Yo, what about Suikoden 2?
That game didn’t rely on fancy graphics or movie scences. It had an intreging and deep plot and memorable charaters. Who could forget that scence where Luca Blight said his final words to you, or when Nanami fell in the hero’s arms as she said her last words and “died”?
Sure, some of the characters in the game might of been cliche, but there was someone for everyone, and they weren’t just one diminsional. Each one was uniuqe in look and personality with some dept in them. Even the minor characters had some feelings and personality.
And the battles, well the battles weren’t as good as Final Fantasy X. But they went hand in hand and it felt like you were actually part of the war and not just reading text and making choices. Right from the start of the game and until even at the end. It made you part of that world.
And I must say that very few games make me care about the charcters as much as Suikoden 2 does. And that’s a great accomplisment from a game which doesn’t rely on fancy graphics, or subperb movie scences.
(Of course, Kumiko-san game’s have always had story and character in them. )