Final Fantasy VII was the first game that ever made me cry. The death of Aeris left me sitting stunned, staring at the screen. How could they DO this? I was sure she would somehow be reincarnated, that death would not be final — lord knows “General Hospital” and “X-Men” had taught me that a story need not be limited by a simple thing like death, witnessed on-screen and agreed to by all present. Aeris would be back, for sure.

But she wasn’t. At least not as a living character. And that simple fact gave me a profound respect for Final Fantasy’s creators. They had respected the logic of the story. Death was death, final and irrevocable, with its own integrity. Even Conan Doyle couldn’t resist the temptation of bringing Sherlock Holmes back from that abyss.

But the death of Aeris, wrenching as it was, was nothing compared to the ending of Final Fantasy X. I still haven’t quite forgiven them for that one. I mean… Tidus! Gah! But I profoundly respect the artistic decision.

And writing this, years later, I’m getting a little leaky around the eyes again. That is why RPGs will always be my favorite game genre. How many books and movies have that kind of lasting effect on your inner life? They’re far and few, believe me.

This isn’t to say that I don’t passionately enjoy other genres as well; there’s something to be said for the thrill of perfectly kissing the apex of a corner in F-Zero, or nailing that perfect headshot in SOCOM. I’ve gone into Street Fighter and beaten down an opponent so hard that you’d think he was from Carthage. But, generally speaking, it’s RPG titles which tend to stay with me.

God, the Ultima series. Played the first five titles religiously when I was a kid. Ultima V, in particular, took *months* of dedicated gameplay. I felt like Nigel Terry riding around with my own Richard Wagner soundtrack. The ideas of virtues to aspire to, and shrines, and the quest for self-englightenment…Chrétien de Troyes would be proud. Sure, I played Bard’s Tale and Wasteland and Wizardry and the rest, but Ultima always did it for me.

The Final Fantasy titles, of course, always have to mentioned. I’m fairly certain FFIV is the first video game I played where the soundtrack *wouldn’t get out of my head.* There’s a whole lot of Nobuo Uematsu in my iTunes.

S-RPG titles, as well, are insanely addictive. A typical Front Mission 3 playthrough takes me about 118 hours. And that’s just for the Emma missions. The Alisa storyline is wildly different. And Vandal Hearts or the first two Shining Force titles? Oh baby. Hell, I still play Kessen II to this day.

And, of course, BioWare — from KOTOR to Dragon Age and beyond — knows how to bring the epic. We’re finally entering an age where developers are willing to interject a lot of moral gray areas into game narratives, and this makes them infinitely more interesting.

The single most interesting video game character I’ve ever encountered — and it frankly disgusts me that she’s not more respected, because Obsidian put some *amazing* writing into her — is Kreia, from KOTOR II. She is possibly the single most amoral character ever encountered in a video game, and she really makes me think.

God, I love this genre.

Loved your examples and comments on how some of the originals have endured. Of note: Just to give an example of how well they have endured.

Treyarch, the developer of the recent installment to the huge Call of Duty series, embedded an ‘Easter Egg’ in their game Black Ops. It’s found right in the title screen. As you sit strapped to your chair, you may notice you can move your arms by alternating R & L triggers. Doing so rapidly will break you free of the binds and allow you to freely move around the room. Against the wall ahead and slightly left of your chair, there is an old commodore 64 style computer on a table. You can actually log in to this computer, and proceed to do many things, such as access user data bases, emails, and yes! Unlock ‘Easter Eggs’ like the Zork game itself. So nice to see Treyach pay tribute to the RGP genre like this.

Anywho. Enjoyed the article, as well as David’s comments.

When I was a Dungeon Master, I did my best to give my group an immersive story-telling experience. I made all my own monsters out of polymer claw (my lumpy original rats showed up in every adventure), collected little props to liven up the kitchen table, and engaged my players in every way I could dream up.

My final epic adventure was based on Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute”. At one point I handed out lyric sheets and had my party sing the hymn of praise to Sarastro (Zorrastro in my version) to the original Mozart melody. I should still have that somewhere…. (rootles around on the hard disk)… yes, here it is! Woot!

All hail to Zorrastro!
We praise his decisions,
His Wisdom and Int
And his religious visions!
With Lawfulness and Goodness he rules church and state.
He has high Charisma--we think he is great!
(We think he is great! We think he is great!)

We all love Zorrastro
Because he’s terrific!
His judgements are just
And his reign is pacific.
He does stuff with magic like no-one else can.
He’s handsome and strong, and we think he’s the Man!
(We think he’s the Man! We think he’s the Man!)