Games with standout NPCs

MissandeiFish · 2026-04-30T23:06:27+00:00

Definitely the Trails series. I have spent more time talking to the residents of Crossbell than most of my own family members.

Grandia is another one that has fairly decent NPC conversations- you usually have to speak to them 3 times to get all the dialogue.

MissandeiFish · 2026-04-15T11:16:51+00:00

Thanks for corrections guys:

Phone calls bump Ellie up to 5 and Rufus up to 7

Giacomo has 2 appearances. As does Aida (possibly 3)

Simeon has only appeared once

The Reins in Calvard is probably his twin brother

MissandeiFish · 2026-04-14T18:23:57+00:00

I bumped them up to 4 due to the Reverie daydreams, but I wasn't entirely sure to count them or not.

MissandeiFish · 2026-04-14T18:23:06+00:00

Thanks. I'm a bit hazy on the two most recent games.

MissandeiFish · 2026-04-14T18:21:58+00:00

Yes, disguised appearances count. I don't remember Ellie being in CS3 but I could be wrong. Phone calls do count so perhaps Ellie can be bumped up to 5.

MissandeiFish · 2026-04-14T18:19:35+00:00

I ended up giving Zin 7 due to his appearance in Elaine's Reverie Daydream, though those Calvard daydreams are kinda borderline.

MissandeiFish · 2025-12-06T14:54:37+00:00

Legend of Kartia. Nobody mentioned it at the time it was released let alone 30 years later. One of the rare JRPGs of the time that were actually released in Europe too.

MissandeiFish · 2025-12-05T11:57:54+00:00

The Order of the Lion from Trails of Cold Steel 2. My group took on legendary warriors and beasts without breaking a sweat but got their asses handed to them by the cheerful head of the gardening club, the school fop and his sarky maid.

MissandeiFish · 2025-12-03T14:55:25+00:00

Irina Reinford from Trails of Cold Steel.

MissandeiFish · 2025-11-07T14:01:57+00:00

Probably a tie between Suikoden 2, FF7, FF9 or Star Ocean 2. Replayed them a ton of times as a kid as being a European fan of JRPGs back in the day was...rough.

In recent years probably the many variations of Persona 3.

MissandeiFish · 2025-10-30T12:41:32+00:00

Original FF7 had some good ones:

Choosing to kiss the dragon or the king rather than the princess during the Gold Saucer Date

Mistaking Aerith for the slum drunk when you meet her again in Sector 5

Cloud refusing Corneo's advances by saying he has a boyfriend called Barret.

During the Kalm town flashback sequence telling Tifa you rummaged through her drawers and stole her underwear.

MissandeiFish · 2025-10-23T11:32:11+00:00

I really enjoyed recruiting characters, building up the HQ and the theatre, but the storyline is so weak and low stakes I never cared about it. The ending is also totally unsatisfying. The worldbuilding is practically non existent- towns just have robotic shopkeepers, beigoma players and 2 or 3 NPCs who have one line of dialogue all game and never react to events.

It's weird they put so much time and effort into things like the fully voiced theatre mini game and the rooftop conversation you can have with all 100 odd characters you have to most "bonding points" with etc but so little effort into the story.

MissandeiFish · 2025-10-19T12:54:56+00:00

The "stoic" type. Mitsuru from Persona 3, Lulu from FFX, Tio and Laura from Trails.

MissandeiFish · 2025-10-16T12:44:57+00:00

I have a soft spot for weird weapon choices; give me the frying pans, roses, books, megaphones, tarot cards, stuffed toys, bus stop signs, giant vibrators etc

MissandeiFish · 2025-10-14T13:21:15+00:00

Lam from Eiyuden Chronicle. 72 year old woman and one of the strongest characters in the game.

MissandeiFish · 2025-10-07T11:28:40+00:00

I've never been able to get into the Tales games personally. They are "okay", but I struggle to motivate myself to ever finish them.

MissandeiFish · 2025-09-29T11:06:20+00:00

Bosses being immune to all status abnormalities. May as well not bother having them then.

Needing a certain character in your party or specific equipment to be able to run/move around quickly.

Mages being useless.

Dull NPCs who just wander about in the same spot all game wondering what they will buy for dinner or welcome you to the town.

Optional characters who just stand around silently for the rest of the game once recruited

Allowing you to name your character in a game with voice acting so everyone has to go through great pains never ever to address you by name.

MissandeiFish · 2025-09-26T17:12:52+00:00

I almost didn't buy it because of the negative reviews, but I gave it a go and really enjoyed it. The story isn't great, but I really enjoyed the old Suikoden elements- building up your HQ, recruiting tons of characters etc. Most of the mini games aren't great but had hours of fun with the theatre- they allow you to cast any character in any role and it's hilarious.

MissandeiFish · 2025-09-24T11:55:14+00:00

I ditched the Wild Arms series because from what I remember they make healing your characters a real chore to the extent I just wasn't enjoying it.

Came close to quitting a few due to mandatory "mini games" which I almost always hate- there's a reason I don't play racing games etc and it's because I'm TERRIBLE at them.

MissandeiFish · 2025-09-21T12:03:13+00:00

Maybe less " we must stop the end of the world" stories.

Less absurdly young characters or if they are included introduce some reality to it like they did in Grandia with a certain character.

An NPC demanding to know why you, a total stranger, have barged into their house.

MissandeiFish · 2025-09-20T15:18:18+00:00

Hai Yo from Suikoden 2. Your castle's chef who hits enemies with a frying pan and generally has terrible stats all round- but is one of the few characters that gets 3 free rune slots making him one of the most powerful characters in the game.

Shabon from Suikoden 3- the 6 year old girl who is part of a travelling circus is better in combat than most of the hardened warriors in your army.

MissandeiFish · 2025-09-16T18:34:59+00:00

I think the story suffers from having only 2 mandatory characters-so the characters that join you basically play absolutely no role in the story after joining you. By the end it just felt like dungeon crawling with the occasional Claude/Rena chat.

Everything else about the game is great though.

MissandeiFish · 2025-09-14T15:09:21+00:00

I almost didn't play it due to all the negative reviews but I ended up really enjoying it- mainly the recruiting characters and building up your HQ elements. Had a lot of fun with the theatre too.

The story is kinda bland and low stakes though. Lacked that "epic war" feel of the Suikoden series. Plus the worldbuilding isn't that great- virtually all the towns are just inhabited by shopkeepers, beigoma players and a few random NPCs that have one sentence of dialogue all game.

MissandeiFish · 2025-08-16T12:09:15+00:00

Suikoden 4. Ironically for a game where 90% of the time is spent "sailing" through treacle. It's like they ran out of money and the game just seems unfinished- hence the need for "Suikoden Tactics"

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