2 posts tagged “final fantasy”
I've been meaning to get around to this post for awhile now, so you'll just have to forgive me that I'm announcing my own personal video game of the year for last year a few weeks late.
The year two-thousand-and-seven was an amazing year for gaming. I've posted about many of my favorite games this year, including Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales, The Legends of Zelda and Spyro: Phantom Night, Pokemon Diamond, and Wario Ware: Twisted! I also didn't post about some game I really enjoyed, like Super Paper Mario and Halo 3.
But although all those games rocked my socks, my personal pick for video game of the year can go to only one game: Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings for the Nintendo DS. My wife gave it to me in the middle of December as an early Christmas present and as soon as she did, I was hooked. Although it's both a sequel to a game I hadn't ever played AND in a series that I swore off after terminal frustration with random battles, this game captivated me completely.
What's not to love? The art and visual design of the game is gorgeous (with cute, retro sprites for the characters you control); the music is amazing for a portable game, the story has surprising twists and turns (and was far more compelling to me than the much-lauded Mass Effect, which I consider to be an Ass Defect); and the gameplay, though repetitive, was fun throughout (the difficulty did vary widely throughout the game, as the final missions were insanely tough, but even that didn't damper my spirits). Honestly, I can't think of a better game I've played in a long, long while. My highest praise is that I'm looking forward to playing through it again soon and I never ever play through games twice.
But now I'm curious, my video game playing friends, as to what your personal Game of the Year would be? I know that L's involves assassination, and the Pants might go with one that involves rocketing around as a slime, but I'd love to see a blog post or two about them. What game of 2007, in your opinion, was super special awesome?
L recently observed that her and I have more or less swapped the standard gaming stereotypes. She likes first-person shooters (like Halo) and "adult" RPGs (like Oblivion, Jade Empire, KOTOR) more than I do, which are traditionally thought of as "male" games. On the other hand, I prefer cutesy, simpler "E" rated titles (like Pokemon) far more than she does.
In that vein, I recently picked up a new game so sugar-coated and sickeningly cute that Ernie and L couldn't help but make cooing noises when I showed it to them. I'm talking about Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales, which has all the trappings of a real winner for me:
- Minigames? Check!
- Microgames? Check!
- Trading Card Game? Check!
- Final Fantasy themed? Check!
- A splash of humor and plot? Check!
In related news, I gave in further to my weakness for cute, addictive games and placed an order for the brand spankin' new Pokemon Diamond. (Ernie's already insisted that she'll disown me for as long as the game's in my DS.) I haven't played a true Pokemon game since Pokemon Blue, so I'm already anticipating that 350+ of the poke-critters will be completely unfamiliar. At least I might finally be able to keep up with the kids at work!
So who cares if I'm not playing a bunch of traditionally macho games? I'm secure enough in my masculinity to love the cutesy games and not be ashamed. (Besides, my wife kicks my ass at any of the shooters, so I've got to have at least one niche, right?)
