Shamikebab · 4 Apr 2010 at 14:11

Deus Ex?

Strife212 · 4 Apr 2010 at 14:25

I don't really know any good recent ones not already mentioned, you have to look back at older stuff imo unfortunately.

Streeteh · 4 Apr 2010 at 14:29

Phatjayunoi said:
Yakuza 3? And hopefully 4 in the future if it will get localised as that game also expands to 4 main characters.

This whole series is very character driven and it is technically an RPG as well in the same vein Shenmue was.

That's in my to buy list, but i'm waiting for it to drop in price. I didn't realize it was very story driven though so i've now moved it up a few notches, cheers for that.

Shamikebab said:
Deus Ex?

Played, loved, completed at least 4 times

Strife212 said:
I don't really know any good recent ones not already mentioned, you have to look back at older stuff imo unfortunately.

Looks like it's time to close my eyes and pick from my pile of Final Fantasys to see which i'll be replaying this year. It's been a while since i replayed FFVI

Shamikebab · 4 Apr 2010 at 14:48

Streeteh said:
Played, loved, completed at least 4 times

good on you

Seems like you've played all the ones I can think of I'm afraid

I know we're in the console forum but how about The Witcher?

Teaf · 4 Apr 2010 at 14:55

Tales of Vesperia!

RPG and quite a long game
Brilliant story and very good characters (very few duffers)
Very good looking graphically if you can cope with cell shading

My opinion at least

And is assuming you own a 360 as ToV only got released in Japan for the PS3 (annoyingly, unless you speak Japanese). I noticed you have a Live! ID and wasn't sure if this was Xbox Live so I thought I'd mention it just in case.

I know we're in the console forum but how about The Witcher?

To be honest, being an RPG nut, I should love this game. But I've tried to play it three times and just get about 3 hours in then get bored to tears. I think I hate it's boring combat system the most. Again, my opinion, lots of people really like it and I think I'm partially disappointed I don't like it as I could see it being a good game.

Streeteh · 4 Apr 2010 at 15:05

flibby said:
Tales of Vesperia!

They keep hinting at the PS3 enhanced port being released in the EU eventually, apparently it's got shed loads more content so i'm holding out in the hope that it is indeed released.

That game is actually tormenting me as i loved Symphonia, but i also want the most complete experience D:

Teaf · 4 Apr 2010 at 15:10

Streeteh said:
They keep hinting at the PS3 enhanced port being released in the EU eventually, apparently it's got shed loads more content so i'm holding out in the hope that it is indeed released.

That game is actually tormenting me as i loved Symphonia, but i also want the most complete experience D:

Aye, understandable, I've already played and completed Xbox 360 version and when I heard the PS3 version had another playable character or two and much more content I really wanted that version, but it's looking a bit bleak I must say which is very disappointing

Still, I live in hope!

If it doesn't come though, I would/can definitely still recommend the 360 version if you have a 360, as it is still a great game and up there amongst my favourite RPG's.

Shamikebab · 4 Apr 2010 at 15:12

flibby said:
To be honest, being an RPG nut, I should love this game. But I've tried to play it three times and just get about 3 hours in then get bored to tears. I think I hate it's boring combat system the most. Again, my opinion, lots of people really like it and I think I'm partially disappointed I don't like it as I could see it being a good game.

I must admit I've not finished it either for the same reason

I'm sure it's great if you can get past the combat system.

@OP How about the other Bioware games? Jade Empire in particular.

Th3D0n · 4 Apr 2010 at 15:13

last odyssey - all the sub quest have something to do with the story. good game but very hard!
blue dragon -bit childish but still ok
infinity undiscovered- iv got it but still not played it is meant to be ok tho

Streeteh · 4 Apr 2010 at 15:13

Shamikebab said:
@OP How about the other Bioware games? Jade Empire in particular.

I've completed all of the bioware games, they are indeed fantastic.

Sadly i think what i've done is played nearly all the games out there that i'd love

Strife212 · 4 Apr 2010 at 15:16

Persona but you've played those.

The only thing I can reccommend is Xenogears/Xenosaga which are truly legendary story driven games but for some reason neither Squaresoft nor Namco Bandai released any of them in Europe (But they did in America) :confused: