1. Zelda (1986-present)- Miyamoto's finest work, named after wife of a famous poet.
Pros
-Great visuals as always
-Nintendo never fails to deliver quality gameplay/controls, no exception here.
-Koji Kondo delivers the best soundtrack in the industry (QQ FF fan boys)
-Content is always good, has a real charm to its story line, almost like Disney.
-Tons of sidequests that are actually fun, with the occasional annoying ones, but w/e.
-Fighting never gets old in this game. Puzzles are really fun, and novel in a sense, when you figure them out, you just want to say "OH thats clever"
-The extra stuff is good. All the side characters are memorable, and you grow more and more attached to them as you play. The occasional comic relief is good too.
Cons
- This whole "implied romance". Its kinda obvious Zelda +Link is going to happen, why not just be open about it. I'd be pissed if I had to run around a world, and time travel and fight dragons and giant octopi just to be friends with a princess that I see for like 10 minutes of the entire game.
- The ending for the games really bothered me sometimes. i.e Windwaker, I mean it was a good game overall, one of my fave's in fact. But I was really upset about the King of Red Lions dying.
- Water Temple, Ocarina of Time. Took me 3 years to figure it out the first time I played, not even kidding here.
-Some people say the cartoonish take that Nintendo started is not cool. I actually like it, I dont think of it as aiming for younger audiences, I mean the games are equally as dark in their themes, I just think of it as a stylistic choice.
2. Pokemon series (1996-present) The forefather, and the ultimate Monster RPG
Pros
- The most well known franchise to hit the world. From hand held fame, to spin off games, it's own anime, and who knows how much merchandise its created, obviously very catchy and popular.
- Battling, when it all comes down to it, we get it for the game play. The games evolved, we went from just nuking the stuffing out of eachother to starting to use statuses, stat/acc modifiers, and type advantages to level the playing field. Strategy is always a plus when you play a game.
- Diversity of different members of your party is enormous, its like having over 600 different classes to choose from. Even more attacks to choose from too. The combination are up to you.
- You VS the World? Slot machines? Genetic Engineering? Taking down criminals and eco-terrorists? You like? Pokemon has it all.
Cons
-I'll admit the new generations of critters take time to get used to. But it works out.
-Some are just OP and overused, the diversity is sometimes wasted for the sake of competition.
-EV's are a bitch to train. Complicated game mechanics can ruin the experience for the inexperienced.
-Plot is usually recycled and predictable. But the idea of basing the new world on New York and Brooklyn was a real nice surprise.
3. Tales of Symphonia (2003) A game I tried out in High School. I loved it.
Pros
- Real time combat and fighting, combined with different stat growths and equipment settings. Allowing all the colourful characters to adopt a specific niche, and seeing it play out in real time? Genius.
- Content is good. All the NPC's you will remember, there is even a side quest for you to make figurines of all of them.
- On the topic, lots of side quests, lots and lots. Benefits the overall game however.
- Nice story, plenty of twists and OMG GASP* moments.
-Characters are again very memorable. You become more and more attached to each personality, or you sometimes just love to hate them.
- Personally, the art style was a little bit too girly, well same can be said about Pokemon, but it fit very well.
- Huge map, huge game, first playthrough took me about 60-70 hours. A good years worth back then cuz I only get my Gamecube on Saturdays.
- Typical anime style comic relief, peeking at girls in baths, cross dressing etc etc. Good times.
-You get an achievement for hitting on every single girl in the world. How awesome is that?
- Tons of attacks, spells, skills, and weapons. Combinations of your abilities? Absolutely genius.
- Music is awesome, graphics are awesome. Controls are easy to learn, lots of different systems to memorize, but overall they enhance the gameplay.
Cons
- Overly stereotypical anime themes. `Save the world derp discrimination derp feelings etc etc`. Its good and all, but only in small doses.
- Some bosses are absolute douches. And some of my favorite side characters end up dying as soon as you get to know them a little. Not cool man, not cool.
-Collecting figurines of every NPC, cooking recipes, getting 4 different costumes for all characters, all the weapons. Typical RPG mistake. Too much emphasis on collections and bestiaries. I mean replay value is great but comon.
- It has multiple endings and a relationship system, but its very poorly planned and overall just limited.
- Dungeons were pathetic, being a Zelda fan, I dont like getting frustrated, but I like the good puzzle solving once in a while.
- Weak romance plot. Again with the implied relationships
- The sequel was mediocre, but thats to be expected after a game like this.
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