![What Final Fantasy game came out 20 years ago? [460x463 - 279KB]](https://pic8.co/sh/3S4TCC.png){kind=link}
Don't bother with nostalgia. Leave it in the past where it belongs. The thing that both of us seem to forget is at the time, we were so engrossed in those games, without the modern internet, that we had written down tons of gameplay tips and observations. I used to keep a journal with me to play F7 and F8, because I was having trouble keeping track of all the places and fights where I would have to either draw a summon from a boss, or use a particular one for an easier management. Passion really makes you overlook the obvious frustrations. I tried playing some of those games recently - I still have my old consoles and collections. It's just not the same. The more I look at it, the only thing that I realize is different is myself. Also, in F8, there was that frustrating section where you're on that tiny gyrocopter fighting hand to hand with that guard until you push him off while the school is fighting behind you, and the irony was that I only won when I didn't block at all and just kept punching him nonstop.
Yeah, I could see this being the case. That's the thing about nostalgia that makes it so unique, is it wasn't just the set of material circumstances that occurred at the time. It was literally the time passing in that moment that you long for, which can't be reclaimed. You could assemble all of the same circumstances, but what made those games special was being there at that precise time in your life.
It goes this way with so many other things. I think a lot of us had that experience shortly after high school or into our college years perhaps, where we tried to recreate a moment or a scene with some of the same people we'd been close with in the past, only to find ourselves thinking: "Yeah, it's all changed, hasn't it."
Overall, I think it would help if it didn't feel like most of our cultural and technological outlets for these kinds of experiences were being turned against us. If there'd been a stream of authentic artful things to follow us as we've aged, it would be one thing. But for a decade or so, it feels like everything has been on a slide into utter shit. Hence, nostalgia.
Damn, you took the words right out of my mouth. I couldn't have said it any better. The decade or so of things sliding into utter shit is really the fault of the new generation of gamers that have been groomed from a young age on mobile games that never really inspired the amount of Herculean effort that either of us put into Final Fantasy at any point. Everything has been tuned into a "I want it now" perspective, and the payoff of playing a satisfying game is just becoming less and less over time. Add to that how desensitized gamers have become with the absolute destructive behaviors that we all have towards each other, and here we are.
I don't seek to go backwards at all, though. That's just wasted time. I seek to move forwards at lightspeed. There's going to be a much bigger calling to return to the gaming industry when people realize that going down the God of War 4 path of just creating a satisfying and honest game is way more profitable long term that a hasty cash grab. The problem is that there's a lot of stupid people out there that think that the cash grab is worth it. If people recognized art and effort these days like we were once capable of doing back then, we'd have no issues.
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