An all text post, you should be excited.
I stopped gaming for a little while as I mentioned in my previous post. I felt like I was getting too far removed from why I wanted to write about video games in general. The reason why I started writing was because I'm a jaded, old, asshole who knows better than you. I grew up in an admittedly golden age of gaming. I know this sounds like the start of a "only 90s kids" post, but that's a bit how this works. I was just on the backend of the NES and right at the forefront of the SNES. Admittedly there were some great games for the NES, but the SNES/Genesis game era is of note because of limitations.
The NES era was great despite it's limitations and the SNES era was great because of it's limitations. Now don't get ahead of me now. The NES brought the first well controlled games to the scene, but their design was limited. If you're doubting me, go back and play the original Mario game. The controls are as good as they ever will be, but the graphics and palate limitations are incredibly present. This is what I mean "despite", MegaMan, Metroid, everything, you can feel the leash on them. They're stellar games to be sure, but that "What if" is ever present.
This is where the SNES era shines. 16bit 2D graphics are astounding, truly. So much so that people still create pixel art from the era. The SNES games still had limitations, but the beauty was that this enhanced games. You can't have graphics or multiplayer as a driver, so where do you go? Story and polish. Is there a single, non-knockoff/movie tie in, that isn't excellent? At least in some way? We're going to go case study on this, because the SNES library is vastly too large to tackle all at once. And I'm talking about the SNES because I had one. The Genesis was great in it's own right, but there's very few games that weren't superior on the SNES.
First case study, that of character, story and gameplay, is The Secret of Mana. The main character, The Kid, is exactly as blank as he needs to be. This is your adventure, a blank slate works very well provided it's blank enough. By all accounts, this game is excellent. But it becomes rather tough to explain why. Sure the controls are good, and the combat is different, but the extreme amount of polish and the truly blank slate of a character. The story was something to be experienced and acted out by yourself. This is a good RPG boiler plate to mold games after.
Second case study, that of predefined characters, motivation and character development falls onto the shoulders of Final Fantasy 6, or Final Fantasy 3 depending on who you are and where you live.
Is there really anything that needs to be introduced in this game? There's people to this very day that claim this to be the end all be all of Final Fantasy and it's a downhill ride from here. I disagree, but I can see the praise. This is exactly what I'm talking about with limitations. You have 16 bit sprites, but they all look distinct, different and just exude character. You can't have the hardware carry you, so you make a set of incredibly vivid characters that blast away everything you've ever known about RPGs up until that point. Have you played this game? There is no amount of words that can convey the level of thought, care, and planning that went into this. Everything is expertly crafted because it has to be. It needs to standout among identical looking games, this is the shine of limitations.
Third case study, control, design, innovation, pacing, is Yoshi's Island
This is the greatest platformer ever made. Shut it, I can already hear you saying, "But what about Donkey Kong Country X?" Don't care, this is it. Tight does not do this game's control justice. It's the gold standard and will probably remain so into the future. There is not debate as far as I'm concerned.
But this is a product of upbringing. This is innovation due to limitations. You can't have flashy 3D platforming, this is the SNES. Everything about this game is precisely what I'm trying to convey. The graphics are astounding and timeless. The controls could not be better and variety and letting the player learn is without match. Every single level is different, with different enemies with different strategies and there is no game that does progression better. This game is extremely difficult, but you'll never notice. The skills that you naturally pick up matches up perfectly to the game. Beat the game and start again if you don't believe me. And the visuals, this is the end all be all of 16 bit graphics, it doesn't get any better.
Now why, why did I make you read all of this shit about limitations and what the fuck does that title have to do with anything? Well, I've spent the last week playing Final Fantasy 12. And I'm going to spend the next few paragraphs tearing this game a new asshole while praising it as a great game. Shit's going to be fun.
Now, a quick aside, I played this time through on an emulator. Before you get all up in arms about me pirating stuff, I played it on an emulator reading from my game disk, the game disk I bought on day 1 with the metal "Collector's Edition" case and everything. I love the Final Fantasy series more than any other gaming series and the FFVII meteor logo is the only thing I've ever even considered tattooing on myself. This is my favorite game series and I did it proper. The reason I played it on an emulator is the only TV in my house is in my bedroom and my desk chair is comfy as hell and I can play it while my SO is sleeping this way.
FFXII might be the most hated in the series. And the whole reason for this can be tracked down to a single, focal reason, Vaan.
Real talk, I fucking HATE Vaan-----'s character model. Yep, that's it. I hate his ingame model. But here's the really, really, REALLY, unfortunate part, that's all that matters.
Take a step back, way back. Look at the story of FFXII, look at the characters, look at the setting. This is, truly, a fantastic game. The story is dark beyond all reason. It's filled with political corruption, occupied lands, refugees, corrupt officials, personal growth, dealing with grief, this shit is heavy.
The characters are scarily real. A street rat with no family, killed before their time, an orphan, a seemingly selfish pirate, a mysterious outlander, a disgraced military captain, a dead princess working with the rebels, a looser band of misfits I've never seen. But not a single one seems as they appear.
The story, oh god, the story. It's fantastic. When I was younger it was honestly lost on me, but now, the threads run deeper than you'd imagine. There's weapons of mass destruction, there's stakes, there's people.
But you want to know the sad fact? Not a damn bit of this matters because Vaan's character model is so fucking horrendous. People despise this game and I get it. Here's how you fix this, in one go, with not but a single change to the story, you make Recks the main character. The main character makes the game. You can have an underdog as the main, but don't model him like Vaan.
The game, the engine and the platform allowed for incredible characters, which is demonstrated often, and they make Vaan, with is weird ass overly lined chest the main character. You were given no limitations and you fucked it all up. Do you honestly think Final Fantasy 6 would have been touted so highly if Vaan's character model was ported to a 16 bit sprite? People got ahead of themselves and it's a damn shame.
If you can, by any means, play Final Fantasy 12, it's a seriously fantastic game, just try to ignore Vaan and you'll see what I'm talking about. Just play as Balthier, dude's amazing
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