I don’t know what it is about modern games, but I feel like they’ve lost a lot along the way. Maybe it’s me that’s changed, as I steadily approach my fourties, still as in love with gaming as I was in my teens, but either way, I’ve been thinking back to the PS1 era all too often lately.
Don’t get me wrong, there are absolutely cracking modern games, no doubt about that. But most just feel uninspired, or like something I’ve played before. That lack of freshness didn’t really exist to adolescent me with my PS1. You see, I played a wide variety of games, so everything felt fresh and exciting.
So with that, join me for a moment as I reminisce on what was my personal golden age: the PS1 era.
Final Fantasy VII
Of course, the game that really started it all for me was Final Fantasy VII. I’d played all the original Nintendo games, an obscure title called UGH!, and all the DOS classics, as well. But until that point, nothing pulled me in quite as deep as Final Fantasy VII.
I was an avid reader at that age, and while novels were fun, FFVII was like a novel come to life. It was absolutely mindblowing to young me, and even though I didn’t finish the game on my first playthrough, because Safer Sephiroth was just too hard I sucked at video games, I tried again and finally got that awesome ending that left me wanting more.
To this day, remembering the relationships I formed with Tifa and Aerith, with Barret and the rest of the cast, brings me a particularly powerful kick of nostalgia that I just can’t get enough of. Replaying it just isn’t the same, though, since I’ve probably finished it upwards of twenty times throughout my life. But I’ll always have those initial memories.
MediEvil 2
While on the hunt for my next game after my abysmal experience with Rainbow Six (detailed below), I visited a friend’s house and found him playing this masterpiece. Was it actually a masterpiece? I have no clue, but you got to beat up bad guys in a slick, action-packed game, and that’s all I cared about back then.
So I managed to secure a long-term loan from my friend, and I’m pretty sure I traded Football Manager 2001 for this title, an imbalanced trade if ever there was one. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved FM ’01, but my friend didn’t even know what football was, and never had much fun with the game.
All I know is I played this game for a pretty extended stint and never got bored, but all good things must come to an end, which is when I traded WWF SmackDown! for this next gem.
Twisted Metal 2
Another action-packed video game, Twisted Metal 2 was my reprieve from not being able to play Carmageddon 2 on my dad’s PC. It wasn’t quite as brutal, so my parents seemed okay with it, or at least, less familiar with it.
It scratched a weird itch for racing games that I didn’t know was there, but it wasn’t real racing, was it? It was just demolition, pretty much. Still fun though, and I have fond memories of it when I think back to those late Saturday nights alone in the games room.
Rainbow Six
Oh man, did I make a bad deal back then. You see, I traded my original copy of Final Fantasy VII for this junk. I was really upset, and quickly began to miss FFVII, wishing I’d replayed it one more time. That said, Rainbow Six was not a bad game. It was actually a lot of fun.
In this old gem, you managed and played as a team of special forces operatives, completing a series of missions that progressed the game. The trouble was that dying meant you lost that operative. Soon, all your best operatives would be dead, and you’d have a bunch of rookies to try and complete the harder missions later in the game.
Probably wouldn’t be much of an issue now with a mouse and keyboard, but on a controller that didn’t even have analog sticks, that was a rough game.
Final Fantasy VIII
I loved Final Fantasy VIII as much as I did VII. There, I said it.
The story wasn’t quite as good, but I actually liked the Junction System. It made me feel all-powerful pretty quickly and was a great power fantasy. Because of it being so easy to become overpowered, though, this game didn’t really tick all the boxes for me, and for many others. It got old, fast.
Still, I stuck it out if only for the story, and thoroughly enjoyed all my playthroughs of this title while I had my friend’s copy. The first time I ever actually owned Final Fantasy VIII was when I bought it on my PS4.
Breath of Fire IV
Another borrowed game back then, Breath of Fire IV didn’t really do enough to capture my attention for the full game. I never finished it back then, although I have since.
What’s nostalgic about it, though, is the stunning atmosphere. It felt very authentically Japanese, from the music to the characters, and since I was only a teenager, it was the closest I could get back then to actually visiting the country.
Still on my bucket list, in case you’re wondering.
The Digimon Series
I still remember the frustration I experienced as a kid playing the first Digimon World title. Just when I think I’ve got a good, badass Digimon that’s about to slay all my enemies, it gets sick and dies. The new, fresh Digimon? Can’t do squat.
Then Digimon World 2 came along, and my word, what a slog that was! The constant grind and combining new Digimon to make bigger, better ones was time-heavy! But I actually quite enjoyed that game in the end.
Finally, Digimon World 3 completely changed the formula again, bringing us more of a pure RPG experience. This was probably the most fun of the three for me, especially with the card minigame.
Overall, it wasn’t a great trilogy, and it felt like they were all incredibly experimental, but today, they give me a serious nostalgic kick every time I think back.
Driver
This was one of the first games I played after Final Fantasy VII. You see, back then, we had VHS rental stores, and the one closest to my house also had games for rent. So we would go pick up this gem and, for an entire day, we would drive around the streets of San Francisco, Miami, and even New York. It was a great time waster that gave us many hours of fun.
We never actually played the game itself, and treated it as more of a sandbox, so was it a good game? I don’t even know, but I do know I enjoyed the sandbox option. We would challenge each other as to who could speed around the map the longest without crashing.
Good old times.
Gran Turismo 2
Still the best racing game ever made, in my humble opinion. I haven’t played a racing game in a long time, to be fair, but man, this game was gold. I still remember finding a good Nissan Skyline R32 to upgrade as much as possible for most of the early races.
Still my dream car, although I’m more attached to the R34 (thank you, The Fast and the Furious).
So Why Aren’t Games Good Anymore?
While I thoroughly enjoyed that trip down memory lane, and I sure hope you did, too, the question does emerge: why don’t games feel the way they used to anymore?
There’s no easy answer, with many nuanced and complex angles to explore. In this case, I’d like to explore the era itself. The early PlayStation era was exceptionally unique, with the jump to 3D offering near-endless possibilities to ambitious and creative developers.
It was an era of exploration, and developers were pushing boundaries to find that “next big thing.”
Compared to today, where most AAA developers play it safe and seem afraid to break the mold, it was an exciting time, indeed. These days, phenomenal games simply aren’t coming from the AAA studios anymore, but from the vast indie scene.
Expedition 33, PEAK, Schedule 1, R.E.P.O, these are all games from this very year that popped off in a big way, and every single one was made by smaller indie studios.
So, to answer the question, games are still good! But the AAA scene feels like it’s stopped exploring and is happy to settle into the status quo, and indie developers are the ones making good games now. They’ll likely lead us into the future, because with all the indie hits this year, I feel like we’re just entering a brand new era of exploration – one where AAA studios get left behind in the race to build something that’s actually fun to play.
But back to you, dear reader. What are your favorite PS1 games of all time, if you were around for that? And what do you think of the current game scene?
