20 Years of Playstation

Has it really been 20 years?

The Playstation One was the evolution of gaming. Sony was supposed to do a console with Nintendo, but that didn't work out and so they decided to do a system on their own. Nintendo held fast to cartridges, but Sony decided to go a different way.



We look at Playstation 1 games now and we see that the graphics haven't held up. For some reason, 3D games just don't hold up as well as 2D games. I suppose its because 3D gameplay and graphics just get better and better with new technology. But 2D gaming, on the other hand, stays classic and a lot of the same types of 2D gaming that were done then are still being done now.

Though, when I first saw Resident Evil 1 for the Playstation, I was blown away. At the time, there was nothing like this game. It had a cutscene with REAL ACTORS and the actual gameplay and graphics were state of the art for the time. The first Resident Evil was bold. It featured zombies, blood, and a mature storyline. Sure it was a bit corny (You were almost a Jill sandwich. come on) and its even cornier now probably, but at the time this was an amazing game.

It was probably the game that sold me on the Playstation One. Well, this and D.



D was a mysterious game. It was completely first person and it wasn't as action packed as Resident Evil, but the graphics were definitely better. I only got to play D once. I never did own the game. But the impact it had in selling the Playstation One to me can't be ignored.



But let's skip ahead. I've talked about the early days of Playstation plenty elsewhere. I want to talk about the Playstation One games that I'll never forget.

Final Fantasy 7 was the game that turned me into an rpg fan. I had played some rpgs on the SNES and hadn't cared for them. FF7 was different though. Right away, the graphics were stunning. This was the first truly cinematic Final Fantasy experience. And the way that Sqaure seamlessly took us from CGI cutscenes back into gameplay (without a load time) was brilliant. I just recently played the start of this game and marveled at the way the game quickly went from Cloud jumping, in gameplay, from a bridge to a train and standing on the train in a cutscene. Back in the day, it wasn't as noticeable as it is now. We've played so many games with cutscenes and CGI that we're trained to look for it now. Back then, we were too busy just watching this stuff unfold. Cloud, Aeries, Tifa, Barrett, etc were a great cast of characters too. This wasn't just a pretty game. The story, the characters, and especially the turn-based gameplay was brilliant. Sony and Square brought RPGs into their next life cycle with Final Fantasy 7. It changed the way we look at rpgs and video games as a whole.



Final Fantasy 8, though, took things up to another level completely. The characters were taller and more realistic. So were the backgrounds in which the story was set. I would argue that Final Fantasy 8 was the setup for Final Fantasy 10. FF9 took a step back to revisit the classic Final Fantasys and while I do love 9, it was really 8 that (for good or ill) changed Final Fantasy forever.

Eight took all the lessons that Square learned from Final Fantasy 7, like blending cgi and gameplay easily, and enhanced the graphics, the gameplay, and the story. While it is true that Final Fantasy 7's characters are more memorable overall, Final Fantasy 8 had a stronger and more mature story. And the gameplay introduced a unique system were you drew magic from the enemy. Its still an incredible game. Though, I guess not everyone see it that way. Oh well.



Lets get away from Final Fantasy though. Its time to talk about Chrono Cross.

Nobody ever thought we'd see a sequel to Chrono Trigger. And then Square came out with Chrono Cross. It wasn't the sequel everyone wanted. In fact, its still a very controversial sequel. But I loved it. I loved it so much that I still can't pick between Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross. They are both great games.

Chrono Cross was totally different from the Final Fantasy games. Not just the gameplay, but the graphics were far more colorful than anything we'd seen out of the FF series (even Final Fantasy 9). The game was beautiful. Not only that but it had a great story and wonderful characters. It also had a ton of replay value because of the multiple endings.

While Chrono Cross definitely shows it age now, as do all Playstation 1 games, you can still tell what a wonderful game it is. I'm glad I still own it.



Ok, we have to talk about Metal Gear Solid. You were probably starting to wonder if I'd ever stop talking about rpgs. I could go on forever about rpgs. The Playstation 1 era was full of great ones. But no. Let's talk about Metal Gear.

I didn't like Metal Gear Solid on Playstation 1.

Thats it. Lets move on....

Joking! In fact, I really didn't like it. Yes, the graphics were very good at the time and the cinematics were great. I just didn't like the over the head view. Plus I sucked at sneaking around. I always wanted to run out and shoot people...

But I got to play this game again later on and I enjoyed it more. This was a real great setup for what Metal Gear would become. The storytelling is excellent, the characters, the stealth, everything is so good. I'm excited that a friend of mine is going to send this to me in the mail soon! I can't wait to play it again. I will definitely write about it here too!




I'm going to skip ahead to Metal Gear Solid 2. I bet you thought I'd only talk about Playstation 1 games. Well, I have to talk about this game (and then I have to stop myself because this blog entry is long).

Metal Gear Solid 2 is what got me into the Metal Gear series. It had fantastic graphics, amazing gameplay, and told a crazy and brilliant story. I loved every single second of this game. I laughed my head off later on when things got REALLY weird. If you've played the game, you know what I'm talking about.

Some people don't like this game, but I love it. Its still my favorite Metal Gear Solid game.

Anyway, this blog entry is really huge. I could write about so many more games I loved. Its been 20 Years of Playstation. I admit I'm more of a Nintendo fan right now. But I bought a Playstation 1 again recently and I'm reliving the glory days.

I may write about Playstation more in the future, but for now I want to leave with this thought:

Gaming owes a lot to Sony. Nintendo, Microsoft, everybody owes something to Sony. They came out and changed gaming. If it wasn't for Sony, we'd still be getting games on carts most likely. Well, maybe not, but who knows! But while Sony seems to play it safe now, believe me, they took a big risk here. They took a chance and went up against Nintendo. Nintendo was a powerhouse back then. And now Sony rules the gaming market.

We don't know what'll happen in the future. Perhaps Nintendo will become #1 again or Microsoft or Sony will stay #1. It doesn't really matter. What matters is this: video gaming has something for everyone. Pick your poison. There's plenty of room for everybody.

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All of the above pictures were taken from various places on google.

Sorry if this blog entry was a bit long. I seriously could have gone on longer! I'll see you soon.