NOMINEES
- Chrono Cross (PS1)
- The Legend of Dragoon (PS1)
- Final Fantasy IX (PS1)
- Eternal Ring (PS2)
- Pokemon: Gold Version (GBC)
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2000 Game of the Year - The Legend of Dragoon
If there's one thing I remember the most about this game, it's the story. In the year of its release, I strongly believe Dragoon had the best story of all the non-Square RPGs. It was deep and engrossing, got you pumped and sometimes broke your heart, got you invested in all the characters, made you laugh and made you cry, and made your jaw drop several times. Not to mention the FMVs were gor-geous.
The battle system was certainly unique, consisting of picking one combo attack called an Addition that you then had to successfully perform through a series of timed hits. The Additions grew increasingly difficult to pull off as you learned more of them. I absolutely hated the enemy animations as you hit them, though. They'd just keep flailing backwards after each hit and it made battles drag on so much.
I just keep going back to the story with this one, though. It was amazing. The gameplay might get a little irritating at times, but the game's story is just too good to pass up experiencing at least once.
Runner-up - Chrono Cross
Entertaining and complex story. Huge cast of characters. Unbelievably memorable music. A super fun battle system. Sequel to freakin' Chrono Trigger. That is all. Seriously.
Runner-up - Pokemon Gold Version
Day and night. Gender. Day care. Breeding. Probably a bunch of other stuff I can't remember. Bottom line: Gold and Silver introduced many new mechanics to the Pokemon franchise back when it was first released. Not to mention, it also featured a second generation of Pokemon that are very much as memorable as the very first generation was; I don't believe any other generation has been able to match the memorability of the first two. It is also the largest Pokemon game to date, next to Silver of course. You get to explore two whole regions in one game!
As much as I hoped I would be able to overlook the Heart Gold and Soul Silver DS remakes, I find myself wanting to pick up a copy of Heart Gold, haha.