Opinion Fest 2009: Biggest Disappointment

Yes, 2010 is almost upon us, which means it's time for another round of blatant opinions on the year in review, appropriately dubbed Opinion Fest 2009!

As with last year, we're going to get the "bad" awards out of the way first. And with those comes probably the worst of the bad, the Biggest Disappointment award. As you may guess from the name, the Biggest Disappointment award goes to the game, system, event, company, or anything else RPG related that unabashedly peed in our collective cereal this year, usually in spite of high hopes for the contrary.

Let's meet the worst offenders.

3rd: Ar Tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica - Gust, NIS America - PlayStation 2
Persona 4 was a good game, but my hopes for the last great PS2 game were riding on the overdue sequel to the obscure sleeper hit Ar Tonelico. With a winning gameplay formula and shamelessly interesting story, Ar Tonelico's sequel should have brought the series into the limelight it so rightly deserved.

Instead, however, we were given a buggy, uninteresting game with amazingly less features than the original and shamefully terrible localization (even for NIS). The game felt like a giant middle finger to anyone who still held faith that small developers could make great games, and that the PS2's extended life was worth it. The sad truth was painful to experience.

2nd: Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled - Studio Archcraft, Graffiti - Nintendo DS
After years upon years of waiting, Studio Archcraft's 16-bit revival was finally upon us. With everything from the graphics to the gameplay drawing on classics like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI, there should have been no way for Black Sigil to do anything but conquer the market.

But with game-breaking bugs, a painfully gimped battle system, and a ludicrous encounter rate, the hoped-for title alienated itself from virtually everyone. Anyone looking for a lesson in how to botch a seemingly bullet-proof formula for success need look no futher than Black Sigil.

1st: 2009 in General

2008 was amazing. Certainly the best year for RPGs since the 7th generation began. With solid titles releasing at least every month, and many modern masterpieces among them, many felt they had died and gone to RPG heaven.

By contrast, 2009 has been an utter dearth, with the precious few RPG releases not even holding a candle to their 2008 counterparts. Though a few notable exceptions stand out, the majority of 2009 should frankly just be forgotten. There haven't been many years this disappointing in a long time, and I personally hope this is the last time I will have to endure such torture.