RPG plot cliche

[Valkyrie-Favor]

A lot of times an RPG with decent storytelling is lauded just because it's less of a cliche storm. Say, Parasite Eve? It's even rarer to find an RPG that is worth it -just- for the writing, even if the gameplay is solid.

Sometimes it's all in the presentation. Although the basic plot isn't any better, the game might put a little more heart into it. Say, Jeanne D'Arc. That was a really enjoyable narrative, style over substance but it surprisingly did have substance. And awesome French accents.

RPGFan did a "Top 10 best written RPGs" list a few days ago: http://www.rpgfan.com/features/Top_10_B ... index.html

I don't completely agree with it, but that's about the best RPG games have done. Notice the two Japanese games are at the bottom of the list, and they are Persona 3 and Xenogears (lol).

I'll defend anime though, go watch Welcome To The NHK and come back.

[pierrot]

I was actually playing Parasite Eve in October, and I had a similar thought about the story. It was nice to see something a little different, but I don't know if I could honestly call the story good. I may have been expecting a little too much in knowing that the game was a sequel to a novel, though.


Also, I don't think that ALL anime and manga is derivative. There are definitely some key exceptions, but when you look at the majority of popular anime and manga, they're generally as substantive and meaningful as American sitcoms. (I might say even less so, personally, but to be fair, that may not be the case,)

[Menegrothx]

RPGFan did a "Top 10 best written RPGs" list a few days ago: http://www.rpgfan.com/features/Top_10_B ... index.html

I don't completely agree with it, but that's about the best RPG games have done. Notice the two Japanese games are at the bottom of the list, and they are Persona 3 and Xenogears (lol).

I wonder why they picked Persona 3 over 4. Spoony said in his review that P3s plotline insults the players intelligence (hey there's a tower, let's go climb it) while P4 gets you involved in the murder mystery from the beginning so you have a good reason to keep on playing. I dont think that P3's plot line is that bad, but it really pales in comparison to 4. Although I think that the ending of P4 was kind of a lackluster

I dont get it why there had to be another big evil monster who tried to destroy the whole planet, I was a lot more satisfied when Adachi was the final villain

while Persona 3s ending summed up things very nicely. The whole murder mystery of P4 was brilliantly written and it had a lot more intresting plot twists than P3's plot.

While perhaps lacking in amount of dialogue when compared to the top 10 games, I'd say that the collective plot line of Ultima IV-VI is absolutely brilliant and in certain aspects unparalleled even today. And the most mindblowing part is that those games were released in 1985/1988/1990.

I'll defend anime though, go watch Welcome To The NHK and come back.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

Good man.