Plasma and Abyss

by Steven Crowley 

First and foremost, this is an editorial about Old-school versus New-school gamers. But do not be turned away by this! I intend to bring up a point that I have not yet seen, as well as provide a little food for thought. I am sure that this will inflame someone, but I hope to see responses nonetheless. Onward. To address the matter of the irregular title, here lies the premise of this editorial: The battle between Old- and New-school gamers is being presented in terms of something beyond mere black and white, but more what I call plasma and abyss.

What do I mean by this? Stereotyping is quite frequently helpful in simplifying otherwise complex problems, but there is a point at which it becomes too much. We have reached that point. At this point, every Old-school gamer is automatically assumed to hate new (high-end 32-bit or better) graphics, have either Final Fantasy I or Dragon Warrior as their favorite game, love to whine, and piss themselves thinking of the glory of the fabled "Golden Age". New-school gamers are assumed to have had FFVII or newer be their first RPG, love commercial eye-candy, hate Old-school gamers, and have nightmares about being forced to play 16-bit games. All this is quite obviously not true. Although I do have personal opinions on both types, this is neither the time nor the place... all right, maybe it's both, but writing them here could ruin the validity of my points for some people.

That said, I will weigh in on a few frequented points. All this talk about certain old games being praised only because of nostalgia is, for the most part, a bunch of crap. Now don't get me wrong; it does have some merit. I love Kirby (for 8-bit NES) primarily because it was one of the first really fun games I played way back when. If I hadn't played it back then and were just now trying it, who knows what I would think? But that's enough unanswerable speculation; on to the fact. My first RPG (excluding the first and second Zelda games) was Mario RPG for the SNES. My second was FF7. I found them both to be enjoyable. From there, however, I moved on to Wild ARMs and Suikoden. All three of these were a hell of a lot better than FF7 and Mario RPG in my eyes (please note that at that time, I had not been exposed to these Old-New arguments, so the opinion was genuine). I have since taken the full tour, playing Breath of Fire III, Final Fantasies 4-6 (emulated translations so they were pure), Xenogears, Chrono Trigger, etc. I am currently working further backward, playing in my spare time Dragon Warrior 1-4, Final Fantasies 1-3, etc. To these older, 8-bit games, I must say that while I enjoy them, they are more for historical enjoyment, heritage if you will, as opposed to the sort of enjoyment I got from the 16-bit guys. Now tell me, given my roots, does it sound like nostalgia has anything to do with my love of older RPGs?

That rant over, I would like to define a sort of sub-genre for you to consider. I generally call it the SNES-style RPG, but to avoid confusion of terms, I will for now call it the progressing RPG. I call it this because it is just that: the sort of RPG that was made after the genre had made some large leaps, but was still progressing. Some perfect examples of this are the SNES Final Fantasy games, Chrono Trigger, and Suikoden. How exactly to define them, I am not sure; I have given the matter much thought and had several conversations with my brother on the matter. As close as I can come is this: A game in which the graphics do not impede gameplay and contain a beautiful but streamlined plot. This definition is by no means perfect - after all, Chrono Trigger's plot isn't exactly streamlined. But I must include something to quantify plot, for I believe that this is what separates 8-bit RPGs from the progressing RPG. But I digress. I did have a point in bringing this up, amazing as that may be. To me, anyway, there is a certain allure to the progressing RPG, something that gives me a certain feel, draws me to it, and keeps me coming back for more. I have still been unable to determine what it is. Maybe a full psychological examination would reveal this secret element. But whatever it is, I believe that it is this sort of game that attracts Old-school gamers like flies to honey. And whatever this element is, I must say I find it lacking in FFVII and FFVIII. I haven't played FF9, but intend to, for I am hoping that Square may have recaptured this element.

I hope that this sub-genre that I mentioned gives you something new to consider at the very least, and that you'll all stop being whining like children and being over-stereotypical.