Genre-Defining Games? 231
Gamasutra has up responses from its frequent feature, the question of the Week. This week's question was a call for the best of the best. "For any genre of your choice, what is the game that defines that genre for you?" From the article: "For the RPG, simply Final Fantasy 6. It has the best story, greatest variety of characters, tons of different music, and added many secret areas. It was the first game to truly to define a real experience of an RPG to the player.
-Anonymous" What games would you refer to as Genre Defining?
Populous (Score:4, Interesting)
Not Genre defining, but... (Score:5, Interesting)
The whole game you have Max in your ear, talking in this very noir tone. He's narrating his own story, if you will, and telling the player what he wants them to hear. That moment when you hear the phone sex call was almost like a breach of privacy between the player and Max. It was on Max's intention for the player to hear this low moment in his life.
Games are great at making one scared, surprised, intrigued and a bunch of other emmotions, but that was the first time that I felt empathy towards a video game. It's not genre defining, but it was a moment that shows that there can be a lot of depth to what games can be. They can be more than just shoot-em-ups. They can convey some serious, complex emmotions. We will see more of this in games in the future.
Not "genre-defining" (Score:1, Interesting)
same with all the other genres.
Re:Genre Defining? (Score:2, Interesting)
GTA (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Disgusting (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't mean to nit-pick (except really I do), but FF6 was 1994, and was ported to the Playstation in 1999. Still, it's hardly genre-defining. Perhaps it defines the 16-bit subset of console RPGs... but then you're getting far too specific for this issue.
I think it's safe to assume that console RPGs are a whole different animal than PC RPGs. They're only likely to diverge farther, too.
If there were a defining game for console RPGs, I'd put it at Dragon Warrior III.
Turn based Strategy (Score:4, Interesting)
Wing Commander 2 (Score:3, Interesting)
The system requiements were really high, the graphics were awesome, the interactivity (and changes in story line as you progressed were somewhat unheard of). I remember as a kid saving up to buy the first soundcard in my PC just so I could buy the speech pack and play.
Of the modern games which are listed, I must agree - Legend of Zelda Ocarina in Time is probably the greatest game made. Dare, I say, one of the best made in the last 10 years!
Ones that stand out for me (Score:4, Interesting)
I would take Planescape: Torment for RPGs over any Final Fantasy game, hands down.
Ico had an emotional pull like few other games I've played.
Not that I don't love Splinter Cell, but I'd rather play any of the Metal Gear Solid games any day.
I hate to use newer games that have just come out really recently, but in WWII shooters, Call of Duty and Brothers in Arms are just head an shoulders above the rest.
Graphic Adventure Games (Score:4, Interesting)
I almost said Grim Fandango, but really Grim Fandango is just as good as Monkey Island or Sam & Max Hit the Road or Day of the Tentacle but not so hugely better that I'd think it defined the genre. Re-introduced it, yeah, and that was wonderful. Monkey Island was funny, intelligent, not so entirely hard that I couldn't finish it, and has a fantastic soundtrack. (MI2's was even better.)
My love of Monkey Island 1 & 2 was what made the cancellation of the second Sam & Max harder to take. We all want to re-live the glory days in new and interesting ways.
There is a test for this. (Score:3, Interesting)
1) If I pick up the game a few years later, will it be hard to play, because the genre has moved on so signifigantly, that it feels wrong somehow? (controls off / genre defining things haven't appeared yet)
Super Mario Bros 1 is hard to play for me because the controls feel stiff and unresponsive now (even though they felt fine in 1986). And the inability to go back is frustrating. Contrast this with Super Mario Bros 3, which plays as well as it did the day I first picked it up. Doom is practically unplayable for me today, because the controls are simply so alien to what I'm used to in the FPS genre. No third dimmension, no mouselook, etc. If a game is prototypical enough that it's unplayable years later to a follower of that genre, I'd say that it can be said to have inspired the genre, but not defined it.
2) Do lots of games try to imitate a game after it's appearance?
How many Mario clones were there in the late 80s and early 90s? How many Tetris clones? How many fighting games came out at the peak of Street Fighter II's popularity? These games defined the genre, simply by all the copycats that folowed in their wake.
3) If after a game appears, does the genre suddenly die, because those imitators can't keep up? (This can't be an instant death, this takes some time)
There are very few examples of this, but they do happen. R-Type is the best one I can think of. After it came out, it defined the genre. There have been shooters since, but few if any as good. Certainly none that managed to truly surpass it. Basicly, I'd say that R-Type was so good that it killed the genre. It killed it by perfecting it. Gamers didn't pick up new shooters much after that, because they all felt either like either inferior titles, or just like more of the same.
Delphine Software (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Populous (Score:3, Interesting)
I know I codeed that into a apple
I felt rather godlike at the time...
My list (Score:1, Interesting)
FPS: Wolf3D or Doom. Tough to call because Wolf3D was first and very popular, but Doom's popularity went through the roof and reached out to people who weren't already games and computer enthusiasts.
Platform: Mario/Manic Miner/Chuckie Egg. Its a platform specific question (geddit).
Racing: Pole position and then maybe Outrun.
RPGs: Rogue? I dont' care how you prettify these things it always comes down to Rogue underneath. Otherwise I guess the Bards Tale must weigh in quite heavily and then we are talking Ultima.
RTS: Dune 2.
I dunno, I wasn't aware any of these issues were commonly considered controversial to be honest. I agree with conventional wisdom on these matters, as above, I guess. Anyone want to pick a hole here because I'm having difficulty seeing where the interest is.