Artistically, I prefer what Disney was doing in the 30s and 40s, but that's a hell of a run of product in the 80s and 90s. I played Castle of Illusion, Quackshot, Virgin's Aladdin, Fantasia.
It was only a few years ago that I discovered that the Duck Tales game was held in high regard. I never heard anyone talk about it back in the NES days.
Coincidentally, I came across this before I read your blog:
You make a good case for this game being a contender for best JRPG. I think it's the best overall FF on the PS1 at least. It's a textbook sample of the sub-genre, featuring its core values and executing them all wonderfully. You can say it's the most balanced fantasy JRPG on PS1 and maybe since then. I think they blew it towards the end when they introduced the "he's a genome!" trope that was already tired by then, but it was surely better than the daft plots of FF7 and 8. This game earned the Fantasy in the title. A magical, colorful world of charm. Only Chrono Cross can match it in this regard.
Strongly disagree that JRPGs were the pinnacle of storytelling though. Too many were loopy fantasy cartoons for kids featuring a whole lof ot scattershot world building and "kitchen sink" mashing of themes. I'd say adventure games overall were equal or better in writing craft and more disciplined narratively. I can see Hemingway, Clive Barker or Dickens writing an adventure game, not so much a 90s JRPG. Brevity is vital, in my mind, and it's something most adventure games had. The longer RPGs got, the sloppier they got. Chrono Trigger, at about 20 hours, is still a more memorable bit of storytelling than most of the genre (I'll take Chrono Cross though). The mighty Planescape:Torment, if played straight through, is not much longer and it's still regarded by many as the best of the best writing in games. There's also Vagrant Story, also in the 20 hour range, which takes cues from Shakespeare and Chaucer. I don't remember FF9 being super long (long enough for that genome nonsense to be introduced, unfortunately), and I did a lot of the side content. Now we have games where anything less than 60 hours is considered a sin but who will remember their plots or dialogue 15 years later?
Now how did I know from the title that it was you who wrote it?
I know a guy who moved to Australia many years ago. He tells me things. If what he says is true...get the fuck out of there, man. The nuts are running the nuthouse.
Good. Gooood. Now play God Hand and Ninja Gaiden for more brutal bosses. Alma laughs at your Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos >:)
Yeah, Bloodborne is sublime. I think it's the level design, lore and art direction that make it stand out from other hack and slash games. Like the other Souls games (minus 2), it's just a joy to exist in its world.
P.S. No seriously, if you enjoyed the thrill of Bloodborne, play Ninja Gaiden Sigma and Godhand. GodHand in particular is perhaps most brutal action game I've played since the arcade days, and that includes all Souls games, Bloodborne, Devil May Cry 3, Ninja Gaiden, etc.
I'm interested in seeing where Zelda U goes. People making a big deal out of the open world, which was present in the very first game of course. I hope it's not Ubisoft or Rockstar open world where you head to the activity node to get your Skinner box fix and the map is littered with icons crafted by the same handful of graphic design graduates (seriously, not much visual difference between the map icons of Skyrim, Mad Max, or MGSV). Whatever happened to elegance in design and presentation? Now there is so much blunt force, HERE IT IS banality.
For me: Zelda U, Barkley 2, Etir, Star Citizen (yeah right), the Planescape: Torment 'sequel', Ni-Oh, Twilight Princess HD, Cuphead, Dragon Quest Builders, Underworld Ascendant, Unreal Tournament. Hopefully some indie surprises I either forgot about or haven't been announced yet.
I wish any of my friends were into this game. Would probably be a blast playing in a group of 3 or 4.
Open world has become just another feature checklist, the game design equivalent of "keeping up with the Joneses." Thus these games often lack hollistic structure, or have jack of all trades design. This is considered a bad thing in nearly every other field of design and construction. Think about it how many open world games today excel in any core area (i.e. shooting, melee, platforming, tactics, etc.). Not many.
On the other hand, they can serve as buffet games for the general population who just want to have some easy fun, in which you take what you want from the table and ignore the rest. I usually have well defined goals when I play an open world game, and have only ever completed a handful of them.
I think MGSV is not intended to play like the typical open world game. I never travel in real time. I always return to the ACC and select missions from the menu. For me, the world serves the purpose of selling the internal reality of the game.
Ni-Oh, Torment: Tides of Numenara, LoZ WiiU, Underworld Ascendant, Dark Souls 3, Star Citizen, Routine, Dragon Quest Builders, Cuphead
Btw, the Elite series featured planetary take-off and landing since the 80s, with 1:1 scale planets and universes (also credited with being the first true open world games). What No Man Sky is doing is populating the planets with life forms. That's the big evolution, no pun intended.
Do want. But I have so many expenses right now I can't get a PS4 or upgrade my PC.
