Nostalgia

by CanadianGhaleon

Nostalgia: A bittersweet longing for things, persons, or situations of the past, or, The condition of being homesick; homesickness

That is the definition of nostalgia from Websters dictionary. To me, nostalgia is that feeling you get when something (in this case, a game) brings back fond memories of past times interacting with that object. Come on, who among us doesn't get that tingling sensation when we hear the theme for Dragon Warrior, or in my case, the original Lunar. Just hearing the music sends chills down your spine. You remember your life back then, it seemed perfect. But often this nostalgia clouds our judgment somewhat.

Go to any message board dealing with RPG (I humbly suggest GameFaqs). There will usually be quite a few topics dealing with opinions on the greatest game of all time. I recall one recent topic of that nature, in which Chrono Trigger came out the victor. Now I ask you, what makes Chrono Trigger better than any game released after it? I mean, games have to be getting better, right? Then why would a game developed for the classic Super Nintendo win this poll? Nostalgia.

Chrono Trigger isn't technically superior to any game released in the past few years. Music, graphics, translation, character development and gameplay. Developers have learned from the past, and all these characteristics have been improved since those days (of course, there are exceptions). But can any game from today match the feeling you get when you hear Crono's theme, in all it's 16-bit glory? I don't think so. Shenmue's soundtrack was beautifully orchestrated, but not even that could compete with the classic Zelda theme, with it's 8-bit sound processor.

I too, am guilty of being nostalgic about past games. Although it changes from day-to-day, my favourite game is the original Lunar, on the Sega CD. The remake on the Playstation, is better in every way. The music has been redone, the animations are new, the graphics are improved, the translation is better and there are numerous gameplay tweaks that enhance the game. But, it still doesn't give me that feeling that I experience when I boot up my old Sega CD. So it seems were stuck, listening to the world map theme from Dragon Warrior, the prelude to Final Fantasy, and playing through Cecil's epic quest. Send all feedback to diehardrpgfan@hotmail.com. Now if you'll excuse, me I have a craving for Lunar right now.

CanadianGhaleon, who's hooking up his old Sega CD right now.