Best Games of 1999
The year of the thinking-person philosophy games like System Shock 2, Planescape: Torment, and Persona 2. Also, the year that multiplayer games took as step forward in quality (Quake 3, UT).
But this year was also a year of missed opportunities on the RPG front. Chrono Cross was a sequel yet not a sequel, a mess thematically, and suffered from Suikoden syndrome with too many characters. I only wish this was a better follow-up to one of the best games of all time; there was so much promise too with the great music, graphics, and gameplay.
Then there was another lackluster follow-up with Final Fantasy VIII, which had its boring as fuck beginning, awfully developed love story and unforgivably bad last half of a plot. All of this alongside a terrible magic draw system and one of the worst dream sequences in the history of video games, if not all modern media. But the game did have some fantastic music, great set pieces (Timber mission, assassinating the Sorceress, why the fuck are we in space again oh who cares this looks great), and the sweet Triple Triad card game.
Persona 2: Innocent Sin was the closest to a satisfying RPG despite its adolescent understanding of symbolism and meh gameplay. In fact, it may have been forward thinking for examining how the information age can lead to people believing in rumors/opinions so much that they become true. That said, the story leaned too heavily on the same character tropes for nearly every character: my parents mistreated/didn't pay attention/wanted a different future for me. Also, the fusion system was too complicated and the dungeons were bad.
Bottom line, though, this year will be remembered for the best games not involving a lot of thinking other than just jam out to music and have a good time - RollerCoaster Tycoon, Tony Hawk, Crazy Taxi and the trio of great racing/kart games (CTR, Rush 2049, Star Wars Racer).
