Creating an RPG that can tell a good story is a difficult task that many developers struggle with. It's especially hard because the key is to make the player feel involved in the action, like their decisions truly matter when it comes to how the story plays out. This doesn't mean having diverging story arcs or literal decisions for the player to make. What it really means is making the player feel like they're the main character, so they can relate to what's happening on screen.
The best way to do this is to build a believable world. Lore helps the player step into the shoes of the main character and understand the decisions they make, as well as decisions made by other characters they interact with. Unfortunately, good lore doesn't always equal a good story. Many western RPGs make the mistake of creating beautiful worlds, at the cost of storytelling.

Deus Ex: Invisible War

Deus Ex Invisible War
What made the first Deus Ex game so memorable was its genre-bending approach to RPG elements and its amazing story that kept the player engaged all the way through. Invisible War is the sequel to that game and it seemed to simplify everything that made its predecessor great. In the original game, the characters' motivations were a highlight. There were twists, betrayals, and mystery all throughout the game, which Invisible War just didn't have. Instead, the game went for a straightforward approach that fell flat for fans who were looking for a game that kept them on the edge of their seats.

Dragon Age: Inquisition

Dragon Age: Inquisition's story is actually a pretty interesting one with a few good branching paths and characters on the side. However, it was a lot more narrow than it should have been. Compared to Dragon Age: Origins, Inquisition had a lot less freedom of choice and the decisions felt less impactful.
This seemed to be the cost of Inquisition having voice lines on almost every main decision and branching story. Fans felt the trade-off wasn't worth it and wanted a stronger story with more decisions, even if it meant less voice acting for the main characters.

Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect 2 Commander Shephard shooting husks
Mass Effect 2 is a controversial topic for fans of the franchise but one thing is pretty agreed upon: the story is weak. Mass Effect has some of the best world-building and character interactions of any video game franchise out there, and Mass Effect 2 attempted to take a different approach to tell its story. In Mass Effect 2, there's a collection of stories that contextualize characters more than advance the main plotline. Effectively, this sets up the events of Mass Effect 3 pretty well and makes the characters feel a lot more relatable in the process, at the cost of a weaker story.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Combat in Fallen order
The Star Wars franchise has always taken an interesting approach to storytelling. The original movies take place after the events of the movies that came out after them, which was already confusing enough. The best part of Star Wars is its sci-fi fantasy that pushed the boundaries of viewer's imaginations when it released.
In Fallen Order, the story tries to replicate tropes from the movies like the death of a mentor character and an unbeatable Darth Vader, but the story takes a backseat to the gameplay. The story isn't necessarily bad, but it's one of the weaker aspects of the game for sure.

Destiny

Destiny squad rolling out
Destiny's story can be broken down into a few sentences, and on paper, that's really not a bad thing. Simple stories can be dictated by lots of action and can keep the player engaged without making them scratch their head in confusion at complicated plot points. RELATED: 5 RPGs In 2020 That Didn't Get Enough Love ( And 5 That Got A Little Too Much)
The reason the original Destiny's story kind of fails is because it just isn't memorable. The enemies aren't relatable and their motivation is more or less unknown. The game pushes the player into tons of scenarios without really explaining why things are happening aside from that the aliens are evil and must be defeated. Even if it is explained, it doesn't feel important because it's never actually clear what happens if the mission fails. The lore of what happens before the events of the main game answers tons of questions that the player could easily miss without DLC or reading up on the backstory themselves.

Fallout 76

The world of Fallout is dense with lore. There're memorable characters, crazy plot points, and an America rich with its own unique stories in every city. Fallout 76 tries to replicate the feelings of the old games without actually giving the players what made those releases so great.
The game is littered with quests that all end the same way, and there are no real lessons to be learned or reasons to relate to anyone. On top of that, a lot of main story missions are actually found from corpses on the side of roads or in buildings that give the player a sense of direction. Obviously, Fallout 76 wasn't meant to be a story-driven game, but with all the lore it has, it could've been more entertaining to experience.

Two Worlds II

Dialogue options in 2W2
Two Worlds II is an excellent example of a game that prioritizes lore over the story. The game follows the events of its predecessor but everything that happens is basically a look at the past. The player understands why the world is the way it is, and why races became so divided in the original game. It's an interesting approach to storytelling for a sequel for sure, but the story suffers for it. It would be too much to have the player focus on an intricate new story while also trying to understand the complicated events that made the first game the way it was, so they made it pretty simple to digest. The product is a strong understanding of the lore, but a lackluster player experience in the game's actual story.

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Battling a dragon in The Elder Scrolls V- Skyrim
The world of Skyrim is rich with lore from the previous Elder Scrolls entries that influence the story the player gets to see. Nations that formed on Tamriel have relationships with each other based on past events, and races of people have real history and culture. The level of depth in this world is almost unmatched by any other mainstream RPG franchise.
Skyrim suffered from trying to do too much at once with all its lore. The story of the main game is pretty basic. All that needs to be said is "gain power and slay the dragon" and that's pretty much a synopsis of Skyrim. The most interesting aspect of its story was the civil war arc, but Bethesda actually cut that arc short, taking away from the most interesting plot thread in the game.