FF9 is a great starting point. Its mechanics are enjoyable and representative of the series as a whole, and its fusion of classic aesthetics with 3-D graphics give you kind of a best of both worlds view of the series.
I agree with you. Blizzard games are automatically treated like the second coming of Jesus, Buddha, Zeus, and Odin rolled into one, always have been with regards to reviewers.
I wish I had gone to Distant Worlds in Pittsburgh in 2015, which would have been close since I am currently in Maryland. Hitoshi Sakimoto was in attendance for that one. I wanted him to autograph Final Fantasy XII or Final Fantasy Tactics. I wouldn't have minded him autographing my Valkyria Chronicles CE, too, but that would obviously be out of place at a Final Fantasy concert even though he did the music for that game, too.
I want Fate/Extella, but unfortunately it came out around the same time as Yakuza 0 and Tales of Berseria, so those are what I got. I like a lot of games that the critics don't (I also don't like a great number of critical "darlings" these days). One of my favorite games last year was Nights of Azure.
I've never been snowshoeing. I'd actually like to try it sometime.
For my part, it's been slightly chilly, but sunny where I'm at. It's honestly been a relatively snowless winter here.
I attended Distant Worlds in March 2013, when it was in Omaha. I sprung for VIP tickets for my wife and myself, which meant I got to go backstage to a little after concert party with Nobuo Uematsu and Arnie Roth. It also happened to be Mr. Uematu's birthday (March 21). Mr. Uematsu autographed the front cover insert of my Final Fantasy IX, which is still in my collection to this day.
The year previous, I attented Distant Worlds when it was in St. Louis. That one was strictly regular seating as I didn't find out about it soon enough for backstage tickets.
My classic example of a game I didn't expect to like but did was the original Final Fantasy Tactics on PS1. I'd just finished Final Fantasy VII and wanted another Squaresoft RPG to play. I bought it because it was on sale, figuring that if it sucked, it was no great loss. It went on to become one of my favorite games of all time. It was a gateway to SRPGs to me, and therefore got me to play two other games that are near and dear to me, Valkyria Chronicles and Sakura Wars.
I've never actually picked up Mass Effect. Tried Dragon Age and DA: I and could never really get into them. Pretty neat to be playing a game for charity that you've never played through before.
FFVI, FFVII, and FFVIII were memorable intros. Also Parasite Eve and Xenogears.
A Link to the Past and Super Metroid also had memorable intros, particularly the brief voice clip from Dan Owsen in the latter.
Zero Mission and FF Tactics Advance were two of my favorite GBA games. I wish they'd release Tales of Phantasia on Virtual Console, even with its slightly mangled localization.
