Between 1997 and 2001, four fantastic Final Fantasy titles were released. (FF7-10), We are now on the verge of 2012 and even with all the extra "juice" available, arguably the best FF titles are behind us. Graphics have come along way, but at what cost...!

Today we witnessed the next big thing in gaming with the reveal trailer of GTA 5, which looks simply stunning  if I do say so myself. Its been around ten years since the release of the revolutionary  GTA 3, but if you were to take a step back and look at the release dates of the games that followed in the first half of the decade youshould see the picture im trying to paint.

• 2001 - GTA 3
• 2002 - Vice City
• 2004 - San Andreas

3 Games that each in there own right were mind blowing and of which  released in a four year period. After that there was a few portable titles that reused locales from previous games and great games in there own right however the series wouldnt get a new city for another four years with the release of GTA4. 

This brings us to GTA 5 when the series again will have a four year (at least)  gap to the next iteration.  The question has to be asked, do the four year gaps now justfy the possible three other experiences you could of had during the same time period if say the console  generation never progressed.

On the other hand,  Red Dead Redemption of which for me is a fine example to use for the other side of the spectrum, RDR being one of my all time favourites simply due to the immersive aura that it simply engulfs you in, For me that is the pinnacle of gaming, fora game to really get into the character and and get lost in its world, wow. The feeling i got from this game was a new feeling that even though ive been playing videogames since the days of the Atari 2600, through the Snes, PS2 etc, this feeling simply could not be replicated on them older  systems due to the importance of "Graphics"

Going back to Final Fantasy, for me, its a series that  never in a million years am i going to want to get lost in its world thus all this fancy graphics just makes me think, why? Yes its pretty to look at dont get me wrong, but it brings its own limitations.  Take FF7 - 9 for example, people have been asking and even seemenly begging for a remake, but as much as them games would sell like hot cakes, think of how much memory these titles would take to be rendered rather than using the 2D backgrounds that are currently used, simply put, It would be a long process and therefore in my opinion is not happening, the development time would be through the roof, even more so than maybe desiging a new game.

To come to conclusion, graphics are sweet for immersiion (think Mass Effect etc  but for some games arnt called for, I would have 10 more PS1 style FF games than 10 PS3 FF games.

meh! :P Hope you enjoyed the read at least.