The long long wait is finally over: Final Fantasy XIII is now on store shelves… assuming stores can keep the product well-stocked.
I don’t care whether you play on Xbox 360 or PS3, whether you wear urban clothes or dungarees, this is a great week to be an RPG fan… or heck, a gamer of any stripe.
I don’t know exactly how, but I do want to find a way to get this game, and soon. Time for some budgeting. I’m sure with a nip here and a tuck there, I can figure out a way… I hope. Money’s tight.
March 9, 2010. It’s a date many are anticipating with great fervor, because the first Final Fantasy main-series release will be unveiled that day… now only five days away. It took 23 years since the release of the first Final Fantasy, and thirteen titles to reach this day, but is the series finally showing its age?
Nonsense. While SquareEnix has sunk millions into FFXIII’s production, and has even hinted that the series may head in a markedly different direction in the future, the game is as relevant as ever because despite experiments nearly every time out with the character progression system and battle system, the truth is that Final Fantasy has always defined the standard role playing experience on videogame consoles, from the original NES until today.
Sure, some folks will complain that FFXIII is either a sconce too old school, or too new-school for those who loved the previous outings, but Final Fantasy has never really been all that staid; the series has thrived on experimentation.
So, yes, games like Dragon Age: Origins, Oblivion and Fallout 3 may all thrive in open-world settings, but that means little; Final Fantasy has never played follow the leader to someone else’s flute. Don’t expect that to start now.
All that has been released is a game logo, but it speaks volumes; the next videogame featuring Tomb Raider star Lara Croft won’t feature a lot of Tomb Raiding… or at least, it won’t feature that aspect in the title. While loose diamonds may be a girl’s best friend, Lara has always been a more underground sort of gal … in the archeological sense, at any rate.
But the name of the new game only focuses on Lara herself; it’s called Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. Beyond that, no one outside of developer Crystal Dynamics and publisher Eidos knows much of anything, except that the game is expected in 2010 and will be sold via digital download, rather than via retail Blu-Ray disc.
So is it a typical Lara Croft shooter/platformer action and adventure title or something else? We’ll have to wait until the Game Developers Conference next week to find out for sure, at the very least, but here’s what Crystal Dynamics’ Darrell Gallagher had to say about the new title, Lara’s first appearance since Tomb Raider: Underworld in 2008:
“This is a really exciting project for Crystal Dynamics, we have created something completely new and very different to what people might be expecting. Lara Croft is such an iconic character in videogames, with Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light we have created what we believe is a truly original digital experience.”
1. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (360, PS3)
Sure, we know there are other Elder Scrolls titles out there. I enjoyed Morrowind on PC back in the day. Buy when it comes right down to it, only TES IV: Oblivion really shook the world awake that the next generation of videogame hardware had not only arrived, but defined a new level of gaming excellence.
Bet your Xenadrine RFA X on the fact that this was the defining game of the current generation of hardware, just like Final Fantasy X was the defining RPG for the previous generation of hardware.
Much as I enjoyed the more-recent Fallout 3, that game was merely riding in the shadows of Oblivion. Not only that, but for as much as I love Dragon Age and Mass Effect, it must be admitted that they are RPGs that owe at least part of their inspiration to Oblivion.
Yet here’s the bottom line for me: despite being just about the first – and for a long time, only – RPG of the 360/PS3 era, Oblivion still holds up well today, and ultimately it’s the videogame that converted my non-videogame-fan wife into a gamer.
Not only that, but between my wife and I, we pretty much KILLED out first Xbox 360 playing and replaying Oblivion… a game we own on two platforms, both 360 and PS3. Despite offering over 100 hours of gameplay, we’ve both played through the game more than once – there’s simply no other game this decade I can say that about. Between my wife and I, we’ve probably played 500 hours of Oblivion.
Nothing else matches that, or even comes close.
2. The Metal Gear Solid series (PSone, PS2, PS3, PSP, Xbox, Xbox 360)
Solid Snake may have looked vastly in need of an eczema treatment by the time the series wrapped on PS3 with Metal Gear Solid 4, but Hideo Kojima’s masterpiece was one of the highlights of the past decade for me as a gamer.
While the first Metal Gear Solid on PSone doesn’t count since it released in 1998, the remaining three installments – two on PS2 and the final on PS3 – are some of the best gaming experiences one can hope to have on any platform this series has appeared on.
Although some criticized Kojima for the game’s political agenda, as well as its heavy focus on story segments over gameplay, few could argue that there are many games out there that have pushed the boundaries of platform limits as hard, or implemented storytelling with gameplay quite as creatively.
The series virtually invented a whole new genre: stealth action. And for those who had complained about the game’s overemphasis on storytelling over gameplay, one need only point to Metal Gear Solid 3’s riveting showdown between Solid Snake and The End to establish that Kojima was still a master of gameplay within the series. Any boss battle that literally takes over an hour of real-world time to complete is plenty hardcore in my book.
3. Mass Effect (360)
Whether they knew it or not, the Xbox 360 scored one of the best platform-exclusive franchises of the decade when they got BioWare to create Mass Effect for the Xbox 360. While sometimes the main characters appear to need the best eye cream for dark circles, the truth of the matter is that the game was one of the genre-defining titles of the 360/PS3 era.
The space-opera role-playing shooter owes a lot to both Star Trek and Star Wars while somehow being its own thing as well; and although the second title in the series didn’t arrive until the decade was over, the first title was promising enough to show that the series, planned as a trilogy, would be rock-solid.
No matter what type of “Shepherd” you created, he made a memorable hero and the universe of planets he was given to explore was quite impressive. It’s one of the few that have made me want to play to completion; not just once, but more than once.
4. The Final Fantasy franchise (PS2, PS3, PSP, GBA, DS, GameCube, Wii, 360, mobile)
Once, this series would have ranked right at the top of my list; that was back in the previous decade, the 1990s, when Square was arguably at the top of their game. However, the turn of the century saw a marked drop-off in production, as well as some stagnation, to be frank.
The proper installments that actually were released in the past decade include Final Fantasy IX on PSone in 2000, Final Fantasy X on PS2 in 2001, and the MMO-RPG, Final Fantasy XI on multiple platforms in 2002. Then there was the long silence before, late in the life of the PS2, Square released the long-awaited Final Fantasy XII in 2006… and it was almost overshadowed by the release of the PS3.
Japan already saw the release of Final Fantasy XIII in 2009, but it will be a new decade by the time the title hits US shores, so it just doesn’t count.
Still, each Final Fantasy installment was beautiful for its time; FFIX was a wonderful swan song for the PSone platform, FFX was a platform-defining game for the PS2, a model which all other PS2-era RPGs paid homage to, and FFXII was a glorious swan song on PS2 that made some people wonder why a new generation of hardware was even necessary.
The only real stinker in the series proper was the MMO-RPG, FFXI, which has seen regular updates and is due to be replaced sometime early in the new decade (2010 or 2011) by Final Fantasy XIV. Still, for series purists like me, FFXI doesn’t count and should never have been made part of the main series’ numbering, but the launch of a new online-only series that could have been called Final Fantasy Online or something like that.
Sure, like a lot of people, I didn’t care for the sit-n-watch combat system of FFXII; but at least it saved me loads of joint pain from all that button-mashing hitting the X button tends to inspire in other Final Fantasy titles.
Be that as it may, and despite all the missteps and delays this decade, the wonderful gaming memories I’ve enjoyed at the hands of FFIX, FFX and FFXII still rank this RPG as an all-time favorite series… in this past decade or any other it has been part of.
6. Dragon Age (PS3, 360)
It’s almost unfair to list a game that came out in the waning days of the decade and rank it right up there with such storied franchises after just one outing, but Dragon Age: Origins is actually the beneficiary of all of Bioware’s accumulated experience over the past decade-plus of creating top-notch videogames, primarily of the RPG genre.
So, while I won’t be including Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, Baldur’s Gate or Sonic Chronicles in this list, I include Dragon Age because of how dang impressive BioWare’s games catalog is overall, and Dragon Age: Origins is the freshest beneficiary of all that game design knowledge.
Re-embracing their Baldur’s Gate roots, Dragon Age is BioWare’s license-free take on Dungeons and Dragon-style RPG gaming, with a whole lot more experience under their belts. Featuring a vast world, loads and quests and plenty of story, and with generous expansion packs either released or planned, and a sequel in the works already, Dragon Age is a celebration of everything a US-made RPG should be about.
Loads and fun, plenty of length, a great story, top-notch visuals, and many ways to extend the title’s game play and appeal… who could ask for more without mentioning free cell phones?
7. Prince of Persia (PS2, Xbox, PS3, Xbox 360, PSP, DS)
I almost ranked this series higher, but the top of the list is going to be crowded with great, great franchises, so it was just about impossible to bump it any higher. All the free medical travel in the world isn’t worth as much to me as one good Prince of Persia title.
Now, I’m a bit of a late-comer to the franchise. When the PS2/Xbox trilogy was being published, I was not big on action-adventure-platformers and viewed the the Sands of Time, Warrior Within and The Two Thrones with some suspicion; I figured it was a “me-too” title in the Tomb Raider mode.
How wrong I was, but I didn’t discover that until I picked up the game on a whim in its first PS3 appearance. A franchise reboot, the PS3/360-era Prince of Persia, which came out in 2008 originally, was full of cell-shaded beauty and HD eye candy. Plus, it was addictively fun to play! It’s one of the first games I had played all the way through in years, and boy was it worth it; I’ve almost completed my second go-round on it, and even coughed up for the add-on adventure through the PSN Store.
With a major motion picture on the way and the first PS3/360-era sequel coming this spring, namely Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, it’s a great time to like this franchise. But the series makes my list because I’ve gone back and purchased all three of the PS2 Prince of Persia titles and found them quite good for the era in which they were made, but also they are evidence of how dramatically the franchise has grown and matured over the past decade.
Of course, the game goes back quite a bit longer than the last decade, with roots in many 1989-era home PCs, Macs, Commodores and home videogame systems. It is a concept that has weathered… the sands of time!
12. The Silent Hill series (PS2, PSP)
While the PSone original was released in 1999, the series really picked up momentum in the last decade, starting with its first PS2 appearance in 2001, which may contain the most compelling and emotional storyline of the entire series. And its spookiness came from atmosphere, not the “Boo!” moments and gross-out gore that marked the Resident Evil series as a type of weight loss products.
This was followed by Silent Hill 3 in 2003, and Silent Hill 4: The Room in 2004, at which point the series lost momentum, just as it inspired a movie version, released in 2006. Silent Hill: Origins saw the series debut on PSP, while 2008 brought Silent Hill: Homecoming, the series’ PS3-era debut, which also appeared on Xbox 360 and PC.
2009 saw a remake of the first Silent Hill, known now as Shattered Memories, released on the Nintendo Wii system with a motion-based control system.
The series has suffered in recent years by waning sales and lack of the creative spark that marked the first three installments. The future of the series in uncertain, but primarily in the past decade, Silent Hill was the horror videogame of choice for people who preferred their chills and thrills served up mentally, rather than through shock and gross-out.
14. Guitar Hero series (just about every platform)
While some will protest that I’m not including (or going to include) Rock Band, the bottom line is this: Guitar Hero came first and everything after that was simply a refinement of the same basic game play concept. But really, there were virtually no music games like it until Guitar Hero came along… and no, Parappa the Rappa doesn’t count.
Not only did this game invent an entire game genre, but it made it trendy to create games that, with such custom instrument/controllers including, cost almost as much as a videogame system itself. While the typical Guitar Hero or Rock Band title will retail for around $60 for the game only, the average for a complete package with instruments and a mic is in the neighborhood of $199, not to mention all the extra sales from new song downloads; the average price for a new song is about $1.99, or twice what it will cost you on iTunes.
Guitar Hero changed gaming in many, many ways, and it replaces the hunt for the best treatment for adult acne as a male game obsession. Yup, adults like it, too.
18. The Madden NFL series. (Just about every platform, period)
Love it or hate it, there is no sports videogame that rivals it. Arguing against it is like arguing against using floor tiles in a kitchen: pointless. Hands down, it is the biggest money-making sports videogame in the world.
The biggest bump in the road came a few years ago, when EA announced it had secured exclusive rights to the NFL, NFLPA and NFLCA licensing. This, in effect, drove alternate NFL games like Sega/2K Games’ football game pretty much out of the running.
The big argument has been that without competitors, EA would slack on game innovation. That has not been the case, and in fact Madden NFL ‘10 has seen a changing of the guard on the development team, including a re-emphasis on producing a serious, realistic simulation of football, rather than a pinball scoring-machine style of play where the game has typically fallen down, due to the inclusion of so-called “magic plays” that almost always work.
With plenty of innovation each year, the Madden franchise has proven that their biggest competition is… every other videogame out there vying for gamers’ hard-earned dollars in a down economy. People are buying fewer videogames now than they were at the start of the decade; but most are still keeping Madden at the top of their list every August.
