17. Final Fantasy X (2001)The CTB (Conditional Turn Based) battle system.Final Fantasy X was released in 2001 for the Playstation 2, a time where i was still playing Sega Genesis and Playstation games.
Near a decade later, me, late to the party again, finally got a PS2 and FFX here was the first RPG i experienced from that generation.
First thing i noticed: Voice acting in my Final Fantasy, finally! Lots of people complain about Tidus whiny voice and some bad acting, noticeably in
a certain cringe worthy moment but, due to being the first time a FF featured voices, i didn't mind and thought it wasn't so bad.
FFX introduced some other things, one of them being my favorite leveling system in the series, the Sphere Grid.
When you level up, you gain Sphere LVLs, which you can use to move through this huge grid and access "orbs" that increase your stats. Each characters start in special portions that corresponds to their class but, later in the game, you may use special spheres that can make you warp to where you want or open locked areas. Believe me, it's fucking addictive.
This time around, Nobuo Uematsu composed the music with the assistance of Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano.
While not as good as previous soundtracks, they didn't disappoint and create, yet, another great FF OST, easily in my top 5 of the series.
Some downsides are the lack of a proper world map and the linearity but, in this case, the focused story more than make up for it.
16. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2003)Parkour in gaming before it was cool.A couple years ago, i remember borrowing some PS2 games from a friend and, along them, there was a game i never heard about called: "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time". First, i was skeptical since i knew the earlier PoP games and it was a dead franchise by now but, whatever, i ended up trying.
Some seconds into the game, the tutorial "told me" to run through the wall. I did it and i remember thinking: "holy shit, this is fuckin' awesome". Then i continued and after passing per some obstacles, déjà vu hit me: The gameplay felt really similar to another game i loved, Heart of Darkness, in a sense of the focus being into how to progress through the levels rather than confronting enemies, all expanded in a 3D adventure game.
What i mean is, even though you face enemies, the point of the game is figuring how to traverse the areas you are be using walls, pillars, bars and everything to your advantage.
The title is a reference to a special dagger that you get early into the game, which contains the Sands of Time. You can use it to rewind time in case you die, miss a jump or whatever, another awesome mechanic. Obviously, it has limited uses but you can recharge often.
It saddens me that, with Assassin's Creed as his spiritual successor, Prince of Persia kinda got forgotten and may never get another entry anymore.