[General Discussion] Do RPG's Get Better With Age?

I think:

A: There's too much out there to play. Not a bad thing, especially compared to the availability of RPG's in the SNES days.

B: RPG's nowadays take too long to get started and you can't tell if a game is worth the trouble without putting a lot of time into it to get started. That's a bad thing, especially with a lot to choose from. Hitting 3-4 games in a row you just can't bring yourself to care about and wastes your time and money tends to drag the opinion of the rest of the market down.

C: Replayability is the ultimate mark of excellence for an RPG to me and very few nowadays, I'd replay even if I could bring myself to finish them. In fact, the only RPG's I've replayed (either for endings or for fun) are FF1/FFIV/FFVI/FFVII, Chrono Trigger, Star Ocean 2, Valkyrie Profile, Suikoden 1/2/5, Growlanser 2 and Ys VI. Non-coincidentally, that's pretty much a complete listing of my favorite RPG's.

D: I don't care as much about RPG's as I used to in general and I just look for a more compact experience, instead of the next epic. Chrono Trigger does more in 14 hours (add 6 for the side-quests) than most RPG's that noticably limp into the 40-50 hours range and Phantasy Star IV's bang-bang pace is frighteningly refreshing right now. Just an hour here, an hour there and I get a lot done.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Tafer

Maybe, only maybe, when you grow up you get the chance to appreciate even more those old games that we used to play (notice those little great things that we missed)... or quite the opposite: realize how silly/stupid/bad they were.

I just know I appreciate 4-5 member parties far more now than when they were the norm. I tend not to like games that only use 3 character slots and never did (Chrono Trigger aside, but I always think it would have been even more awesome with 4-5 character slots...I didn't mind when I got and played FFVII, but it got old shortly after that). I think that's been one of the more glaring signs of regression to me. Bigger graphics, more live instruments in the music and...fewer party members? Uh, okay.

I remember playing FFVII and thinking how lame it was there was only one world map. FFIV had 3 (over, under, moon) and FFVI had the normal world and world of ruin. I tend to abhor games that don't use some sort of traditional world map at all...

I remember when FFVIII came out, there was all this talk about how the junctioning system and the ditching of traditional armor, leveling, individual skills and money gathering was "innovative". There's a reason I've always had a like-hate relationship with the game...Despite stupid shit like that, it still managed to be decent. FFVI got it right, balancing tradition (armor, money, leveling, special skills/attacks) with the customization of the esper system and the relics (which should be a staple of every RPG, IMO). I've never thought otherwise.

There's nowhere I can't reach.