SCOURGE'S PROFILE

author=StevieRayBones

author=Jeroen_Sol

author=Yellow Magic
FFXII has Moogles who architect airships. I think they win this one.

But Final Fantasy Fables has a cbocobo that explores dungeons Pokémon Mystery Dungeon style, dives into magic fairy tale books to change the environment and is also a summoner with Yu-Gi-Oh cards.

Good argument for the chocobo, but it will take the Washington Post coming out with dirt on the moogles to turn this poll around, at this point.

This just in: Six Women Accuse Montblanc of Sexual Harassment

author=WheelmanZero
Meh, I'm not gonna hold the coldness against him, I mean he's just doing his job. He's probably getting minimum wage for risking his life. I salute you, underpaid teal guardsman. Keep up the good work.

They tried to unionize, but it's tough to get things organized when everyone keeps dying in fights with monsters.

author=Dyluck
Woah nice lights!

Thank you! Chapter Two takes place in the frozen north, which is just a convenient excuse for me to use a lot of flashy lighting effects.

author=SgtMettool
I was thinking the other day, about how kids and teens now aren't growing up with the same games or genres that those of us in our 20s or 30s did. Heck, the days of Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger, two games that some people still regard as the gold standard for the 2D JRPG, were over two decades ago now. What was our childhood is regarded as ancient history to some.

This is something that feels surreal to me in some ways. In my childhood, I could have played a game like Final Fantasy 6 that somebody 20 years older than me might also have played in their childhood, albeit in a very different form. It's like we have a shared experience, but still one with noticeable differences. It reminds me of the Star Wars films to an extent. When I was a kid, I saw the prequel trilogy in theaters and now there are kids watching the sequel trilogy. It's a shared universe with shared characters and, I assume, many shared emotions and thoughts, but the experience itself is different.

Like any artform, games grow and evolve, and you can only rest on the laurels of the past for so long until you realize there are opportunities to advance the genre (I won't lie: even some of the most well-regarded RPG Maker games bored me because they stuck so closely to established conventions). And the great thing about RPG Maker is that it embraces a genre I love but also opens up the opportunity to refine the formula for younger/newer audiences. That really helps keep the spirit of the 2D JRPG alive.

I'm grateful that people are constantly reinventing the JRPG and other genres. Even ten years ago, I think referring to video games as an 'art form' would have caused a lot of people to laugh at such a crazy idea. And there are definitely games that shatter established conventions now that couldn't have in the past. I mean, can you imagine a game like Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy or The Stanley Parable being remotely successful in the SNES or even the original XBOX era? I feel like, as the medium grows, more and more people are willing to make games that deconstruct or improve on established conventions in addition to revisiting old games and advancing them so new generations can enjoy them.

author=Dyluck
I think in the old days, we didn't have as many games to choose from or loads of other free games and media for entertainment, so we were just happy that the expensive game we bought would last longer, and didn't really mind those time consuming design choices.

author=WheelmanZero
Yeah, I'd say the abundance and accessibility of games makes them feel less special and valuable these days. *sigh* Talking to you guys makes me feel old.

I agree with both of you. When I was a kid, I think I owned maybe 10 different games for my Gameboy Color and I played them over and over and over again, regardless of whether or not they were 'good' games. I remember one of my favorite games of all time was the Monster Rancher Trading Card Game for GBC. I played through it probably 4 or 5 times and I don't recall it being a short game either. Then, when I got older and had more access to the internet, I remember looking the game up and being shocked that it wasn't considered a 'good' game.

Nowadays, I have 93 games in my Steam library alone and I've played maybe half of them and I've only invested more than an hour or two in about 16 of those titles. If you had told me, when I was a kid, that someday I'd only bother to play less than a fifth of the games I owned, I'd call you crazy. With so many options out there, it feels like people are less interested in committing to a game that's anything less than excellent.

It makes me feel old and I have no right to!

author=kentona

author=Sooz
Y'all all talkin about this award like it was ever anything more than a reskinned popularity contest.

If you want accurate awards, set up something juried.

that didn't go over well at all when I did just that back in 2008. people complained bitterly.

in my experience, anything other than the light and airy popular vote contest we have now (Misaos) is fraught with difficulty, animosity, hurt feelings, disdain, hubris, scorn, condescension, anger, and superciliousness, among other things. People get really uptight when it comes to any sort of official recognition and ranking.

I wasn't around in 2008, so maybe this suggestion is off base, but what about a combination of the two systems?

Games could be nominated in different categories by popular vote and then a jury selects winners from among those nominations. It ensures that users still have a voice, but keeps something ridiculous, like Umbral Soul winning best fangame, from happening.

author=Desertopa
It's the people who nominated it for "Best Fangame" who have me really confused.

Little-known fact: Umbral Soul is actually a Chrono Trigger fangame!