corrupted, tell me more about some of your Unleashed stuff because I'm genuinely curious. Because I love Unleashed.
Well, as for me:
Genso Suikoden II - I don't really think I need to go into elaboration for it because I've done it so many times on GAF that I guess it's become predictable now. I genuinely love its pacing, its structure, its SRPG war battles, the narrative, some of the dialogue in the Japanese version, etc. Plus it has my favourite character in terms of stats, because man I love his stats sooooo much. :3 It also has one spot where you can sequence-break for a sidequest and it ends up being a little hilarious because from a narrative perspective, it involves an item that you don't even have yet. This is the way people would use to speedrun the game if you wanted to.
Super Metroid - I've stated in this thread that it is one of those games that I'd classify as "Perfect". Sequence-breaking and speedrunning takes precedence for the most skilled players, while those who like to take it slowly and learn while exploring can become immersed in the game's aesthetic atmosphere and its incredible musical score.
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask - [Reposted from another thread] While people would say that the Zelda series has gotten "stale" or "doesn't take any risks", I would point to Majora's Mask for taking a bit of a risk in changing up the formula somewhat. What I liked most about the game was the intricate side stories told via side quests. You can do these side quests as many times as you’d like and the stories never get old, imo. Watching the same people walk the same path repeatedly, knowing what they're going to do, what would happen to them, what would happen should you let the moon fall, it was a bit of a tragic or bittersweet narrative when you think about it. I liked the risk Nintendo took with this gaiden story (which seems to be primarily about healing and friendship), and hope that they’ll do something else like this in the future.
Sonic 3 & Knuckles - It was colourful, the music was wonderfully-composed, it played well, and the subtle narrative communicated via animations and level endings were wonderful to watch (I talk about animations a lot because that's the type of stuff I paid attention to when I was younger, and that's why I don't like long cutscenes). Being able to play as either Sonic, Tails or Knuckles was an incredible addition because you could take advantage of any of their abilities to explore different parts of the level that neither of the other characters could reach.
Castlevania: Rondo of Blood - Rondo of Blood has one of the best PCE soundtracks on the system. It's my favourite classic Castlevania game, and the anime cutscenes were awesome to watch back then. Being able to switch between Richter and Maria added a new fun element to the game, making it a very nice overall package.
This list sucks because I'm stuck now. :|
I dunno what else to pick!
Oh yeah, Mother 3 is a thing: Mother 3 is a perfect example of good storytelling in an RPG. When I played Mother 3, I was expecting Earthbound. I was not expecting such a profound tale of love, loss, capitalism, loss of rustic charm, and a ton of other themes this narrative included. The music was great, the battle system with the addition of the rhythm hits was fun, the characters and chapter divisions were well-planned, and the dialogue was wonderfully-written. It's truly a wonderful and cohesive end to Itoi's letters to his daughter.
Oh, I almost forgot about Chrono Trigger's existence: I think Chrono Trigger is an incredibly beautiful game. This isn't due to its aesthetic qualities or its music. The beauty of Chrono Trigger is in its accessibility to newcomers and veterans. New players can play through it without any problems to get through the story, but veterans can play through it to amp up the difficulty to test themselves by using parties that aren’t tailored to speed (because speed is an asset in any game that uses ATB to an extent; if you want an easier time with ATB, have a higher agil stat). Higher Agil stats may also factor into speedrunning in terms of getting battles done quickly.
Yeah, I dunno. Let me think about it a little more.
