GameSided Roundtable: Late To The Party

Greetings! This is our weekly GameSided Roundtable feature, where our writers converge to provide their opinions, wishes, statements or critical thought on one general topic centered around video games. Sometimes it can be funny, sometimes it can be serious. Contemporary, classic; we hope to cover a wide variety of things in this segment as a group. If you wish to submit an idea for a GameSided Roundtable discussion topic, you can leave the editor an email at: daniel.george@fansided.com. We’ll totally give you (and your Twitter account, if applicable) a shoutout!

This week’s topic: “What great games took you forever to finally get around to playing?”

Martin Benn (Twitter)

It took me forever to play Final Fantasy VII. A game that was lauded a lot when I was a kid, but I had a Nintendo 64 and was too busy playing Super Mario 64 to notice. So I finally got around to it about two years ago, which means I was about 15 years late to the party.

Let’s just say from now on I want to be present when classics are released or I likely won’t be going back to them. Revisiting some old games works out pretty well, but Final Fantasy VII was a chore not only to look at but adjust to after using the updated skill training methods in games like Final Fantasy X and beyond.

Barrett Womack (Twitter)

I am usually pretty quick on the uptake when it comes to games – I’ll try to buy a game when it comes out if I really want to play it. There is one in particular that I was very late to the party on: Final Fantasy Tactics. I absolutely loved the FF Tactics games on Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS, but never played the original. Even after looking at gameplay and screenshots of it, I wasn’t particularly impressed – I figured that I had played the updated and improved versions. Why go back?

Well boy was I wrong. When I finally sat down to play it years later (albeit on my PSP) I discovered a completely different adventure, with different mechanics. It was an awesome play through, and still stands as one of my favorite games to this day. It just goes to show that old games can stand toe-to-toe with their modern counterparts. The next time you think about passing over an older entry in a series, think twice – you may find a new favorite if you’re willing to have an open mind.

Rebekah Valentine (Twitter)

I got into video games later than most of my peers, and missed the first big wave of classics. Whenever I have a lull I tend to go back and catch up, so there’s a lot of games that meet this qualification, including Final Fantasy VII, Legend of Dragoon, Link to the Past, and Chrono Trigger.

Right now I’m working on Earthbound, and I can’t believe I put it off for this long. In spite of its age, everything about this game is just delightful. The strange characters, the goofy dialogue, and way it never holds your hand…I mean, I actually have to talk to people to find out what to do next! And if I’m not leveled enough, the fights are actually hard! It’s also got some quirks I’d love to see more of in modern games, including the ability to skip encounters with lower level enemies, a silent protagonist, and highly unique money, item storage, and healing systems that fit the universe. If you’ve never played Earthbound, you’re seriously missing out on a great RPG.