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

[I'm A Banana]

For the longest time, #8 and #6 warred to be my favorite, then #10 came along and kicked their asses. The amount of emotional resonance put into scenes, especially the one at the end [spoilerishness zapped]. I got misty-eyed.

Me too. I was actually playing it with my girlfriend at the time in the room, and she was bawling and wailing on me, telling me to fix it. She never played FFVII, but honestly that hug and that infamous stab....best...moments...in...FF...ever...

 

[LightPhoenix]

Yeah. I'm old school. I started video gaming when the Atari 2600 was brand spankin' new.

You know you're old when you've actually played E.T. and understand truly how awful it is. Yet, between that and Pong, I still went over to my friend's house every day to play.

Alright, y'all are just being mean now.
I'm gonna have to take my theory and go home.
III is the only game of the 'main' series I haven't played. I was very upset when they released it on the Nintendo DS instead of the PSP.

Firstly, though I've only played a little of FF3 (3j... I find it easier to just use the Japanese numbering, since it's only off for two games), my brother absolutely loved the DS port for it. He said it does the game a lot of justice over the original.

Second, your theory does have some merit (though as I posted before, I don't fall in that category either). Many people maintain a special set of rose-colored glasses for games they played when they first started gaming. Really, I think it's the same for a lot of things, not just video games. Also, I doubt we're a representative sample of gamers... you'd probably be better off checking out polls at GameFAQs.

Could not stand FFTactics. Games that punish you for your experience kill my interest really really fast. Especially when it is the random encounters that are what are auto-scaled to you. I can see the merits of scaling boss battles, since last i checked, those are the ones that SHOULD matter. On the other hand, if the schlubs are piggy backing my XP total, I'm turning the game off. It would not be so bad if the enemies increased in numbers as my characters got better, but if that goblin gained 10 levels just because I gained 10 levels, that is a dealbreaker IMHO.

I also hear you get super characters in the last chapter that make any effort put into leveling allies pretty much pointless.

The gameplay was an issue for FFT... but the story definitely made up for it.

The biggest problem (IMO) with FFT, and in fact most tile-based strategy games on the consoles, is that they reward experience for actions in combat. I suspect that early on, they realized how easily the system can be gamed, and instead of changing the system, took the easy route and made enemies scale in level. There are other issues expected of a initial foray into a new genre (bland combat design, balance issues in NPCs, uneven utility of classes), but they're all secondary to the main one.

 

[Vaslov]

Not really CRPGs, but close enough for this....

I would suggest The Longest Journey. Excellent story and the characters actually developed based on the questions and answers you select. Great game. The follow up Dreamfall was so-so, but worth it if you like the TLJ and want to see the story continue.

I also strongly recommend Blade Runner by Westwood Studios. Talk about a world that reacts to your actions. I played through that over and over just to see the various options play out. If you are really lucky you can find the semi-happy ending. This is from Westwood's golden era.

Both of the games above are quite dated at this point. I think the youngest would of been from the late 90's. If you are willing to go further back into game history...

Day of the Tentacle
Full Throttle (I still own this one just to watch the bar/nose ring scene)
Wasteland (Come on Fallout fans! Where is the love? Ok, so the story wasn't really that great.... But the combat description cannot be beat!)

 

[ProfessorCirno]

It's not much gameplay wise, and it really has almost no story, but Yume Nikki is, bar none, the most atmospheric game I have ever played in my life.

 

[Wayside]

Better make it a third person then. FFI was my first FF game, but FFVI is my favorite followed by FFVII and FFIV.

And a fourth. I still have my FFI cartridge, though it's been collecting dust since the rise of emulators.

 

[Center-of-All]

Lets make it 5. I started with VII, but find IX, X, and Tactics to be far superior.

 

[Darkwolf71]

Ok, moving on. Really.

You guys are just depressing the hell out of me at this point.

 

[Campbell]

I'm reallly digging Rise of the Argonauts. It has a real mythic feel to it.

 

[Sunderstone]

Console-
FFVII - My personal fave of the FF series.
Xenogears - If you can still find this gem.
FFVI (also FFIII on he SNES).

PC-
Planescape: Torment
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Mass Effect

 

[Leatherhead]

Alright, stop jacking with my theory. It's a good one. >.<

Honestly you two are the first to ever dispute it, but I think you are also the first to say that you started with FFI.

anyway all this talk about FFX has me itching to break that one out again... Hmm.

If it helps to refine your theory: the first FF game I ever played was Mystic Quest.