1998again
Here’s some other stuff I want to mention from 1998 which I have played. If you think I’m missing something, its probably because I haven’t played it. Such as Grim Fandango. I know.
Resident Evil 2 Its way better than RE1. I still wasn’t in love with something about these games. So I gameshark pro’d an ammo code. But, left my health untouched. Shooting the magnum and needing a step back, was awesome.
Xenogears I’ve already said much about this game in other threads. Its one of my favorite games ever. I love the art direction. I love the 3D backgrounds with 2D sprites. I love the battle system. I love giant robots. I love the innovative direction and camera angles used at times. Which were made possible by the 3D engine. A certain base hideout invasion, comes to mind. But also something like cracking open doors and peaking through the crack, early in the game outside Ramsa’s castle. Or swooping the camera down a market street. Lots of little things made possible, which were not possible in 2D RPGs. And because you can fully rotate the environments, many of the areas you visit are just that much more detailed. I love the characters and how they all have some depth revealed about them. The Yggdrasil is the best transport in an RPG ever. And that’s because inside of it is a fully fleshed out ship/city/giant robot hanger. Late in the game is a fighting arena which kinda plays like Virtual-On. Its a great game. Flaws and all.
1080 Snowboarding Before Tony Hawk made skateboarding a gaming thing…snowboarding had a moment. And 1080 was the best of 'em. Its just a solid game, which people talked about a lot. Its kind of exactly what you would want out of a snowboarder. And isn’t yet too far gone with all the tricking and flashyness of much later extreme sports games.
Parasite Eve what if a resident evil game was made by Squaresoft?..but they couldn’t help themselves and messed with it? Instead of real-time tank combat, it has a tactical turn based system. You are free to run around, so you dodge attacks in real time. But your attack turns are based on an ATB time bar like Final Fantasy. and you target individual parts of enemies, for various effects and stategy. All of your equipment is RPG’d with classes and enhancements and ammo types. And borrowing from final fantasy, you have scenes where characters have dialogue and story exposition. And there’s a distinct melancholy to the characters and the presentation of the whole game. I loved it.
International Superstar Soccer 98 another game my brother and I got really into. Its really addictive, as it has a sneaky amount of subtlety. and it has a lot of teams and stadiums. And some interesting game modes. So, it lasts you awhile.
Shogo this is a FPS with heavy influence from Japanese anime such as Patlabor. There are human sections and giant robot sections (which don’t really play much different, aside from different weapons. And in general, it pretty much plays like a slower paced Quake II). its on the Lithtech engine, which was pretty slick. Features dual wielding and some cool weapons. it has sprawling maps which can seemingly seemlessly transition from large outdoor areas to tight indoors areas. They even tried some cityscapes. It doesn’t really stand the test of time. But, it was pretty cool, in its time. And In retrospect, I bet Halo took a lot of queues from this. Becuase watching a few videos just now, it reminds me a lot of later parts of Halo.
Rush 2: Extreme Racing (N64): Finally, no more quarters. All those ferry trips to Seattle were now at my house. My brother and I spent a lot of time messing around on these tracks. Going off track. Finding jumps where there isn’t mean to be. etc.
Half Life it just plays so good. I think people playing this now, let first impressions affect them too much. As I see a lot of people quick to suggest HL Source or Black Mesa. Let the game happen for a little bit. It really pics up and you won’t care anymore about the graphics. I promise. The shooting mechanics didn’t just feel like slower Quake II. Its quite a huge breakaway from those early staples of the genre. And there’s all sorts of inventive weapons and excellent AI to use them against. And there are also inventive enemy types which create new and interesting scenarios, much different from other FPS. I like it better than HL2. Its just more fun.
Suikoden 2 by now, RPGs have hit their 32 bit stride. Technically speaking, Suikoden 2 is mainly 2D and seems more like it came much earlier than 1998. and is therefore, not a giant leap over the late 16 bit games. It only makes limited, rudimentary use of 3D effects. It has no FMV to speak of. It doesn’t have CG pre-rendered backgrounds. But, it doesn’t care. It just grabs you up in its arms and takes you on a grand JRPG adventure. Its filled with character, has a large and detailed world, it pulls every trick, and its all done strongly via great and fun writing.
