|
Post by Xeogred on Apr 12, 2021 17:00:07 GMT -5
See for me, mastering games is much more fun than moving on. Same with replaying games vs digging into the pile of unplayed digital games. Skills fade with time though, you have to keep playing the game over and over the remain "your best" at it, although it is easier to regain skill in a game than start from scratch. Like, I've done slick, practiced playthroughs of Super Metroid where I was mocking balling and shineparking around like a madman, but it'd be a very slow playthrough just one year later. I get that logic maybe more than others here. I don't obsess over trophies or anything either but for my top favorite games, it can be a fun way to 100% the game in ways and really see most if not all of the content and secrets. I have the platinum for every Soulsborne game except Dark Souls 1, since it seemed a bit too grindy with the weapon upgrades. Still, I see speedrunners of these games or those that do bare minimum runs and that seems like a skill level or play style I don't want to do in these games. So I've mastered them in a way of achieving the trophies and going above and beyond more, but yeah haha. Not a super pro or anything. Back to my first point, I'm kind of in the middle there. I like to beat a game and move on quickly a lot of the time. But stuff like Capcom's games, From, or whatnot can get me to run through them repeatedly. I jokingly tell myself nowadays it's when I get "possessed" by them. I don't think I'd need training wheels again for some stuff like Super Metroid personally, but like I mentioned DMC5... that would be brutal to try and jump back into on the harder difficulties out of the gate I bet haha. Yeah, can't say I've 1CC'd any shmup. The one I want to try and do it with someday might be Mushihimesama. Different FPS's for me, I agree. This is one of my comfort food genres and why Doom 2 is my highest played title on Steam hours wise, haha. With all the megawads I play every once and awhile. I did feel like beating FEAR on Extreme on the 360 was quite the feat... had to slow mo like every single encounter since a shot or two killed you. I love replaying the immersive sim genre but that's mainly for changing up the playstyle or going new routes. The action packed stuff like Doom is fun to revisit and bump the difficulties up on. Speaking of Doom, I'll admit I haven't done much "Pistol Starts"! Definitely a style I'd like to sample someday hehe. Though I still feel vanilla Doom 1-2 would be easy for me at this point... The scaling difficulty can be kind of annoying, which is why Professional mode might be preferred in a way actually. I think it keeps the difficulty static.
I own RE4 on 6 platforms... This is probably the one genre where I don't like purposely limiting myself in ways, kind of like Zelda. That said, whenever I get around to replaying FF6 for the 20th time, I'm going to put a ban on summons outside of maybe just Celes and Terra. Otherwise, FF6 is just such a cakewalk! lol, I think that will make for a more interesting playthrough. I actually think FF5 might be a fun one to experiment a lot with, since it's more pure gameplay centric in ways. I can tell that short reach of the first sword would probably drive me nuts.
|
|
|
Post by Ex on Apr 12, 2021 17:41:42 GMT -5
Perhaps with this crowd my more unique claim to fame might be Touhou games I have played a few of these, never beat one. I'm not the biggest fan of bullet hell styled shmups is why. There are a LOT of games in that series though. Didn't happen with me. I beat the PS2 version back in 2007, haven't touched RE4 since. But I agree RE4 is likely the most popular game in the series at this point. You're the first person besides myself to mention EO on HRG. How many of the EO games have you beaten? Any favorite entry?
I've only beaten Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl thus far, but I did so on Expert with no guide/walkthrough and yeah it was HARD. Games like Etrian Odyssey, Final Fantasy 6, or Shining Force. FF6 is one that I keep wanting to replay. I haven't beaten FF6 since 1994. My only hangup now, is if I should replay the original, or use one of the fan translations to get a more accurate script plus the uncensored stuff. Decisions decisions.
|
|
|
Post by EasyHard on Apr 12, 2021 17:52:45 GMT -5
Xeogred : I'm a big Doom 2 guy as well. Too many megawads to count, although I find myself disliking most of them and it leaves me wondering where the critical voices are in the map making community. D2TWID and Plutonia AD (plut_ad_112616.wad) are my favorites that I think actually have good design. Pistol starts can be interesting, but I'm usually too worried that the change in tactics will be annoying because I don't have the right weapons and ammo. It's something I've only gotten into recently (and 'recently' meaning the last time I went on a Doom kick), along with nightmare mode. I endeavored to do pistol start nightmare for a large swath of D2TWID and Doom2.wad levels. One of my goals was to complete nightmare on every one of John Romero's levels. I didn't quite achieve that, with "Tenements" being a memorable middle finger to this idea.
|
|
|
Post by Xeogred on Apr 12, 2021 17:53:28 GMT -5
FF6 is one that I keep wanting to replay. I haven't beaten FF6 since 1994. My only hangup now, is if I should replay the original, or use one of the fan translations to get a more accurate script plus the uncensored stuff. Decisions decisions. Well, hopefully you or someone else checks out the fan translation... for my own selfish reasons. So I can hear about it before trying to play it. I'm now pretty sure the reason why I wasn't totally in love with my last Chrono Trigger run, is because the DS translation was new and more "accurate". Which just meant dry and boring. Woolsey's FF6 script is pretty rock solid from what I tend to remember. Sucking personality out of that one too, not sure if that would be a good thing. But maybe it's alright...
Xeogred : I'm a big Doom 2 guy as well. Too many megawads to count, although I find myself disliking most of them and it leaves me wondering where the critical voices are in the map making community. D2TWID and Plutonia AD (plut_ad_112616.wad) are my favorites that I think actually have good design. Pistol starts can be interesting, but I'm usually too worried that the change in tactics will be annoying because I don't have the right weapons and ammo. It's something I've only gotten into recently (and 'recently' meaning the last time I went on a Doom kick), along with nightmare mode. I endeavored to do pistol start nightmare for a large swath of D2TWID and Doom2.wad levels. One of my goals was to complete nightmare on every one of John Romero's levels. I didn't quite achieve that, with "Tenements" being a memorable middle finger to this idea. Did you check out Sigil? Great stuff. It was pretty brutal on UV.
My favorite megawads from quick memory... - Alien Vendetta
- Valiant (Ancient Aliens is a solid one too if you like this mappers style)
- Back to Saturn EX ep1-2
- Hellbound (the maps are massive and insanely detailed. No monster closets or traps, so the style might not be for everyone but I loved it)
- Community Chest Pack 4 (I recall liking 1-3 too, but you get some stinkers and weird variety) - TNT Revilution
Plutonia 2 is solid but all the starts were so chaotic that made me rage a lot. But of course "Plutonia" is going to be annoying, lol
Doom the Way Id Did, those were both solid.
I played the two infamous Hell Revealed's back in the day and some others like Memento Mori. But for now, I think Alien Vendetta is one of the older ones I still like a lot.
I actually think it's been a year or two since I got the Doom bug, which kept happening in the summer for awhile haha. Still got tons of megawads downloaded... DOOM FOREVER!
|
|
|
Post by paulofthewest on Apr 12, 2021 17:59:40 GMT -5
As for our other semi-regular members, I'm not sure. You newer dudes gotta talk more about what you like! Ya I get labeled an enigma IRL, so no surprise there... I don't know what I'm currently best at, but historically that would be Diablo 2. I had multiple online hardcore characters that got through all difficultly settings. Although, I never did go for level 99, as I usually stopped a char late 80s early 90s. I never saw the point (or the need) to go further. Also, killing PKers was a blast--and yes I see the irony in that. The other games I was pretty good at were: Crystalis (NES): I could beat that in a quick evening. Super Mario 64: At one point I did a marathon and got 120 stars in one Saturday. Star Fox 64: The battle I was nearly unstoppable. FF6: Hard to say someone is good at an RPG, but I love breaking the leveling systems with the Espers.
|
|
|
Post by Xeogred on Apr 12, 2021 18:06:14 GMT -5
FF6: Hard to say someone is good at an RPG, but I love breaking the leveling systems with the Espers. Hah, I did this on my last FF6 run on actual SNES hardware back in the day. I got so methodical about it and grinding on those dinosaurs, whenever someone was about to level up, I put Odin on them so they got that very rare Speed/Agility stat gain. So that spread out a few characters, multiple Running Shoes, a few level 99 characters and like all magic learned on mostly everyone... it was insane.
FF7 was too easy to break too with the Materia system. And FF8 as well. I had it so my party absorbed 100% of every element in the game.
These are the three FF's where I went craziest with this. No power leveling in the others, except for solo leveling some people in FF4 Hard Type for that final boss.
|
|
|
Post by Ex on Apr 12, 2021 18:08:43 GMT -5
I don't know what I'm currently best at, but historically that would be Diablo 2. Well this might be good news for you. I think if someone can beat a difficult JRPG via clever tactics, and not rote level grinding, then they are good at it. Especially if they figured those tactics out on their own, instead of reading them out of a guide.
|
|
|
Post by paulofthewest on Apr 12, 2021 18:19:55 GMT -5
I don't know what I'm currently best at, but historically that would be Diablo 2. Well this might be good news for you. It will be interesting to will see how the online plays out--which was my favorite part of Diablo 2 at the time. They say the ladder is revamped, but hopefully they fixed the bots vs loot drop issues. I left when there were just bots everywhere and they made standard runs more tedious (which was a problem already since the game is tedious!) I get what you're saying about better tactics for RPGs. The low level challenge to FF6 can be challenging. That just doesn't seem as impressive as mastering BattleToads.
|
|
|
Post by EasyHard on Apr 12, 2021 18:44:21 GMT -5
Ex : I think I beat Etrian Odyssey 2 four times and then a number of years later I beat Etrian Odyssey 1 twice. I actually haven't moved forward in the series yet, probably because I was playing other things and some aversion to the time it takes to play a long RPG. It does feel like my eventual Etrian Odyssey 3 playthrough is creeping up on me. EO2 is likely destined to be my permanent favorite entry. Final Fantasy 6: I say you should play original FF6 and likewise that there's no reason to bother with the retranslations. The original script is charming and great! I name FF6 as my number-one-spot-favorite game, so perhaps unsurprisingly I think the original version is a special cultural artifact. Touhou & bullet hells: To me, the cool thing about bullet hells is they blow other genres out of the water when it comes to the amount of active, productive attention you have to put into every minute of play. And when you are in the thick of it, every input is meaningful, and you get familiar with the very "human" limits of your eyes, fingers, and brain. I have a fair amount of distaste for arcade bullet hells though for some odd reason, although there are a few that I enjoyed playing. My love is mostly for Touhou-style and doujin-style shmups as well as older 16 bit shmups (UN Squadron comes to mind). Ultimately, I think the lasting motivation play bullet hells comes from a subconscious competitive framing. Even though I don't interact that often with scoreboards and what not, I'm pretty sure that the reason I got into bullet hells was because I saw a youtube video of someone more or else showing off their skills in a Touhou game (still dying several times, but good enough to be impressive). The game looked like nothing I had seen and I had to try it myself. The idea that getting better at this game would be "impressive" probably is what carried me to keep trying.
|
|
|
Post by EasyHard on Apr 12, 2021 19:18:18 GMT -5
My favorite megawads from quick memory... - Alien Vendetta
- Valiant (Ancient Aliens is a solid one too if you like this mappers style)
- Back to Saturn EX ep1-2
- Hellbound (the maps are massive and insanely detailed. No monster closets or traps, so the style might not be for everyone but I loved it)
- Community Chest Pack 4 (I recall liking 1-3 too, but you get some stinkers and weird variety) - TNT Revilution Plutonia 2 is solid but all the starts were so chaotic that made me rage a lot. But of course "Plutonia" is going to be annoying, lol Doom the Way Id Did, those were both solid. I played the two infamous Hell Revealed's back in the day and some others like Memento Mori. But for now, I think Alien Vendetta is one of the older ones I still like a lot. I actually think it's been a year or two since I got the Doom bug, which kept happening in the summer for awhile haha. Still got tons of megawads downloaded... DOOM FOREVER!
I really enjoyed Sigil. I'd say it is the best doom 1 wad by a clear margin.
Alien Vendetta was okay. I recall enjoying it a long time ago, while also seeing some shortcomings. I probably would like it less nowadays. Didn't play Valiant because I disliked Vanguard. I've played BTSX eps 1 & 2 and kind of regret it. I think these maps have a lot of annoying pathfinding (finding where to go next). Sometimes the map has opened up to be so big and everything looks the same and symmetrical it frustrates me to no end. And the custom textures can make noticing a dead simple switch into a game ending brick wall. And all of these popular megawads have combat design trends that I wish would get criticized more. Bullshit traps that are too cramped or instantly spawn too many enemies. The enemy counts in each map are also stupidly high. If I made a series of maps there would be a hard cap of 100 monsters (and I have some incompleted maps for such a project, heh)
I thought the first half of Plutonia 2 was fun, then it became garbage around map 14. I also really remember map 11's Archvile map being so long and stupid and impossible to pathfind. Did they playtest it? I challenge *anyone* to complete that map -- even in god mode, if they want -- before their brain leaks out of their skull trying to find the next door or opened wall. I think the "Plutonia Revisited Community Project" is the better megawad of the two.
Plutonia AD is a real hidden gem though, no one talks about it. It's only 5 maps and made by a single person so it has a much clearer vision. I have written in my wad notes "REALLY, REALLY GOOD. These are some of the best levels I've played." I think I found it when searching the doomworld forums. Still very difficult, but because the monster counts are way, way down and the traps are more reasonable it encourages the player to treat it like a serious challenge that you are going to work on and get through (instead of cheating to various degrees).
|
|