HF Retro Game of the Year - 1997 - GoldenEye 007 Wins!

[Shareefruck]

Don't get me wrong I liked the choose your own adventure novels as a kid too, and there's no reason they can't be well written. Rather it's just an unsolveable technical problem: giving the audience choice to drive the narrative requires an exponentially more writing. Perhaps the best example of this in gaming is comparing where both are exceptionally well written is Portal vs The Stanley Parable. Portal is a straight line that takes about 2 hours to play in 1 playthrough. You'll spend about 2 hours seeing all of TSP as well, except it's done in multiple 5-10 minute playthroughs.

The Witcher 2 is another good example. The player is given many choices, but that just means a given play through lasts 20 hours and you'll only see maybe 1/3rd of the game. While you can make that 20 hour story well written, you could tell a lot more story if you just made the game a linear 60 hour experience. Other RPG's with player choice, like Bethesda, don't really do that either, rather they just give you an open sandbox full of small unconnected stories that you can move through at your leisure until you get back to the main quest line, which tends to be mediocre. That can be fun in it's own right but you will always be able to build a bigger & stronger narrative (and I'm a fan of big epic fantasy book series) if you put the story on rails.

Agreed, although some would argue that the replayability would balance that out and the experience is just iterative instead of linear and it all amounts to the same thing.

I would argue that by writing to account for the narrative of every diverging player choice, it dilutes the progression of the storytelling as well, as it's unlikely that every diverging path is equally fruitful to explore.

I gotta disagree with The Stanley Parable being mentioned in the same breath as Portal, writing-wise, though.

 

[Chris Pronger]

Oh..Super Mario 64 came out in 96? Do we even have to have a poll?

That was basically the turning point in video game history...

Well, final fantasy is winning over Goldeneye and Mario Kart so who knows...

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

Oh..Super Mario 64 came out in 96? Do we even have to have a poll?

That was basically the turning point in video game history...

Duke Nukem 3D also says hi.

 

[Osprey]

Duke Nukem 3D also says hi.

If the suggestion is that Duke Nukem 3D was a turning point, I have to disagree. It had more in common with the other DOOM clones that beat it to market (Dark Forces, Heretic and Hexen) than the games to come. In fact, it had the top shooter crown for only 5 months before Quake was released and made it seem totally "last gen." The FPS industry would've gone the same way (towards copying and trying to one-up Quake) whether Duke3D was released or not, to be honest. That's not to say that it wasn't a fun game and doesn't have a place in history, but it was the end of an era (the 2D/2.5D DOOM clone era), rather than a turning point, IMO.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

All I meant was Duke Nukem 3D is also a great '96 poll choice.

 

[Spawn]

I always vote for the game I had most fun with. Goldeneye it is.

I think that is a fair stance. I probably had the most fun with Goldeneye too when I was playing it as a kid.

But damn, it's basically unplayable now. Mario Kart 64 is still a great game to pick up and play with friends.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

I think that is a fair stance. I probably had the most fun with Goldeneye too when I was playing it as a kid.

But damn, it's basically unplayable now. Mario Kart 64 is still a great game to pick up and play with friends.

It’s crazy how well MK64 still holds up even 20 years later.

 

[Osprey]

All I meant was Duke Nukem 3D is also a great '96 poll choice.

I... uh... knew that. I was... uh... speaking hypothetically.

I'll show myself out.

 

[542365]

I think that is a fair stance. I probably had the most fun with Goldeneye too when I was playing it as a kid.

But damn, it's basically unplayable now. Mario Kart 64 is still a great game to pick up and play with friends.

I haven’t tried to play Goldeneye since I was a kid but I imagine the single stick is probably not easy to get used to.

 

[syz]

If people are voting for what holds up and not voting for SotN then they're f***ing up pretty hard tbh.

 

[TheDoldrums]

Well, final fantasy is winning over Goldeneye and Mario Kart so who knows...

not anymore...

 

[SniperHF]

Looks like we're having a runoff under the previous standard of more than 2 votes.


I'll probably open it Monday.

More '96 ideas and I'll probably start that one at the same time.

 

[Shareefruck]

If people are voting for what holds up and not voting for SotN then they're ****ing up pretty hard tbh.

I agree. It's a far superior game to the top three being voted for right now, IMO.

Although, one terrible thing about Symphony of the Night that doesn't hold up-- The voice acting.

 

[Ducks in a row]

Looks like we're having a runoff under the previous standard of more than 2 votes.


I'll probably open it Monday.

More '96 ideas and I'll probably start that one at the same time.

Some games to look at from 1996

Civilization II
Crash Bandicoot
Command & Conquer: Red Alert
Diablo
Duke Nukem 3D
Quake
Resident Evil
Super Mario 64
Super Mario RPG
Tomb Raider
Twisted Metal 2

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

Duke Nukem 3D would get my '96 vote easily.

 

[Xelebes]

Junior high school grad wake-a-thon fundraiser LAN party in the school lab playing Duke Nukem 3D ftw.

 

[The Macho King]

Some games to look at from 1996

Civilization II
Crash Bandicoot
Command & Conquer: Red Alert
Diablo
Duke Nukem 3D
Quake
Resident Evil
Super Mario 64
Super Mario RPG
Tomb Raider
Twisted Metal 2

Lack of MoO2 needs to be rectified. Still hasn't been matched in space 4x games (excepting SMAC).

 

[NyQuil]

Some games to look at from 1996

Civilization II
Crash Bandicoot
Command & Conquer: Red Alert
Diablo
Duke Nukem 3D
Quake
Resident Evil
Super Mario 64
Super Mario RPG
Tomb Raider
Twisted Metal 2

I played Civ 2 for a decade or more afterwards. I’d probably go with it.

Red Alert was my first real multiplayer RTS experience.

I liked Diablo but only beat it the one time and didn’t play it online.

Duke Nukem 3D was innovative in terms of some of the weapons like the laser trip mines and the shrinking gun.

Quake was the standard but to be honest, I only really played it because it was being played a lot.

Quake 3 was good but otherwise I liked UT better.

 

[NyQuil]

Lack of MoO2 needs to be rectified. Still hasn't been matched in space 4x games (excepting SMAC).

I still play it from time to time.

Might have to switch my vote.

 

[JaegerDice]

I'm the opposite. I stopped being a gamer years ago, so I have no idea about any FF game since XII (which I thought should have been aborted). In case you're curious about the older games (and if not feel free to ignore this because retro games aren't for everyone), my opinions of the games are as follows:

FFI: I respect it for what it created, but you can't really play it today and enjoy it. Incredibly buggy and grindtastic. Some of the remakes are OK.
FFII: The original Famicom version is easily, without any shadow of a doubt, the worst FF game I've ever played. No battle system has ever been more crippled and broken. I actually played through the original about 15 years ago and I wanted to kill myself after it was done. The remake on the GBA is OK but holy hell does this game fail at life. Nasir Gebelli was a great game programmer but there's no way he seriously tested this ****.
FFIII: This was a MASSIVE, MASSIVE improvement on II. I wish this had been released in North America when it was new, I would have loved it as a kid. Very good game but definitely unforgiving, and the last dungeon is simply brutal if you're not leveled. DS remake was easier.
FFIV: Oh FFIV...I heart you. I simply adore this game. It's not the best game in the series but it is my favorite. My favorite characters, my favorite plot and in the case of the original Japanese version, challenging difficulty. One of the most emotional retro video games ever made.
FFV: I like the job system so I like this game. Some don't, but I do. It definitely has replay value.
FFVI: I'm torn here. It's up there with VII as arguably the best in the series but I think the second half of the game may be a bit too nonlinear. That said, it's one of the best video games of all time.
FFVII: It's both overrated and underrated at the same time, since it changed everything. I think it's a masterpiece, and that 6 and 7 are the best games in the series.
FFVIII: **** THIS GAME. Quistis is the only semi-interesting thing about this game.
FFIX: The last "retro" FF game. I liked it.
FFX: It may be a good game...but I hate it. I stopped playing FF games regularly after this.

I'm with you on FF10. It's one of 3 games that have given me a legitimate migraine... and not just from the horrific voice-acting, everything about that game's design was irritating and off-putting, aside from the battle-system, which was pretty good.

You're out to lunch on 12 though, it's easily one of the best in the franchise, particularly the international edition (which was recently re-mastered on PS4 and absolutely worth replaying), as it reworked and fixed the licence board.

Final Fantasy 7 is....pretty good. It's important certainly, but it's pretty flawed. The materia system basically broke the game, the storyline is full of cool moments, but makes almost no sense when you stand back and take it all in as a whole. I was also disappointed in how linear it was coming off the 2nd half of FF6, which let you pursue pretty much any story beat you wanted, in any order.

The tiers of (single-player) FF:

FF6
FF9
FF12

FF5
FF4
FF7

FF3
FF13
FF

FF10
FF8
FF2

*Haven't played 15

 

[TheDoldrums]

Sadly I assume FFVII is doomed in a runoff. The MK64 votes would seem much more likely go to Goldeneye.

For 96 games I wouldn't mind seeing Persona, though I can't see myself voting for anything but Mario.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

I still play Duke Nukem 3D to this day

 

[member 157595]

I still play Duke Nukem 3D to this day

Groovy.

 

[member 157595]

I'm with you on FF10. It's one of 3 games that have given me a legitimate migraine... and not just from the horrific voice-acting, everything about that game's design was irritating and off-putting, aside from the battle-system, which was pretty good.

You're out to lunch on 12 though, it's easily one of the best in the franchise, particularly the international edition (which was recently re-mastered on PS4 and absolutely worth replaying), as it reworked and fixed the licence board.

Final Fantasy 7 is....pretty good. It's important certainly, but it's pretty flawed. The materia system basically broke the game, the storyline is full of cool moments, but makes almost no sense when you stand back and take it all in as a whole. I was also disappointed in how linear it was coming off the 2nd half of FF6, which let you pursue pretty much any story beat you wanted, in any order.

The tiers of (single-player) FF:

FF6
FF9
FF12

FF5
FF4
FF7

FF3
FF13
FF

FF10
FF8
FF2

*Haven't played 15

I only played 12 for 5 minutes, so I have no objective vantage point. The PlayStation/N64 generation was really my last generation as a gamer, I mostly gave things up after that. My PS3 is used for the odd remake and/or PS game, and Netflix/Youtube.

I'll have to take your word for it.

 

[SniperHF]

Locks:

Civilization II

Command & Conquer: Red Alert

Diablo

Duke Nukem 3D

Quake

Resident Evil

Super Mario 64

The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall

Tomb Raider

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Maybe:

Crash Bandicoot

Master of Orion II

Metal Slug

Revelations: Persona

Super Mario RPG

Tetris Attack

Twisted Metal 2

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Probably room for 2-3 of the above. I'd be inclined to go with Persona, Tetris Attack, and SM RPG. Master of Orion is great but pretty niche and I think at most it takes 2-3 votes from Civ.



Probably not:

Donkey Kong Land 2

Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire

Strife

Terranigma

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

One other question:
Tekken 2 and Virtual Fighter 3?

Both had 96 arcade releases. Unclear when VF came to NA as an arcade where as Tekken 2 did come in 96 and was on PS in 96. So I think Tekken 2 should probably be considered at least.