A couple of weeks ago I finished the storyline of final fantasy X. This was the first jrpg I’ve seriously played and I enjoyed it immensely. It is the atmosphere that surrounds the game that did it for me. Story, character, music all seemed to fit together to create this atmosphere of joy, love, melancholia, nostalgia,… Very often I enjoyed wandering around more than engaging in fights etc. For example: the first time I entered the calm planes felt like pure magic and made me wish I had the “no encounter” ability already at that time.

The philosophical/religious foundation of the story also worked very well for me. Not just good vs evil, but almost a philosophical analysis into the nature of evil, hope, etc.. You can’t just take the story for granted, it expects some serious thought.

Off course, nothing is perfect, neither is this game. I’m still not sure what to think about the Sin/Jecht/Tidus relation or the use of the hymn of the fayth to attract Sin. Yu Yevon also appeared to me to be an underdeveloped character/theme/…(whatever it can be called). Actually the whole end-game appeared to develop way too fast story wise. It somehow feels the same as after having watched the tv-serie Lost: coming up with something great, but not exactly knowing how to end.

I hope I have been able to make clear why this particular game appealed so much to me. I’m aware that a lot of people don’t like FFX at all, even hate it.
But my question is simple, though the answer is probably not: do you know of any game that offers somewhat the same as FFX has offered me? Summed up it is the atmosphere and the philosophical/religious foundation of the storyline.

I’ve borrowed FFIV and FFVI from a friend and played it for a while but I couldn’t get into it. Especially FFVI is for a lot of people the best Final fantasy to be found but after spending a couple of hours on both games I didn’t feel that story-pull that I’ve experienced very fast in FFX. Off course, the generation gap is quiet big (graphics and music), but should I give the story a decent chance? It appeared to be more of a classic good vs evil story. Like for example in FFIV, it appears to be about finding some crystals before some bad guys can do some terrible things with it, nothing more nothing less.

At the moment I’m playing Persona 4 golden on the PS Vita. I’ve bought it because of the many recommendations that can be found on the internet. But after playing 20+ hours I’ve not been really able to get into the game either. I do like several elements that create some depth (Jungian psychology, the characters have to confront themselves,…) but all in all the game appears quiet flat to me. The battle system is repetitive and boring. The characters haven’t yet appealed to me in an interesting way. And the music…terrible…a few pop tunes that annoy already after the third time hearing it. I will continue this game, but it wouldn’t surprise me if don’t finish it.

So please, share any meaningful thought you would like to share about the subject matter. Although I'm especially looking for something for the vita (knowing that this narrows the possibilities tremendously) any recommendations are very welcome.

All the best!