IGN's Top 100 RPG list is Pretty Stupid

Which would you consider the best Pokemon game? I've only played Blue myself.
 
In terms of base mechanics?

Definitely the newer games.

Sure, people might whinge about nostalgia and over-complication, but if I'm spending money on a game that's all about hilariously over-complicated Rock-Paper-Scissors, I want that system to be as smooth and bug-free as possible.

Shit, Psychic-types had no real weaknesses in the first set of games because Ghost-Type didn't have any attacks and there was only Bug-Type attack that was worth a damn AND MOST BUG-TYPE'S DIDN'T EVEN LEARN IT!
 
sea said:
Fuck Final Fantasy VI. It's a decent game for its era but I fucking hate the amount of bullshit undeserved praise it gets.
Click to expand...
I think that the plot is good even if the storytelling and writing aren't. The biggest problem with the gameplay is the problem that most JRPGs have which is grinding through random encounters. It would actually be a game that I wouldn't mind seeing re-imagined with only the general plot being kept intact. #1 is ridiculous though and I think that you can see that in their description for it, even more so when you compare it to their description for Chrono Trigger.

Reading the descriptions for the games it's clear that they didn't have any criteria for how they choose the games they did as they justify their choices with a random choice of one of: mechanics, design concepts, effect on the industry, popularity, nostalgia, and plot. It's a fucking mess and I'm guessing that the list was thrown together either with an internal poll or by handful of employees.
 
The Last Remake Of: Eye Of The Beholder

The Last Remake Of: Eye Of The Beholder




UncannyGarlic said:
... they justify their choices with a random choice of one of: mechanics, design concepts, effect on the industry, popularity, nostalgia, and plot. ... list was thrown together either with an internal poll or by handful of employees.
Click to expand...

:delusions-of-grandeur:

The list may tell more about the catalogers than an ultimate over arching world view of video game products (x,y,z)
OVER several decades (time=t), with it's presumed refinements in technology and presentation and the actual ghetto-ization of style and content.

Rather than *another* 100 list, I would rather see the " ' man behind the curtain ' ", and how the choices manipulate the data.

I would conjecture an expose' of the calculus that derives such lists.

Especially, the web format that spreads the core data over multiple pages for the maximum number of clicks, banners, and flash pop ups.

Especially, a prominant meter that shows how many vapor dollars the web crawler is maybe grinding out for a mere reinforcement of aesthetic agreement.

I conjecture a list generated by a series of viewer questions, much like some forgotten game's questioning that derived the player charater's class.

From definable meme's: Wack-A-Mole, Soft-Core-Porn, Tedious-(Un)cinematic-Cut-Scenes, all the way to Choice-And -Consequences!

Let the demographic unit choose the frame for their rose colored glasses, the flavor of their group think Kool-Aide.

Pump up the hype, deal out the absolutes. All buzz is good buzz in the hive mind!

BE the advertising sink hole that dares to THRUST and lust to achieve the very BLACKHOLE OF ALL WEB BANDWIDTH; you can come - but NEVER leave!

One mighty pandering to the game consumer!

ONE LIST TO RULE THEM ALL!!!1!

:/delusions-of-grandeur:





4too
 
sea said:
Ilosar said:
Fuck Final Fantasy VI. It's a decent game for its era but I fucking hate the amount of bullshit undeserved praise it gets. People love it for one reason - nostalgia. They like the music and the art style. That's it. The gameplay isn't bad by any stretch, and they had some cool innovations like characters with unique ability types, the Esper system, etc. and the boss fights were fun, but other than that there's nothing special about it other than the fact that it came out around the time that many now-adults were just getting into RPGs and gaming for the first time (much like Final Fantasy VII being the Playstation generation's introduction to RPGs).
Click to expand...

Lol, that's more than one reason.

By any modern standard the game is loaded with poor writing and storytelling, and is utterly terrible about communicating essential information on how to advance the story. Many objectives are completely nonsensical or rely on sheer trial and error/dumb luck to complete.
Click to expand...

Funny, I've never had a hard time finding what to do in FF3 since I beat it when I was 10, which was before the era of walkthroughs.

I would definitely put FF3 (fuck japanese numbering system) in my top 3 games of all time. I think it is the perfect jrpg, (which, come on guys, we all know you don't like them, quit whining like little girls).

Sure I have a lot of nostalgia for the game, but I have that nostalgia because it's a great game; the only game I've played through as many times would be FO2.

Characters, art direction, story, battle mechanics, gameplay, are all great things about the game off the top of my head, but I think there is something meta about the pacing of the game that puts it over the top for me.

Take a game like Arcanum, (which I think is awesome) and I find myself getting bored at times, wondering around, I feel like the game lags. Whereas I feel like from beginning to end, the game of FF3 unfolds in a way to keep someone who has already played it through multiple times engaged in its world.

I think a game is more than the sum of its parts, and, sure, if you pick it apart a lot of things don't hold up to modern standards, but the game of it will always hold up for me.
Click to expand...
 
"Top x lists" are, by definition, the epitome of bad "journalism" and should be disregarded. "Journalists" half-bake those in half an hour (using Wikipedia), they generate a lot RAAAAGE! from fans and the result is...more clicks and more ad displays. Thanks for playing.
 
Also, it might just be me, but I never got why the Empire was so evil. Aside from the intro which uses some evil-sounding music (and the name "Empire" of course), there's nothing to indicate why it's bad or why you are fighting it.
Click to expand...

I think it's more just there for a distraction, until you find out that kefka is the real bad guy of the story (which I always liked). "The Empire," I think, is just a storytelling archetype for oppressive dictatorship. I mean, what was so bad about the Empire in Star Wars?

Don't get me wrong, I get not liking FF3. I've had friends that were really into 7 and 8 that I tried to get into 3, and they couldn't get into it. But sometimes when I hear people talking smack about it it's like they are comparing it to different metrics than it should be.

It's like when I hear people saying they don't like the beatles or nirvana or something, and it's like, I'm sure in a lot of ways Nickleback is better than Nirvana. Kurt Kobain was a pretty terrible guitar player, and his voice isn't exactly pleasant (and yeah, FF3's translation was pretty bad), but I think there is more to it than dissecting the individual components of the music.
 
sea said:
Gnarles Bronson said:
Funny, I've never had a hard time finding what to do in FF3 since I beat it when I was 10, which was before the era of walkthroughs.
Click to expand...
I dunno. There are definitely a few points in the game where characters will say "hay let's go to X city" and it's not clear at all where it actually is. I remember the hunt for Sabin in the mountains also being completely directionless and I'm pretty sure there isn't even a good story reason presented for going to find him. The first time I played, I got stuck at Figaro Castle for an hour because my instructions were just "come back in a while" and not "go to a very specific room way at the back of the castle and trigger a flashback before returning."

More generally, in many cases Final Fantasy VI has a huge world open to you but absolutely nothing to do in it at any one time except for 1-2 side quests, and all you can really do is walk around, talk to everyone, and eventually bump in to whatever random trigger advances the plot. All it would have taken is a "X? oh, yeah, head north along the coast" dialogue pop-up with someone to fix many of these problems.

Also, it might just be me, but I never got why the Empire was so evil. Aside from the intro which uses some evil-sounding music (and the name "Empire" of course), there's nothing to indicate why it's bad or why you are fighting it. I guess because Locke has the hots for Terra or something? It's not until something like 10 hours into the game until you ever directly see Kefka doing something rather naughty (poisoning the water), and even then you could justify that more as just smart tactics.

The game is also just full of situations where characters randomly know stuff exactly at the right time ("oh hey we need an airship, let's track down the guy who owns it at the opera house") in order to advance the story. Maybe the newer translations improve this, I dunno.
Click to expand...

You are showing some signs of consolitis my friend. :P

I honestly don't understand that someone could find that game directionless. It always is pretty clear where you have to go and like the other poster I had no problem finding plot advancments or sidequests on my own when I was younger..
 
^ Me either. It was pretty straight forward for the most part. Hard to get lost unless you aren't paying attention, at least in my experience anyway. I did play it on the PS1 anthology though if that matters.


Final Fantasy V was better imo, but I know I'm in the minority on that one. Phoenix Tower anyone?
 
Its from IGN; of course their top 100 is a load of crap.

I mean, really, Skyrim?! Skyrim is not a RPG. In order for it to a be a RPG it must have a story, which it does not have.

The Witcher II, Deus Ex, FNV and both Fallout 1 and 2 should not be out ranked by pokemon (is Pokemon even a RPG?), and why isn't Deus Ex Human revolution on this list?

And did I see World of Warcraft on the list? What?
 
I feel that after 3 pages of pointless banter, it's time someone asked the important question about this list.

WHERE IS MAGICAL DIARY!?

WHERE IS HATOFUL BOYFRIEND?
 
So where's Jagged Alliance if they're listing Tactical games.
And Jade Empire is on the list? :O

Well this list shows exactly what one can expect from IGN. xDDD
 
The game is only linear in the first half (where it is always made clear what you have to do) and you can do optional sidequests, gather all the lost NPC etc. in the second half while always having the goal to visit and defeat Kefka in mind.

I really don't see where you are coming from with this.
 
IGN's list is ok but I didn't see Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel in it, probably a mistake?

P.S. I'm opening a new tab to read about that list on RPG Codex, and I'm already giggling :D
 
When Pokemon was coming out, I hated the game. It really trips me out that such a piece of shit series gets any respect. Most people like it for nostalgia and girls love it cause it looks cute. But its pretty fail. Sometimes I wonder why adults play it. It seems like it caters to little kids obsessed with "magical super hero powers OMGZ!!!!!!!".
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top