3 ms·

After Final Fantasy III/VI, Chrono Trigger, Secrets of Mana, Illusions of Gaia, Super Mario RPG, etc.. The golden age of RPG's was the release of the playstati

After Final Fantasy III/VI, Chrono Trigger, Secrets of Mana, Illusions of Gaia, Super Mario RPG, etc.. The golden age of RPG's was the release of the playstation. The combination of mechanics that had been refined into the richer world of cd quality audio, voice dialog, visual improvements to 3D worlds and CGI sequences. Final Fantasy VII, VIII, IX, Chrono Cross, Breath of Fire, Arc the Lad, Tales of Destiny, Grandia, Lunar, Star Ocean, Breath of Fire, Xenogears, etc...

mlyle 3y ago
Yet the article claims > Or it did in 1996, anyway. As great as they are, one quality that mid-’90s Square games do not share with Nintendo’s work of the same era is timelessness. They're timeless in my heart. I guess I kind of see the point: Super Mario World is easier to show to a modern audience than FF6... But they are iconic and durable and still fun to play.
djtango 3y ago
I grew up in this era so really try to keep my bias in check but that really did feel like the golden age of JRPGs and many other games at the time. Arguably certainly action games and shooters peaked later but late 90s Square was something else...
- Xeoncross 3y ago
  Yes, after the N64 and playstation (and Windows 3.1), the only thing that really revolutionized gaming was (working) online play. Of course, graphics improve with each year, but hitting those first 3D consoles (and PC games) was amazing in a way that nothing else that follows has been. Hearing actual orchestral music or live acting in a game was fantastic. Everyone remembers Mario 64 or the expansive open world Zelda: Ocarina of Time. In the same way, Final Fantasy 7 or 9 represent the best FF games to many people. Mario Kart is still the universal poster child for group games. I'm glad things have continued to improve, but those first few consoles had growth of an industry so much more impactful than anything from the last 15 years (again, apart from good online play).
  - djtango 3y ago
    Agreed was a little unsure about shooters at first but the same period covers Half Life/CS. Though it took consoles to catch up with that multiplayer experience for shooters. Was goldeneye as good as PC shooters like CS or Quake? That all said, after a 3-4 year break from games, I did get quite a lot of wonder from Destiny 2 and Monster Hunter World as it took quite a happy period of readjustment before I could see the invisible walls and game objects again. So maybe some of it is an age/experience thing... But the core gameplay loop of D2 with its weird chore mechanics are a far cry from the fun and adventure some games like OG Chrono Trigger had...
    - Xeoncross 3y ago
      > Was goldeneye as good as PC shooters like CS or Quake? I remember it being bigger than Quake. Everyone I knew had played it, but not everyone had played quake. Probably do to the great/easy 4-person multiplayer. It received critical acclaim and sold over eight million copies, making it the third-bestselling Nintendo 64 game.

mlyle 3y ago

Yet the article claims > Or it did in 1996, anyway. As great as they are, one quality that mid-’90s Square games do not share with Nintendo’s work of the same era is timelessness. They're timeless in my heart. I guess I kind of see the point: Super Mario World is easier to show to a modern audience than FF6... But they are iconic and durable and still fun to play.

djtango 3y ago

I grew up in this era so really try to keep my bias in check but that really did feel like the golden age of JRPGs and many other games at the time. Arguably certainly action games and shooters peaked later but late 90s Square was something else...

Xeoncross 3y ago
Yes, after the N64 and playstation (and Windows 3.1), the only thing that really revolutionized gaming was (working) online play. Of course, graphics improve with each year, but hitting those first 3D consoles (and PC games) was amazing in a way that nothing else that follows has been. Hearing actual orchestral music or live acting in a game was fantastic. Everyone remembers Mario 64 or the expansive open world Zelda: Ocarina of Time. In the same way, Final Fantasy 7 or 9 represent the best FF games to many people. Mario Kart is still the universal poster child for group games. I'm glad things have continued to improve, but those first few consoles had growth of an industry so much more impactful than anything from the last 15 years (again, apart from good online play).
- djtango 3y ago
  Agreed was a little unsure about shooters at first but the same period covers Half Life/CS. Though it took consoles to catch up with that multiplayer experience for shooters. Was goldeneye as good as PC shooters like CS or Quake? That all said, after a 3-4 year break from games, I did get quite a lot of wonder from Destiny 2 and Monster Hunter World as it took quite a happy period of readjustment before I could see the invisible walls and game objects again. So maybe some of it is an age/experience thing... But the core gameplay loop of D2 with its weird chore mechanics are a far cry from the fun and adventure some games like OG Chrono Trigger had...
  - Xeoncross 3y ago
    > Was goldeneye as good as PC shooters like CS or Quake? I remember it being bigger than Quake. Everyone I knew had played it, but not everyone had played quake. Probably do to the great/easy 4-person multiplayer. It received critical acclaim and sold over eight million copies, making it the third-bestselling Nintendo 64 game.