Best [and Worst] of the Past Decade

[Great Rumbler]

Then Grumbler announces to the world that RPG's didn't have cinematics before FF7 and my jaw literally dropped. I guess i'm the only one who thinks RPG's have always had cinematics, including FMV's or in-game graphics. It's ridiculous to think otherwise.

FF7 was the birth of the cinematic JRPG. Yes, JRPG before then had cutscenes, but those were almost exclusively created from the game engine and very limited, and nothing that western RPGs from the same time period didn't have. On the other hand, FF7 had an hour or two of CG cutscene scattered throughout the whole game and it certainly popularized that trend far more than any other JRPG at the time.

that warrants anything close to survival horror is a game that by the standards set by RE is a complete waste of time.

Alone in the Dark predates Resident Evil by four years, it would be pretty shocking if RE didn't advance that formula.

Racing, we have what, Test Drive Unlimited or Flat Out?

PC had Whiplash in 1995 and the Mega Race in 1993 and 1996. It's been ages since I played either of those games, but I remember putting a lot of time into them. There's also the TrackMania series, but that's much more recent.

The BEST content found in PC FPS comes from the PLAYERS who build their own levels, weapons and etc. The design team just wanted to make a beautiful engine.

The first part of that is the reason why FPSs on the PC are so great: a creative community that releases free updates. The second part is a bit out there, though. Unreal Tournament was way ahead of console FPSs when it first came out, and games like Half-Life, Deus Ex, and System Shock certainly disprove that PC developers only care about awesome engines.

Most PC exclusive releases dont get that treatment because put quite simply, it wasn't important. What was important was getting the engine out the door to get other devs to buy it and use it and make that money back from the R&D.

I...wow. Seriously? Okay, yeah, I think you could make that point for a few high profile games from Epic and even id, but that simply is not the case for most exclusive PC games then or now. It's patently absurd to argue otherwise!

Meanwhile, Borderlands is built from pre-existing engines to create a game that offers depth and flair, deeper artistic roots and writing from actual writers, levels designed by actual level designers who have years of experience. Not people who ingeniously make two filters look like realistic plate glass or figured out a ghetto way to make faux real time ray tracing. They're not storytellers or artists, not in the traditional sense. They're technical artists, wizards.

Of all the games you might pick, you pick Borderlands? Don't get me wrong, I like it and it's got a great loot system, but Borderlands? For one thing, it's got very little writing and what there is of it certainly didn't bowl me over by it's greatness. It got the job done, which was all it needed to do. The levels aren't anything special, a lot of open desert. I like the art style of the game more than the actual design of the levels. Borderlands is fun because it's got some good action and a metric ton of weapons to find.

I'd probably buy it if you'd said Half-Life 2, but BORDERLANDS? Dude.

his last decade, we saw developers in America really wake up to storytelling, getting you in-tune with the character and their development. That didn't exist a decade ago, save for a few gems here and there. There is a technical side to telling a story that requires an imagination to power it. Big McLarge Huge has to destroy the aliens or a technical romp through the cockpit of a space ship had no soul, no reason to care and it almost always looked like the highschool drawings on the back of someone's notebook. It just wasn't there, it didn't have what it takes. Japan and to a lesser extent Europe, got it though. And gave us characters to FEEL, stories to get in to and explore, even raise discussion. The art of the PC game design is to use the virtually limitless resources, the art of designing a console game is to engage the player. It took western developers a long time to understand that and with the competition streaming out of Japan they had to evolve or die.

Fallout 1 and 2
System Shock 1 and 2
Planescape: Torment
Half-Life
Icewind Dale
Baldur's Gate 1 and 2
Deus Ex
The Dig
Full Throttle
Space Quest series
King's Quest series
Sydicate
Realms of the Haunting
Duke Nukem 3D
Normality
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Gabriel Knight series
Sam and Max Hit the Road
Monkey Island series
Day of the Tentacle
Grimm Fandango
Wizardry series
Quest for Glory series
Ultima series
Dark Sun series
Krondor series

No, it wasn't some fluke that there were PC exclusives during the 90's that had good writing, characters, cutscenes, and stories.