This post was originally going post this on the intro blog, but it got long so here is a longer opinion based blog about why I started this...

See I haven't bought a "Next Gen" console because frankly there's no game that seems worth buying any system for. I'm expected to pay $600+ just because there's a new gaming system? I literally have bought 4 PS2's in my lifetime (sad I know :P). One when it was BIG and new, one slim one, one to replace the broken slim one, and then a final brand new slim one from the store to replace them all.

I would rather do that then buy a new expensive system, a new library of games, and also make some games obsolete (PS2 games aren't backwards compatible on the PS3).

So if I'm not playing new games what am I playing? Old PS1 RPG's, mostly. Sure I'll pick up a Resident Evil or Madden now and again but nothing has captured my imagination or created so many fond memories as RPG's have. In my opinion games are the best median to tell a story. Not only is there a visual aspect to where you can see what's happening, a text aspect to a certain extent, but the biggest feature is the immersion aspect. What other median of story telling allows you to literally control the story and be the characters?

That being said I think that the PS1 has the best RPG's of any console or PC gaming system. It was that period where 3-D was new and improved the graphics, but not quite at the point where graphics superseded the story. The story was always the main focus and the stories in these games are better than most books I've read or movies I've seen.

But ever since then this genre has taken a downturn I feel. This is no clearer than the PS2 abomination know as Final Fantasy 10, See Final Fantasy revolutionized the RPG genre as a whole and made it more mainstream. Although this is up for debate, Square Enix put out 3 of the best RPGs of the PS1: Final Fantasy 7, 8, and 9. With the improved graphics of the PS2 there was no doubt that Final Fantasy 10 was going to blow our damn minds! The graphics were amazing and it had a lot of hype. Too bad all that hype fell flat on its face...

See the biggest problem with Final Fantasy 10 was that the way you traveled around the world was extremely linear in comparison to the recent games. There wasn't really a "world map" or any vehicles to a certain extent. It also felt very cooker cutter. Walk around, puzzle, boss fight, cut scene. Rise and repeat. I know the old games did that too, but with this one it was SO OBVIOUS! It was just boring and to be honest I just couldn't finish it and I haven't to this day.

Okay so maybe 10 was just an experiment and we should give the series another shot right? Well here comes Final Fantasy 11 an MMORPG. What a disappointment! We had to wait even longer for another game. Then came Final Fantasy 12. Honestly this might have been even more hyped than 10, but for different reasons. See this was supposed to take place in the world of Ivalice, the world in the legendary game Final Fantasy Tactics. The teasers and screen shots all looked promising and amazing. But again it just plain failed...The characters were boring, the leveling up system was weird, it was boring, and my personal biggest disappointment was no Nobuo Uematsu (the music composer for all the previous games)! So all the charm was out. The only interesting character was Balthier but he didn't have nearly the game time he should have.

So this is about the point I gave up on any new console RPGs being good. I gave it the old college try but they just didn't entertain me and were more of a chore than anything. I played a few random games here and there like Tales of the Abyss and Kingdom Hearts (which is actually pretty amazing). But nothing grabbed me like the games of old...Final Fantasy 7...Chrono Cross...Xeno Gears...Tales of Destiny. I was pretty much convinced that good RPGs were dead.

But then the nail in the freakin' coffin came only as of late. Now I much preface this by saying that I haven't even played one second of this game, but only heard resounding negative reviews from it, outside of possibly being the best looking game of all time. Final Fantasy 13...the game that killed RPGs? We'll see. The complaints seem to go something like this 1: LINEARITY. The game seems to be a flurry of straight corridors with almost no towns. This takes out the exploration aspect of the game that made so many older games fun. 2:Only being able to control one character in battle. People are kind of on the fence with this one. 3: The data log. Why do you need a data log of definitions and explanations to tell a story? I shouldn't have to read cliff notes before reading a story. 4: It feels more like an interactive movie than game. There seems to be an overwhelming amount of cutscenes with a limited amount of puzzles which leads people to think this game would be a better movie than game.

So with all the recent flops with RPGs and the advent of the PS1 classics on the Playstation Network I've been getting into old RPGs that I never played and have been playing them on my PSP. This has inspired me to also start a collection of every PS1 RPG. This will be an expensive hobby but it's like having a library of books. RPGs are just another median to tell a good story. And PS1 RPGs seem to be the best. Currently I own these titles: Final Fantasty 7, Tactics, Xeno Gears, Chrono Cross, Legend of Dragoon, and Harvest Moon. My collection is small but it'll grow fast. I recently also beat Grandia and am in the middle of playing the remake of Lunar: Silver Star Story.

So look forward to a blog about Grandia soon and thanks for checking out the blog. Later gamers!