Gamespite, Phantasy Star, PS2 spoilers
Oct. 1st, 2012 10:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
indigozeal- I held my breath through this quick, completely spoileriffic Phantasy Star II retrospective waiting for a walking-speed complaint that never came. Articles nowadays about Phantasy Star games are obliged to kvetch about something, though, and this fellow opts for an odd and counterproductive fixation on how the game isn't Final Fantasy IV (or II, or VII). PS2 and FF4 are the titles that widened my horizons on what videogames could be - the former was my introduction to character-based storytelling on the medium, and the latter demonstrated how games could tell stories in a way unique to the medium, by relating a tale primarily through the environment rather than overt narrative and allowing the player to draw their own conclusions as they explored the game world. Both were tremendously emotionally involving for me, and indicting one for not trying to innovate like the other seems counterproductive - if all games did was imitate each other, then we wouldn't have any innovation at all, would we.
Still, I probably should be grateful for any article that puts a positive spin on PS2 these days, even if I think the author overplays the "this will all end in tears" aspect of the game. The title's oppressive in a sterile, something's-not-right-here vein, not in a soap-opera maudlin sense, and the climax inspired in young me a certain amount of bleakness, yes, but also awe. This is the way things had to end, but man, what a way to go out.
- I'm perhaps complaining about the piece more than it merits, but it kind of crystallizes the problem with the gaming press and its growing pains - the writing has matured, but the thought processes behind it often haven't. Good copy is used to communicate dumb ideas.
- The other type of problematic article you run across in the online gaming press, particularly in game-by-game retrospectives such as these, are the misbegotten attempts to rehabilitate a pet title, such as this author's take on Phantasy Star III. I'm no stranger to championing odd games, but these articles too often sell their wares in ways that stretch fundamental credulity. Gamespite's guy, for example, charges that PS3's lazy copypaste environments "[allow] for a brisker pace," which ha ha ha ha ha this game is backtracking city. (I mean, that's what copypasting is - you're reiterating an element just to lengthen the whole.) I've been slowly replaying Phantasy Star III for the past couple months because of Reasons, and...well, the towns are indistinguishable and underpopulated, the dungeons are braindead, the abundance of rescue-the-princess stories is highly disappointing given the first two female-driven installments, and the PS1 & 2 low-dialogue style of storytelling doesn't work for a series of romances. It's a tragedy that the Hirondo Saiki's ambitions were cut down by time and budgetary (and talent) constraints, but them's the news. We ain't doin' the next generation any favors by trying to sell them on retro titles that weren't good even when they were released. (Talk to your kids about Vay and Secret of Evermore. Or, er, don't.)
.
Still, I probably should be grateful for any article that puts a positive spin on PS2 these days, even if I think the author overplays the "this will all end in tears" aspect of the game. The title's oppressive in a sterile, something's-not-right-here vein, not in a soap-opera maudlin sense, and the climax inspired in young me a certain amount of bleakness, yes, but also awe. This is the way things had to end, but man, what a way to go out.
- I'm perhaps complaining about the piece more than it merits, but it kind of crystallizes the problem with the gaming press and its growing pains - the writing has matured, but the thought processes behind it often haven't. Good copy is used to communicate dumb ideas.
- The other type of problematic article you run across in the online gaming press, particularly in game-by-game retrospectives such as these, are the misbegotten attempts to rehabilitate a pet title, such as this author's take on Phantasy Star III. I'm no stranger to championing odd games, but these articles too often sell their wares in ways that stretch fundamental credulity. Gamespite's guy, for example, charges that PS3's lazy copypaste environments "[allow] for a brisker pace," which ha ha ha ha ha this game is backtracking city. (I mean, that's what copypasting is - you're reiterating an element just to lengthen the whole.) I've been slowly replaying Phantasy Star III for the past couple months because of Reasons, and...well, the towns are indistinguishable and underpopulated, the dungeons are braindead, the abundance of rescue-the-princess stories is highly disappointing given the first two female-driven installments, and the PS1 & 2 low-dialogue style of storytelling doesn't work for a series of romances. It's a tragedy that the Hirondo Saiki's ambitions were cut down by time and budgetary (and talent) constraints, but them's the news. We ain't doin' the next generation any favors by trying to sell them on retro titles that weren't good even when they were released. (Talk to your kids about Vay and Secret of Evermore. Or, er, don't.)
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