I think I found him!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-2QjsLtjp8
x100.  This seems to be the framework for like...all harems.
...Oh, except for School Days haha.  YouTube that for some good times.

MINOR SPOILERS BELOW...!...and its all "IIRC"

Individual purposes for life.  The past torment that shadows on each character runs pretty deep, the the voice acting is top notch to bring it out.  There is political story.  Luke is the son of a duke who, after a mishap, is taken along with a religious order's soldier (Tear, the brown hair girl) to enemy land.

The game kind of hit a few philosophical concepts; dealing with predestined lives.  The "score" (a stone that predicts everyone and everythings future) essentially runs the lives of people on the planet because it knows what it is going to happen next.  People have unsuccessfully challenged destiny until an anomaly occurs and shit goes crazy.

Lastly there is a big environmental thing.  No, everyone does not start protesting green-house gases.  But rather the world is elevated from the *actual* planet's crust, so essentially, everything is a floating island.  The world below is plagued with a toxic miasma.  The continents are held up by "Sephiroth trees", which are being threatened, and could potentially lower the lands back into the miasma, causing doom.

The evil game villains each have a unique story to have a gripe with destiny or a main character.
Same with the main characters, they all have effed back stories to peak your interest.

That sums it up.  I remember how often I got jerked around by Final Fantasy Tactics.  Meant the difference between life or death sometimes...especially when it came to the grief that accompanied the execution site level.

I'm not as big into anime as I used to be... but I got reaally hooked on Haruhi Suzumiya when it first came out.
I was also part of the legion of people who were incredibly disappointed with the second season's Endless Eight arc.

However, it does fit nicely with the movie, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya!
What an aaaamazing film!!!  It was beautifully animated the whole way through.
The storyline gets incredibly deep and very involving.  And I loved the writing; being adapted from a novel, it sort of makes sense.  But Kyon is especially a fantastic narrator to take the viewer through the series, fulfilling a sort of bystander role.  But his clever...um, thoughts, I guess (when its just him in his head) are surprisingly a highlight of the show to me - he makes incredibly insightful remarks haha.

Basically it starts off with a Christmas celebration that Kyon is not at all excited for, but wakes up the next day and everything is "Normal".  As in, aliens, espers, and time-travellers don't exist and Haruhi doesn't even attend the school. Spoilers below...

You sort of get the notion that the author probably digs the harem games; all he girls seem to crush on Kyon a little bit.  Goddamn Japanese making the most unlikeable putz being chased by (usually) gorgeous voluptuous anime chicks.

Thats fucking despicable.

I can't believe it.  Poor little girl.  I don't drink that much, and even when I do, I know my limit to prevent anything so hazardous.  Stories like this justify pot-smoking, in my opinion.  At least high, those boys would be doing fuck-all instead. :P

Or a big ol', "meh". :P

This seems to be an issue to some people lately.  So, humour us, what was your favorite video game story evar?  Please tell a bit why too!!!
ALSO!!!!  WHICH WAS MOST 'DISAPPOINTING'?
NOT BAD, but disappointing.  What was built up and fell short?  Or what was a really good story before (something) ruined it?

LOVE!!

Terranigma - I loved this one.  You pretty much start off in underworld, and work towards reviving earth.  The twists along the way was something that floored me for an SNES title.

Final Fantasy 6 - I think it was the first time character development went so deep for a game.  That, and I may be attacked with a sense of nostalgia when I put this here.  But anyways.  An interesting, beautifully painted world, combined castles with machinery in a graceful fashion.  And, well, the world gets destroyed a bit.  When will Squeenix remake this title instead?! Bonus point for stealing the song "Johnny Be Good"

Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter - for a minimalist storyline, brought on by further, tiresome, plays... the story was deep.  Ryu struggled against his friend who is willing to do anything to surpass him, Nina is the victim of poverty and cruel experiments, and Lin...helps out!  The characters aren't featured very long; but I think its a combination of the world and atmosphere.  People have forgotten what a blue sky looks like (and paint the ceiling of one of their underground cities blue to simulate it).  There was a great deal of haunting in this game too.

Tales of the Abyss - WOW!!  Strong character development (if not the best the series has seen), political agendas (and characters representing each facet), vindictive (but purposeful) villains, and an emotional ride through character dilemmas and an unmerciful ecosystem that threatens to poison its inhabitants. LOVE LOVE LOVE! Haha

Final Fantasy VII - like VI, a fantastic mix of modern themes and fantasy.  Somewhere between Midgar and the City of Ancients you get pulled into this fantastic world.  Strong characters, and interesting enemies.

Resonance of Fate - yeah...sorry..I've done nothing but blah-blah about it here too.  But it gets a spot.  again, minimalist storyline; some key parts are actually seen in the games opening (thats new), and some parts where you need to connect the dots yourself.  Tri-Ace has trouble with storylines, but they're excellent at "classic" storytelling that plays out simple events in a meaningful fashion.

Chrono Cross/Trigger - another WOW!!  The time bit gets played our gracefully (an amazing concept that really isn't used that often).  I LOVE how the first game gets you walking around in time, and the second has you skipping between dimensions (a perfect follow up, and a deeper continuation to the events in Chrono Trigger).
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DISPPOINTED!!

Tales of Vesperia - I still love this game, and its still like a 9.(something) in my book.  BUT WOW!  It feels INCREDIBLY incomplete!!  Aside from the fact that the game's opening is incredibly misleading (I don't think Raven ever has an issue with the lanky fucker from the hunters guild).  Duke seemed to have been thrown in as a last boss...I don't know why; it wasn't very memorable.  Characters barely have backstories explained (however, I'd argue the game was more about character GROWTH than their past conflicts).  Flynn completely forgets any problems he has with Yuri.  Alexei is seen a total of two times before he's established a villain...our of nowhere.  Makes use of a few too many Deus Ex Machinas too...  The game has a charm though that won't let me hate it - and I say that in a good way.

Final Fantasy XIII - too much of the game is explained in the glossary.  Which I wouldn't mind if as much time isn't already wasted in cutscenes.  FUCK!  Hope!  I don't care about your dead mom or your project Nora to get revenge.  Vanille!  Stop squeeking incohesive nothings and start saying good shit!  Serah!!....oh Serah.... cheer the fuck up!  Sazh is wonderful though.  The story is good!  To compare it, however, is like a six-pack of abs hiding on a "pudgy" individual.  Its there, just hiding.

You said wet noodle and I wanna go swimming.  Fuck you Canada and your 7 months of relatively shittier weather!!!!

Um; I don't have much of an opinion (if thats what you were asking).  I haven't lived in Japan. :P
I wanted to post it because Japan is such an *it* place right now with the gaming and anime craze that hit northern america (now more than before anyways).  SO I thought an article that tells people that it isn't all its cracked up to be a good read.  Obviously you take it with a grain of salt, and I'd still love to go.  And yeah, you can stretch some of his problems as happening cross-culturally.

The one thing that freaks me out is when art reflects life, and not the other way around.  When you see a Japanese talkshow have a cute, young hostess, clenching her fists, raising it up and going "yeah!", I roll my eyes.  Similarly, when you see bloody maid cafes.  From what I've learned about being Japanese....it sounds exhausting (I don't care to elaborate on that right now - homework).

I dunno... I felt the second article was too much of "an apology for the sake of an apology".  It didn't feel no where near as convincing (in accordance to the author's beliefs) as the first one.

I'm not trying to say anyone is right or wrong; I'm glad everyone here was so apt and willing to dissect the article so thoroughly!  I <3 RPGfan! :D

Paprika was fucked.  A good fucked, though.  One thing I liked was that while the whole movie is about 'dreams', the sequences where the characters are wandering around in them feeling nothing short of what a dreaming-experience feels like (for me at least).

When they show the cop at the beginning; and his partner shot, but he never quite hits the ground.  As much as the cop tries to run, he's stopped by his dreams' sluggish movement.  The way he was whipped up in the cage, and falling into the same stage he was on a moment later.  Very strange - but again; it felt as cohesive as dreams actually are!

Watched Jesus Camp for class...  While there are numerous things wrong with the movie (such as religious portrayals, the fact that they were likely mislead to have the film-makers do a documentery only to be mocked after, and the mullet that one kid had).  But definitely a crazy thing to watch.  Scary stuff, I feel horrible for the kids.

WHen I said Lavos; I just couldn't think of a villain I actually liked.

At least I didn't.  I remembered Kefka did scorch the world beautifully.  I like him!  Made me laugh!  Made me sad.  Made me....speculate (his wardrobe)

*This* is what I heard to support my previous post here.

I keep asking myself that as well...
That better be a helluva two-hour finale.
Also, there is apparently going to be a surprise end scene - the actors don't even know what it is.

1 Resonance point means you run to first base (baseball style) while 3rd character goes home (to where you were)
2 Resonance means you run second base, while the 3rd character runs to first base.
Just think of it like baseball.

You can get every character to jump, by the way, its not restricted to the one character you let start the tri-attack.
Which works, because it seems some enemies are only effected if you hit a part near the top of the body.  This can also work to letting you pull off a few more gun charges.  Run to the very end of the anchor, and *jump* just before you get to the end and the gun will charge a whole lot more.  Its harder to time during a tri-attack, since you working with three anchors at once, but you can pull off a shit load of damage