GAMES WE NEED TO GET OVER

World of Warcraft. Actually, just the term WOW-clone. It seems that every MMO ever gets labeled this if they happen to have quests and EXP. Every game is like every other game, we get it. Just like every mannequin is essentially the same, but in both instances it is the dressing that counts.

Also, Chrono Trigger might be the greatest game ever made. I play it nearly every year and enjoy it every time.

Also, hype-trains for upcoming games. Notably, Guild Wars 2. It's not going to revolutionize the MMO genre, it's just going to be another wow-clone.

author=kentona
Notably, Guild Wars 2. It's not going to revolutionize the MMO genre, it's just going to be another wow-clone.

No man, Guild Wars is going to be a "WOW-KILLER".

I agree! Although they're both kind of digressions from the topic. The Call of Duty franchise. They aren't really doing anything good or new with the series, they might as well slap a 2K1X sticker on there for whatever year they're releasing the projected title because it is a bit unnecessary to charge 60 bucks for a game with the same fundamental elements and engine that hasn't been changed much at all, save a new story line (even though everyone knows you don't buy Modern Warefare to sit at home and play the campaign by yourself).

author=Sailerius
Chrono Trigger. It was decent for its time, but it didn't do anything that a thousand games haven't improved upon since. The characters were flat and one dimensional, the combat was stock ATB, the pacing was sluggish, and the majority of the game was excruciatingly linear. It was a solid game, but we've come a long way since then.

I was actually just thinking the other day that no game I can think of has implemented time travel as a gameplay mechanic in a way that's as enjoyable as CT. There could be some I missed... but it doesn't seem like many games have even tried to improve on that concept, which is strange. There are games like Prince of Persia that let you rewind time a little bit, but why haven't there been more games that allow (or require) you to travel through several different eras of time, changing things in earlier eras to fix things in later ones?

...rather than nominating one game specifically, I'd like to say we need to get over non-linearity in general. I enjoy the Elder Scroll games and I used to like the GTA games, but nowadays there seems to be too much emphasis in RPG/Adventure games being "open-ended". I find it really hard to get into a game's plot when there's absolutely no sense of urgency. Like, when you played Skyrim, did you really care what happened to the land or any of the characters living in it? I sure didn't. Oh, some dragons are going to destroy the world and I'm the only one who can stop them? Sorry, don't care, I'm gonna go loot this dude's house.

I'm not saying Elder Scrolls and similar games should stop existing, but there's nothing wrong with somewhat linear adventure games that tell a good deep story.

Forum Mafia

Whoa, I'll have to read that whole thing when I've got some time...

I just finished reading the Reverse Design on Chrono Trigger. The game is even more amazing than I believed!

@WhiteLion: Actually, with the exception of the sun stone sidequest and the final boss, Chrono Trigger never lets you travel through time to change anything, except to revert problems you accidentally caused yourself or to get treasure chests. Time travel certainly drives everything you do, and the party is always trying to use it to solve all kinds of major problems, but history never changes.

Games I've played that let you use time travel to significant actual effect include Dragon Quest 7, SaGa 3, Ocarina of Time, FF13-2, Day of the Tenctacle (PLAY THIS ONE), and... uh, I guess I could count Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego.

I'm gonna go ahead and list SaGa 2 as one of those games we need to get over. Guys, it was better than the other two FF Legend games, but it was still pretty bad.

author=Sailerius

author=kentona
I just finished reading the Reverse Design on Chrono Trigger. The game is even more amazing than I believed!

I thought it was reading far too deeply into it. You could write an essay like that for any game if you were dedicated enough. Just like how literature teachers in high school will spend an hour class discussing the symbolic significance of green curtains, when the author just happened to be looking at green curtains while writing that passage.

I disagree on principle. If something is done well, you SHOULD study it in detail like that, if you want to learn from it. Even if the original author didn't think about why it worked so well and just did it instinctively, that doesn't make the observations about why it worked so well any less valid. It doesn't make studying it in depth any less beneficial. You should try to learn from the best.

Wow RMN, collectively speaking, you fuckers hate a lot of great games. : P

We’re nerds. Bashing on the things we used to love is part of the job description.