#158 – Super Smash Bros Brawl (Wii)
Brawl does everything that Melee does and better. I realized I had significantly less off-screen deaths than in Melee which was a huge plus because that annoyed me to no end. The ‘Smash Ball’ feature kept you on your toes and was an exciting new feature added to the game. Not to mention the 35 characters featuring Solid Snake was one of Brawl’s selling point (For a lot fans and myself included). All in all Brawl is overrated beyond the stars just like its predecessor which has always raised a ! and a ? for me. I prefer Brawl to Melee but only slightly because I had a slightly more exciting experience but the two are quite inseparable in terms of ranking.
#157 – Final Fantasy XII (PS2)
The Final Fantasy series took a jolt after many claimed Final Fantasy X to be one of the best games of its generation worldwide. FFX-2 failed to live up to the expectations of so many fans (including myself) and FF11 was an MMORPG (average at that) which was unappealing in itself and for some it wasn’t even accessible. FF12 was the next big thing. The game could have very well been the salvation of the series after the departure of the beloved Hironobu Sakaguchi.
At first FF12 disappointed me immensely. In fact I was NEVER this disappointed with a game EVER. Everything from the story to the characters to the Lord of the Ring-ish (I love LotR though) dialogue was unappealing. I gave up playing the game after 8 hours or so into it. It was also the first ever FF game to make me do that, none of the previous entries (even X-2) even got me remotely close to quitting.
3 or so years after its release I played through FF12 (wanting to give it a fair chance at least) and not much has changed except that I started to like the game as I progressed further. It wasn’t the story trust me. FF12 has the most uninteresting characters in an RPG. Hell I’ve seen silent protagonists with more personality than FF12’s main (Vaan). The story itself was also laughably bad and my god don’t even get me started on the character interactions. But thankfully story takes up only about 20% of the game (not exaggerating) and it’s the actual gameplay where the game truly shines. In my first play through I was so focused on the story and characters that I totally overlooked the gameplay. The gambit system is a fantastic implementation and I also liked the license system where you can make your character a mage, a knight or whatever (but ultimately everyone ends up being the same) suits you best. The real-time ATB style battle system is also a breath of fresh air. I commend Square-Enix for keeping up the every-FF game is its own game thing and not taking the safe route (Although for once I wish they had done it with the story). The dungeons (and its atmosphere especially), bosses (Gilgamesh, Yiazmat, Behemoth King), side quests (hunting marks, collecting weapons and armors [Danjuro and Grand Helm ^_^]) gives you a very MMORPG feel but in a good and an epic way. FF12 will forever be remembered by me as the game which has one of the best gameplay elements in an RPG but at the same time it will also be remembered as the FF which produced a lackluster story and the most boring yawn-worthy set of characters (I don’t like Balthier either but sadly he’s like the best one in the game). With all that said FF12 is still one of my favorite games on the PS2 and I would love to see certain gameplay elements from FF12 in the future but I sure don’t want Square to ever produce a FF game with story and characters nearly as bad as this
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