What Are You Playing?

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Gamehowitzer said:
The only megaman i've played are megaman x1-x3
only beat X1

Play Mega Man 2, or 4 if you want the charge shot and slide, and see if you dig it. Early X series is basically "Super Mega Man" if it were a Nintendo title.

Rhombaad said:
I’ll do my best!

I'm sure you will, looking forward to bowing to your Mega Authority.

Rhombaad said:
I’m taking a break from Wing Commander: The Secret Missions. I played Bifrost II over and over and over, and I just can’t beat the damn thing. Part of the problem is the lag I’m experiencing. Anytime there’s more than three or four ships in the area, the game lags to the point where the controls stop responding, which leaves me a sitting duck.

Ah, classic Wing Commander! Glad some things don't change with modern systems. :ganishka:

Rhombaad said:
So for now, I’ve started playing Final Fantasy III on the NES. It’s pretty good so far. I’m amazed at the quality of the later NES/Famicom games. They were able to do a lot on that little system near the end of its life.

Yeah man, those latter day 90s NES games when the SNES was coming on are crazy good. It's like the system's full potential was never tapped until it was about over. Off the top of my head Battletoads and TMNT3 along with FF3 could have practically been SNES games with a few more colors thrown in, and there's a lot more like Batman: Return of the Joker, etc.



Still Zero Dawning it, I'm at the last mission but am farting around overriding various electronic dinosaurs and shit, but to little end because I already got the best armor and weapons so I should stop stalling and get it over with so I can get back to Super Metroid.
 
Started playing through digimon world 3 again on my psx. i still haven't beat that game to this day. hoping to finally finish it, but it takes a long time to beat. I'm working on getting to the amaterasu server at the moment. gotta find bulbmon again.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Super Metroid - Grinding my way through little by little every night, two of the big bosses are down (most recently the one of the Wrecked Ship) and I've got the gravity suit, spring ball etc, so I've got little left to collect for exploring purposes. Still, I see why I always lost interest before... I kind of hate this game lol! :ganishka:
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Aazealh said:
It's true what they say: the biggest betrayals come from those closest to you!

Gotta have those outrageous hot takes to get the outraged replies, bro! :badbone: I'm the Tevis Thompson of SK.net; Super Metroid? 2/10, I do NOT actually feel like I am lost in space as I did as a child playing Metroid on the NES. Mario World? Trash World. Zelda 3? More like Zelda 4... Pussies! Minesweeper, now THAT'S a game! It'll sweep away the mines inside your mind and I really appreciate the progressive anti-landmine message.

Kidding aside, I get angry at this game, mostly when I'm attempting some awful wall jumping section to get somewhere I'm not even sure I'm supposed to go yet and so then I'm waking up my wife literally getting into a fight with the Wii U gamepad. :ganishka: That's mainly what I was referencing as to my hatred, any other discontent is just the malaise of mid-Metroid backtracking, but I'm otherwise having a perfectly enjoyable time and appreciating again just how much the game still has to offer. At best I experience it like a grown up Mega Man with a whole world to survive and explore. I do think it'd be an interesting debate between Super Metroid, SotN and some of their modern offspring. I think the problem with a lot of the modern entries is they're too beholden to Super Metroid and therefore don't go far enough afield (it really is the exact same shit for the most part). Even SotN mixes it up a bit more than most of these with the key items and light RPG elements.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Griffith said:
Kidding aside, I get angry at the game, mostly when I'm attempting some awful wall jumping section to get somewhere I'm not even sure I'm supposed to go yet and so then I'm waking up my wife literally getting into a fight with the Wii U gamepad. :ganishka:

Haha, I know what you mean, that can be tricky.

Griffith said:
I do think it'd be an interesting debate between Super Metroid, SotN and some of their modern offspring. I think the problem with a lot of the modern entries is they're too beholden to Super Metroid and therefore don't go far enough afield. Even SotN mixes it up a bit more than most of these with the key items and light RPG elements.

Yeah, it's maybe my biggest gripe with the "Metroidvania" term. It's not like side-scrolling action/exploration games didn't exist before Super Metroid (or even Metroid itself for that matter). And it's not like SotN follows a strict template laid by Super Metroid either. It shamelessly copied its map system, but the game's other elements were already a genre before that. For example, despite its bad reputation, Simon's Quest actually did introduce a lot of things SotN builds upon (and even had a day/night cycle... revolutionary! :iva:).

Worse: a lot of games that are called "Metroidvania", like Dead Cells most recently, actually bear little similarity to either Metroid or SotN. It's just a dumbass aberration of a word. :femto:
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Aazealh said:
Haha, I know what you mean, that can be tricky.

That, and the goddamn quicksand I can't consistently jump from the top of the way I'd like. For having such impressively fluid controls, they have some low-key aggravating aspects. Even the jumping can fall somewhere between extreme precision and flying all over the place and past the platform you want to land on. :ganishka:

Aazealh said:
Yeah, it's maybe my biggest gripe with the "Metroidvania" term. It's not like side-scrolling action/exploration games didn't exist before Super Metroid (or even Metroid itself for that matter). And it's not like SotN follows a strict template laid by Super Metroid either. It shamelessly copied its map system, but the game's other elements were already a genre before that. For example, despite its bad reputation, Simon's Quest actually did introduce a lot of things SotN builds upon (and even had a day/night cycle... revolutionary! :iva:).

Another Simon's Quest plug! :iva: But yeah, the map is what stands out to me as the uniting element between Super Metroid and SoTN, and really, it's a powerful element, but interesting that SotN's maker admitted they were really trying to copy Zelda's RPG elements and item distribution (and Zelda II is another underappreciated entry in this particular side-scrolling action/exploration genre).

Aazealh said:
Worse: a lot of games that are called "Metroidvania", like Dead Cells most recently, actually bear little similarity to either Metroid or SotN.

That kind of shocked me when I started playing it actually, because I was under the impression it was another Metroid/Hollow Knight type game and it was definitely something else. I know there's been a few procedurally generated Metroid-style engines and that's something that could really be cool if done well (program it so it never dead ends the placement of items and abilities and you basically have a new game every time... maybe that's the problem =). Super Metroid... FOREVER!
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Griffith said:
interesting that SotN's maker admitted they were really trying to copy Zelda's RPG elements and item distribution (and Zelda II is another underappreciated entry in this particular side-scrolling action/exploration genre).

Oh yeah, definitely, Zelda II is unloved but it also pioneered a lot of stuff. It was clearly the inspiration for Shadow of the Colossus. :iva:
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Aazealh said:
Oh yeah, definitely, Zelda II is unloved but it also pioneered a lot of stuff. It was clearly the inspiration for Shadow of the Colossus. :iva:

It's the first Souls game! Just look at the maddeningly cryptic dialogue:

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Completed the original Grandia at 73 hours, it was a fairly addicting game. It's one of the more unique JRPGs I've played, and it's not made by Square either. It nails the balance between story and combat/dungeon crawling nicely and has well thought out game design choices. The story was original enough to be enjoyable, and to keep me interested, with some classic fantasy motifs patched in there, but where the game shines for me is in regards to the combat and characters.

The combat screen, unique to the Grandia series, is a bit confusing the first time it pops up, like many old RPGs and games in general it doesn't hold your hand, but once figured out it's a somewhat strategical battle system to mess around with. It never gets boring to fight enemies, I absolutely loved it. Also, the fact that enemies have health bars in this game, unlike most traditional turn based RPGs, is something I much prefer, and I think it allows for more planned out courses of action.

The way you level up your weapon and magic classes individually, based on how often you use them (similar to FF2), might turn some people off, but I liked it. Frankly, I hadn't expected I would dig it in the first instance, but after getting a bit further into the game I realized it doesn't make such a noticeable difference and that it balances into the natural progression. It works surprisingly well and encourages you to play using a variety of weapons and magic that you gradually find along the way, some of them being more suited for different types of enemies. There's a general EXP gain that raises all your party's basic stats as well, so progression never feels broken. Unless you skip every encounter, there's no need for grinding.

On the topic of encounters, highly important aspect for me is the choice of visible enemies on the map. You can run past them if you're quick enough and don't have too many members in your party. I've always detested the random encounters in JRPGs, probably one of my least favourite things about them, so I, for one, am really glad they went with visible enemies for this game. Once you kill all the enemies in an area or dungeon they stay dead until you leave and return to said area or dungeon. This is great because it allows you to explore for treasure without being interrupted every 20 seconds by a random encounter.

Regarding the characters, they're well designed and written (the English dub can get corny at times, but I understand you can play it with original Japanese voices somehow, wish I'd known that before I started). It's especially enjoyable to watch their development. I got attached to the cast before realizing it. Even though it plays out like a conventional high fantasy story at times, nothing you haven't seen before in a different form, it still holds a sort of individual charm, which I ended up enjoying. Overall the game has great combat and characters, and good music, story and world design. I'm going to buy Grandia 2 on Steam and I hope it's just as good as the original.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Grandia has one of my favorite combat systems in an RPG, but the grating voice acting ruined it for me, and I never finished it.
 
Walter said:
Grandia has one of my favorite combat systems in an RPG, but the grating voice acting ruined it for me, and I never finished it.

I could get over the voice acting for the most part, but even aside from that the game is quite lengthy, especially if you want to get all the dialogue from each village and NPC populated area. I can see how people might have dropped it at some point for one of these reasons.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Bleac said:
I could get over the voice acting for the most part, but even aside from that the game is quite lengthy, especially if you want to get all the dialogue from each village and NPC populated area. I can see how people might have dropped it at some point for one of these reasons.

This is mostly on me. Grandia is a great game, but the localization bothered me. I think I'm just too old for JRPGs these days, even though they were very influential for me growing up. Small quirks like lazy/bad voice acting will ruin the experience. Length certainly doesn't bother me, since Xenogears is one of my favorite RPGs.
 
Walter said:
Grandia has one of my favorite combat systems in an RPG, but the grating voice acting ruined it for me, and I never finished it.

I was able to complete it (back when I was a young whippersnapper), but you're right about that voice acting. There were a number of moves I just couldn't use because they were grating to hear and embarrassing to watch, like Sue's "Rah-Rah! Cheer."

Bleac said:
I'm going to buy Grandia 2 on Steam and I hope it's just as good as the original.

Grandia 2 is good (at least, I remember it was good when I played eons ago on the Dreamcast), but it's considerably more streamlined, which may or may not be a good thing depending on what you liked about the first game. The combat system is the same, but the leveling, skill, and magic systems were tweaked that on one hand reduce the grind, but on the other make things more simplistic. It's also a shorter game that'll take you about 30-40 hours to beat, as opposed to the original's 70-80 hours, though that's in part because it's a more tightly-paced narrative, whereas the first one sprinkles a lot of hilarious misadventures along the way that don't really contribute to the plot.
 
Cyrus Jong said:
There were a number of moves I just couldn't use because they were grating to hear and embarrassing to watch, like Sue's "Rah-Rah! Cheer."

Haha, yeah, I don't think I used her "Rah-Rah!" move more than once either. At some point though the combat shouts became just background noise to me. I can usually tolerate bad voice acting in games if everything else is good. I also kind of already expect it when it comes to Japanese games adapted for the West.

Cyrus Jong said:
Grandia 2 is good (at least, I remember it was good when I played eons ago on the Dreamcast), but it's considerably more streamlined, which may or may not be a good thing depending on what you liked about the first game.

It's also a shorter game that'll take you about 30-40 hours to beat, as opposed to the original's 70-80 hours, though that's in part because it's a more tightly-paced narrative, whereas the first one sprinkles a lot of hilarious misadventures along the way that don't really contribute to the plot.

What I liked about the first game was the good balance between story and action, and the fact that it wasn't essentially a visual novel like some JRPGs. As long as it doesn't do that I don't have a problem with it being more streamlined.

I felt like all the misadventures and detours contributed a lot to the narrative and especially the characters. If they had cut to the chase I don't think these characters would have remained so memorable to people. It gives off a real sense of development which in the end makes it worth all the extra work to get there. So what I hope from Grandia 2 is the same good use of character interaction and development, even if the time spent with them isn't gonna be that long in comparison.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Walter said:
I think I'm just too old for JRPGs these days, even though they were very influential for me growing up. Small quirks like lazy/bad voice acting will ruin the experience. Length certainly doesn't bother me, since Xenogears is one of my favorite RPGs.

Countertheory: You are too old, but bad voice acting isn't the problem; on the contrary, no matter how well localized, and perhaps even because of it, the translation/dub is going to be an issue to us because most of those games are YA stories now, if they ever weren't, and no longer to our taste. It didn't always seem that way, and maybe it wasn't in simpler times when you basically had middle aged programmers writing their own games and the translations were literal at best (which imbued them with a kind of stilted, almost proverbial seriousness). Now, between exponentially improved sound, graphics and production values, it's impossible to escape the fact these games are largely about and for teenagers, which also wasn't so bad when WE were teenagers. =)
 
Griffith said:
Countertheory: You are too old, but bad voice acting isn't the problem; on the contrary, no matter how well localized, and perhaps even because of it, the translation/dub is going to be an issue to us because most of those games are YA stories now, if they ever weren't, and no longer to our taste. It didn't always seem that way, and maybe it wasn't in simpler times when you basically had middle aged programmers writing their own games and the translations were literal at best (which imbued them with a kind of stilted, almost proverbial seriousness). Now, between exponentially improved sound, graphics and production values, it's impossible to escape the fact these games are largely about and for teenagers, which also wasn't so bad when WE were teenagers. =)

It's undeniable that the majority of JRPGs, especially the old ones tackle lighthearted themes with anime like designs and generic (at least by contemporary standards) high fantasy worlds, good vs evil narratives, the power of friendship and so on, which is why it's fair to assume they were targeted at a young demographic, but I don't think you necessarily have to be a teenager or a youngster to properly enjoy them. This brings about a whole separate argument, which is that adults who still play and enjoy video games in general have a persistent childish and melancholic side to them, which didn't disappear with adulthood and might never fully stop lingering. That might explain why a vast number of grown-ups are still passionate about JPRGs, old and new alike.

So I guess this is my counterargument to your countertheory to Walter's opinion about JRPGs :???:
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Griffith said:
Countertheory: You are too old, but bad voice acting isn't the problem; on the contrary, no matter how well localized, and perhaps even because of it, the translation/dub is going to be an issue to us because most of those games are YA stories now, if they ever weren't, and no longer to our taste. It didn't always seem that way, and maybe it wasn't in simpler times when you basically had middle aged programmers writing their own games and the translations were literal at best (which imbued them with a kind of stilted, almost proverbial seriousness). Now, between exponentially improved sound, graphics and production values, it's impossible to escape the fact these games are largely about and for teenagers, which also wasn't so bad when WE were teenagers. =)

It's a given that I'm too old to fully engage with most of those stories, but a well written adolescent story would still interest me. And hindrances like bad localization and voice acting can be insurmountable hurdles when it's already an uphill climb.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Bleac said:
It's undeniable that the majority of JRPGs, especially the old ones tackle lighthearted themes with anime like designs and generic (at least by contemporary standards) high fantasy worlds, good vs evil narratives, the power of friendship and so on, which is why it's fair to assume they were targeted at a young demographic, but I don't think you necessarily have to be a teenager or a youngster to properly enjoy them.

Sure, but a lot of those examples are general story elements or universal themes not only appealing to a young audience but to anyone, and can be found in almost all fantasy, or fiction, from ancient mythology, Shakespeare, to LotR, Star Wars, Marvel, and even Berserk. I'm talking more specifically when like Final Fantasy's character archetypes skew more towards some fucked up school-aged fashionista as opposed to a classical hero like Guts. So, it's about specific bubblegum elements meant to appeal to certain idea of hip or cool that's just hard for those outside that demo to identify with or find appealing unless it's really on point otherwise.

This brings about a whole separate argument, which is that adults who still play and enjoy video games in general have a persistent childish and melancholic side to them, which didn't disappear with adulthood and might never fully stop lingering. That might explain why a vast number of grown-ups are still passionate about JPRGs, old and new alike.

Going DEEP! I think you could say that about many adults these days irregardless of whether or not they're gamers. Just look at the most popular entertainment brands out there and they way people identify and interact with media. We didn't put our childish things away when we grew up, we're essentially growing them up with us into legitimate forms of adult entertainment.

Walter said:
It's a given that I'm too old to fully engage with most of those stories, but a well written adolescent story would still interest me. And hindrances like bad localization and voice acting can be insurmountable hurdles when it's already an uphill climb.

Right, everything has to sort of click because it's not naturally appealing. Case in point: Infinite Space.
 
Griffith said:
Sure, but a lot of those examples are general story elements or universal themes not only appealing to a young audience but to anyone, and can be found in almost all fantasy, or fiction, from ancient mythology, Shakespeare, to LotR, Star Wars, Marvel, and even Berserk.

Yeah, those are some fundamental story telling devices, but in order to make a remarkable story that appeals to anyone, especially more mature audiences you need to expand on them considerably more than what your regular JRPG usually does. The fact that they kept these stories rather digestible and predictable is what makes them stop being enjoyable at a certain point, once you get over that age. This is what I understood from what you were saying, and it's where I partially disagree.

Griffith said:
I'm talking more specifically when like Final Fantasy's character archetypes skew more towards some fucked up school-aged fashionista as opposed to a classical hero like Guts. So, it's about specific bubblegum elements meant to appeal to certain idea of hip or cool that's just hard for those outside that demo to identify with or find appealing unless it's really on point otherwise.

Yeah, Final Fantasy is its own species by this point. Square Enix JRPGs in general are iconic for those kinds of character archetypes. If you see an emo looking teen with some kind of unpractical weapon and spiky hair on the cover art of a game you can be sure it's made by Square without even looking at the tag. While those can be considered classic JRPGs, they fall into a specific category which doesn't age that well regardless.

Walter said:
It's a given that I'm too old to fully engage with most of those stories, but a well written adolescent story would still interest me.

Right, you'll probably never experience a story with the same impressionable mindset and passion as when you were younger, but as long as you're aware of when this stuff was made and who was primarily expected to engage in it you can appreciate it at any age. (this pretty much applies for old media entertainment in general)
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
So two whole days after taking twenty years to beat Super Metroid, I beat Metroid Zero Mission!

It was short, simple but effective, a very polished experience as promised. Mother Brain was really looking tough until I used my skills instead of trying blunt force (Ridley set me up cause it was so quick and easy to missle spam). The final portion was a weird and not totally welcome change of pace, though interesting, but the Final Boss was way too easy with well placed Super Missles after the Mother Brain gauntlet. Oh yeah, and the original Metroid was unlocked! A great value considering Nintendo still charges $5 for it on the eshop. I was genuinely excited that the expense of buying the game was mitigated so. Now that's a reward. =)

Oh yeah, the flashback stuff in the temple was weird, like, why do a "plot" at all at that point? And I found my way back into Crateria and the rest of the maps. A very nice change of pace from Super Metroid arbitrarily locking you inside Tourian forever if you unwittingly use the second save room.

Now it's back to Metroid Fusion, and maybe even Samus Returns if I can repair my 3DS by cannibalizing another for parts.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
I have a mostly free weekend for the first time in a while, so I picked up something on the recommendation of a friend: CrossCode. It's an action-RPG in the vein of Secret of Mana, but with a huge MMO-like world. It's pretty solid so far (2h in). It definitely hits the right notes for the genre. Even things like the ground tilesets and layers of the textures are very SNES. I haven't played a game that feels as much like Seiken Densetsu 3 (sequel to SoM), probably ever? Anyway, check out the trailer:

HTML:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zuN-5yxwogU" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
Griffith said:
So two whole days after taking twenty years to beat Super Metroid, I beat Metroid Zero Mission!

Now it's back to Metroid Fusion, and maybe even Samus Returns if I can repair my 3DS by cannibalizing another for parts.
That's great to hear that you got around to it and then even beat zero mission. as for your 3ds problem, you consider just buying a 2ds? they're really cheap and you can probably recover your account onto the system.

Walter said:
I have a mostly free weekend for the first time in a while, so I picked up something on the recommendation of a friend: CrossCode. It's an action-RPG in the vein of Secret of Mana, but with a huge MMO-like world.
Holy crap that looks amazing. I see it's launching from steam. I wonder if they would consider putting it on the switch.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Walter said:
CrossCode. It's an action-RPG in the vein of Secret of Mana, but with a huge MMO-like world. It's pretty solid so far (2h in). It definitely hits the right notes for the genre. Even things like the ground tilesets and layers of the textures are very SNES. I haven't played a game that feels as much like Seiken Densetsu 3 (sequel to SoM), probably ever?

I'm trying the demo on your recommendation and it's indeed very much like Seiken Densetsu, and aesthetically and sonically reminds me of Chrono Trigger as well. Not bad company!

Gamehowitzer said:
That's great to hear that you got around to it and then even beat zero mission. as for your 3ds problem, you consider just buying a 2ds? they're really cheap and you can probably recover your account onto the system.

Well, I've explored a few options, one is a New SNES 3DS XL from amazon for $150 + Mario Kart, which is a hell of a deal considering the 2DS XLs aren't found much cheaper new, or a used black 3DS XL from my boss for under $100, but I already have two old 3DSs with the parts, and if I'm going to be investing $100+ it might as well be in a Switch down the line (especially if that Switch Online classic game library ever expands to Nintenflix-style "shut up and take my money" territory =), so I might as well try some minor system surgery first. Worst case scenario, if I destroy the systems and my saves etc hopefully I can re-download everything from my eshop account (and I'm currently re-playing Metroid Fusion and Crimson Shroud on there, which aren't terribly affected, so no hurry unless I just gotta play Samus Returns =).

BTW folks, how much would you pay a month for access to Nintendo's classic game library (whatever that is to you, from NES-Wii)? As in, what would you need included and then what price would be too high? :carcus: Nintendo must really be weighing that cash cow versus selling the same shit ala carte every time since it's hard to pretend at this point these guys are so quaint and out of touch they can't figure out the equivalent of email accounts when they've otherwise been innovators in the marketplace for decades, "How can you be so obtuse; is it intentional?"
 
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