espically about the FFX thing, i complained about it once and my friend said “yeah but it makes the game easy ^.^” and i got really mad because he was right, untill this game (i skipped 11 so i’m not counting that) the rule has been “as the nuber goes up it gets easier” and i think this game was a nice way to beak that.

The thing about the graphics that could have been mentioned was the fact that it used a “tile-engine” without the smooth-scrolling effect. If Game Freaks would have included smooth-scrolling and a little finer animation of the characters, I believe the graphics would have been superb for this caliber of a game!

As for only adventurous the first time it’s played, You still other aspects of the game to consider:

1) Like you did mention, trying out other pokemon on your team,
2) You still have the aspect of breeding pokemon in the Gem series, 3rd Gen, and 4th Gen series games,
3) It’s not the easiest thing to have collected and/or owned 386 different types of pokemon without cheating ( virtually impossible nowadays ),
4) And finally, how many trades have you done so far???

I do agree that there are some areas these games could have been improved upon. I do, however, still find these games rather interesting and fun as they are among my favorites when it comes to RPGs.

Good day.

-JSSmith

As to Ocarina of Time being romanticized over time — I was without a console for July and August, and when I moved, I came upon my old N64, and OoT. I playd the game again, and remembered how much I loved it, and how innovative it was. It basically laid all the framework for the cinematic storytelling that we now expect of a game for it to be called “good.” Yeah, the story wasn’t new, but the way it was told was. It changed what games could aspire to, and that kind of ceiling-shattering achievement is always a boon to the industry.

Plus it was still really, really fun, what, like, eight years later? And there definitely are puzzles that do take some effort to complete. But, you rarely (if ever) get frustrated, and it’s satisfying when you do complete a puzzle, because they did such a good job of integrating everything you’ve learned/acquired thus far into each puzzle.

And, again, it’s just darn fun. I have friends to whom money is no object, and who assume they will be getting all 3 consoles every generation, and shitloads of games. In short, you’d expect their memories and patience to be short, but they still play OoT. Seriously — they compete by playing simultaneously and trying to finish it first. I think they got it down to an even 7 hours.