Gaming Memories 07: Dragon Pack-ins

Gaming Memories 07: Dragon Pack-ins

I have a soft spot for physical editions of games, especially ones that have a ton of pack-ins with them.  I think the first time I felt fully immersed in a game was with Dragon Warrior for the Nintendo Entertainment System.  I had played it at my cousin's house at a time when I had not yet gotten into Dungeons or Dragons, or even after 2nd Grade when my love of knowing things really started.  So I spent a while trying to figure out how this "chain mail" worked, and how I could send it to other towns in the game.  I decided it was probably a bad luck thing, like a chain letter, and gave up trying.

Anyway, probably a year or so later, my best friend from school got a Nintendo Power subscription, which came with a copy of Dragon Warrior.  This promotion was actually responsible for a lot of my peer's introduction into RPG's.  Well, he sold his copy to me before he even got it, and made back his magazine subscription money.

So this edition of Dragon Warrior came with all sorts of pack ins and goodies to it that really changed my perception of the game.  First off, a picture of chainmail was right there in the booklet, it was armor, duh.  But there was also great pictures of shields, swords and in game items.  There were posters of these things and also grand maps of the world, and maps of the dungeons.  I actually memorized the dungeons by directions in the dark lol  It was "hold down until you bump a wall, then go right till you bump a wall, now head down until you bump a wall again, and stairs".  Made total sense to me as a kid, and saved torches lol

I still have all this stuff, though the maps are not in good condition, as I once had it taped to my wall like a poster.  For long times I would imagine myself with Erdrick's sword, and artbooks of various games are something I enjoy looking at(especially the WoW artbook and FF9's artbook).  It would not be till Final Fantasy 12 that I would earn Erdrick's sword again.

Gaming Memories 01: Top Gun

Gaming Memories 01

Gaming Memories is probably going to be all over the place in size and scope.  Its going to be a series where I just chose a game and talk about a memory associated with it.  Sometimes it'll be "the cover was so bad, I never rented it" and sometimes it might be a huge story.

Top Gun

I'm not sure if I'm one of the last generation to remember that younger kids got black and white televisions before they could have a color TV or not.  My cousin was one such person that had a tiny black and white TV aside in their living room so that he could play without taking up the main television.  He had several Nintendo games that I had played in other homes, but the one game he had that no one else did for a while was Top Gun.  Now, if you go back today and play Top Gun you're going to be treated to a neon colored user interface, with greens and oranges showing up everywhere.  The explosions are going to be red and yellow, the ocean is going to be a bright blue.  The game is actually pretty high contrast in design.  I did not get to see any of that for many years.

They say that dreaming in black and white is a phenomena associated with people that grew up with black and white television, and that while it was thought of as common place a couple of decades ago, no one generally dreams in black and white today.  You get a lot of references to dreaming in black and white in old 80's sitcoms, which makes sense as in their childhoods they all had black and white.  Well, when I dream of playing Top Gun, I dream about it in black and white.  The rest of the world is colorful, yes, but it is always the black and white version of Top Gun I played as a kid that pops up in my dreams.

The Sound of an Era: Sound Chips

The term "8 bit" is different from the later generations of gaming.  No other generation has such a singular meaning when it comes to "8 bit".  If you were to say "16 bit", well you have several ideas that come to mind, and even though there's really 2 options for 16 bit, it muddies the area of nostalgia to the point that you have to make a distinction.  Even later, 32 bit, you have lots of options and then you also have the N64 thrown in there(hint: it wasn't 64 bit).  Today I want to talk about an aspect of "8 bit" that you may not realize contributes to its unified "feel" among its games:  Its sound.

Think about the big games of the day; Contra, Mario, Castlevania, Ninja Gaiden, Mega Man.  Somewhere in those memories are probably the music you heard.  Now, think about the music in your top games... and realize that they all pretty much have the same sounds and effects, just arranged differently.  That's a kinship in gaming that does not run through into the later generations.  The Nintendo had a sound chip in it that everyone used as a common source, and it tied all the games of the era together.

The sound chip inside it had its set of blips and beeps, and the games issued commands of what order they were played in.  Let me put it another way.  With digital, you can record a wide variety of instruments, orchestras, and bands.  You are only limited by reality and sample quality.  The Nintendo Entertainment System shipped with a pre-packed band that you could not change.  All games had the same guitar, bass, and drums that all the others had.  Starting with the SNES, music went digital.  Music was pre-recorded, digitized and played back at a later date, much like how MP3's work.  Your Nintendo Entertainment System was an actual music instrument playing live for you.

DJ culture in Japan and Korea is huge, and their forefathers are the game composers from this era of gaming with sound chips.  In that area you will not only find "8 bit" synth masters, but also "16 bit" because the Sega Genesis also used a sound chip instead of a digital system.  The "west" culture is awakening to the sound, but its old hat over there, where the actual composers of games of the era are producing music in the clubs.  Today in the west, we are modifying old NES's and Gameboys to be used live in synths.  This too has been going on for a long while in Korea and Japan, where these systems(with the Sega Genesis) were actually pretty powerful for this purpose, and very cost effective compared to dedicated synthesizers in the 80's and early 90's.

Our gaming generation eras are not as distinct any longer.  It is hard to pin down what generation a game is from because there is such a wide berth of capabilities between game systems, and then with the bit-perfect recreation of any music imagined into digital format, you can't pick an era by its music either.  With the inclusion of millions and millions of colors, and the virutally limitless resources game makers can choose from to make games, our new eras of games just don't have that "we're all a part of a club" era like the 8-bit days.

Skypp's Final Fantasy Rankings Part 2: Fanfare

Part 2: Fanfare
(Part 1: Here)

Re-pasted disclaimer from Part 1: 

This is a listing of my ranking of Final Fantasy Core games as of 2014.  I'm not going to go too in depth into the why's and how's of each game, as each game could and probably will eventually have its own post.  I am keeping to the Core numbered Final Fantasy games, excluding the MMO's(11 and 14), and excluding 3 as I have not finished it.

I am including some information along with the rank.  There will be 2 numbers after the game's title: the first is my game grade(1-10) in context of when it came out.  The second is what I'd grade the game today.  I would also like to point out that when I talk about "Graphics" I am also talking about the original versions, as the remake graphics of FF1 and FF2 are really really nice, and the 3D versions of 3 and 4 are pretty good.  Also I will try to keep non-vague spoilers to a minimum.

5 Final Fantasy 13 (8) (9)



Here we have an oddity.  While doing my list, this is the only game that I would rate better today than I did the day it came out.  Not only have I vastly enjoyed this game, it has only grown in my eyes as time has gone by.  Many of the people that heap crap on this game seem to praise 10.  A lot of the crap said about 13 is true of all JRPG's, and I believe its ripping and bandwagon hatred is more a symptom of the rejection of JRPG's in the last 5 years or so(an era I believe we are finally growing out of due to Bravely Default, Ni No Kuni and South Park).  Anyway, I loved this game.  I loved the characters, I loved that the characters grew over the course of the game(something that never happened to Tidus or Squall), I loved that everyone was there for a reason(sadly something that can't be said about a game higher on my list).  I saw visual things that stunned me.  I heard music that made me tear up.  I took part in a story that grew epic, world changing, and emotionally draining by the end.  Despite looking "modern", despite having not that great combat(hence the 8 rating), it felt like a Final Fantasy should.  Why did it go from 8 to 9?  The characters are still growing on me.  The Sazh and Vanille scenes in Nautilus are worth the play through alone(unless your're a sociopath determined to prove to everyone you don't give a fuck about anything).

4. Final Fantasy 7 (10) (8)

This was the first Final Fantasy that I played near its launch.  I remember playing the demo, I remember picking up the game, and I remember playing every bit of the 3 play throughs I played it in a row when I got it(I got a lot less games back then).  I can't really say anything about 7 that hasn't been said.  It was THAT revolutionary when it came out, even if you did not like it.  It ushered in a rush of JRPG's that have not happened since.  A whole generation of Japan's best got sent our way because of the success of 7.  Why do I rate it 8 now?  Well, the character models aren't even cute any longer.  The cutscenes, while amazing for their time, are very short.  Many of them are rendered at much less quality than the others.  The music, story, and presentation get high marks, and the Materia system mechanic ranks as my favorite of all games, not just Final Fantasy series.

3. Final Fantasy 12 (8) (8)

The Matsuno Final Fantasy.  The one that took place in an already established world.  The one that has a semi-Final Fantasy and a non-Final Fantasy as part of its universe.  This strange Single-player MMO-esque Final Fantasy is polarizing.  The combat is confusing to many(though it is very much like what Dragon Age did later), and the main characters don't seem like main characters at all.  But that story.  I really wish there was more story in between certain dungeons in the game, and I kind of wish the story became more apparent much sooner, but holy crap; when the story gets going, its hard to not be fascinated.  This is my pick for best overall story in a Final Fantasy.  When I rate story above all, you can see that I find faults with the game's pacing and presentation enough to keep it out of the #1 spot.  Basch is ranked 3 in my favorite characters of all time list.  My favorite duo of all time is Balthier and Fran.  My favorite villain of the series is Vayne by a wide margin.

2. Final Fantasy 9 (8) (8)

Final Fantasy 9 is the game that most exemplifies what a Final Fantasy should be.  It was Sakaguchi's send off to the series, and he pulled out all the stops for it.  The story goes from a small matter of royalty to a universe changing, epic story of survival.  The entire game is an exploration of identity.  Identity as a person, as a legacy, as a civilization, as a memory, and what defines all that.  My favorite character in all of gaming is Vivi.  My favorite sub-story in all of gaming is Vivi and the Black Mages.  The cutscenes are the best in the series, with practically all of them comprising of "oh shit!" moments.  The world is beautiful, my favorite setting of all Final Fantasy games.  The reason this game is not in the #1 slot is not nostalgia, as many will accuse, but because that aside from Vivi and a smidgen of Freya, the cast is rather weak on meaningful characterization.  Only Irvine is a bigger disappointment to me than Amarant.  Amarant's cool look wrote a "badass" check that did not get cashed in.

1. Final Fantasy 6 (10) (9)

The only Final Fantasy to score a 10 from me that was not a first of its tech generation.

Graphics?  It did things you would not think would be done on the SNES.  It looked so good that many PS1/Saturn RPG's looked worse.  From the gears in the town of Narshe, to the beautiful sunset on Cid's island, the world was full of interesting details.  Music? Best in the series.  Every character got a theme, and I could hum them all by the end of it.  Hearing a certain music floods my mind with memories of where I heard it.  Only 7 comes close with a couple of tunes that match 6's memorable score.  Final Fantasy 6's score is close to perfect.  The story is grand, and while it may not get 12 or 9 "epic" it is suitably world shattering.  On top of that, all the side stories fill all the pats of humanity that the main story doesn't touch.  You get Cyan's duty and family, Edgar's unresolved relationship with his brother, Setzer's hidden sadness, and Shadow's silent enduring of pain.  There are over 10 characters in Final Fantasy 6 and all except 1, maybe 2, get the spotlight.  Combat is fun and complex, the Esper mechanic is really awesome, and the fact that every character gets their own special attacks makes every character different and fun.  Sabin even uses Street Fighter style movements to do his abilities.

Final Fantasy 6 is a masterpiece of gaming, and taken as a whole, it still stands the test of time.  It only loses a point for its apparent bad(yet memorable) translation, and the aging of the graphics(despite still being very beautiful in my opinion).