finalark
SNORLAX
Link to original post: [drupal=2429]Ten games that changed the way I look at gaming[/drupal]
I really do stand on uncommon ground when it comes to gaming, don't I? I thought that Ocarina of Time was great, not perfect, I found Final Fantasy VII to be a load of mediocrity and I actually LIKED Twilight Princess. So yeah, I have odd opinions on gaming, but what caused this? Well, here are the top ten games that changed the way I look at gaming. Note that this list is not a list of my favorite games nor is it a list of what I consider to be the best, it's just a list of games that changed the way I see things, for better or for worse. And note that the list isn't organize by how good I though the games were, but rather, by how much they changed my outlook on gaming. And with all of that out of the way, let's get started.
10. Final Fantasy X
This is the third best Final Fantasy to date, what I think the the second and first best are I'll leave up to you the guess (hint: it's not VII). But it wasn't the story that really changed how I look at things, but rather the railroad style game play. From this I learned that railroading is bad in table-top RPGs, but when it comes to JRPGs this is the way to go. This game made me realize exactly how stupid it was how in previous Final Fantasies (and many, many other JRPGs) the plot would go run somewhere to hide, and while you're told where it's hiding you're not told how to get there. So you'll usually have scenarios where you'll be searching all over the world map trying to find where the plot went until you eventually get sick of this and either look on GameFAQs or just stop playing altogether. Final Fantasy X took this away by just railroading you to the next point in the plot, which not only keep my wanting to play but also highlighted the very reason why I play RPGs in the first place, the story.
9. The Lord of the Rings Online
Up until I played this game, I had lost faith in online games communities. Battle.net, Gunz, Xbox Live, you name it, chances are my experience with the community was... less than good. But then the Lord of the Rings Online happened, and I played it, and was the community incredible. No mailbox dancing, no stupid ten-year-olds spamming up general chat, polite and intelligent community, it was just incredible. I know I poked fun at Tolkien earlier on this list but I really think that this makes up for it. Ever since I played this game, I learned that not all online games have a crappy community. Since then I've become hopeful that one day in the future, people will take from Lotro's example and will see the true meaning of "functional community."
8. Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
This is the first and only Metal Gear game that I've ever played. And other than one thing, it really didn't leave much of an impression, to be honest. But it did one thing, just one thing that ultimately put it on this list, it showed me that game cinematics should not be overly long and boring. Yeah, this game had a lot of that, whenever two characters started talking it made you just want to get up and make a sandwich to pass the time. And I really would be fine with this if what they were saying was actually interesting, but it is almost always just boring. And not to mention that half the stuff they were saying could usually be summed up in a matter of a few sentences, rather than a half-hour worth of useless dialog. I once heard that a truly great politician could speak for hours and never actually say anything. In that case, I expect Hideo Kojima and J.R.R. Tolkien to be running for president of the universe any day now.
7. Tales of Symphonia
I know someone out there is going to bite my legs off for misspelling the name, but getting to the point, this game showed me that anime + RPG does not = good. Hell, this game was my wake up call that made me realize what a huge cliche hurricane almost all of anime is. This game in itself could be called a cliche hurricane as opposed to the much softer cliche storm. This game managed to drag every single anime stereotype ever made into it, everything from heroes with personalities done a billion times to filler episodes. You know you've done something wrong when you make someone stop liking something almost all together. So you have ToS to thank for the anime disliking guy you see before you.
6. Star Fox Adventures
If everyone hates it, but can't come up with any valid reasons why beyond the fact that its different from the rest of the games in its series, this actually means that the game was good. I think this is the reason why Nintendo can get away with basically rereleasing the same games over and over again just with a few things changed around and better graphics, because fans are afraid of anything that isn't "familiar." Ugh, this is why there are some days when I think when you should have to go through critic training or something before you're aloud to judge anything. Star Fox Adventures was a great RPG, although I will admit that Prince Tricky was annoying and that the lack of the ability to have any real control over the camera made it suffer a bit, it should be remembered as a good game. Rather than just being flamed by everyone for being different.
5. Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
I'm not a big fan of strategy games, I never could get into Final Fantasy Tactics and while I like them, the Fire Emblems really aren't my favorites. But Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos was the game that proved to me that regardless of how indifferent you are toward a genre, there will always be at least one game in it that you'll like. And I don't even know what this game did to make that happen, something that's bothered me for ages. It might have been the RPG-ish nature of the Hero units, or the dungeon crawling parts but I really don't know. Hell, it might have even been the story, and I know that the story was a cliche storm but something about it was just so good that I couldn't help but like it.
4. Chrono Trigger
It's probably because I rarely play games at their initial release, but I don't regard so called "classic" games with much respect. To me, a classic game is just an overrated thing that was awesome when it first came out, but isn't so much anymore. A classic game, in my eyes, is just something that clingy fanboys hold on to with all of their strength, willingly deciding that no matter what, no later game in the series could ever top it for some reason (Mario Sunshine > Mario 64, guys). But then Chrono Tirgger came into my hands, and to my surprise it was good. A wake up call of sorts, Chrono Trigger was, showing me that some times games really do get the praise they diverse. Ocarina of Time still isn't perfect, though.
3. Okami
Games are art. No game proves this better than Okami, and I don't mean that in just the graphical style, I also mean that in game play, story, fun, everything. Okami is easily not only one of my favorites, but is also potentially one of the best games ever made. I know I'm going to get a lot of hate for touching the holy Zelda franchise, (if I already haven't) but this game is ten times better than every Zelda game made so far (and no, a Zelda game isn't next just because I'm trying to earn back brownie points). I really wish I could put into words how much this game not only impressed me, but also made me look at games in an artistic manner as well. Just go buy this game and see exactly what I'm talking about.
2. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Hidden depth would be the words to best describe Majora's Mask. Most people did not like this game at all, and I can see why, it's the black sheep of the Zelda franchise (next to Zelda II), which of course means that its actually one of the best. Going back to the depth thing, Majora's Mask is not an upbeat game at all, it's actually the darkest game in the series. On the surface, it's pretty simple, Link has to go around to get the four giants to protect Termina from the falling moon. But under all of that, wow, great depth and emotion was really put into this grim world. I don't think there was a single sub plot in the game in which someone didn't either die, come close to dieing, or was thought dead. And what this game does the best out of any other game I have ever played is atmosphere. In most RPGs you're told that the fate of the world rests on your shoulders and if you screw up it's all over for everyone. But you never really feel that, most of the time you feel like just a guy running around who can take all of the time that he wants to finish his quest. But here, the game really lets you know what it feels like to have the weight of the world on your shoulders, with that haunting moon creeping ever closer and the constant feel of dread and doom in the air, especially on the third day. This game showed me that a game CAN have depth, and it also showed me that black sheep's are usually the best. This game is so good, I'm actually jealous of it, I'm jealous of the fact that I didn't think it up first. That's pretty much the highest complement that you can give to something.
1. Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
What? Were you expecting Ocarina of Time or something? Some of you might call this anti-climatic, but really, this game pretty much did ultimately change how I looked at games. This game reminded me of the reason why we play games in the first place: to have some freaking fun. This game showed me that sometimes, games shouldn't be judged biased off of how great the narrative is or the artistic style or graphic or any of that, sometimes, you just want to punch a ninja monkey in the face, and that's the end of it. In a day and age in gaming where style is everything, this was my wake-up call back to the original reason why any of us got into gaming to begin with.
NOTE ON LOTRO: I know it says that I poked fun at Tolkien earlier on the list when in fact I poke fun at him afterward, but I had wrtien the Lotro part after I wrote MGS and things got confusing when I shifted stuff around.
I really do stand on uncommon ground when it comes to gaming, don't I? I thought that Ocarina of Time was great, not perfect, I found Final Fantasy VII to be a load of mediocrity and I actually LIKED Twilight Princess. So yeah, I have odd opinions on gaming, but what caused this? Well, here are the top ten games that changed the way I look at gaming. Note that this list is not a list of my favorite games nor is it a list of what I consider to be the best, it's just a list of games that changed the way I see things, for better or for worse. And note that the list isn't organize by how good I though the games were, but rather, by how much they changed my outlook on gaming. And with all of that out of the way, let's get started.
10. Final Fantasy X
This is the third best Final Fantasy to date, what I think the the second and first best are I'll leave up to you the guess (hint: it's not VII). But it wasn't the story that really changed how I look at things, but rather the railroad style game play. From this I learned that railroading is bad in table-top RPGs, but when it comes to JRPGs this is the way to go. This game made me realize exactly how stupid it was how in previous Final Fantasies (and many, many other JRPGs) the plot would go run somewhere to hide, and while you're told where it's hiding you're not told how to get there. So you'll usually have scenarios where you'll be searching all over the world map trying to find where the plot went until you eventually get sick of this and either look on GameFAQs or just stop playing altogether. Final Fantasy X took this away by just railroading you to the next point in the plot, which not only keep my wanting to play but also highlighted the very reason why I play RPGs in the first place, the story.
9. The Lord of the Rings Online
Up until I played this game, I had lost faith in online games communities. Battle.net, Gunz, Xbox Live, you name it, chances are my experience with the community was... less than good. But then the Lord of the Rings Online happened, and I played it, and was the community incredible. No mailbox dancing, no stupid ten-year-olds spamming up general chat, polite and intelligent community, it was just incredible. I know I poked fun at Tolkien earlier on this list but I really think that this makes up for it. Ever since I played this game, I learned that not all online games have a crappy community. Since then I've become hopeful that one day in the future, people will take from Lotro's example and will see the true meaning of "functional community."
8. Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
This is the first and only Metal Gear game that I've ever played. And other than one thing, it really didn't leave much of an impression, to be honest. But it did one thing, just one thing that ultimately put it on this list, it showed me that game cinematics should not be overly long and boring. Yeah, this game had a lot of that, whenever two characters started talking it made you just want to get up and make a sandwich to pass the time. And I really would be fine with this if what they were saying was actually interesting, but it is almost always just boring. And not to mention that half the stuff they were saying could usually be summed up in a matter of a few sentences, rather than a half-hour worth of useless dialog. I once heard that a truly great politician could speak for hours and never actually say anything. In that case, I expect Hideo Kojima and J.R.R. Tolkien to be running for president of the universe any day now.
7. Tales of Symphonia
I know someone out there is going to bite my legs off for misspelling the name, but getting to the point, this game showed me that anime + RPG does not = good. Hell, this game was my wake up call that made me realize what a huge cliche hurricane almost all of anime is. This game in itself could be called a cliche hurricane as opposed to the much softer cliche storm. This game managed to drag every single anime stereotype ever made into it, everything from heroes with personalities done a billion times to filler episodes. You know you've done something wrong when you make someone stop liking something almost all together. So you have ToS to thank for the anime disliking guy you see before you.
6. Star Fox Adventures
If everyone hates it, but can't come up with any valid reasons why beyond the fact that its different from the rest of the games in its series, this actually means that the game was good. I think this is the reason why Nintendo can get away with basically rereleasing the same games over and over again just with a few things changed around and better graphics, because fans are afraid of anything that isn't "familiar." Ugh, this is why there are some days when I think when you should have to go through critic training or something before you're aloud to judge anything. Star Fox Adventures was a great RPG, although I will admit that Prince Tricky was annoying and that the lack of the ability to have any real control over the camera made it suffer a bit, it should be remembered as a good game. Rather than just being flamed by everyone for being different.
5. Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
I'm not a big fan of strategy games, I never could get into Final Fantasy Tactics and while I like them, the Fire Emblems really aren't my favorites. But Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos was the game that proved to me that regardless of how indifferent you are toward a genre, there will always be at least one game in it that you'll like. And I don't even know what this game did to make that happen, something that's bothered me for ages. It might have been the RPG-ish nature of the Hero units, or the dungeon crawling parts but I really don't know. Hell, it might have even been the story, and I know that the story was a cliche storm but something about it was just so good that I couldn't help but like it.
4. Chrono Trigger
It's probably because I rarely play games at their initial release, but I don't regard so called "classic" games with much respect. To me, a classic game is just an overrated thing that was awesome when it first came out, but isn't so much anymore. A classic game, in my eyes, is just something that clingy fanboys hold on to with all of their strength, willingly deciding that no matter what, no later game in the series could ever top it for some reason (Mario Sunshine > Mario 64, guys). But then Chrono Tirgger came into my hands, and to my surprise it was good. A wake up call of sorts, Chrono Trigger was, showing me that some times games really do get the praise they diverse. Ocarina of Time still isn't perfect, though.
3. Okami
Games are art. No game proves this better than Okami, and I don't mean that in just the graphical style, I also mean that in game play, story, fun, everything. Okami is easily not only one of my favorites, but is also potentially one of the best games ever made. I know I'm going to get a lot of hate for touching the holy Zelda franchise, (if I already haven't) but this game is ten times better than every Zelda game made so far (and no, a Zelda game isn't next just because I'm trying to earn back brownie points). I really wish I could put into words how much this game not only impressed me, but also made me look at games in an artistic manner as well. Just go buy this game and see exactly what I'm talking about.
2. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Hidden depth would be the words to best describe Majora's Mask. Most people did not like this game at all, and I can see why, it's the black sheep of the Zelda franchise (next to Zelda II), which of course means that its actually one of the best. Going back to the depth thing, Majora's Mask is not an upbeat game at all, it's actually the darkest game in the series. On the surface, it's pretty simple, Link has to go around to get the four giants to protect Termina from the falling moon. But under all of that, wow, great depth and emotion was really put into this grim world. I don't think there was a single sub plot in the game in which someone didn't either die, come close to dieing, or was thought dead. And what this game does the best out of any other game I have ever played is atmosphere. In most RPGs you're told that the fate of the world rests on your shoulders and if you screw up it's all over for everyone. But you never really feel that, most of the time you feel like just a guy running around who can take all of the time that he wants to finish his quest. But here, the game really lets you know what it feels like to have the weight of the world on your shoulders, with that haunting moon creeping ever closer and the constant feel of dread and doom in the air, especially on the third day. This game showed me that a game CAN have depth, and it also showed me that black sheep's are usually the best. This game is so good, I'm actually jealous of it, I'm jealous of the fact that I didn't think it up first. That's pretty much the highest complement that you can give to something.
1. Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
What? Were you expecting Ocarina of Time or something? Some of you might call this anti-climatic, but really, this game pretty much did ultimately change how I looked at games. This game reminded me of the reason why we play games in the first place: to have some freaking fun. This game showed me that sometimes, games shouldn't be judged biased off of how great the narrative is or the artistic style or graphic or any of that, sometimes, you just want to punch a ninja monkey in the face, and that's the end of it. In a day and age in gaming where style is everything, this was my wake-up call back to the original reason why any of us got into gaming to begin with.
NOTE ON LOTRO: I know it says that I poked fun at Tolkien earlier on the list when in fact I poke fun at him afterward, but I had wrtien the Lotro part after I wrote MGS and things got confusing when I shifted stuff around.
