I think I've covered a lot of this stuff before, but so what?

[vovat]

After we watched a segment about Halo 3 on the TV last night, bethje mentioned that she doesn't think video games are as good as they used to be. This isn't an uncommon opinion; I've seen it made plenty of other places, and I agree with it myself. It seems like the focus now is mostly on flashy graphics and top-notch sound [1], and while it's amazing how far these things have come in a fairly short amount of time, I don't know that it makes the games any more fun to play. I remember when I used to play games on my old Texas Instruments computer, and I was never very good at them, but that didn't seem to matter as much back then. Maybe that's more of a change in my own attitudes than in the games themselves, though. Am I just being Cranky Kong here?

I have heard that more recent games are easier, to the point that someone should be able to beat them after playing them only a little while. And, really, just look at how much harder the original Super Mario Bros. is compared to its sequels. Then there's the original Zelda, where you were given little or no indication as to where to bomb or burn in order to find things. Later games in the series provided cracks in the walls and such, but that first one pretty much left you on your own, or else relegated you to a strategy guide or tip hotline. [2] For that matter, not too long before these early Nintendo games came out, the idea that you COULD win a video game was pretty novel. As someone who's not very good at video games, you'd think I'd appreciate this decline in difficulty. But I have to imagine that an easier game is more of a throwaway commodity, since you don't have to stick with it for as long before finishing.

I can't say I follow the charts for video games any more than I do for music or movies, but it seems like war games are really big nowadays. In fact, that appears to be about ALL you can get for the XBox, aside from the inevitable games based on movies I didn't see [3]. One thing I appreciate about Nintendo is that they presumably intend on making Mario and Zelda games for ages to come. Even if I've never been good at those games, I still like them, and the fact that they maintain the familiar while still introducing new elements. But then, considering my taste in books and such, is it any wonder that I'd have a preference for child-friendly fantasy in video games as well?

[1] It appears to be increasingly common these days for games to simply play regular songs, which is cool from a technological perspective, but kind of a shame to a fan of old-school video game music, who has the Super Mario Bros. 2 theme as his ringtone. I was, however, rather amused a few years ago when I found out that one of the songs played in a game my brother had was Cibo Matto's "Birthday Cake," which I knew from the Brain Candy soundtrack.
[2] I can't say that I ever called the Nintendo help line. Now I kind of wish I had, for the sake of the memories.
[3] Possible topic for a future post: Good, bad, and indifferent licensed games based on movies, TV shows, etc. Just to give you a sneak preview:
GOOD: DuckTales for the NES
BAD: Bart vs. the Space Mutants

Comments

[jenhime.livejournal.com]

I'm mostly a fan of RPGs/RPG-style tactics games and there are some good ones out there if you know where to look. I adore the Atelier Iris games and Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2 were both fun. I'm still a fan of the Final Fantasy games, even though I haven't played any of the newer ones (>9) other than Crystal Chronicles (which is great!).

I don't play the more point-and-shoot/war-type games just because I don't think they're very fun. I like story and/or strategy. --And awesomely cute graphics certainly help retain my attention. :)

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I'm mostly an RPG fan myself, both because I enjoy the stories and settings, and because they generally don't require good reflexes and eye-hand coordination. I haven't played any of the recent FF games either; I got up to the part with the space rocket in FF7, and played a very little bit of FF9. I do have Crystal Chronicles, but I haven't done much with it. I'd like to get back to it someday, but the fact that it's more action-based makes it more difficult for me than a traditional RPG. Besides, I still need to finish FF5.

[petie-s.livejournal.com]

I mostly agree. However, there was a lot of arbitrary things in old games. Bombing every wall in Zelda didn't take skill as much as just time and patience. Not that there's anything wrong with patience. :)

I too had the SMB2 ringtone for a while. Now, I've got the Zelda "Hey! Look! A treasure!" theme.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, with some older games, it seems like the design is almost totally random, and hence tedious to players. I get the idea that they also tended to have more weird bugs, like the infinitely looping underwater world in the first Super Mario Bros. (which I've never seen first-hand; I remember reading how to get there, but I couldn't quite understand the directions).

[twobitme.livejournal.com]

I agree to a point, but there's still plenty of damn good games out there. BioShock for 360 was amazing. Dead Rising is like an old school hack and slash (with zombies!). The Ratchet and Clank series is super fun. Lost Planet was a good adventure game.

It really depends on what you look for. Usually the most popular games (Madden, Call of Duty, etc...) interest me the least.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Since I'm just not a sports person in general, sports games really don't interest me. But they seem to maintain a steady level of popularity, presumably among people who have more of a balance between their jock and nerd sides. {g}

As with most things, some popular video games are actually good, while others are the kind of thing that makes you wonder whether a large portion of the population is suffering from brain damage. I actually thought it was kind of weird when the Final Fantasy series achieved a certain level of mainstream popularity.

[vilajunkie.livejournal.com]

I'm still really surprised at the popularity of the FF franchise. The characters (at least in the 3D adventures) are really geared more toward girls than boys, with the height of this gender dimorphism being FFX-2, where all male gameplayers except myself think it's the worst RPG game on earth (in storyline and special moves, not in general gameplay or graphics) while there are many female fans, enough to cosplay as their favorite FFX-2 character. Also, so much of the game is about collecting things and trying out combos, which not everyone has the patience for. In fact, most FF guides I see online advise you to "tank" your most powerful but slowest characters and keep your quickest, weakest characters as healers. I like to mix it up and let all the characters play to their strengths or evolve in ways that aren't typical to other gamers' characters. For example, I taught my long-range shooter (Wakka) in FFX to steal, which seems silly since he's more of a "tank" character. BUt, long-range shooters have high accuracy, and so his stealing ability has high accuracy. See how an unusual combo works out? I think most gamers don't strategize very much, which is the whole point of an RPG.

I always choose family-friendly fantasy over war games and sports games. I hate those kind of games very much. Even "God of War" is better, and that's a pretty vicious, bloody fantasy game.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

The characters (at least in the 3D adventures) are really geared more toward girls than boys

I kind of wonder if the creators were intentionally aiming to gain more of a female audience with some of the later FF games. The casts in the earlier entries in the series were more male-dominated, with the female party members tending to be either love interests or precocious youngsters. It also seems like the casts have gotten younger on average.

In a way, I'd say it would make sense to make healing characters as strong as possible. If they're constantly dying or having to use their powers on themselves, they're not going to be all that useful to the rest of the party. I suppose they don't generally need a lot of attack power, though.

[vilajunkie.livejournal.com]

Have you heard the rumor that all the 3D male leads were based on the physical appearance of the J-pop singer Gackt? Seems plausible, but don't most attractive Japanese males look the same anyway?

FFXII has brought the character ages back up. The two youngest are both 17, and they are also the least experienced, unlike the 18yo superpowerful Cloud in FF7. The next youngest are in their early twenties, and have suffered a lot of psychological damage in their lives, one having her husband die right after the wedding, and the other being abused by his overbearing, power-hungry father. The next oldest is a general at age 33, and the oldest playable character of all is at least 60 to 70 years old (and is a near-immortal with eternal youth). There is a 12yo guest character, and the other guest characters are in their late thirties or forties.

I mostly use my magic for cure spells and dispel/esuna. Rarely do I ever use elemental magic, unless it's an enemy that can only be defeated by magic. I focus on weapons with special abilities so I can save up my magic points.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Seems plausible, but don't most attractive Japanese males look the same anyway?

Probably to Americans, but the reverse is likely true as well. I understand from what I saw in the retrospective that the more recent games use more Asian-styled backgrounds and such. Most of the characters and locations in the earlier games seem more European, which I guess goes along with the whole swords-and-sorcery theme. They managed to sneak martial artists and samurai into most of them, though.

I tend to use little offensive magic except on bosses, as I'd rather conserve the magic power. Of course, I often end up not using any of it at all before reaching a point where I can restore it, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

[vilajunkie.livejournal.com]

Well, ok, I guess that was stereotypical of me. But you have to remember that most, if not all, actors and pop stars in Japan are hand-picked by studio agents. While the commericialism and rigid fakeness of boy bands like the Monkees and the Backstreet Boys is uncommon in the US, it's an industry standard in Japan. So in effect, most of the actors and singers are going to look the same, because the studios want males that all look the same. It's really pathetic, but you can probably tell what studio a Japanese actor/singer works for by their physical appearance and dress--it's that structured.

FFX was probably the most Asian of all the games, as the geography of the landmasses were directly taken from Japan's geography. Most of the plants and trees in FFX are Japanese species. Not only that, Tidus is Okinanwan for "sunlight" and Yuna is Okinawan for a type of flower (plum? cherry?). FFX is the only one that I know of where the creators stated out loud that the game was based majorly on Japanese culture and environments. Remember the summon Yojimbo? He's named after a specific type of samurai mercenary. All the other summons from FFX and other games are FF originals or from Western mythology.

Two things about FF12: One, it is one of the few where the world is actually a world. Each location has its unique geography and creatures, rather than all the forests being the same and all the caves being the same. Instead of palette swaps, as in every other FF game, the monsters have unique bodies, even if they are in the same families. Two, I am so happy that the designers added the ability to regain MP by walking around and giving physical damage. It's rare that I use an ether; the only time I use them is when I'm desperate to raise MP and I can't wait 20 minutes to walk around in a monster-free zone.