I quite enjoyed FFTA2's gameplay on the DS, but not PS1 FFT's gameplay. I thought it was very grindy, and the grindy nature did not mesh well with the serious, urgent story setup, as opposed to FFTA2 where you are an adventurer's guild in a whimsical world taking jobs and getting into friendly scuffles with rival guilds. I also played the PSP release of Tactics Ogre, which felt more grandiose in comparison with 10 party members on the field. I thought that TO's story was interesting for almost the entire duration of the game, with a demon only showing up at the very end, whereas FFT starts off with an interesting story about starving unpaid war vets but then gets quickly hijacked by demons and an evil Church plot.
I overall did not like Mass Effect very much. I think I saw most of the game, quitting after I escaped the tropical planet and my character got sucked into having sex with Ashley when I was trying to avoid that. I thought that the combat was rather dull. Most of the cast was unlikeable, the only characters I somewhat liked were Wrex and Garrus. The plot was really wonky in how the Citadel Council dismisses your accusations towards Saren, and then you play a voice recording and they turn on him immedietely without wondering if the voice recording as a fake. They make you an agent but then constantly doubt the information you are telling them.
I thought Skyrim was preferable to Morrowind. I know that Morrowind fans are fiercely defensive, but I thought that game got visually very tedious after a few hours. Once you have been to the crab shell village, the Pyramid city and the mushroom wizard towers, you are pretty much with many hours of wandering around a monotonous brown wasteland. Skyrim doesn't have any visually imaginative or creative locations besides Solitude, a city built on a natural bridge/arch, but it has lots of variety in biomes so it doesn't become monotonous as fast. I also disliked clicking a Cliff Racer 20 times only to hit once. I felt I needed to have done extensive online research on character creation and which items to get and where to get a good experience.
I thought KotoR was dull. The first time I played it, got so bored I dropped shortly after the "3, 2, 1" scene at the bar where he shoots a guy blocking the exit. Last year I tried the game again a second time, and again found it to be unengaging. I spent a lot of time alt+tabbing out to browse internet forums rather than having uninterrupted play sessions. I didn't find the NPCs interesting to talk to. The combat and character building was boring. Music was forgettable. Taris is such an ugly starter planet. I was peeved that the dialogue options were binary Jedi bootlicker or cartoon evil. There was no option to say "I am not onboard with the Jedi's strict laws, but you are evil and I will oppose you nonetheless". The final fight encounter is a let down, since it's just a 1v1. The battle system is meant for parties vs multiple targets and isn't enjoyable for 1v1. It amounted to just spamming Force Push over and over to keep the final boss stunned.
I think retail WoW has some merits. It has the most extensive visual character customization of any high production RPG I can think of, which several quite different races to pick from, 20 years of armors and weapons and transmogs and mounts to choose from, items that can change your character's size or color or add particle effects, etc. The environments also look pretty appealing such as Argus, Bastion, the Emerald Dream, the new underground world, etc. It is a poor actual MMO and does not have longevity once you finish the story and beat the raid, though.
Hope I didn't come off as too much of a debbie downer.
Fun list. It feels like a snapshot of the WRPG moment of the early-mid aughts when JRPGs lost their way and Western devs pucked up the crown they left in the gutter.
A few surprises here, too. The biggest was that, though it was mentioned, Chrono Trigger didn't make the list. That's surprising since the creator of WoW calls it not only the best RPG, but the best video game, ever made.
The decade started off with Final Fantasy X. You had a slew of heavy hitters on the JRPG side from the start to the end of the 2000s on most platforms. Many series, like Fire Emblem and Megami Tensei, made their way stateside and had some of their most highly regarded entries released in the decade. Heck, even games that weren't released here like Mother 3, you could not escape the fervent discussions on.
Most would point to the "losing their way" being when Final Fantasy XIII released, and that was at the tail end of the decade. The point in of itself is debatable, and even that might be more of an image created by the games press to blanket all JRPGs as opposed to just Final Fantasy.
All great picks. WoW on top was surprising but makes a lot of sense. I still put on the Elwynn Forest soundtrack while I’m working sometimes. What do you think of the Fallout series?
I quite enjoyed FFTA2's gameplay on the DS, but not PS1 FFT's gameplay. I thought it was very grindy, and the grindy nature did not mesh well with the serious, urgent story setup, as opposed to FFTA2 where you are an adventurer's guild in a whimsical world taking jobs and getting into friendly scuffles with rival guilds. I also played the PSP release of Tactics Ogre, which felt more grandiose in comparison with 10 party members on the field. I thought that TO's story was interesting for almost the entire duration of the game, with a demon only showing up at the very end, whereas FFT starts off with an interesting story about starving unpaid war vets but then gets quickly hijacked by demons and an evil Church plot.
I overall did not like Mass Effect very much. I think I saw most of the game, quitting after I escaped the tropical planet and my character got sucked into having sex with Ashley when I was trying to avoid that. I thought that the combat was rather dull. Most of the cast was unlikeable, the only characters I somewhat liked were Wrex and Garrus. The plot was really wonky in how the Citadel Council dismisses your accusations towards Saren, and then you play a voice recording and they turn on him immedietely without wondering if the voice recording as a fake. They make you an agent but then constantly doubt the information you are telling them.
I thought Skyrim was preferable to Morrowind. I know that Morrowind fans are fiercely defensive, but I thought that game got visually very tedious after a few hours. Once you have been to the crab shell village, the Pyramid city and the mushroom wizard towers, you are pretty much with many hours of wandering around a monotonous brown wasteland. Skyrim doesn't have any visually imaginative or creative locations besides Solitude, a city built on a natural bridge/arch, but it has lots of variety in biomes so it doesn't become monotonous as fast. I also disliked clicking a Cliff Racer 20 times only to hit once. I felt I needed to have done extensive online research on character creation and which items to get and where to get a good experience.
I thought KotoR was dull. The first time I played it, got so bored I dropped shortly after the "3, 2, 1" scene at the bar where he shoots a guy blocking the exit. Last year I tried the game again a second time, and again found it to be unengaging. I spent a lot of time alt+tabbing out to browse internet forums rather than having uninterrupted play sessions. I didn't find the NPCs interesting to talk to. The combat and character building was boring. Music was forgettable. Taris is such an ugly starter planet. I was peeved that the dialogue options were binary Jedi bootlicker or cartoon evil. There was no option to say "I am not onboard with the Jedi's strict laws, but you are evil and I will oppose you nonetheless". The final fight encounter is a let down, since it's just a 1v1. The battle system is meant for parties vs multiple targets and isn't enjoyable for 1v1. It amounted to just spamming Force Push over and over to keep the final boss stunned.
I think retail WoW has some merits. It has the most extensive visual character customization of any high production RPG I can think of, which several quite different races to pick from, 20 years of armors and weapons and transmogs and mounts to choose from, items that can change your character's size or color or add particle effects, etc. The environments also look pretty appealing such as Argus, Bastion, the Emerald Dream, the new underground world, etc. It is a poor actual MMO and does not have longevity once you finish the story and beat the raid, though.
Hope I didn't come off as too much of a debbie downer.
Fun list. It feels like a snapshot of the WRPG moment of the early-mid aughts when JRPGs lost their way and Western devs pucked up the crown they left in the gutter.
A few surprises here, too. The biggest was that, though it was mentioned, Chrono Trigger didn't make the list. That's surprising since the creator of WoW calls it not only the best RPG, but the best video game, ever made.
How so?
The decade started off with Final Fantasy X. You had a slew of heavy hitters on the JRPG side from the start to the end of the 2000s on most platforms. Many series, like Fire Emblem and Megami Tensei, made their way stateside and had some of their most highly regarded entries released in the decade. Heck, even games that weren't released here like Mother 3, you could not escape the fervent discussions on.
Most would point to the "losing their way" being when Final Fantasy XIII released, and that was at the tail end of the decade. The point in of itself is debatable, and even that might be more of an image created by the games press to blanket all JRPGs as opposed to just Final Fantasy.
Yeah, there are some gems in there. But none of those titles made the list, lots of WRPGs did instead, and not for no reason.
Definitely agree with DAO's slot! Good choice!
All great picks. WoW on top was surprising but makes a lot of sense. I still put on the Elwynn Forest soundtrack while I’m working sometimes. What do you think of the Fallout series?
Yes it was for the Nintendo DS. Golden Sun: dark Dawn.
It was pretty good, but not AS good, and that's how things go sometimes.