The Season of Mists -
November 28, 2000 - Chris Jones
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed
within this column are those of the participants and the
moderator, and do not necessarily reflect those of the
GIA. There is coarse language and potentially offensive
material afoot. Woke up this morning, the house was cold. Checked the
furnace, she wasn't burning. Went out and hopped in my old Ford, hit the
engine but she ain't turning. Don't say we didn't warn you.
Work proceeds apace, soon Zelda will be gone and FF9 will be
mine to enjoy. Not a lot more to say.
Onward.
| Nothing like the
sun... (or lack thereof...) |
| Does the current season affect my enjoyment of certain games? Hell yeah,
it does! Durring the summer months i have to practically force myself to
play games, even though i really have nothing better to do. I still haven't
beaten Chrono Cross, which i bought in August. Durring the Winter and
Autumn, however, i seem to have an anual resurgance of my interest in
gaming. Since Final Fantasy VII came out more than two years ago, the cool,
Autumn/Winter breeze makes me think of the dark world in which FF7 took
place, and since I will never quite recapture the magic of my first FF7 play
through, I turn to numerous other games, and suddenly feel motivated to play
and play in marathon sessions.
-loserkid, maintaining that FF's with even numbers have a nasty tendancy
to...suck. |
Wow, it's like the Fisher King in reverse, or something! (The
original legend, not the Terry Gilliam movie... never mind.)
To be fair, the more I think about it the less inclined I am to say
that certain games demand playing in certain times of the year - it
can definitely help for the external world to match the internal
world created in a game, but it's not always necessary. Doesn't mean
I still would have played through FFMQ if it hadn't been freezing cold
and rainy outside, tho.
| Summer's here and the
time is right, to go racin' in the streets |
| First thing I thought of was Ridge Racer 4 and how rolling on
down through its neon city streets with the sound of the deep
house music singing in my air conditioned studio with the black
hot summer nite breathing outside the windows wet with steam was
the coolest thing on earth. Then as the summer wound down and
the air dried out and started to chill, how i couldn't enjoy
playing the game anymore. my breathing would get all irregular
cuz the sensation of speed was just too stressful, and that had
never happened to me in the summer.
then i remembered that RPG's are my thing, and realized how right
you were about Tactics being most engrossing in lousy weather. i
still remember cutting down that rich snob traitor punk and not
being satisfied enough with his death, wishing the snowy ground
was programmed to stain red beneath his still-breathing corpse.
ff tactics definitely had the characters to bask in winter
depression with.
except the Golden Saucer! that's definitely a summer thing.
Sig http://pages.nyu.edu/~scs7891 |
Contrary to what a lot of other people are saying, I think FF7 may
have been more of a summer game anyway. One of the big analogies I tend
to see about it is that it resembles a summer blockbuster movie - big,
flashy, reasonably diverting, but not too incredibly deep when you get
down to it. (Although to be fair, I think it's at least as deep as
most other RPGs.) Between the Gold Saucer, the Costa Del Sol, and the
fact that the Cliffs of Gaea felt more like strong air conditioning
than an arctic freeze, FF7 just strikes me as a great game to hack
through over June and July... but that's just my take on it.
| Not better times of the
year, just better times |
| I don't know that it's a "time" when they're better to play. I think
it's more that right now, playing a game is hard because there's so much
worth playing. I have a hard time deciding wether to play FF9, Majora's
Mask (which, IMHO, was better than OoT, much to the disagreement of
others I'm sure), Shenmue, Jet Grind Radio, and Skies of Arcadia... and
with Grandia 2 coming out next week...
Sometimes there's just -too- much ;)
Seriously, though.. when FFT came out, what else was there? I -think-
the only RPG out at around the same time was BoF3, which while it was
good, was not in the same caliber as FFT.
Just something to think about... the spring/summer is easier to get
stuck on certain games I think, just because there's not much else to
play...
----
Brad Williams |
It's absolutely also the case that some years are better than
others. I was so starved for RPGs when Secret of Mana came out that I
think I would have played it any time of the year.
Still, it's not entirely just the context of the time that a game
comes out. I remember that a few months prior to FFTs release, when I
was drooling every other day over some new screenshot posted on the
UOSSHP, I noticed that the game was released in Japan in July of '97,
whereas it didn't get released in the US until January of '98. I
actually pitied the Japanese for a moment, because it was clear even
then that FFT wasn't something you wanted to hack through before
school started, it was a deep, rich, experience that should have been savored
in the dark months when school and clouds were all that the real world
offered up.
Ok, I'm romanticizing, but I still say it was better off coming out
in the winter.
| "Outside? Aren't there
bears outside?" |
|
Weather's that thing that happens when you go outside, right? I
haven't had too much experience with that.
-AJ |
And of course, there are those pale folk to whom the tilt of the
planet's axis matters not one whit. I salute you, sir.
| The seasonal fashion
review commences: |
| Are there seasonal games? But of course! Just as there are different games
for different gamers, we must also note that they are also annually
coordinated. That being said, let us begin with our review of the four
seasons and what each one has in store for us.
Winter:
Ah, yes, the holiday season. Everyone's eyes are focused on the new glittery
boxes and discs that Japan has shipped over for our gaming pleasure. With
all the feeling of togetherness, religion, romance, and feeling for your
fellow man, one thing comes to mind: RPGs. There is nothing better than
curling up inside next to a warm fireplace during a blizzard, only to power
up the latest addition to your collection, immersing yourself in a world of
fantasy. Okay, knowing who your nation's leader is come February may be a
notch above, but this still comes in close.
Spring:
Spring is in the air, and young men's fancies turn to love. That and...
RPGs. Hmm, I see a trend here. In reality, though, anything goes once
school is drawing to a close. Maybe a puzzler to keep your brain prepped for
those end-of-year exams, possibly a first person shooter to let out some
frustration AFTER you take those exams. regardless, nothing's out of style
here!
Summer:
This means two things and two things only to the veteran gamer: time to turn
the heat up, and time to go to Blockbuster for the latest in action gameage.
People are swimming, going on vacations, having picnics. Regardless, they're
all doing SOMETHING, and so should your alternate personas. Tournament
fighters seem to have their small reign at this time, along with any new
innovative concept. If you're planning on doing something involving real
brainpower, you're three months too late.
Autumn:
Time to get crackin', those books don't read themselves! Games take a
setback here, to be sure, with parents getting their kids off their lazy bums
and getting them hyped about... geometry. Not my personal favorite, but
nonetheless, it happens every year. What of games, you ask? While no one
game genre stands out in particular, most people do not have time to explore
their game or games thoroughly enough when they have excessive opening-term
work to do, which is why all your old classics are in vogue. Even yours
truly occasionally pops in his Super Mario Brothers 3 cart, reminiscing about
years past.
And so the cycle continues...
Demonstrating the epitome of fashion with his Lunar Series games ready for
exploration,
Aleksandrs Bomis |
I can see it now: clearly, it's all a great circle of life. Games come
and games go, characters and genres rise and fall, today's hot new star is
in tomorrow's bargain bin... but day in day out, we keep playing. Wow,
that's almost... mystical or something. Cool. I may have to start a
religious movement around gaming: the Church of Square. All major credit
cards accepted.
| The Snowfly Forest in
the snow... perfect |
|
Chris,
I've always felt that certain games played better in certain months. I
really enjoyed playing Ocarina of Time during the Winter; its quite the
epic game and I've always felt winter is the more epic of the
seasons. (coming from New England and everything...) On the other hand, I
was glad to find Un Jammer Lammy in a bargain bin at the beginning of
summer. The fact you could just pick it up and play for two minutes, and
its generally light-hearted goofy spirit made it a great summer game...
One game I think would've benefited from a winter release is Vagrant
Story. Quite possibly my favorite RPG of all time, I think I would have
been even more engrossed in the story if I played wrapped up in a blanket
listening to the wind howl as opposed to sweltering in my house, listening
to little kids running around in the street, yelling various obscenities at
each other...
Peace,
Kalus |
Not a lot to say about this, except that Vagrant Story would have
been much, much better as a winter game. Ah well.
| Games are good for your
school work. No, really. |
|
Chris,
Concerning your topic question of what time of the year suits games:
I know this isn't exactly what you were aiming for, but I figured you'd
appreciate this one. Being a Music Ed. Major in school, video games literally
allow me to keep my sanity, and pretty effectively at that. Playing games is
like the ultimate stress-reducer for me. Therefore, I value playing much
more during winter months. I simply MAKE the time. And my grades haven't
suffered yet [I'm a junior] ). (and no I am not going to a blow off party
school...it's a tough school...and I'm a gamer...I'd rather play than party
any day.) Ok enough parenthesis.
Ok so now that I've publicly announced my pathetic nonsocial ways, I'll add
one more thing: Summer gaming is more of a nostalgic time for me: I play the
classics like FF4, 5, 6, Megaman, etc..
I'm Kupo for Kupo nuts!
Peter
Pittsburgh, PA |
Somebody else asked me how I could manage to get an engineering
degree and play any games at all, which I respond to by pointing at
this letter. The semesters when FFT and Xenogears came out were some
of the busiest of my whole college life, but I played through them not
in addition to my work, but as a compliment to it. Some people drive
themselves nuts trying to finish everything up and then play a few
hours of FF in lieu of sleep, whereas I made sure I got just enough
game playing in while I could enjoy it to stay sane, stay sharp, and
get the work done right. Although there are times games have to be put
on the backburner entirely, as a whole they're much more a benefit than
a curse to my academic existence, no question.
| How to make FF9 look
better without really trying |
|
As I recall, Zelda Gaiden is a totally seperate game, one that Miyamoto has
admitted is complete in 64DD form but is on the internal shelves for the
time being. The 64DD isn't exactly a viable platform.
Now, I guess its time for a public service announcement - if you've got an
S-Video port on your TV, USE IT. Final Fantasy IX now looks like a blocky
640x480 instead of a fuzzy 320x240. I haven't seen much endorsement for
S-Video since the days of the SNES (I guess the $45 CDN Sony S-Video Cable
had something to do with it), but short of having a snazzy new Trinitron
Vega, its the best thing you can do to improve the image quality of your
games.
PS2 texture filtering is now a heck of a lot more useful.
KZ |
Urgh... Nintendo jerked us around with stories about Zelda Gaiden,
Ura Zelda, Majora's Mask and various new GBC Zeldas for so long that I
basically stopped paying attention. I think the above info is correct,
but I frankly don't care if it isn't. MM is likely the only
non-portable Zelda we'll see until Zelda on the Game Cube comes out,
which is all I need to know.
Thanks for the advice on FF9, tho.
| Peace on earth,
goodwill towards men, now let's kick Liquid's ass! |
|
To me, there's nothing like Christmas break to dive into video games. I remember
the winter of 1998 where just about everything was going wrong: I was near-depression,
recently dumped by my girlfriend, unable to eat holiday meals due to my wisdom
teeth having just been removed, and my house almost burned down in a fire caused by
garland over the fireplace. That year I got two games for Christmas called Zelda 64
and Metal Gear Solid. Those two games were an absolute godsend. I had never had two
games of such quality to play at the same time before. Alternating between sessions
of exploring the temples and Shadow Moses Island, I was able to enjoy my vacation
and be at peace despite all the chaotic things happening around me. That year, my
town also got hit pretty hard by a snowstorm (which ended up postponing return to
school for a few days so I could finish up Zelda), so whenever I went outside, it
even felt like Metal Gear Solid.
Of course, late summer nights are excellent for gaming as well. I was late to
get a Playstation, so I was playing Final Fantasy 7 for the first time during
summer at my cottage on the beach. I remember vividly getting to the town of
the Ancients with it completely dark and quiet in my house--besides the
TV--and hearing the waves lap on the beach, smelling the summer air, as I
explored the deserted seashell town with its eerie music. And we all know what happened next...
NinjaPirateMan |
Nice story, NPM. Once more, gaming shows us the way towards inner
peace, by allowing us to beat the crap out of virtual enemies.
| It it just me? |
|
It's just you.
-CS- |
Clearly so.
Closing Comments:
Extending today's discussion of gaming in a specific context, I'd
like to hear about what other external things make the game play
experience more or less interesting for you. For example, in the NES
days the music was frequently lame enough for me to kill the sound
entirely and put on my own tunes, especially during long periods of
levelling up. Of course, game music's gotten a lot better since then,
but some of you still probably find Xenogears much more playable with
Garbage 2.0 on the stereo. Do you need to play during the day, at
night, in an empty house, surrounded by friends, or what? What needs
to be going on in the outside world to really make games click for
you? Tell me about it, and I'll talk to you later.
-Chris Jones, starting to
doubt that this "snow" thing ever happens in Illinois |
