I also read this article. I think I played through VII on my PS2 again a bit, but was always more interested in VIII. Jessweee and me are weird like that. When I fix my PS3, gonna definitely play through VIII again. After I finish IX at least.

But yeah, some of the games that have lasted have a certain mechanic that hasn't been improved on dramatically and don't have anything that really draws them back. Super Mario is still an awesome platformer that requires you to think. SimCity is still a blast to play because it's core mechanics are nailed so well. StarTopia is, well, just the best thing to ever happen. Still.

And some old games are awesome. Last year I played some epic games (FFXIII, GoW3, FallOut3) but I still fell in love with Chrono Trigger. I'd never played it before. Something that never happened to me with the older FFs (maybe because the dialogue wasn't absolutely retarded).

How VIII works in this, I don't know. I think the locations were just so pretty that I like going back and just seeing them. Again and again and again.