Thursday, March 23, 2006
Cogito Ergo Game
The greatest era of video gaming, at least to me, existed roughly between the years 1991 and 1997. This is the era that I look back upon with the highest regard. My memories of elementary and middle school are not filled with memories of school itself, but rather gaming with my friends. I distinctly remember 3rd grade as the year when I played the Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past. I remember 6th grade sharply as the year I spent playing Final Fantasy VI (American 3) to no end. The list could go on forever as far as I'm concerned.
Not only were these the years of some of the greatest RPGs ever, but they were the years when the RPG was still fleshing itself out. I tend to believe that the beginning of an era is frequently it's best, especially for video games, because that is the time before preconceptions have set it. It's before the marketing people have had a chance to take over and rape something. It's before we the gamers have a preconception of what "good" play is supposed to be. Wolfenstein 3d nearly single handedly created the first person shooter. This seems like an obvious paradigm now, but it was a monumental stride at the time.
Today, nearly all RPGs are somehow gauged off of the Final Fantasy franchise. I think FF is so wonderful because just about every game manages to beat out the ones that came before it in some way or another. Each one feels like it signals a new mini-era of gaming because everyone for the two years following it says "Well, it isn't quite like the new final fantasy" when talking about other RPGs.
I don't really long for another game to play anymore as much as I long for that feeling I had when I used to play them. Saturday afternoon with nothing else to do but level my characters up so I can beat the living shit out of the dragon living on the mountain, only to discover that the dragon did all that evil stuff just to save its children. Or some such. Those were definitely the days.
This definitely shouldn't be interpreted as a complaint though. The years following 1997 have seen many spectacular games as well. Some of my favorites include all the Final Fantasy games, Xenosaga, Chrono Cross, Shadow Hearts, Vagrant Story, Kingdom Hearts, Star Ocean, and a few others.
If I could compress the entire history of philosophy across my own lifetime, then 1991-1997 would have been the romantic era. The era when emotion and art ruled supreme.
Not only were these the years of some of the greatest RPGs ever, but they were the years when the RPG was still fleshing itself out. I tend to believe that the beginning of an era is frequently it's best, especially for video games, because that is the time before preconceptions have set it. It's before the marketing people have had a chance to take over and rape something. It's before we the gamers have a preconception of what "good" play is supposed to be. Wolfenstein 3d nearly single handedly created the first person shooter. This seems like an obvious paradigm now, but it was a monumental stride at the time.
Today, nearly all RPGs are somehow gauged off of the Final Fantasy franchise. I think FF is so wonderful because just about every game manages to beat out the ones that came before it in some way or another. Each one feels like it signals a new mini-era of gaming because everyone for the two years following it says "Well, it isn't quite like the new final fantasy" when talking about other RPGs.
I don't really long for another game to play anymore as much as I long for that feeling I had when I used to play them. Saturday afternoon with nothing else to do but level my characters up so I can beat the living shit out of the dragon living on the mountain, only to discover that the dragon did all that evil stuff just to save its children. Or some such. Those were definitely the days.
This definitely shouldn't be interpreted as a complaint though. The years following 1997 have seen many spectacular games as well. Some of my favorites include all the Final Fantasy games, Xenosaga, Chrono Cross, Shadow Hearts, Vagrant Story, Kingdom Hearts, Star Ocean, and a few others.
If I could compress the entire history of philosophy across my own lifetime, then 1991-1997 would have been the romantic era. The era when emotion and art ruled supreme.
# posted by Chris/Stewy @ Thursday, March 23, 2006 
