61 Frames Per Second

Not All Games Age Well

Posted by Amber Ahlborn

I've written this as a companion piece to my earlier post on keeping the games you buy. As I said earlier, If I enjoyed playing a game the first time, then chances are it'll have a permanent place in my game library. Some games, however, lose their appeal as they age, or as I age. One or the other.

Time has not been kind to every game I've loved. The Final Fantasy series in particular has suffered in this regard. Final Fantasy 7 is probably the best example of this. As with many, Final Fantasy 7 was my first Final Fantasy game. It was slick, dramatic, and exciting. I still have a soft spot for much of its cast and even continue to consume some of its spin off products like the eye candy fanservice movie Advent Children. I played through FF7 four or five times easily over a span of a couple years. Then, years later I played it again and discovered that not only had the shiny surface rubbed off, but the layer beneath was kind of cruddy. I still liked it but was much less forgiving of the flaws in the characters and story. It was time to say good bye.

Another game that hasn't aged so well for me is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I still like it well enough to keep it, but it no longer holds such high standing within the series for me. Majora's Mask fared much better and now sits as my second favorite 3-D Zelda.

One never knows what favored game of today might end up in the garage sale tomorrow. What about you? What games have you played that made a great first impression but failed the test of time?

Related Links:

Philosophy? In my Zelda?

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years is Coming, and Cecil is a Clod

Trailer Review: The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

+ DIGG

+ DEL.ICIO.US

+ REDDIT

Posted Mar 31 2009, 02:00 PM

Filed under: legend of zelda, final fantasy, amber ahlborn, musings

Comments

RoboSheep said:

007 GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, and Super Smash Bros.

Ugly, laggy, and slow in general.

March 31, 2009 3:23 PM

Russ said:

Banjo and Kazooie. It used to feel like a wacky adventure, and now it's just a boring collectathon. I'm afraid of playing old games just in fear of learning how awful they are behind they're pretty surface.

I'm looking at you, Kingdom Hearts.

March 31, 2009 4:56 PM

Nicolas said:

I used to love Donkey Kong 64, but I know I can't anymore.

Hey, why have we all mentioned Rare games?

April 3, 2009 12:32 AM

About Amber Ahlborn

Artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Nerve, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.