TOO MUCH INPUT! MY CIRCUITS ARE OVERLOADING!

I started gaming in 1994, but had a SEGA Genesis & a mother that wouldn't buy me any cartridge that wasn't on sale for $5 didn't have a blue hedgehog on it, so I completely missed out on all the epic SNES & Genesis precursors. The only time I EVER got new games on that system were what came with it, friends selling off their stuff to buy next-gen consoles, & when Major Video had a big clearance on all their last-gen rentals.

Until stumbling upon this site, I used to be a digital hoarder, buying every game of this type I stumbled across, breathing down the necks of Aldorlera & Amaranth forums waiting for the next game, whining in the Bigfish forums about only having 1 RPG a month.

I'm an RPG addict, especially to the story-heavy 2DJRPG genre, having grown a bit tired of the modern trend of absolute freedom in RPGs; they wanted to get rid of linearness, so now we're stick with a paper thin plot in a world of loosely related events, they wanted complete developmental control of their avatars, so the lack of background story gives you even less story. Lastly they poured their budgets into graphics, effects, & voice acting instead of gameplay & writers.

Now I'm here. I want to download them ALL; the tried & tested & the new kids on the block. Do I even have room & time for that? I guess the best place to start is by asking all of you which games here you think had the best stories & characters? Give me one old favorite & a new one that surprised you.