Strongly disagree. PS1 was the weakest era for Madden, losing the pure fun factor of the Megadrive versions but without the photorealism and depth of simulation that would come later. Fifa was fine, I guess, but it wasn’t nearly as competitive with the ISS games as Fifa is with Pro Evo now, and again it lost the simple charm of Fifa 95/96, although to be fair those weren’t particularly great games.
Azure Dreams - the RL aspects were quirky but I liked the town building. Also it was the first RL I played on a console which was kind of neat.
Brave Fencer Musashi - decent game with Zelda aspirations. God it was fuck ugly, though. I never played the other “zelda, ish” game on the system, Alundra (always wanted to).
SOTN - there’s nothing to say here that hasn’t already been said. Amazing game. The series gradually declined over on the GBA but still offered a lot of entertainment. I don’t think anything quite topped this game though.
FFT - I preferred it to Tactics Ogre. I didn’t really care that you could completely break he game in like 50 different ways. RPGs on consoles tended towards simplistic mechanics and that started leaving me cold in the previous era. So it was nice to get a game with mechanics I could sink my teeth into.
Grandia - in hindsight, probably the jRPG I enjoyed the most.
I don’t consider the PS1 to be a great console. I had fun with it, but I find the “golden age” argument quite dubious (although, yes, it’s all relative and Halycon days are awarded both retroactively and on an individual basis). There was far more interesting stuff being done with 3d on the PC. Graphically a lot of the 3d from the era (system regardless) didn’t age for shit and this is to be expected. But there were PC games either doing stuff like deformable terrain (e.g. Myth: Fallen Lords) or just really awesome gameplay (Terra Nova, SS2) that I don’t think the console matched. There’s not much I would ever return to on the PS1 (I have played SOTN several times on several different systems though; what a masterpiece that game was). I think on the PS1 most of the games I would replay were either 2d or leveraged 2d sprites. The sports games, for me, went into decline after the glorious era on the 16-bit machines.
I really should have played Alundra.
By contrast, this era on the PC is chock full of hall of fame stuff (2d and 3d), even if some of it has that era ugliness (e.g. Mechwarrior 2. But what a game). Whereas I think there’s more stuff from the PS2 era that’s got lasting appeal. Still, there is no doubt the PS1 was an important evolutionary step. I think the console was as much about the promise of what was to come than anything else.
But it’s worth remembering that the PC market was still very much a niche, an enthusiast’s market in the mid to late 90s. Setting aside whether the PlayStation had games that really spoke to you, since that’s going to come down to personal taste anyway, it is the console that really brought 3D to the masses.
Agreed with Ginger on this - this was the era that EA was getting their ass kicked with Madden, leading up to the exclusive licensing. NFL GameDay (PS1/PS2) and NFL 2K (Dreamcast/PS2/Xbox) were both substantially better than the Madden games of that time period. I don’t even think the Madden fanboys would debate that too much, in retrospect.
Madden was getting crushed in the PlayStation era and that continued until 2004. It was the start of their decline leading to them getting the exclusive rights later on. That’s why people were so upset by their monopolization of the license. GameDay from Sony and later 2K from SEGA/Visual Concepts were always better reviewed. Madden traded on name alone for awhile there.
[quote=“divedivedive, post:43, topic:129503, full:true”]
But it’s worth remembering that the PC market was still very much a niche, an enthusiast’s market in the mid to late 90s. [/quote]
I’m not sure you’ve got the definition of enthusiast correct here (or maybe I should say “I think it means more than you imply”). I think it’s a lot less niche at this point than you are giving it credit for.
Well I’m not talking about games “speaking to me”. Only a handful of games in the era did, none moreso than Planescape: Torment and Fallout. Which have nothing to do with 3d of course. I’m just talking about games I find interesting mechanically or where the gameplay is something I just happen to get along with. I enjoyed Musashi well enough for a Ps1 game but I wouldn’t rank it in the top 50 games of the era.
Gran Torismo is the best selling PS1 game of all time? I’m not sure. I saw a number that said 11.7 or 11.9M (if you know of other numbers, by all means pass them on), and claimed it was. Star Craft did those numbers as well, and in the same year (1998). Half Life was over 9m. I don’t think the PS1 install base was really vastly higher than the PC. That’s was true in some regions I have no doubt (Japan, e.g.). But we’re not talking an order of magnitude overall, and I think if we could somehow compare sales of titles for each system it wouldn’t be that the PS1 obliterated the PC (although I would expect to see more PS1 games sold overall).
I was late to 3d cards myself (a Hercules Dynamite TNT2 in my very first self-built PC in 1998; this being second gen integrated 2d/3d graphics cards I believe) and never owned a dedicated 3d card. Those certainly were “enthusiast” in the way you are using it. But there was 3d gaming to be had without them. If PC had less games that broke, say, 10M sales (and I can’t really compare although if I was betting which system had more such titles, I would take the Ps1), it still had them. And I think that point stands at other lower, arbitrary, sales levels. There was a shitload of PCs around already at this point. I don’t think “niche” is applicable.
As for enthusiasts, I wonder how many people had a PC and a Ps1. More than a few, at least stateside. Enthusiasts have always had a strong “multiple system” presence. Likewise I would qualify anyone who had a higher than average number of games for the Ps1 as enthusiast (and yes I am using a broader definition, although it’s not a lot broader). PC gaming’s presence/strength/what have you is stronger in this area than you’rte giving credit for. If less people were gaming on it (or gaming on it as frequently or whatever), it’s still a lot of gaming.
Now the 80s, yes. It PC was far more niche (as was gaming as a whole). Where as nobody looked at you funny if you spazzed out in the middle of 4th grade lunch and started shouting things about Zelda, a lot more people did so if it was some PC game (anecdote alert).
I miss arcades :(
That’s a good summation of Fifa 95/96. They didn’t resemble soccer in the slightest. You could barely dribble (there’s about a 90% chance of getting disposessed just going near a defender, and the game wasn’t very good with allowing changes of direction). It was unpossible to get a good short passing game going. So you just booted the ball down the field in 2-3 kicks and then someone took a swerving shot from 35 yards out and probably scored unless you were facing a team with an amazing GK. In which case there was like a 40% chance to score. Also Olaf Pederson was so amazing, I loved playing as Denmark.
It was charming and fun, especially wirh games being completeable in such a short amount of time. Nobody would have ever wanted to play a season in them, however. The gameplay is more of a curio. I think it took sports games longer to find their footing overall in the era, as they moved from primarily arcade experiences to more simulationish ones.
I can’t recall if it was Game Day or NFL 2ksomething on the Xbox which I quite liked. But it was one of them and not Madden.
It’s hard to compar by sales figures, I figured I’d compare a game that sold well in either system, like Half Life on PC and Resident Evil on PlayStation, and Half-Life has certainly sold more to date. But I don’t know how much that tells us that’s useful. Absolutely PC gaming had breakout hits. But when you talk about games like MechWarrior, Tie Fighter, those are all games that benefited from, possibly even required, additional hardware. I didn’t play a flight simulator without a joystick and throttle, though I guess that’s doable. But that’s pretty much the definition of an enthusiast. Call it hobbyist if you want, the terminology isn’t really important. You just didn’t find as many people casually noodling with PC games in comparison to consoles in the 90s, not Ike you do these days.
Definitely. Remember Actua Soccer? Now there was a bold experiment that really didn’t succeed.
I think there are geographical considerations indeed: electronics prices having always been 3 to 4 fold their US equivalents in France, PC gaming was a very rich boy’s hobby, a boy who had to be proficient at english too, as barely any DOS game was ever translated. My feeling at the time was that the consoles were destroying everything, here.
I also think there might be a problem of time scale between @peacedog and @divedivedive, as well: I think no matter where you lived, the landscape was very different in 1995 from what it became in 2000.
Whoa, apparently Vagrant Story is really good according to everyones lists.
I played it recently for the first, time got around through the second or third boss.
I distinctly remember one particular moment in the beginning, where we see light tracing the outlines of characters who are eclipsing a light source. It looked like such an advanced lighting mechanic for the PS1, to have characters differentially illuminated in that way, and used with such a subtle touch. Very cinematic and a beautiful shot.
PS1 was big when I was in college, but PS2 was coming out my junior or senior year. I had a kid I was friends with, from China, he had a huge binder full of PlayStation games burned to CDs that he bought while in China. He’s go back home every break and come back with all the new games fresh from the Chinese street vendors.
Obviously Castlevania SotN is the crown jewel of the PlayStation. I don’t see how that can be argued.
Beyond that, Einhander was great. That was probably my 2nd most played game. FF7 was the only game in the series I ever finished. Parappa the Rapper still is stuck in my head.
Metal Gear Solid blew my mind the first time I played it. MGS2 on the PS2 was such a colossal letdown. A friend and I camped out for MGS2 at a midnight GameStop sale, only game I ever did that for. Got it home, wound up playing this Raiden douchebag after 15 minutes and put he game away forever.
Battle Arena Toshinden and NFL Blitz have not been mentioned yet. Fond memories there.
But the games you guys are saying are better. SOTN is a treasure.
The thing that separated the PlayStation from pretty much anything else at the time is the way it appealed to older demographics with its edgy branding/marketing and positioning with post-pub and 90s club and music culture, technological clout (3D and CDs), more ‘mature’ and experimental catalogue of games and its resulting sense of cool. Like, I’m not sure whether this was just a British thing but it was a real trailblazer for console gaming as far as breaking away from the typical family fare goes. This was about the best article I could find on the topic:
I mean, it was my dad’s friend that introduced it to us and he wasn’t really a gamer. Or so we thought. He showed us Resident Evil and Tomb Raider and Wipeout. Gliding around a futuristic racing track in a sleek craft, blue exhaust trailing behind, to the Chemical Brothers and the Prodigy and the Future Sound of London was crazy. Super Mari-who? Sonic the wat?
So many great games…I had forgotten about Einhander!
I was a PC gamer in the 80s and early 90s but didn’t get back to PC until 2001. In the meantime, I had a good time playing the PS1 ports of Diablo, Dark Forces and Command and Conquer.
Did anyone play Treasures Of The Deep? I regret getting rid of my copy. It was Namco’s take on Tomb Raider…but in the ocean. Very slick exploration and action game which had a great soundtrack. I feel like i am the only person to have played this gem.
I Wanted desperately to like this. I approved of it in principle: an Arcadey foortball game. But the two things I hated about it were the absurd comeback logic (get up big and you are basically guaranteed to start fumbling) and how the “create a player” mode included lame stuff like an automatic injury that forced you to sit out (although maybe that was in a sequel?). I found the catch-up logic worse than NBA Jam’s. Interesting idea, though.
never heard of this. it looks awesome.
I just read the game’s plot. Boy, they don’t make those like that anymore! Rainbow Six is love and peace compared to the insanity of Treasures of the Deep!
This thread or you people are broken. No X-Com UFO Defense. Sure it was inferior to the PC version, but I could play it on my TV. ON MY TV! In 1996. That may have been the first game I purchased and probably played the most. Even after a save got corrupted MANY years in and I had to restart.
Plus many of the JRPGs mentioned. Those were good times when I had free time and could tolerate JRPG dialog and cut scenes. I used to finish games, even. I sure do not have the long term memory you all have, though, to recall and discuss any of them longer than a sentence. Except Final Fantasy Tactics. Holy Balls that game was great and still is as many of you have stated.
Oh yeah, I played X-COM on PlayStation. Panzer General too, and both were pretty good, even if loading times were pretty egregious.