Word of the day: "volte-face"

Was AWOL most wekeend entertaining my Significant Other. Erm. More long posts and observations and commentary to follow (bask in the corncucopia, my peons), but first a quick re-cap of current status.

It was raining copiously this morning. Now, since I returned home, I have managed to avoid encountering the absolute-zero-absence-of-Brownian-motion type of congestion that occasionally plagues KL traffic; a phenomena have only heard tales and whispers about all my life, or at least managed to sit out while dozing in a passenger seat. This time, I was completely trapped in one, as a driver, bending my entire Will to avoid losing consciousness, feet moving in the irregular brake-accelerate-brake-accelerate rhythm as I inched down a river of silver molasses in an almost peristaltic fashion. I spent 45 minutes covering a one-kilometer distance in the city center, as adrenaline-mad bus drivers and suicidal motorcyclists respectively bludgeoned and weaselled their way on either side of me.

When I got to work, I realized that to my folly, I had forgotten my brolly. (I spent a charming five minutes reciting this phrase over and over in my head just so I could repeat it here; another method for staying awake). Finally hauled myself up to the office bedecked in a fashion statement known euphemistically as "The Wet Look".

On top of it, I realised that my net liquid assets had been reduced to a mere seven dollars or so for the rest of the week. Underwent some meditation at office lobby on whether to spend it on cigarettes or food. Eventually concluded that anything that prolonged existence was, at this point in time, just not that desirable as something that shortened but enriched life.

So here follows the commentary. Firstly, on the topic of console RPGs.....

My desire was to outline a list of what I considered as intuitive "classics" in my own mind. I know the grave difficulty posed in even trying to apply an objective benchmark to what constitutes a "universally acclaimed" RPG; particularly as the demographic of both PC and console gaming share many similarities, not to mention the "what is an RPG" issue that I've mentioned below. In addition, within console and PC gaming, certain profound differences exist as well (such as the geographical split between the Japanese and the West). One major result of this is that the console market encompasses Western *and* Japanese preferences; while the the PC market is primarily Western. So within the console RPG market, anything that achieves Western acclaim almost certaintly originated from Japan but was localized (and hence can make some claim to being "universal"), whereas a lot of great, seminal RPGs that stayed Japanese never really achieved acclaim. I might add that there are many great games of both genres that never really made it big, but were considered "classics" in hindsight. Via my benchmark below I have tried to show games that were classics by both popular acclamation and conceptual innovation.

That said, let me address -

TerraEnigma/Terranigma - I mentioned Illusion of Gaia in my list; so I'd tentatively lump this in the same line - they *were* part of the Soul Blazer trilogy.

Bahamut Lagoon - I don't really consider this an RPG; more like a squad-game of sorts. Opinions do vary, but see my comments on Shining Force below.

Valkyrie Profile *has* been localized into English by Enix; another utterly beautiful game, and one of the most non-linear console RPGs out there. I loved this game; it implemented 2D sprites and animations very well at a time when everyone was beginning the mad headlong rush into complete 3D. Not to mention the funky attack chains:) And the rather nihilistic Ragnarok storyline:)

Ys series.. now *that* takes me back a way:) I only played Wanderers, to be honest, but I've seen a few others here and there. Erm. I'd have to consider this a "good for its time" type of game, but in all honesty I wouldn't accord it "classic" status; to my mind there wasn't anything more remarkable than its soundtrack and general playability. However, never having played anything other than Ys III, and watching bits of the later ones, I can't say much more than this.

Shining Force vs Final Fantasy Tactics *is* indeed a good point; but I'd have to say that Shining Force came on the scene *first* and hence gains more "classic" status as a squad-RPG hybrid; FF: Tactics, Ogre Tactics; Suikoden et. al. are themselves original takes, but Shining Force predated them by years. That's why I consider it a "classic".
And somehow Shining Force always.. *felt* more RPG-ish to me than FF: Tactics; although that may be because I played Shining Force in the days when the barriers between RPG and squad games were still fairly rigidly stratified; and Shining Force had enough arching storyline and emphasis on the individual character to make it more in the RPG class as I understood it. These days my opinions are a bit more flexible, of course; that's why I don't necessarily discount the likes of Black & White as "RPGs"

Same reason goes for Zelda vs Brave Fencer; one was the first, enduring classic, the other was - good but later.

On to the "derivative" concept - D&D RPGs all indeed are based on the same system, but I lumped them together for the same reason I lumped "series" together. By derivative, I mean games that may stand out on their own production values, but are ultimately building upon conceptual foundations inspired by earlier games *and* were designed externally and not part of a chronological or conceptual series. I'm aware that this rather hard and fast definition has a lot of loopholes; after all, can Final Fantasy really be considered a "series" in the properly accepted sense of the word? Gak, it's hard to articulate, but I'm trying the best I can in my wacked out state - I consider Star Ocean, Alundra, etc etc as "derivative" in the sense that they are great games on their own right, but don't necessarily represent (in my mind) games that stand out as "eternal greats" or possess mindblowingly original concepts, either in storyline or gameplay. Although I've inveighed against the "popular acclaim" methodology of grading greatness, let's be frank - which had more of a conceptual *and* demographic impact on the gaming industry as a whole, Zelda or Vandal Hearts? If I were to include all the sleeper hits or cult classics from either genre, this entry would be almost as long as one of Gabriel's rants....

It's very difficult, and some of my PC-playing friends have also lambasted me for omitting stuff like Dragon Wars, Magic Carpet, the original Dune(????!?!?), Quest for the Grail, Hacker, Centauri Alliance, Magic Candle series, and even the original Dungeon Quest. The point is, everyone has different ideas of what constitutes great - perhaps I should indeed lump all the Bioware Inifinity Engine games as part of one series, and fold Arcanum into the Fallout series as well. The reason why I left Planescape: Torment and Arcanum separate from Baldur's Gate and Fallout respectively (despite using the same engine) is because of the utterly incongruent philosophical and storyline concepts that make them completely different gaming experiences from their antecedents. But if I were to do that, I would have to grade each of the latter Final Fantasy games in their own right...

In other words, as I was at great lengths to point out; taste is subjective, one man's great is another man's overrated, and that often, it is possible to intuit the greatness of a game that stays in the mind, even if no one else finds it any good,and you yourself can't articulate just why it's so good. That's why I included Blood Omen in that category - it's not a classic in most people's minds, but the storyline has stayed with me for years. I might also add once again; *limited familiarity*. I've been unashamedly a PC gamer all my life, with occasional forays into console gaming. That bias is something I don't pretend to hide nor wish to impose as any objective standard of greatness. I am simply providing, as a hard-core gamer, what RPGs from either genres I personally consider "eternal classics", and what I don't for the reasons and tastes outlined above.

Septerra Core and Anachronox are proof that console RPGs are a contextual formula almost impossible to duplicate if you come from outside the "console" tradition.

Gak. More rant later.
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