Stormfeather's Video Game Questions
I've been meaning to answer these questions from Stormfeather for a while, so here they are.
1. What's the first video game and system that you ever owned?
My first system was the Atari 2600. I don't remember what game was first... I probably had a couple, but the one I remember the most was Football. There were only four players on each team, and even as a five year old I figured out that you could return every kickoff for a touchdown by using a simple maneuver that tricked all the defenders.
2. What's your most-used system at the moment?
I guess it's the PC since I've been playing a bunch of Magic Online and not much else. When I have been playing, I've mostly been emulating stuff on my PC again, or on my PSP. Not counting emulation, then it would be my DS.
3. Name your favorite game of all time.
This question is more difficult for me than it used to be. I guess I'll still say Starcraft, because it's the game I've gotten the most enjoyment out of overall. It had great single player and multiplayer modes, which is kind of rare. It also had a great story and good voice acting. However, I've gotten kind of tired of the gameplay and I don't admire it quite as much as I used to. Some of the other contenders for the top spot would be Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Final Fantasy IV, and Suikoden II.
4. And your favorite game series.
This is tough. It seems like every long running series has had ups and downs. Final Fantasy has had some great games along with some so-so ones. The same is true for Zelda. Phoenix Wright might be a contender if the third game is as good as the first two, but I don't feel I can name it my favorite series having played only two games. Suikoden has one flash of absolute brilliance (2) surrounded by a number of good but not great games (1, 3, and 5). Metroid is absolutely awesome in 2d, but I wasn't able to get into the 3d gameplay of Metroid Prime. Baldur's Gate is great throughout, but the series only consists of two and a half games.
Ultimately I think I have pick Final Fantasy for having the largest number of outstanding games: IV, VI, VII, IX, and Tactics. 1 was also outstanding for the time it was released, although I think it's aged badly.
5. What is your preferred genre of games?
It used to be RPGs, but I've grown tired of the genre's gameplay - lots of battles, slow menu driven combat, lots of grinding. It seems like the things that bother me have been getting worse as well - combat in general has become slower over the last decade. Meanwhile, some of the things that drew me to RPGs have become more common in other genres, especially storytelling. At this point my favorite genre is basically action games that tell a good story - the MGSes, Silent Hills, or action RPGs like Dewprism.
6. Oldest-school game that you still play and enjoy, if any?
Mega Man 2/3 and Super Mario 3... although I only pull them out once in a while.
7. Which game have you played that you ended up disliking the most?
It's got to be Vagrant Story. I know hatred isn't rational and I've played other games that are probably just as bad, but Vagrant Story is the one I remember the most unpleasantly. The setup was somewhat interesting, but the gameplay was such that it became progressively more tedious as the game went on - at first you could use a weapon relatively effectively against everything, but later on you needed to have different weapons for different types of monsters, and if you didn't have the right thing you'd end up doing 1 damage with each hit. Plus you had to spend time creating your own weapons without any good understanding of what it was you needed.
I think part of the reason I was so offended by Vagrant Story is that the GIA gave it a 5 and Andrew Vestal praised it to high heaven. The game came out in 2000 when Square was pretty much at the height of their powers; Dewprism, Legend of Mana, Chrono Cross, and Final Fantasy IX were all released within 6 months of Vagrant Story, and Vagrant Story was the one black mark on their release schedule (as much as I've bashed Chrono Cross, it's redeemed by bringing us one of the greatest game soundtracks of all time).
8. Which game that you played was probably the biggest disappointment? Not necessarily that you hated, but that you thought would be all that AND the bag of chips, and... wasn't.
The one that comes to mind is Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete. My expectations were high after Working Designs' version of Lunar 1, and while it wasn't exactly bad, it wasn't great either. Although now I'm remembering that Chrono Cross was probably more of a disappointment. One of the thing that made Chrono Trigger so great was how distinctive it's characters were, while the CC characters were utterly boring and lifeless. Once I got to the part of the game where they tie the plot in with that of Chrono Trigger, I was pissed.
9. What is your least favorite genre?
It's a tossup between FPS and MMORPG.
10. Do you play any multiplayer games? Which ones are the main ones?
I play Magic Online, and I used to play Starcraft.
11. Have a favorite game character?
Princess Mint from Dewprism. She's just absolutely hilarious and I love her attitude.
12. The best game based off of other media? (Books, movies, anime, etc.)
If it counts, Baldur's Gate II. The game is just ridiculously epic.
13. Best other media (book, movie, whatever) based on a video game?
I guess it's Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, more or less by default. Although if The Wizard is eligible, then I pick that.
14. You know you have one... name your own personal crusade. (ie: a game that it seems everyone hates, but you love and defend to the death.)
It took me a while to remember, but the answer is obvious: Phantasy Star III. It's the total black sheep of the series, and it does have a few flaws, but personally I think it was absolutely brilliant for its time. It did things in 1991 that few games seem to do even now - primarily a real branching storyline. People bash it for being too different from the rest of the Phantasy Star games, but it's clearly a Phantasy Star game even if the setting is different.
15. Most disappointing sequel to a game?
Chrono Cross.
16. Least disappointing sequel?
I won't say Suikoden II, because I had no expectations for it as a sequel - I played it before the original. Instead I'll say Mega Man 3, which had high expectations and totally blew them away.
17. Game that was the biggest pleasant surprise.
Dewprism. I had no expectations for it until I played the demo that was included with some other game. That was fun, so I bought it and loved it.
18. Game you always like to revisit. (Playing once is never enough... this is your "comfort food" of games that you like to go back to time and again.)
Mega Man 2, Mega Man 3, and Super Mario 3 - they're nice to play once in a while since I can go through them pretty easily and it doesn't take a lot of time.
1. What's the first video game and system that you ever owned?
My first system was the Atari 2600. I don't remember what game was first... I probably had a couple, but the one I remember the most was Football. There were only four players on each team, and even as a five year old I figured out that you could return every kickoff for a touchdown by using a simple maneuver that tricked all the defenders.
2. What's your most-used system at the moment?
I guess it's the PC since I've been playing a bunch of Magic Online and not much else. When I have been playing, I've mostly been emulating stuff on my PC again, or on my PSP. Not counting emulation, then it would be my DS.
3. Name your favorite game of all time.
This question is more difficult for me than it used to be. I guess I'll still say Starcraft, because it's the game I've gotten the most enjoyment out of overall. It had great single player and multiplayer modes, which is kind of rare. It also had a great story and good voice acting. However, I've gotten kind of tired of the gameplay and I don't admire it quite as much as I used to. Some of the other contenders for the top spot would be Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Final Fantasy IV, and Suikoden II.
4. And your favorite game series.
This is tough. It seems like every long running series has had ups and downs. Final Fantasy has had some great games along with some so-so ones. The same is true for Zelda. Phoenix Wright might be a contender if the third game is as good as the first two, but I don't feel I can name it my favorite series having played only two games. Suikoden has one flash of absolute brilliance (2) surrounded by a number of good but not great games (1, 3, and 5). Metroid is absolutely awesome in 2d, but I wasn't able to get into the 3d gameplay of Metroid Prime. Baldur's Gate is great throughout, but the series only consists of two and a half games.
Ultimately I think I have pick Final Fantasy for having the largest number of outstanding games: IV, VI, VII, IX, and Tactics. 1 was also outstanding for the time it was released, although I think it's aged badly.
5. What is your preferred genre of games?
It used to be RPGs, but I've grown tired of the genre's gameplay - lots of battles, slow menu driven combat, lots of grinding. It seems like the things that bother me have been getting worse as well - combat in general has become slower over the last decade. Meanwhile, some of the things that drew me to RPGs have become more common in other genres, especially storytelling. At this point my favorite genre is basically action games that tell a good story - the MGSes, Silent Hills, or action RPGs like Dewprism.
6. Oldest-school game that you still play and enjoy, if any?
Mega Man 2/3 and Super Mario 3... although I only pull them out once in a while.
7. Which game have you played that you ended up disliking the most?
It's got to be Vagrant Story. I know hatred isn't rational and I've played other games that are probably just as bad, but Vagrant Story is the one I remember the most unpleasantly. The setup was somewhat interesting, but the gameplay was such that it became progressively more tedious as the game went on - at first you could use a weapon relatively effectively against everything, but later on you needed to have different weapons for different types of monsters, and if you didn't have the right thing you'd end up doing 1 damage with each hit. Plus you had to spend time creating your own weapons without any good understanding of what it was you needed.
I think part of the reason I was so offended by Vagrant Story is that the GIA gave it a 5 and Andrew Vestal praised it to high heaven. The game came out in 2000 when Square was pretty much at the height of their powers; Dewprism, Legend of Mana, Chrono Cross, and Final Fantasy IX were all released within 6 months of Vagrant Story, and Vagrant Story was the one black mark on their release schedule (as much as I've bashed Chrono Cross, it's redeemed by bringing us one of the greatest game soundtracks of all time).
8. Which game that you played was probably the biggest disappointment? Not necessarily that you hated, but that you thought would be all that AND the bag of chips, and... wasn't.
The one that comes to mind is Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete. My expectations were high after Working Designs' version of Lunar 1, and while it wasn't exactly bad, it wasn't great either. Although now I'm remembering that Chrono Cross was probably more of a disappointment. One of the thing that made Chrono Trigger so great was how distinctive it's characters were, while the CC characters were utterly boring and lifeless. Once I got to the part of the game where they tie the plot in with that of Chrono Trigger, I was pissed.
9. What is your least favorite genre?
It's a tossup between FPS and MMORPG.
10. Do you play any multiplayer games? Which ones are the main ones?
I play Magic Online, and I used to play Starcraft.
11. Have a favorite game character?
Princess Mint from Dewprism. She's just absolutely hilarious and I love her attitude.
12. The best game based off of other media? (Books, movies, anime, etc.)
If it counts, Baldur's Gate II. The game is just ridiculously epic.
13. Best other media (book, movie, whatever) based on a video game?
I guess it's Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, more or less by default. Although if The Wizard is eligible, then I pick that.
14. You know you have one... name your own personal crusade. (ie: a game that it seems everyone hates, but you love and defend to the death.)
It took me a while to remember, but the answer is obvious: Phantasy Star III. It's the total black sheep of the series, and it does have a few flaws, but personally I think it was absolutely brilliant for its time. It did things in 1991 that few games seem to do even now - primarily a real branching storyline. People bash it for being too different from the rest of the Phantasy Star games, but it's clearly a Phantasy Star game even if the setting is different.
15. Most disappointing sequel to a game?
Chrono Cross.
16. Least disappointing sequel?
I won't say Suikoden II, because I had no expectations for it as a sequel - I played it before the original. Instead I'll say Mega Man 3, which had high expectations and totally blew them away.
17. Game that was the biggest pleasant surprise.
Dewprism. I had no expectations for it until I played the demo that was included with some other game. That was fun, so I bought it and loved it.
18. Game you always like to revisit. (Playing once is never enough... this is your "comfort food" of games that you like to go back to time and again.)
Mega Man 2, Mega Man 3, and Super Mario 3 - they're nice to play once in a while since I can go through them pretty easily and it doesn't take a lot of time.