Game with the longest story?

[Mirroga]

Persona 4 Arena has to rate up there. Over 40 hours in story mode, and don't even have the grinding aspect of most RPGs...

I might also suggest Blazblue but it would require playing all character story missions on both games (3 if you count the unreleased 3rd installment).

 

[eimatshya]

While a lot of RPGs are really long, I think those that suggested the Longest Journey may be on the right track. A lot of time in most RPGs is spent wading through combat areas. As such, you aren't really engaged heavily in story elements for much of the game. In the Longest Journey, however, there aren't any combat sections or side quests, so the entirety of that rather long game is spent on the central story. As such, while a playthrough of the Longest Journey wouldn't take as long as a playthrough of Final Fantasy VII, if you cut out all the time spent fighting random monsters, I think the Longest Journey would win.

 

[Frission]

Persona & Dragon Age 1 and Planescape.

Does the Whole Baldur's Gate series count? If so that is by far the most epic trilogy in gaming. It also paced itself very well, and there was so much content that you could look back on the games and think "Wow, I've come a long way".