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Post by Ex on Jan 10, 2018 13:47:56 GMT -5
We all know certain games are held up by the retro gaming community as true classics. Yet for each of us, there's never enough time to have played (and/or beaten) every one of them. In this thread, let's confess classic games we keeping meaning to play (or beat), yet still haven't done so, and why. Perhaps feedback from others about these games may confirm our suspicions, or instead convince the poster to finally take the plunge into a particular classic. I'll start with five for now:
DONKEY KONG COUNTRY 2 Here's one I have played, but never got more than halfway through. While I loved the original DKC, it just seems like DKC2 is inferior IMO. Sure Rare improved the graphics even further, and the OST is great. However, DKC2's game design seems to focus on simply being harder than the original. But not really in a "fun" way, but rather via sadistic level designs that eschew entertainment for pure player hatred. I just don't understand why so many people think DKC2 is better than DKC.
EARTHBOUND I've heard this classic SNES JRPG praised endlessly over the years on forums (and in real life). Yet I've never played it. Reasons why... I don't particularly care for the graphics style, the plot seems overtly twee, and the game design looks very grindy from videos I've watched. And yet, everyone seems to love Earthbound, and especially its sequel. (Not so much the original Mother though.) What am I missing here?
FINAL FANTASY VIII Many people seem to love this oddball of the FF franchise. Though most seem to love it for some kind of card playing mini-game. At any rate, I've not played it yet. Reasons include; I've beaten FF7 & FF9, neither were very fun to me, so who knows if the other PS1 FF is any better? I've also read the plot centers on melodramatic romance, not my favorite topic. Then there's the strange combat system with auto-leveling enemies, questionable draw magic mechanic, and long unskippable summons where the player is supposed to button mash ad infinitum. Maybe none of that is as bad as it sounds?
PHANTASY STAR ONLINE 1 & 2 I adored Phantasy Star 1-4. But I've still not yet played Phantasy Star Online 1 & 2. The reason being is I worry the gameplay will be overly grindy, monotonous, and one-note. I also have to wonder if there's much of a plot at all, considering these games were designed as online multiplayer affairs. I think I would miss the plot-centric nature of the original series while grinding through rooms of baddie fodder. Am I misinformed?
SHINING FORCE 2 I've beaten the original Shining Force. I thought it was fun, but too easy, and had a tortuously tedious shopping system which one must use all. the. time. Also transferring items from party members to other party members was a painfully slow. I worry that Shining Force 2 will bear the same flaws; too easy, asinine shopping / inventory item management aggravations. Am I wrong?
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Post by toei on Jan 10, 2018 14:34:40 GMT -5
-Phantasy Star Online - You're not wrong. Minimal story, and it doesn't have the same feel as the old games. -FF8 - I'd be surprised if you like this one considering you didn't like FF7-9. It does have more of a sci-fi thing going on, so if that's your thing that's a reason to play it, but gameplay-wise it's more heavily flawed than either and the characters always got a lot of flack. I really liked FF9, personally. -Earthbound - Earthbound is genuinely great. It isn't grindy at all, you can play through it without once level-grinding if you know what you're doing, and enemies are visible and even start running from you once you're strong enough, so it's actually far less tedious than contemporary RPGs (which I love regardless). It's a mistake to assume it has to be for children because it stars children. Is Stephen King's It a children's book? This is a game in which kids beat up crazed adults with baseball bats. At some point, you even fight an entire small town's police department. It has a very offbeat sense of humor, and the modern setting is great. The first Mother was held back by its being a Nes RPG, but is still good for the platform, and Mother 3 was also great. -Shining Force 2 has streamlined systems for shopping and item management, but it's not any harder. I actually think the first had more personality, SF2 is mostly green lands and centaurs. -DKC2 - I never thought it was all that hard within its genre and era. I think the whole trilogy is quite good.
Now, as for mine, I guess I'd say Metal Gear Solid. I just can't stand stealth gameplay. It just seems to go against who I am as a person, I suck at it and find no enjoyment in it. That goes for the Tenchu series, too, which has a setting I really like, but gameplay not for me.
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Post by Ex on Jan 10, 2018 14:56:49 GMT -5
-FF8 - I'd be surprised if you like this one considering you didn't like FF7-9. It does have more of a sci-fi thing going on, so if that's your thing that's a reason to play it The sci-fi slant is what I would definitely find appealing. Love me some sci-fi RPGs. It's a mistake to assume it has to be for children because it stars children. Well I never assumed Earthbound was for children per se. It's just the visuals invoke Charlie Brown to me, and I've never particularly been a fan of Charles Schulz's art style. (Not that his comics aren't good.) Shining Force 2 has streamlined systems for shopping and item management, but it's not any harder. I am glad to hear that it improves the shopping/inventory systems. That's just something Camelot wasn't good at. I had the same issue with Shining The Holy Ark... its shopping system was incredulously tedious. Now, as for mine, I guess I'd say Metal Gear Solid. I just can't stand stealth gameplay. It just seems to go against who I am as a person, I suck at it and find no enjoyment in it. If you don't enjoy stealth, then yeah, MGS isn't gonna be your bag. I think the game still has a lot going for it. At least for its time it did. Amazing visuals, incredible story telling, fantastic boss fights, and consistently surprising scenario designs... all great stuff. But there's really no getting around having to be stealthy occasionally.
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Post by Sarge on Jan 10, 2018 15:08:02 GMT -5
I did finish DKC2, and agree with your sentiments. It was "more", but I'm not sure more actually makes it better.
EarthBound is great, in my opinion. I don't think it's that "twee", more just goofy and light-hearted (except for a couple of points). I think something like Undertale goes more towards "twee", though.
FFVIII isn't a perfect game, but it is my favorite of the PSX trilogy. The draw system can be a bit much at times, but it's also fun min-maxing your stats.
PSO is a game I never put a lot of time into, but my brother did.
Shining Force II is the first game, but expanded quite a bit. I think it's a more polished entry all around. I don't know that it's too easy (been a long time), but some of the other flaws may still be present.
I think for me, one of the big sets of games I never finished is the Infinity Engine games. I've made several stabs at stuff like Baldur's Gate or Planescape: Torment, but never stuck with it.
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Post by toei on Jan 10, 2018 15:11:02 GMT -5
Well, the thing about Shining Force is that it's never required all that much strategy, for a strategy rpg. I think the one that had the best gameplay was Shining Force CD, so much so that I loved it even though it didn't have proper towns.
EX- I got you wrong based on your use of the word "twee". If you mean sentimental or sweet, Earthbound isn't like that at all.
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Post by Xeogred on Jan 10, 2018 17:37:22 GMT -5
I digress a little on Metal Gear Solid. For at least MGS1-2, you can put these games down to very easy and blast through them with brute force. Get caught, just run away and lose the guards. Unlike say Splinter Cell where sticking your big toe out into the light can trigger an annoying HOLY CHRISTMAS FISCHER intercom call and instantly fails the mission entirely. MGS offers a lot more variety and on very easy you're chalk full of ammo!
Earthbound is a big one for me too. I just can't get into it and don't like the aesthetics.
Demon's Crest I have given way more than a fair shake, like three major attempts over a decade. The Demon and his forms control too slowly, I don't like how the game is formatted at all, and the cool gritty Capcom graphics and music just makes me want to replay Super Ghouls n' Ghosts again instead which I'm a big fan of. Less is more with Super Ghouls, it's just straight to the point awesome action/platformer, whereas Demon's Crest bores me.
I couldn't get into Planescape either. I think the isometric PC games look cool at a glance, but playing them is not fun to me.
Despite being a huge fan of Duke3D, I don't really care for Shadow Warrior or Blood much. These probably aren't classics, but anytime you see Duke3D and the build engine brought up I see them get mentioned. I wish I liked them, but the level design in Shadow Warrior seemed atrocious and Blood has to be one of the hardest games I've ever played, to the point of not being fun at all. And I like Doom on UV, but Blood is ridiculous.
I love DKC2 but can see what you guys are getting at. DKC1 is my favorite anyways so I don't really care to argue, haha. DKC3 changes up the formula the most, but it's the beginning of Rare's bloated collectathon era.
I'll need to think of more.
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Post by Sarge on Jan 10, 2018 18:07:46 GMT -5
Speaking of Rare, I haven't played through much of their N64 output. All this love for Banjo Kazooie/Tooie? I don't have it, and it's also why I was pretty indifferent on attempts to revive similar games. I also never finished Jet Force Gemini, and given how difficult I find the controls now, it's questionable whether I ever will.
I still haven't finished off any of the original trilogy of Splinter Cell, which is pretty sad.
I also have missed out on a lot of shooters from back in the day. I haven't finished Jedi Outcast, any of the Quake games, Duke Nukem 3D, Unreal, Wolfenstein 3D, the other myriad DOOM derivatives... just not my genre, I guess. I did, however, beat DOOM and DOOM 2, and found them very enjoyable. I liked the first better, though.
Speaking of other genres I never finished games in, I don't play much RTS. In fact, I'm struggling to think of any that I have finished at all. I've played a lot, but never finished. I've been exposed the most to Total Annihilation, and I tried to get into Warcraft III.
To be clear, I didn't dislike DKC2, I just enjoy the first game a lot more.
Oh, I hear a lot of praise for Lost Odyssey, but never got much further than the first disc. And yes, this game is now ten years old. Despair!
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Post by Xeogred on Jan 10, 2018 19:21:43 GMT -5
Didn't you like Doom 4? Or I'm thinking of someone else and you don't like FPS's in general? ... I finally got through Quake 1 in 2015 after beating the new Doom and it was incredible how well that worked out. The influences are there for sure. Quake 1 is brutal but awesome and Quake 2 holds up really well to me. I'm envious of you not having played much of the FPS classics, which I could replay them all going in fresh again.
On that note though, I can't get into Wolfenstein 3D at all. I appreciate it setting the blueprint, but being exposed to Doom at a young age spoiled me far too greatly. The level design and graphics of Wolf3D are just far too primitive in comparison, I can barely even finish a single level. lol...
Lost Odyssey is amazing but it has an early game boss fight that can definitely be a rage quit moment. The difficulty is unbalanced at times.
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Post by Ex on Jan 10, 2018 21:30:07 GMT -5
I still haven't finished off any of the original trilogy of Splinter Cell, which is pretty sad. I agree, that's pretty sad! I loved those games. Especially 2 and 3. I think Splinter Cell > Metal Gear when it comes to actual gameplay. However, Splinter Cell plots are boring, I'll admit that.
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Post by Xeogred on Jan 10, 2018 22:05:27 GMT -5
I can't agree there... MGS is one of my top favorite franchises haha.
But I really do miss the very tactical espionage Splinter Cell / Rainbow Six styled stuff from years back. Just looking through doors with crazy gadgets was cool enough, but I wonder if I'd care now. I only beat the first Splinter Cell and remember the difficulty in the second game was immediately insane. At the time of its release, the first Splinter Cell was a real looker and pretty impressive. I've been wondering if I should pickup the HD trilogy sometime or just get the Xbox originals. I somehow misplaced my original copy of the first.
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