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Post by Richard-RN on Mar 20, 2006 1:21:04 GMT -5
This is a thread that I thought of while recently posting on another subject (thanks for the inspiration Pilgrim). What views do you hold about certain games or franchises that do not match up with the general gaming community? What games do you like that you constantly have to defend while others bash it? Do YOU like Virtual Boy? Here is the place to post it! Defend yourself!
The most common arguements I have to make on message boards are these:
FFVIII is the best entry in the Final Fantasy series (esp PSX)
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes is the best Metroid game
Paper Mario 2: The Thousand Year Door is the best Mario game to come out since SM64
Mario Kart: Double Dash was by far the worst Mario Kart to date
Here is my defense:
FFVIII: Let me first say this, so that people will not think I am a rabid Square fanboy. I ADMIT IT. THE JUNCTION SYSTEM SUCKED. Besides that though, FFVIII was superioer to every other PSX Final Fantasy, and on par with FFIV and VI in my mind as far as story goes. The cinematic presentation was superb and though I didn't like the vast majority of the characters, I did care about the ones that counted (Rinoa and Squall, plus Irvine). The locales and card game, as well as the summons and extras were awesome.At the end of the game, I just was sadder than I have ever been to have to leave a video game world (with the exception of Zelda:OoT).
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes: Its kind of hard to defend my opinion here, because most wont deny that Prime 2 was aesthetically better than Prime and had a cooler theme, they just say it wasnt as "amazing". Of course it wasnt, because it was the SECOND time Samus had appeared in 3D. Still though, vastly superior to the first in every respect. Loved every minute of it.
Paper Mario 2: Thousand Year Door: How do people NOT love this game? Some say they didn't laugh the whole time...what kind of animals are they? This game was by far the most original and hilarious game in the Mario series since Mario 64. I loved the style addition to the gameplay, as well as all of the characters and locales that I STILL remember to this day (been almost 2 years since I beat it). Just a wonderful experience. Many say Mario and Luigi is a better series, but I disagree. With the exception of Fawful, the characters in the PM series are more memorable and the gameplay blows the handheld incarnations out of the water.
Mario Kart Double Dash: The game that almost made me give up on Nintendo. I was TERRIBLY upset when my bro got this for me for my b-day just because Nintendo had ruined our favorite franchise from childhood. The two player idea wasnt terrible, the items were semi-cool. I could stand that. I could even stand the new tracks that werent quite as groundbreaking as I had hoped they would be. What I could not stand was the lacking multiplayer. It was terrible. Maps were WAY too small and just less fun all around. Luckily they made it up to me with MK:DS, though unfortunately due to it being their first foray into online gaming the infrastructure more or less sucked. They are learning though, as Hunters has shown with the lobby system. Bravo NST, bravo.
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Jason-RN
Ice Climber. Chill.
Posts: 8,126
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Post by Jason-RN on Mar 20, 2006 2:34:45 GMT -5
Maps were WAY too small and just less fun all around. I liked Mario Kart: Double Dash, but I also think that the multiplayer maps were way too small. It was hard to have good Battle mode matches when the it only took three seconds to go from one edge of the map to the other (I'm looking at you, giant GameCube arena). The only exception to this is the awesome Luigi's Mansion arena. |
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Post by Richard-RN on Mar 20, 2006 2:46:21 GMT -5
Well yeah, plus Nintendo gave me a pleasant surprise with F-Zero GX, one of the best Gamecube titles to this day IMO. I was mad that Nintendo let AV one up them in the racing dpt. (though AV is a very talented dev). I know they are both different types of racing games, but F-Zero GX wowed me and MK:DD was very dissapointing.
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Post by Dan-RN on Mar 20, 2006 13:40:14 GMT -5
I haven't played all of the FF games, but I like the ones I'm well experienced in, which is IV, VII, IX, and X. Of those, I'd say VII or IV is the best, but I lean towards VII. I know the game is pretty overrated, but it really was a great RPG, in my opinion.
I still haven't picked up Echoes, so I won't comment on that. I liked Super Metroid better than Prime, though. Prime's a great game, but I like my Metroid in 2D better.
I thought the first Paper Mario was better. PM2 had some funnier moments, but I didn't care for the characters as much. It also seemed like all of the paper abilities became gimmicks after a while. The battle and plot were good, but the first has a special place in me. PM2... not so much. As for it being the best since Super Mario 64, I'd say it's the best since Paper Mario. I still like Super Mario World better than SM 64, anyway..
Double Dash sucked overall. They took a quick game with a lot of item action and made it crawl along. I played it some with my brother, and while the two player co-op kind of thing was neat, it just wasn't as fun as MK 64. I never played Super Circuit, but the tracks from it on MK DS suck horribly. I hate them. I'd say one of those two are the worst.
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Post by Richard-RN on Mar 20, 2006 14:23:49 GMT -5
I hated super circuit as well...with a passion. Probably more than double dash even, but thats because I didnt link up with my GBA that much.
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Post by Pilgrim John on Mar 20, 2006 14:56:52 GMT -5
Wow, DD is taking a beating. I won't argue, even though I liked that game. A lot. They even had a Gamecube as a Multiplayer map. Cool points, cool points, and more cool points. The real downside was that they could have featured Cackletta and Fawful as a twosome, but NOOOOOOOOO, we have to have Petey Pirhana and King Boo. Ptthhhb.  As far as FFs go, I'm more of the VI fan. And Dan, if you want a truly immersive classic, play this game. I don't know if Square will butcher it or not (hopefully not), but FFVI is by far my second favorite RPG ever. Setzer is da man. FFVI lured in even people who hated RPGs. You can ask RPG-haters which SNES games they liked most, and it's highly likely that FFVI will end up there. FFVII, on the other hand, appealed to RPG aficiandos and RPG aficiandos ONLY. But that's cool with me, since I was an RPG lover since Dragon Warrior on NES. I just think it's downright silly and childish for people to believe that there's a certain point in a game series that will never be surpassed. HELLO, technology is evolving constantly, so HELLO, there will eventually come a game that beats the HELLO out of that cult classic. The people I have in mind are people who believe that FFVII, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and Super Mario Bros. 3 were the best of their respective series, and downplay recent editions just because they're not FFVII or Symphony or Mario 3. Dawn of Sorrow corrected the three huge flaws with Symphony (Uneven difficulty levels, terrible voicework, and the ridiculous ending theme) in its own ways. FFVI, read above. Super Mario 64, Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario World were better made than 3, with gameplay that had no peers. |
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Post by Richard-RN on Mar 20, 2006 15:51:32 GMT -5
Hmmm well the point of this thread was not to argue about MY opinions, but hey whatever works. As far as what Pilgrim said, yeah you should for sure play through FFVI if you havent yet by either purchasing FF Anthology or waiting for it to come out on GBA. I am playing through Dawn of Sorrow right now (I played through it when I first got it but never got the good ending) and yeah its a very impressive game. Though overall I probably prefer Symphony of the Night by a nudge, the soul system is probably up there with the coolest gameplay changes for a series. Both Aria of Sorrow and Dawn of Sorrow completely own because of it.
As far as FFVII and SMB 3 go, I disagree somewhat. Final Fantasy VII was not just for RPG aficianados. Though it was rather long, I have lots of friends that dont normally play RPGs that though VII was an awesome game. At the time it came out, it was unsurpassed as far as graphics were concerned. People loved it because of the story, the characters, and (lets face it) the cut scenes. I think true FF/RPG fans appreciated it more because there were so many extras, but I think it appealed to a wider audience than just RPG fans.
SMB3 is considered by many (myself included) to be the best Super Mario game of all time because it introduced a couple things to the adventure:Different suits (tanuki, frog, leaf (which later became cape)) and a thorough quest (8 worlds that all had like 8 or 9 levles). There is something special about it which the other games arguably lacked. Super Mario World and Super Mario 64 were definately worthy successors, but nothing has quite surpassed 3. I disagree with your assertion that because technology advances the games will get better. Technology does not make a game fun, innovation and gameplay does. I love the side-scrolling action of Mario 3, but I have no doubt that Nintendo will someday surpass it with something else. They have yet to do that, however. Also, I wouldn't even put Sunshine in the same league as Mario 64 and SMW (Sunshine was a 9.0 game at best IMO). Just my 2 cents.
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Post by Dan-RN on Mar 20, 2006 22:54:07 GMT -5
Yeah, I've been waiting on FF VI Advance to play it, which hopefully won't take too much longer.
With Mario games, I think World is the best. 3 was good, but I've played it and don't see what's so special about it. World took everything good it did and expanded it, which makes it the better game imo. Maybe it's just the memories we associate with games that dictates which we view as the best...
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Post by thelimper on Mar 20, 2006 23:08:20 GMT -5
I guess opinions differ a lot. I gave up on the FF series after playing FF 8. The story wasn't bad, but I hated the battle system. I also thought it had goofy characters for the most part, and the summons got to be so stupid after you watched them more than once.
I understand how cool summons were the first time, but once they lost that cool factor it is dumb to make you watch 2 min. long attacks.
FF 8 paled in almost every respect to FF 7...IMO
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Jason-RN
Ice Climber. Chill.
Posts: 8,126
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Post by Jason-RN on Mar 21, 2006 23:52:47 GMT -5
Well yeah, plus Nintendo gave me a pleasant surprise with F-Zero GX, one of the best Gamecube titles to this day IMO. I was mad that Nintendo let AV one up them in the racing dpt. (though AV is a very talented dev). I know they are both different types of racing games, but F-Zero GX wowed me and MK:DD was very dissapointing. F-Zero GX is an awesome game. However, I personally don't consider it to be in the same category as Mario Kart. Yes, they're both racing games. But Mario Kart has items and the like, while F-Zero focuses on pure speed. |
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Post by Pilgrim John on Mar 22, 2006 1:52:34 GMT -5
F-Zero GX is the best racing game I've ever played. Sure, Gran Turismo has their fancy-shmancy cars and Mario Kart relies on its goofy items to level the playfield, but F-Zero GX has a multiplayer built on whose reflexes are faster. Plus, it's also the only game my dad has managed to beat me and my siblings at.  |
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Post by Justin-RN on Mar 22, 2006 12:15:08 GMT -5
Finaly Fantasy VIII had a great story from what I remember, but I couldn't stand the fighting system (too many summons).
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, is a great game, maybe even better than Prime, but it can't top Super Metroid.
Paper Mario 2 wasn't the best Mario game since SM64 because it wasn't really a Mario game, or at least not in my head. Super Mario Sunshine wins by default. For the record, I liked Paper Mario 2, but though Paper Mario 64 was a little better.
I'm actually pretty fond of Double Dash, I really enjoy the game. The only major gripe I have is one that exists on all Mario Karts, the damn item handicap. Seriously, when are they going to make the system less cheap?
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Post by Pilgrim John on Mar 22, 2006 12:21:49 GMT -5
Paper Mario 2 wasn't the best Mario game since SM64 because it wasn't really a Mario game, or at least not in my head. Super Mario Sunshine wins by default. For the record, I liked Paper Mario 2, but though Paper Mario 64 was a little better.[\quote] Hmmmmmmmmm, myeh. Personally, I loved the second Paper Mario. Its characters were more memorable, the stroyline was better, the dialogue was some of the funniest crap I've ever read, the graphics and gameplay both played up the whole "paper" theme for what it was worth, and you even got to play as Bowser through some SMB-ish levels. Good fun. But on terms of RPGs, nothing (Not even Final Fantasy) can ever top Earthbound!!! |
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Jason-RN
Ice Climber. Chill.
Posts: 8,126
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Post by Jason-RN on Mar 24, 2006 4:18:13 GMT -5
F-Zero GX is the best racing game I've ever played. Sure, Gran Turismo has their fancy-shmancy cars and Mario Kart relies on its goofy items to level the playfield, but F-Zero GX has a multiplayer built on whose reflexes are faster. Plus, it's also the only game my dad has managed to beat me and my siblings at. The sense of speed in F-Zero GX is insane. And that's why I like the game so much. Speed = Fun |
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