Taking Turns and Grinding Away

Being the old fuddy-duddy that I am, and being a lover of RPGs, I'm really not sure what to think of the new crop of RPGs coming in. For instance, it seems that a lot of the new RPGs have done away with an overhead map, meaning you just go from place to place, town to town in a very linear fashion. This dicourages a lot ofr exploration, which is one of the fun factors of RPGs. I also don't care much for controlling the main acharacter and then having AI for the other characters in your party. Sure you can tweak the AI of the party members to do what you want, attck aggressively, heal or just stand around whistling, but that often seems like too much work forme, and besides I would rather control the characters myself.
Gone are the days where your party would take a turn, then the bad guys would take a turn, etc. I know RPGs need to evolve, as Japanese RPG makers are scolded for NOT evolving, and thus the boring western RPGs are taking over. By boring I mean overly complicated, as most western RPG are huge open worlds where you can tweak every damn thing in your character, party, weapons, on and on. it's too goddamn complicated. For instance, in the critically acclaimed Morrowind, there were a thousand different options for what you could do, I got completely lost within 30 minutes of walking around the land, and got killed by some pissed off bitch with a stick.
I stopped playing after that and haven't played since. I don't fucking care how awesome Oblivion is, if it's like Morrowind, I'm not touching it.
Basically, I miss the simpler days of japanese RPGs that had good stories but were not unbearably complicated. It seems that I am not alone in this thinking, as the Nintendo DS seems to have remade, or will remake, every Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, at least twice, as well as remaking many other old-school JRGs, many of which have never even made it overseas. As the DS is the most popular gaming system in the world, this is telling.
For once in a very long time, I could care less about a new Final Fantasy (number 13. Well, besides FF11. I detest MORPGs). The game seems to take every bullet point western RPGs have and place them in a Japanese setting. This may be out of necessity, but it still makes me yearn for the days RPGs were simple AND fun.
When I first played Final Fantasy on the NES, I was blown away and played it until I finally finished it. That will never happen again, and I am sadder for it. For myself, and for generatoins of video gamers to come.

Goodbye Old Friend

As many people who enjoy and play videogame already know, the magazine Electonic Gaming Monthly has ceased publication. I had been reader of this magazine for almost 15 of it's twenty years, and still consider it one of the best magazines about my favorite hobby. I was shocked and saddened when I found out earlier this year that EGM was gone. It actually felt like part of my childhood had been stripped away, even though I am almost 40.
No particular reason was given as to why EGM ceased publication, at least none I could find, but it's pretty easy to figure out. The horrible economy had much to do with it, I'm sure, even though by all indications the magazine was doing quite well. So much information now being now found on the internet is another factor. Magazines are becoming archaic. Of course I am also to blame;witness this blog. But I miss the feeling of a magazine in my hands and turning the pages. The internet is in some ways better than a magazine (you can show video of games,, for instance, and can get up to date information),but it's just not the same.
It's just not that I'm old and still getting used to getting plugged into the interweb, it was the simple fact that EGM was, since I started reading it, an excellent, well-done, and informative magazine cut down in it's prime. I believe the magazine could have lasted another 20 years easy.
And call me niave, but I never expected EGM to be there one month and gone the next. To be honest, I don't believe the writers did either.
RIP, Electronic Gaming Monthly. You will be missed.