RPG with the best story / dialogue

[Kalin]

Hey Shillington approve this dudebro's post already. Seems like a great guy in my book on account of hating bum-fucking sicko mutant FAGGOTS.

As for recommendations, CryptRat already hit it on the head, Arcanum, Staglands and Geneforge series are all excellent.

 

[buffalo bill]

Darklands

Making your choice most carefully, you pick out a local girl who seems very attractive. To your surprise, she bursts out in tears and falls to her knees in despair. "You have chosen well," says the village Schulz. "We could have done no better." Then, turning to the girl, he says, "Alas, my girl, tears will do no good. It is for your people and your family we do this."
They bedeck the girl in fancy clothes and jewelry. Then they take her to the outskirts of town and tie her to a stake!

Also, all the dialogue when you are in a devil-worshiping town.

(and Fallout of course)

 

[Rake]

Mask of the Betrayer. Fallout. Age of Decadence.

This.

 

[deama]

Like others said, you'll have better luck with movies/books, but if you really wanna...

Uhh, you tried the dragon age/mass effect series? I know the gameplay isn't that great in them, but the stories aren't too bad.

I know Jade Empire is good-ish the first time you play through it. A bit heavy on the combat side of things, but just turn down the difficulty.

Undertale? Is that considered an RPG or JRPG or what?

 

[LAO]

play adventures games instead,the majority of RPGs are slowed down by pointless combat and fetch quests.

 

[Bester]

How often do I need to tell you that you should read books if you're into 'story'?
Why do you people never learn?
Where do you come from?

There are about as many books with good writing as there are games with good writing.

 

[LAO]

play adventures games instead,the majority of RPGs are slowed down by pointless combat and fetch quests.

not to mention most of them have a boring save the world story and a generic fantasy mediaval setting.

story is definitely not the main focus of the majority of rpg games.

 

[Incendax]

Too bad Betrayal at Krondor is from 1993 or I might suggest that.

I’m going to suggest it anyway. 93 is close enough, and it is a damn good game.

 

[Ebonsword]

Planescape: Torment nothing comes close.

What? Torment can't even begin to compare to the brilliant dialogues in Evenicle.

 

[aweigh]

Final Fantasy 6

SUIKODEN 2

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

I am new to rpgs and only started playing recently. I really like well written stories and dialogue but kind of dislike combat and would prefer to avoid it if possible. I can tolerate quite a fair amount of janky gameplay as long as the story and narrative are good. What are some games I should check out?
So far I've played:
Planescape Torment (LOVED this) (is tides of numenera any good)

If you loved Planescape: Torment, then you'll probably like other JRPGs. Try Final Fantasy VI (originally released as Final Fantasy 3 outside Japan); although there's lots of filler combat, it's fairly easy. Similarly, you could try Final Fantasy IV (a.k.a. Final Fantasy 2) or Final Fantasy IX. Of course, these games have a relatively small amount of text compared to Planescape: Torment, instead combining written dialogue with images, music, and animation for a more holistic artwork than the literary-minded Planescape: Torment. If it's written dialogue and descriptions that you're really after, then rather than JRPGs you should try Fallout, Arcanum, Morrowind, or Age of Decadence.

 

[HoboForEternity]

Not really an RPG per se, but sorcery!part 1 to 4 from inkle was great. Legit fun CYOA adventure with creative spell system and greay reactivity, the closest game to a legit PnP adventure imo

 

[HoboForEternity]

As for jrpg, check out trails in the sky, then trails of cold steel.

Best worldbuildin in a jrpg

 

[Forest Dweller]

Infinitron stop being a jew and approve that guy's post.

Also, T:ToN was good. In my opinion a worthy successor to the original. I'm feeling like making a thread since it got such a bad rep on the Codex.

 

[Kruno]

Dragon Age 2. It has the most ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ characters.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Witcher 3 for overall quality of the writing and quest design, second place isn't even remotely close to it.

 

[HoboForEternity]

Meh, witcher is actually middle ground in term of quest design. Most quests are actually linear, and they do branch out narratively, while not so much mechanically.

The apex, like fallout or arcanum, most of the quest are founded upon mechanical variety, that the path / story you want to choose also affect how the quests are done, which skillset you can use, what kind of character are you.

While witcher 3, imo is still a great game, and compared to embarassment of an RPG that arr bethesda games and bioware craps, it is better but the approach is totally different.

Aside from using the Jedi mind trick, witcher 3 dont offer mechanical variety as much as the classics. Most of the changes, while i think they are decent, good variety even, are purely in the static narrative of the game instead of beautiful marriage between game system and storytelling.

 

[DraQ]

Planescape Torment (LOVED this)

It will be hard to top that.

From your list:

• Also play FO1. Not exactly the greatest story ever, but there is a reason most folks here get fits of rage should anyone speak ill of it (and in this particular case the reason isn't just mental issues).
• The Witcher 1. It's not as good as a story due to the fact it seems like the team wasn't sure if they are adapting the books or following them up until late in the development process, but it's still a good story.

Outside of your list:

• Anachronox. It's not a real RPG, because genre wise it's one of those things Japanese and weeaboos insist, against all evidence, on calling RPGs, except it's not Japanese (made by Ion Storm) and not on a console. You'll have a blast even though it comes with obligatory crap gameplay (as required by the genre).

If you can settle for rich lore, gameworld and backstory rather than story proper (and can take lacking gameplay and bland character interactions), I recommend Morrowind. Feel free to see other games in the series but avoid Oblivion like a plague it is.

Baldur's Gate 2.

You should probably start with BG1 to maximize your enjoyment with BG2.

BG2 might not be perfect but suggesting that dropping the entire series before you even get to it is "maximizing enjoyment" is a bit harsh.

Its like saying I can tolerate a game that plays bad. Its like saying you can tolerate shit movies as long as the music is good. If you want a great narrative, read a book. Games are for playing, not for reading. Sure, you can waste your time playing them 'for the story' but you will waste your time doing something that the medium you are dealing with is subpar at, while sacrificing the core element of the medium, which is how the game plays.

Remind me, why are you playing cRPGs again?

Because I can't recall a single (unmodded) one with consistently good gameplay. At best you get some highlights punctuated by multiple instances of "bang your head against the wall until you pass out" grade idiocy.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Realms of Arkania HD.

 

[vota DC]

Ultima Underworld
Bica, yeshor'click?

The dialogue itself was great, dialogue system was a bit primitive with only esssential updates: Vernix repeat me to kill the grey goblin king even if I have already done it.

 

[aeroaeko]

What about Expeditions: Conquistador? This game looks really interesting.

 

[Darth Canoli]

If you liked PS:T, you're going to like Tyranny settings, dialog, characters and story.
The combat part, on the other hand start on the ok/good side and becomes extremely tedious at some point.
Companions side quests aren't very interesting.

Still, you should try it.

Heroes V campaigns are very interesting (interesting story, a lot is going on)

 

[Comte]

What about Expeditions: Conquistador? This game looks really interesting.

Sup Drog

You try Arcanum yet?

 

[aeroaeko]

If you liked PS:T, you're going to like Tyranny settings, dialog, characters and story.

ok this game looks good but I've heard a lot of bad things about it, especially the second half.

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

Spellforce 3 has surprisingly good writing.