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Legend11 on 09 October 2007
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naznatips said:
Legend11 said:
naznatips said:
Oh and there were things revolutionary about FFVI. It revolutionized video game storytelling and emotional expression in ways never seen before. It was a huge step for RPGs and most games even today are unable to pass it in those respects.

Have you ever played the Ultima series? The original games, especially Ultima 3's, ideas were basically "borrowed" by Japanese developers for their rpgs and there's nothing revolutionary about FFVI when you compare it to that series. (Well up until FF7 because CGI was not available at the time of the last Ultima game). FFVI may have told a good "emotional story" but how would that make it different than say a FPS with an emotional story? Would you consider a FPS with an emotional story but with all the play mechanics the exact same as other previous FPS games revolutionary?


Ugh.  You have never played FFVI and it's blatantly obvious in your posts.  The difference is that FFVI made huge leaps in digital storytelling.  The gameplay of that game was bad, but each individual sprite had 26 different animations to express emotion.  The world was beautifully detailed, and through midi music and effects they created some of the most memorable and deep characters ever made in video games to this day.  The game was polished to the brim.  For example, if you went to sleep in some inns with Shadow in your party you would have dreams of his mysterious past. 

Everything about the game screamed epic and it took you through plot twist after plot twist every moment shocking the senses.  Meanwhile they managed to continually develop the very large group of playable characters and give the player a connection to each of them.  Final Fantasy VI is to this day one of the most complete gaming experiences in existence.  It's not just about how good the story is, it's about how well it was delivered and the artistic leaps that were made in order to deliver that story.  

You mentioned FPSes with good stories being revolutionary.  Well there is one FPS that I hold near FFVI because of it's leaps in storytelling.  Half-Life.  That game did for FPS games what FFVI did for RPG games.  Everything about it was polished. The method of delivery was completely new, and the game was full of absolutely brilliant atmospheric and design decisions.  So yes, an FPS game that can do for digital storytelling what FFVI did is just as deserving of praise, but the Halo series is nowhere near that level in story.   It's story is decent, but it's just there to move the gameplay along. 

There is more than one kind of innovation.  Gameplay isn't the only thing that can be considered innovative.  Games like Half-Life, System Shock 2, and FFVI are all innovative because of their design aspects rather than gameplay.  And in answer to your first question, yes I have played some of the Ultima games.  Yes I know that in gameplay the original FF games ripped it off.   

I have played FFVI.  And I don't agree that better graphics make a game revolutionary (that's kind of strange coming from you actually) or that an epic story/storyline or memorable characters makes a game revolutionary.  Why do you hold up other games to a higher standard for being revolutionary than you do FFVI?  Anyways I'm done arguing, I believe a game has to add something very major and new to a genre to be considered revolutionary and I do not feel FFVI did that (Ultima 7 was epic, had characters with their own histories, etc).