Memorable Story/Characters?

Eyyy, It's been a while since I played a game, that left an impression with me in terms of story telling or characters, last one was Tales of Arise. I think I mostly play arpg or action games with grinds, they usually only have decent story/characters as a filler for the combat and grinding for loot. I think older games had better story telling. So what games do you recommend, no spoilers please, and retro games are even more appreciated so I can play on my emulator.

Probably already played it, but I am a fan of Shadow Hearts Covenant. It's a fairly long game with several big twists and wildly varying side quests. There is technically 4 games in the series starting on the PS1 and ending on the 2. SH3 is a self contained story with a couple cameos from previous titles. If you play 1 and 2 you'll have most of the information you need to understand the universe. Yuri is one of my favorite protagonists of any game. If you enjoy Nier or Drakengard you will probably enjoy this series.