Which CRPG has the best STORY? (Forked from: Do you not play WoW?)

[Leatherhead]

I tried playing through Torment and got bored very quickly. I pioneered on simply due to everyone heaping praise on it. I kept waiting for it to grip me in some way, but it never did. It just kept getting even more dull. I don't understand why people find it so compelling. It's neither original nor particularly clever.

If one considers World of Warcraft an RPG, which is a topic for another thread, then I would say that hands down it has the best story-line. I've never been into the story of WoW very much simply because the original campaign is very uninvolving. You're very much a witness to the story rather than a part of it.

Then the xpac (The Burning Crusade) improved things a little bit, but I tuned out 'cause it was aliens from outer-space to me (yes, I know that's not technically the case, but...) which put sci-fi in my fantasy and that's like putting orange juice on cornflakes to me (in other words, foul and disgusting, despite the fact that I just KNOW people are going to say, "yummy!").

However, with the advent of 'phasing' in the new game, even I got caught up in the story. It's very much improved the 'grind' of the game and turned the questing into a very cool and involving story-line where you are the central character of an evolving story.

To explain, phasing is essentially a clever way of making the game world interactive whilst working within the confines of a constant environment. Instead of changing the environment, it changes the characters PERCEPTION of the environment. Doing this allows the developers to focus the story on your character. The quests you undertake MEAN something, because to your character, the environment changes to reflect your success.

A good example is one quest chain where you have to infiltrate an enemy stronghold. You gain a few allies, cull a few of their number, and take on the big guy, and once you've done that, the entire area changes to become a base that is friendly to you and has vendors and NPC's and extra quests. Again, technically the area hasn't changed, only the character's perception of it.

The backstory to WoW is incredibly detailed. You might not think WoW is a CRPG, but you have to agree that the story behind it is pretty amazing.

WoWs backstory is rewritten far too often for my tastes. It is interesting in it's own way however, things like elves being mutant trolls are a nice touch.

But more importantly: Phasing is neat in concept, but horrible in practice. It is fun to see the world change when you are soloing, but trying to get a group to do anything while even so much as one character is in a different phase is impossible, defeating the purpose of a massively-multiplayer game.

 

[Wayside]

I tried playing through Torment and got bored very quickly. I pioneered on simply due to everyone heaping praise on it. I kept waiting for it to grip me in some way, but it never did. It just kept getting even more dull. I don't understand why people find it so compelling. It's neither original nor particularly clever.

I think it holds up well next to other games and genre fiction. People whose literary tastes are a little more highbrow, though, won't be impressed by PS:T's "serious" themes.

My vote would also go to either FFIV or VI (that's II or III in the states, respectively).

 

[mmu1]

I suppose I'll throw in another vote for Planescape: Torment.

I have to say I'm a little surprised no one has mentioned Betrayal at Krondor yet - not too much, though, since it's a hugely under-rated game that never got the recognition it deserves. (largely in part due to less then stellar graphics)

The Witcher is great, and I think it's another game that just didn't get remotely the recognition it deserved. I lost count of the reviews I've read that read overwhelmingly positive, even enthusiastic, only to give the game an 8/10 - it's like "made in Poland", by some unspoken agreement, translated into "-10 percentile points". (or rave reviews of the enhanced edition that got the same or barely improved scores as the original... WTF?) It has an engaging story that's pretty damn original, and it's also quite a long, substantial story, especially by today's standards - which is something that is no longer true about too many games. (Mass Effect, I'm looking at you. Amazing digital actors don't make up for a 20-hour storyline)

Deus Ex I think also deserves at the very least an honorable mention - it's an RPG in all the ways that matter, even if it's missing most of the fiddly bits in the stat department, and it's got one hell of a story.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

Really? I found the story of Fallout 3... rather lacking. The world is big and well built, but there's a grand total of ~17 quests in that entire giant world. And, as the OP quoted, wandering around looking for uber-loot doesn't keep me interested for long.

There is more to a game than quests which are marked in your journal and need ticking off to count as "done".

I think my favorite thing encountered so far in FO3 has been the Dunwich Building and it has nothing to do with any quest in the game. It DOES have its own story and reasons to explore and enjoy it.

So, while the number of "quests" may be 17 there are a heck of a lot more stories to be uncovered than that.

DS

 

[JiffyPopTart]

Oh, and my vote for best computer game story goes to....

Star Control II

...and its not even an RPG!

Just playing the first 15 minutes until you meet Fwiffo and learn the tale of how the Spathi and Ilwrath came to guard the enslaved Earth (and why only one ship with one being is left guarding) lets you know how awesome the game is gonna be.

DS

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Link to the Past is another masterpiece, although many like to say that this isn't an RPG. Even if it's not, it is a perfect game with a good story and compelling gameplay. The best in the series, IMO.

I thought it was classified as an "Action/RPG"? I didn't include it since it isn't purely an RPG, but a thousand times yes! I also consider it the best game in the series, with the best gameplay and a great back story that ended up shaping the stories for the more popular (but IMO vastly inferior) N64 titles. I have to say I haven't played Twilight Princess yet, but excluding that, the next best game in the series for plot is Wind Waker (which also ha great gameplay). While most Zelda games start with a rich background story that then largely fades away while the game progresses, WW has a fairly simple starting story and builds on it as the game progresses, with some of the most fleshed-out side characters in a Zelda game. So I'll also recommend Wind Waker.

But yeah, Link to the Past is my all-time favorite game, and I think everyone should play it at some point.

 

[TwinBahamut]

The all-time greatest story in an RPG belongs to Xenogears, hands down. The game is horribly incomplete thanks to budget cuts late in its production and has a mediocre translation, but it is still heads and shoulders above everything else I have ever seen. It fluidly climbs from a humble story to something truly epic in scale, and I have never seen such incredibly plot twists be delivered so believably as in that game. It has everything from complex Judeo-Christian allegories to random mecha anime references, and it has one of the best love stories I have ever seen in a videogame. This one definitely rocks.

Suikoden II has a great story, easily the best of any of the Suikoden series (which other than IV is superb). Suikoden III has the better game mechanics and a few great moments, and Suikoden V is very good, but in terms of raw story Suikoden II is the best.

Vagrant Story may not exactly be a normal RPG, but it is nonetheless a fantastic game with an equally fantastic story. This one succeeds simply by mixing intrigue, mystery, and a very personal story in a nearly perfect balance.

Final Fantasy Tactics is a great one. I wish that I had a chance to play its spiritual predecessor, Tactics Ogre, more than I did, since there were signs that the older game may have had an even better story...

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES is a wonderful game with a very good story (and a long title). Extremely believable and likable characters make this one work, and the setting and struggles they have to deal with only add to that. This is the only game I have seen where a choice between the good ending and the bad one is actually meaningful and thought-provoking. I can't wait until I finally get Persona 4.

It is a bit obscure, but the old action-RPG Illusion of Gaia has a great story as well.

Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter is probably more memorable for its unusual game mechanics, but it has an extremely emotional and personal story designed with the same style and emotion that made Vagrant Story so great. If you go into this game wanting it to be a fairly ordinary RPG like the other Breath of fire games, you will probably hate it, but it meshes game mechanics and story together in an incredible way to get an incredibly unique effect.

There are a lot of other RPGs I truly love out there, such as most of the Final Fantasy series, Chrono Trigger, Lunar, etc, but my love for them isn't as story-based as it is based on the combination of story and raw gameplay fun-factor.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

Xenogears is good until you get to the second disk, which is where the developers ate their hands and replaced them with large chunks of ham, promptly forgetting they were making a video game.

Also my god I cannot believe someone beat me to Dragon Quarter. Especially considering I'm one out of the ten people in the entire universe that liked it.

I recently replayed Illusion of Gaia and I cannot believe how I missed some of these things when I was a kid. Good lord, this game is dark. And I don't refer to the in-game lighting.

 

[MichaelSomething]

You people and your fancy smancy games you buy in a store! Instead of paying $60 for a soulless peice of junk put out by a wage-slave-cog of the giant coporate greed machine; why don't you search the internet for some REAL games like...

Charles Barkley Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden Chapter 1 of the Hoopz Barkley SaGa

 

[Tinker Gnome]

Also, I cannot forgive myself for missing this, but Lunar: Silver Story Complete and Lunar: Eternal Blue Complete are both utterly fantastic. Someone mentioned Oblivion being vanilla in a good way, but for me, these two games fit that description perfectly. The setting is fun and familiar, the story is gripping even with it's slight predictability, and the characters aren't cliche for the same reason Rocky isn't cliche - because they're genuine. It's vanilla like ice cream - some people may find it plain at times, but it's always delicious for everyone.

I love you.

Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete still is to this day my favorite game.