I don't know. FFVII, VIII and IX came out when I was a kid. They captivated me more than any other games I had ever played. (Also Chrono Cross.) I had watched my brother play Chrono Trigger and Earthbound when I was younger, but they didn't grab me. I was too young, and I thought they were boring.
But FFVII hit me at just the right time. They sucked me in so hard. The world, the story, the characters. I was too young to know the writing was bad, or Barret was racist or you know... whatever the games get criticized for in retrospect.
It was better than a movie or a comic book or a book, because you got to inhabit the world and the characters yourself. I remember how mind-blowing the settings were to me and they left a huge imprint on me. I would spend all day at school drawing the characters.
FFIX was by far the best to me. Just the world was so incredible and rich.
But now you just don't see games like that anymore. These big productions with imaginative world-building. Every single screen is a unique piece of art. Just the sheer amount of effort put into bringing the world to life you don't really see anymore in the same way.
Like GTA V has a ton of detail in the world... but its just a parody of the real world. Idk, its hard to define exactly what is missing from games today, but they seriously don't make them like that PSX era anymore.
Like someone putting a ton of effort to design some random NPC's house in Lindblum with like... this cool looking attic and little animated bits and bobs. My friend who is an environment artist was watching me play, and he was just in awe. Like in awe of how much custom art was on each screen and he was like "My studio would never spend resources on something off to the side like that"
and he works at a major studio that is praised for its art.
It's weird, one of the closest things to this feeling I've seen recently was Gravity Rush. The game is kinda barren and repetitive at times, but it hints at what a modern day Final Fantasy type game would be like. The start has some really cool world building moments, and the way the story is presented is really cool.
All that said, I think Mario 64 was a much more important game. Coming from my perspective now and what I value in game design, it's much more of a valuable game.
1. The game feel is incredible. Games don't put enough effort into game feel these days. The way it feels to control the character, to jump, whatever. It was perfect.
2. Abstract level design. Another thing Nintendo does really well is not pretend their games aren't games. They aren't trying to suspend your disbelief like the Order or whatever. It's left completely bonkers and abstract, and it doesn't bother you one bit because it has no self-established rules to break. Games need to stop being embarrassed that they are games. Again, the Order, I'm looking at you.
3. Intuitive, immersive game structure. How brilliant is the castle? So brilliant. It's an organic tutorial. It's a playground. It's a menu. It's a place to explore. This was so ahead of its time. You literally select a level by using the game's core mechanic, rather than using a boring old menu.
4. It's a god damn video game. I'm sick of games not embracing that they are video games. Like assassin's creed getting fucking bloated with lore no one cares about and doing very little to fix the core gameplay. I remember how much of a step backwards AC1 felt from Prince of Persia because the controls were less fun and less expressive... but it became a massive hit and it tells ubisoft that simpler is better.
Whatever.
