However, the most important changes aren't visual at all - they're the sweeping changes which have been made to the games in terms of battle systems, balance and even storyline. We're not talking about a pinnacle of handheld graphics here by any means, but it's certainly easier on the eyes than the NES artwork was. The most obvious change is to the artwork, which has been updated to SNES-style sprites (copied, I believe, from the Wonderswan version which appeared in Japan a few years ago). What this package contains isn't actually the original NES versions of Final Fantasy I and its brother II - each one has, in fact, been modified greatly since it first took a bow on the ancient system. For all that the Final Fantasy series has recently become a benchmark for gaming eye-candy, this is actually a genre that's very forgiving when it comes to graphics - a solid storyline and entertaining battle system, after all, are two elements which could be relayed on pieces of paper or in plain text if you wanted to be minimalist about it.įirst thing's first, then. The GBA isn't lacking in terms of decent RPG titles, and the fact that they're 2D and in some cases remakes of older games (Breath of Fire springs to mind) does absolutely nothing to detract from them. First Fantasy, ActuallyĪll that being said, I was more than happy to give Dawn of Souls a fair hearing. Remember, kids retro gaming can strike anywhere, at any time. But no sooner was Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls dropped in the door than it was hurled in my direction as the resident Japanese RPG fanboy.
I should have kept thinking about the future. While Kristan has been hacking a path through the retro trip that publishers appear to be subjecting us to of late, I've been standing on the sidelines wondering how he manages to play - let alone enjoy -such ancient piles of tat without having a nervous breakdown of some description. You may feel free to call me a shallow, graphics-obsessed person of loose morals, but my personal viewpoint remains unchanged. Or to be precise, they've aged badly and become rubbish, just like your favourite shirt from five years ago, which now sees service washing the car on Sunday afternoon. It's probably important, in the context of this review, that I pin my colours to the mast here - most old games are rubbish. There are a number of schools of thought on retro gaming.
0 kommentar(er)
