I never had an SNES. I had a Genesis back in the day. As such, I missed out on a bunch of great games. Particularly all the incredible 16-bit RPGs. Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, Super Mario RPG, Final Fantasy III (VI). All games I didn't have a chance to play. It's actually funny now that I've sat and thought about it. Back then, I didn't even know what an RPG was. I think my first real RPG experience was Ogre Battle 64.
Anyway, I bought Chrono Trigger DS and I'm playing that. So far, it's amazing. RPGs, particularly Japanese RPGs have a problem with pacing. This game from it's opening screen has grabbed me from its story, characters, battle system, everything. I love it. I bought Super Mario RPG and Secret of Mana on my Virtual Console. One thing I noticed playing these games after hearing what everyone has said about them is that these games haven't aged particularly well. There are certain mechanics within each game that I hate and loathe which are purely products of these old-school designed games. With Mana, there are certain treasure chests that hurt you if you open them. There is no way of telling which ones are hurtful ones until one of the characters acquires a spell later on. What's the point of that? It's so irritating. That's just one thing about it. There are plenty more, but it would be wasteful to list them all. I still like it on a quaint level, but to me it doesn't hold up to what I could be playing.
Super Mario RPG, there are points and battles that seem unfair or unbalanced. Purely an aspect of old-school RPGs that I expected, however I thought by that time Square had figured out how to do this sort of thing. Plus, I thought since it was Mario, it wouldn't have this issue. Minor quips maybe. I have to play more.
I got Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood and Bangai-O Spirits for the DS for Christmas. Haven't played much of either, but I like them so far. I also got Zone of the Enders: The Second Runner, a game I've wanted for a long time. I rented it when it first came out and loved it. It became semi-rare and hard to find, so I haven't played it since. Don't have my PS2 at home right now, so I haven't dove in yet. I can't wait.
Playing: Chrono Trigger DS, Secret of Mana, Super Mario RPG, Sonic Chronicles, Rock Band.
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