30 Days of Gaming: Day 5

Day 5 - Favorite Developer


This one is actually pretty tough.  I think I have to give it to two development houses that have brought me a ton of joy over the years.  Honestly, these two could do no wrong in their own rights, and I eagerly await what comes next from the latter.

First off, the studio that dominated my teen years and made me appreciate deep stories and amazing worlds.  Pretty much every Squaresoft game that came out, I enjoyed.  I rented Chrono Trigger from Blockbuster a few times as a kid, and I loved it!  I didn't understand the Squaresoft magic entirely yet, that came later.  That time, when the core Final Fantasy games were purchased Day One, came after I discovered the joys of Final Fantasy VII.  The PSX era (and my collection) is/was dominated by these wonderful games.  I sunk hours into Final Fantasy VIII, Vagrant Story, Front Mission 3 and even lesser titles like Threads of Fate.  All of these games had stellar stories, well written characters (though some translations hurt to read now) and offered worlds to get lost in that I'd only seen in books.  But, despite how lovely all those games are, I have the most affection for Final Fantasy: Tactics.  This single game I've purchased multiple times (PSX, PSN, PSP) and I love it every time I boot it up.  Squaresoft could do no wrong in my eyes, and the joys of FF:T are a large reason why I purchased their games without question.

When this came on screen, joy soon followed

As Squaresoft started to tank in Japan (thank you, Spirits Within...), they were snapped up by Enix.  Enix didn't have the same hold on me.  While I certainly enjoyed Star Ocean: The Second Story, I hadn't played a Dragon Quest game to completion since the first one.  I was worried that my beloved games would be changed or corrupted by the new parent company.  Sadly, I was mostly right.  But, the core FF games again shined, and included one of my favorites with Final Fantasy XII, and my number one favorite Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy X.  To see this development house go downhill since the PS2 era is sad.  They more publish now and the last FF game was, to me, disappointing.  I'll always love the Squaresoft days, and the mixed bag of the SquarEnix days may yet turn around.

So awesome!

Now, a new development house has taken over.  These folks first caught my eye back on the PS2 with a platformer that was the natural step up from Mario 64.  An open world that held many secrets and offered me the chance to go where I wanted and explore to my heart's content.  That game was Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy.  The team at Naughty Dog had pushed what Mario started in amazing new directions.  Instead of hubs, everything was part of the world.  I climbed a mountain, swam a lake and explored jungles and swamps, all without having to jump into paintings or pipes.  This blew my mind at the time.  Their animation style rivaled Disney and the colorful world came alive.  I fell in love.

The new favorite developer

I wouldn't have them up here if they only had the one good game.  Though I never played the other Jak titles (something I plan to rectify with the HD collection) because I had other distractions.  No, Naughty Dog finally got my attention with a little game called Uncharted: Drake's Fortune.  I had loved the Tomb Raider series for years, but Lara had gotten stale and her adventures were no longer fun to me.  Then came this wise-ass Nathan Drake and his gorgeous game world that just begged to be explored.  Then came the amazing action sequences, the superb dialog and the industry-defining animations.  I was hooked.  Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is honestly one of my favorite games off all time, and the amount of hype I had for Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception was unbearable.  This series has cemented my love for the Dogs, and I cannot wait to see what they do next.

Where do we go from here?