For a while now I've been what most would call a 'mainstream' gamer, playing all the 'AAA' titles being released while keeping some of the more niche games in my collection tucked away. I felt these mainstream titles were all I had time for; games I could finish over a weekend or two before trading them back in to get the next one. RPGs fell from the #1 spot on my Favourite Genres List and was technically replaced by Survival Horror.
I would gawk at these forty, sixty, and eighty-hour RPGs that even went so far as to have New Game+ features. Who had that kind of time, I'd ask myself. I still bought them, though .. these long games. Odin Sphere, Okami, Dragon Quest VIII, Persona 3 (and 4). (Yes, yes, know only 50% of those are technically RPGs. As a side-note, what else could we call them besides RPGs? Don't we assume a role in every game we play regardless of genre?)
I recently got the PC version of The Last Remnant and have been playing it like mad, a lot more than I did the 360 version. I think a large part of that is it just runs so much smoother. The framerate issues on the 360 version didn't bother me until I played it on the PC. I could go on about the positive changes I've discovered in it, but I think what it's done for me further is restored my faith (so to speak) in RPGs.
Okay, so maybe the New Game+ features aren't for me, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy the base game. If I don't have time for long games, then that means I don't have time for long books, or long television series, etc. It's not the endings of these things that are important (yes, we're eager to see them and to know them), it's enjoying the ride.
*yaaawns* That's all for now, folks. Join me next time when I talk about how, when it comes to RPGs, I sometimes feel like I'm stuck in the gaming past.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
