What are you playing?

[tiesto]

Mega Man X5 - this is such a downgrade compared to X4 (which is by far the best X game out of all the ones I've played - 1, 2, 4, and this). The level design is frustrating and filled with so many "gotcha" moments. Luckily, the game has very generous checkpointing and even a game over won't set you far back. Collecting some of the armor pieces (especially the helmet in the bike stage) was awful. The "time limit" wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, and the reploid masters named after Guns N Roses band members is weird. Graphics and music are naturally very nice. I just beat all the reploids and am ready to go to the final area, but now that I did that the time limit is no longer an issue so I'm going back to clean up the items I missed.

Tomba 2 - I got all the "pig bags" so now I can go and seek out the pigs and wrap the game up. But the game is pretty nonlinear with its quest structure and I have to go through a whole bunch of quests I missed. I don't know why I'm still bothering, the game kinda sucks. The controls are twitchy af, and you're constantly sliding off platforms, making any sort of precision platforming almost impossible. The music is also really bad, and eventually will glitch out on the PS3.

Mega Man 5 - bought it and beat it recently. One of the most unappreciated entries in the original MM series. The levels have some neat designs (except, fuck the falling crystals in Crystal Man stage), the game could have just done with some more cool looking full-screen bosses. The game is difficult in some ways (challenging level design, especially in the Protoman stages) and easy in others (extremely generous drops). Underrated soundtrack and one of the best looking NES titles.

Power Stone 2 - played with a friend, it's absolutely chaotic and a lot of fun, but could do with a bit more stages.

I'll hopefully wrap up both games in the next few days, and then move on to Crash 3 (and finishing the parts of Crash 1 I got stuck with). Then move away from the PS1 and onto... the N64 for a bit.

[Polident Hive]

Imagine playing and loving X4 for years, waiting and saving up for the sequel, and getting X5. That was me. X6 came out some months after and I couldn't be bothered anymore.

[demi]

Yeah I saw this post on Reddit, explains everything pretty much

https://old.reddit.com/r/codevein/comments/dc49y8/recommended_levels_for_each_area/f544k9u/

Also I've just been having the co-op partner solo everything while I kite enemies around

As a follow up on this, while people will say you SHOULDNT level - you absolutely SHOULD. But the whole reason behind this is that after a certain point, when you are trying to "master" gift/abilities, you get less and less points from regular enemies the higher you go. You can absolutely feel the enemy scaling as you progress in the game, so if necessary I would follow this post's rule of thumb on a good "average" level to be at in each area.

[demi]

Finished Code Vein

This game is ass, no two ways around it. As a souls game it sucks, as an action game it sucks, as an ARPG it sucks. I dunno this one is a stinker.

Finished Outlast 2

I thought this one was ok, I think I preferred the first one more. Some fucked up parts (Val lol)  but a quick game.

Decided to start:

Devil May Cry HD Collection - want to play some DMC I guess. This counts as retro gaming right?

Scarlet Nexus - Still need to play this and Tales of Arise, so I picked this since its on GamePass and it came out first.

[Bebpo]

Yeah, I like souls games a lot and gave Code Vein a spin when it was on Game Pass and I thought it was pretty awful and bailed super early. I mean at least The Surge 1/2 played pretty well even if I didn't stick with them, but Code Vein combat and movement just felt like trash.

DMC1 is pretty retro I'd say at this point. Still feels like a PS1 RE game to a degree.

[The Sceneman]

Getting some Easter holiday gaming in...

Knocked out the 1000/1000 in Kentucky Route Zero. Superb game and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes movies and books in regards to Americana. It's kinda hard to explain what makes the game tick but I found it pretty affecting and thought provoking.

Beat Castlevania: Circle of the Moon in the Castlevania Advance Collection. Eh, it was ok. The lack of an auto dash feature was quite thumb crippling, a lot of dexterity needed to double tap all the time. I started on Harmony of Dissonance which I think is better (cooler graphics) but the map is kinda boring. Game seems to get a lot of hate due to the "unorthodox" soundtrack. IDK its something different at least, some of the tracks kinda grate but is that the point? Its the whole "Harmony of Dissonance"? idk lol. Some very interesting fart noises in some of the tracks:



Also picking away at Elden Ring (40 hours in) and Hades (still haven't cleared it - Theseus is a bastard). Both games are superb of course

[paprikastaude]

I'm getting to the end of Demons Souls. This is a great game, with only a few minor hiccups. I definitely had more fun with it than with Elden Ring. Which was an enormous feat in the open world genre, maybe the best, but ultimately, focused levels/maps are still king. Also, I played the remake and some of the art direction changes are as clumsy as people say, but the atmosphere is still pretty thick. And ultimately, I don't think I would want to play this with long loading times, considering how often I switched maps for preparation, etc.
New boss music is a travesty though, no way around it.

[Polident Hive]

Kirby Block Ball on GameBoy is a surprisingly fun Breakout game. I have a love-hate thing with Breakout games. Everybody has the experience of seeing two bricks left and spending far too long trying to hit them. This does a couple things to mitigate that. Arenas are small. You control paddles on every side. You can time an A press to power shot. And as a Kirby game, there are copy abilities. Still somewhat slow, but makes it a more active experience. There’s always a stager playing Breakout games where I question why I’m not playing Shatter instead.

[tiesto]

This past weekend I played through the entirety of Tail Concerto. It's a furry adventure game whose story is basically Skies of Arcadia with more furries and less charm. I bought the game before the price spiraled out of control... which I'm still not sure why. I guess it's because a lot of furries tend to work in lucrative tech jobs and have a lot of $$ to spend on anything that looks like it has cat pirate girls with big boobs.

Yeah, this game is pretty crap. I thought it was an action RPG with a lot more RPGish elements, but no it's pretty simplistic. There's a lot of adventuring and cutscenes, talking to people and such... and then you go to areas where you have to catch cats or engage in some extremely frustrating platforming. The camera is abysmal, there is no control of it and the game has fully 3D environments, so the camera has a mind of its own and spins wildly around. This makes even the simple act of jumping to a platform right in front of you an exercise in blind faith. There's no lock-on, either, so enemy battles take longer than they should.

The final areas require some precise platforming, with the last one introducing an underwater section where your jumps are extra floaty.

I thought Tomba 2 was the worst of the PS1 games I've played recently, but nope... this would be it.

[Bebpo]

Tail Concerto was good for its time.

Did you play the 3DS sequel?

[tiesto]

Tail Concerto was good for its time.

Did you play the 3DS sequel?

Solarobo? I have that game sealed, don't think I'm gonna open it because it's apparently super rare.

[archnemesis]

I played through Solatorobo and I didn't like it much. Maybe I would have appreciated it more if I had played Tail Concerto.

[Bebpo]

Probably not going by Tiesto's post haha


I liked both of them for the whimsy french animation adventure feel. The gameplay in both is pretty weak, and I really don't like furry games, but I like flying mecha ships and stuff so I enjoyed them as lighter games.

Honestly I think CyberConnect2 is not a very good developer despite playing through and enjoying the .Hack games, Tail Concerto, Asura's Wrath and some of their early Naruto fighters. The gameplay in all their games is pretty mediocre and it's the art/animation/story/music that sells them.

I'd say Asura's Wrath is their best game just because even though the gameplay is still super shallow action game, the story, insanity and visuals make it a hell of a ride.

[tiesto]

Didn't know the Tail Concerto people were the makers of Hack or Asura's Wraith. I really liked Asura's Wraith, especially the Hindu and Buddhist iconography and the larger than life setpieces. Never played the Hack series however.

I actually thought Tail Concerto was a TOSE developed game as soon as I saw the Bandai logo

Anyways, this weekend imma start Paper Mario on N64. Never played it before, should look great on my RGB-modded console.

[Bebpo]

They also put out their third game in their furries & mecha trilogy last year to mixed reviews. I haven’t tried it yet.

[Bebpo]

Also we dodged a bullet when Square pulled them off FF7 remake and took it in-house instead. The combat would’ve been real shallow if they left it with CC2 instead of one of the best realtime x turn based mixed combat systems.

[MMaRsu]

They also put out their third game in their furries & mecha trilogy last year to mixed reviews. I haven’t tried it yet.

[Polident Hive]

Whenever I read talk of Tail Concerto, it was about the visuals. How it went for a proto cel shaded look. That and the Mega Man Legends trilogy. But I’m sure it shares a fan base with Star Fox Adventures.

[tiesto]

Whenever I read talk of Tail Concerto, it was about the visuals. How it went for a proto cel shaded look. That and the Mega Man Legends trilogy. But I’m sure it shares a fan base with Star Fox Adventures.

Yeah, the game definitely had some major MML vibes. In terms of the visuals and how there's a villain who is tsundere towards the player (they had a childhood bond before the whole race war between cat-people and dog-people started), that is super similar to Tron Bonne's characterization. MML is definitely the superior experience (except maybe in music since I hated MML1's soundtrack), the controls are pretty workable for a pre-analog fully 3D game and the game isn't nearly as frustrating. MML2 may technically be a better game (at least the soundtrack is better) but that awful water dungeon really drags down the experience.

[Hamarr]

Getting some Easter holiday gaming in...

Knocked out the 1000/1000 in Kentucky Route Zero. Superb game and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes movies and books in regards to Americana. It's kinda hard to explain what makes the game tick but I found it pretty affecting and thought provoking.

Beat Castlevania: Circle of the Moon in the Castlevania Advance Collection. Eh, it was ok. The lack of an auto dash feature was quite thumb crippling, a lot of dexterity needed to double tap all the time. I started on Harmony of Dissonance which I think is better (cooler graphics) but the map is kinda boring. Game seems to get a lot of hate due to the "unorthodox" soundtrack. IDK its something different at least, some of the tracks kinda grate but is that the point? Its the whole "Harmony of Dissonance"? idk lol. Some very interesting fart noises in some of the tracks:



Also picking away at Elden Ring (40 hours in) and Hades (still haven't cleared it - Theseus is a bastard). Both games are superb of course

Is that the first one in the collection?  I played one of them for a bit last night.  Having to hold to dash was kind of annoying. 

I finished the campaign in Tiny Tina on my spellshot and am now trying a clawbringer.  I think that’s what the class is called.  This by far my favorite of the Borderlands games campaign wise.  The overworld keeps things from getting too monotonous.  I haven’t done much in the end game yet.  Just the one run. I saw they increased the cap to 35 from 20? 

I am taking a break to play some other stuff, including finally getting around to Metroid Dread.  It looks pretty good but the controls feel really sloppy to me, or I am just really bad.  Especially after playing the Castlevania game and Axiom Verge 2 for a bit.  It just feels too easy to slide around instead of jumping where I need to go.  I failed bad and keep getting caught by the second bot you need to run away from.

I am also replaying Hard Reset Redux.  The Xbox one version, which I bought years ago and never played.  I played it years ago on Steam.  It’s a fun mindless shooter. Feels completely disconnected from the story, but oh well. I want to revisit some more old school shooters now.

[tiesto]

So I beat X5 with X, now I'm doing a Zero run and up to the boss rush before the end. Should finish it tomorrow. The game is a bit better with Zero, he's a loose cannon or whatever, super low defense but dishes out a lot of damage, and with the double jump the game seems a bit more balanced for Zero (unlike X4 which was a bit more balanced for X).

[Bebpo]

Is that the first one in the collection?  I played one of them for a bit last night.  Having to hold to dash was kind of annoying. 

Yeah, Circle of Moon is the first one.

[Hamarr]

Is that the first one in the collection?  I played one of them for a bit last night.  Having to hold to dash was kind of annoying. 

Yeah, Circle of Moon is the first one.

You're right. I double checked after this, too. I really suck at platformers. Too many years of lazy open world games have ruined me. Kid me would do a lot better. But they are more fun. I might have to play these some more.

[Svejk]

Harmony of Dissonance was the Dark Souls 2 of the 2D Castlevanias.  Everything in that game was sub-par comparred to the others; Animation, music, level design, gameplay... Definitely the worst of the bunch.

[Bebpo]

Eh, I think the main issue at the time was that it was too dark to see with the non-backlit GBA.

Otherwise I remember it being an ok CV. Not the best, but not bad. I liked it.


errr, assuming you meant Circle of the Moon and not HoD.

[Svejk]

Circle of the Moon was rough too.  And yeah, it was obnoxiously dark for some reason.  It still felt more solid than HoD, imo.

[bork]

Harmony of Dissonance was the Dark Souls 2 of the 2D Castlevanias.  Everything in that game was sub-par comparred to the others; Animation, music, level design, gameplay... Definitely the worst of the bunch.

It had better visuals and animation than Circle Of The Moon, but the audio was much worse.  It also had way too many skeleton enemies, iirc.  Aria shits all over both games.

[tiesto]

Harmony is the only one of the handhelds I don't own cib... still need to rectify that.

I remember being real disappointed at its super bright color palette (yeah, I know that Circle of the Moon was too dark, but they overcorrected for this one) and the awful, awful sound quality. The game also felt really easy, while Circle I remember being a bit challenging.

I'd rank the Metroidvanias like this:

1. SOTN - of course.
2. Order of Eccelsia - loved the more linear nature of the pre-castle levels and the challenge felt more in line with classicvania. Some of the bonus areas were the most challenging in all of the Metroidvanias and really fun. I also love Shanoa's char design and how the art went back to the more gothic-influenced style of the earlier Metroidvanias.
3. Aria of Sorrow - probably the most polished of the post-SOTN Metroidvanias. Large, varied areas and some cool plot twists.
4. Dawn of Sorrow - at this point the formula was starting to wear a bit. The tacked on touchscreen gimmicks weren't that offensive but pretty annoying. I didn't like how the character art became much more simplistic and generic anime for this and Portrait of Ruin.
5. Portrait of Ruin - more diverse environments at first were cool, it was nice to get out of the castle, but then the second half of the game being palette swapped versions of the first half (with some change-ups) felt cheap. Game never made much use of its multi-character gimmick (JONATHAN! CHARLOTTE! JONATHAN!). Nice soundtrack, probably the best of the post-SOTN soundtracks.
6. Circle of the Moon - was impressive to get a Metroidvania on the go, though technical limitations stemming from being one of the earliest GBA games held it back.
7. Harmony of Dissonance - see my above comment about it. Ugly oversaturated palette, cakewalk easy gameplay, poor music quality (music is one of the most fundamental elements of CV for me).

Anyways I'm one of those people who believe it or not prefer Classicvania over Metroidvania. Rondo is my all-time favorite of the series. I still need to get further in Bloodlines though.

[Polident Hive]

Personally, I’d swap Aria and OOC. But good list. If Bloodstained counts, think it’d be top three.

People have made romhacks for Dawn and Harmony meant to address those criticisms. I’ve meant to replay Dawn with the reworked art and no touch screen. See how I feel about it now.

Anyway, was going through family photos earlier and spotted a master system. The red and black, triangular top model. Somebody exchanged with an NES by the time I was born. Very grateful. But I have gotten curious about the master system. I tried playing Alex Kidd once. Not for me. Wonder Boy 3, I played the remake, and I understand the gameplay was unchanged. Pretty good.

[Svejk]

Anyway, was going through family photos earlier and spotted a master system. The red and black, triangular top model. Somebody exchanged with an NES by the time I was born. Very grateful. But I have gotten curious about the master system. I tried playing Alex Kidd once. Not for me. Wonder Boy 3, I played the remake, and I understand the gameplay was unchanged. Pretty good.

The Master System was the dark horse of 8-bit gaming.  With games like Dragon's Trap, Zillion, Kenseiden, Phantasy Star, Action Fighter, Out Run, Space Harrier, After Burner, Fantasy Zone, and the best home versions of Rampage and PaperBoy, it stood it's own ground. 

[Nintex]

People who complain about stranger in paradise being weird have clearly never played FF1. I finished it on the deck for the first time and the original game already makes no sense.

I'm now playing FF2 and it's a much more classic story about an evil empire and rebels. However you can sort of see the pop culture references to Star Wars, Indiana Jones and I think Dragonball.

The Pixel Remasters are perfect for the Steamdeck

[HardcoreRetro]

The Master System was the dark horse of 8-bit gaming.  With games like Dragon's Trap, Zillion, Kenseiden, Phantasy Star, Action Fighter, Out Run, Space Harrier, After Burner, Fantasy Zone, and the best home versions of Rampage and PaperBoy, it stood it's own ground.

Also had the cool Castlevania-like game Master of Darkness.

[tiesto]

Master System has some really neat games that were either Euro-exclusive or released in such limited numbers in the US as to be negligible (Golden Axe Warrior, Sonic 1).

Lately I've been getting into Euro Master System games since there are a few really good ones that don't cost an arm and a leg to get (I'm on a FB Master System fan group with a heavy Euro base that frequently has people selling stuff). Some good ones:
-Land of Illusion (incredible platformer that at times feels 16-bit. top 3 SMS games for me)
-Alex Kidd in Shinobi World (literally the only good Alex Kidd game, though a bit short and easy)
-Taz Mania (though you can probably beat it in 45 min)
-Sonic 2, Sonic Chaos (also put 1 here since its release in the US was extremely limited, and it's literally the same game, same packaging, same instruction book, just with a different UPC sticker and a $1k price tag)
-Golden Axe Warrior (I... think this got a US release but with the UPC sticker swapped. It's a total Zelda 1 rip)
-Ninja Gaiden (completely different from the NES version, and while the controls are a bit looser, it's still a decent time)
-Power Strike II (rare, expensive game, but it's a Compile shmup so you know what that entails)
-Streets of Rage (an interesting demake of the Genesis version, complete with a Yuzo soundtrack using the SMS hardware)

There are even some Brazil exclusive games I want to get into, namely another Mickey game and a port of the Game Gear Sonic Blast.

And some good US ones:
-Phantasy Star (if you know one SMS game it's of course this - this is the game that made me a hardcore RPG fan for life)
-Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap (my second favorite game on the system, an awesome Metroidvania where you change into different animals to navigate the environment. Also got a modern-day remake!)
-Miracle Warriors (the first Japanese RPG to get a US release! pointless trivia alert! kind of dated and grind heavy)
-Golvellius (Zelda-esque adventure game with a mix of overhead, auto scrolling, and side scrolling session)
-Kenseiden (your character moves a bit slow but this is a decent, challenging sidescroller with a cool feudal Japan setting)
-Zillion (an early Metroid-esque adventure with a great soundtrack)
-Castle of Illusion (different to the Genesis version, some would argue superior)
-Rastan (decent, for the time, port of the Taito arcade game)
-Shinobi (another OK port)
-Fantasy Zone: The Maze (it's a Pac-Man esque game with Fantasy Zone aesthetics. Weird but fun)
-Aztec Adventure (a dated but still enjoyable overhead action game)
-Rambo (an overhead run n gun, a million times better than the NES version of Ikari Warriors... although I'm much more a fan of the side scrolling RPG NES Rambo)
-Spellcaster (an action game with J-ADV type scenes to mix things up, I think this was the prequel to Mystic Defender on the Genesis)

I just got Lord of the Sword so I want to give that a try too.

There's a Ys 1 port I want to try too, though it doesn't look that great, they commit the CARDINAL SIN of adding an apostrophe to the box art, and they call Adol "Aron" for some reason.

While no where near the level of the NES, there's still quite a few 'hidden gems'. I'll take the SMS over the dumpster fire that was the 7800 any day of the week.

[HardcoreRetro]

The stage theme to this game has been burned into my brain.

[Nintex]

There's certainly something hypnotic about the god awful sound quality of old SEGA systems 

[Svejk]

Choplifter and Thunderblade were fun helicopter shooters too, especially Choplifter's gameplay loop.

Yeah the US got gipped when it came to catalog and sound chip.  Felt later in life that I was deprived. 

[paprikastaude]

I'm getting to the end of Demons Souls. This is a great game, with only a few minor hiccups. I definitely had more fun with it than with Elden Ring. Which was an enormous feat in the open world genre, maybe the best, but ultimately, focused levels/maps are still king. Also, I played the remake and some of the art direction changes are as clumsy as people say, but the atmosphere is still pretty thick. And ultimately, I don't think I would want to play this with long loading times, considering how often I switched maps for preparation, etc.
New boss music is a travesty though, no way around it.

I defeated the last boss first try  I really enjoyed the more grounded gameplay and dungeon crawling of this game. It's actually feasible to play a normal slow knight and rely on your wits, because not every enemy has two trillion Naruto moves like in later games.

[D3RANG3D]

Been playing Lunacid a PSX throwback game that's like old From Software games like Shadow Tower/Kings Field, I am pretty addicted to it atm.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Got to an unfinished area, this game is in early access btw and got my ass handed to me by one of those headless gargoyle statues from Dark Souls I am assuming these are place holder enemies the motherfucking thing can chase you all over the map. 

[close]

spoiler (click to show/hide)

WTF I got caught slippin by one of those abyss demons again in a dark room, and got close to killing it and the fucking thing summoned a grim reaper on me which can insta-kill you.

[close]

[The Sceneman]

Harmony is the only one of the handhelds I don't own cib... still need to rectify that.

I remember being real disappointed at its super bright color palette (yeah, I know that Circle of the Moon was too dark, but they overcorrected for this one) and the awful, awful sound quality. The game also felt really easy, while Circle I remember being a bit challenging.

I'd rank the Metroidvanias like this:

1. SOTN - of course.
2. Order of Eccelsia - loved the more linear nature of the pre-castle levels and the challenge felt more in line with classicvania. Some of the bonus areas were the most challenging in all of the Metroidvanias and really fun. I also love Shanoa's char design and how the art went back to the more gothic-influenced style of the earlier Metroidvanias.
3. Aria of Sorrow - probably the most polished of the post-SOTN Metroidvanias. Large, varied areas and some cool plot twists.
4. Dawn of Sorrow - at this point the formula was starting to wear a bit. The tacked on touchscreen gimmicks weren't that offensive but pretty annoying. I didn't like how the character art became much more simplistic and generic anime for this and Portrait of Ruin.
5. Portrait of Ruin - more diverse environments at first were cool, it was nice to get out of the castle, but then the second half of the game being palette swapped versions of the first half (with some change-ups) felt cheap. Game never made much use of its multi-character gimmick (JONATHAN! CHARLOTTE! JONATHAN!). Nice soundtrack, probably the best of the post-SOTN soundtracks.
6. Circle of the Moon - was impressive to get a Metroidvania on the go, though technical limitations stemming from being one of the earliest GBA games held it back.
7. Harmony of Dissonance - see my above comment about it. Ugly oversaturated palette, cakewalk easy gameplay, poor music quality (music is one of the most fundamental elements of CV for me).

Anyways I'm one of those people who believe it or not prefer Classicvania over Metroidvania. Rondo is my all-time favorite of the series. I still need to get further in Bloodlines though.

Good list. Im forcing myself through Harmony for the cheevos and so I can really enjoy Aria once I get to it. Gotta suffer sometimes. At least Harmony is easy and short

[Hamarr]

I picked up Agents of Mayhem for like $3 and had some fun with it. My taste is really becoming trash.

Also, played some more Wonderlands.  I'm working on my Clawbringer. Initially, I was going to try to save most of the side quests for end game, but it's too much fun to play through the campaign.

[pilonv1]

Dorfromantik is excellent, really enjoying the seeded monthly game and the soundtrack is 

[tiesto]

I started playing Paper Mario for N64. Just finished the 4th chapter. It's a fun game with some decent level design, however the combat with the constant reliance on timed attacks tends to tire me out a bit, there's also a bit of backtracking in certain parts that slows things down. I don't have too much experience with the Mario RPGs (the original SNES one is still my favorite) but none of this is really that much more egregious than it was in the other Mario RPGs I've played (Super Paper, Bowsers Inside Story).

Not at all a fan of the soundtrack, but the art style actually looks decent for an N64 game.

[Polident Hive]

Tower of Druaga on PC Engine

Week ago I watched this history video on the arcade and FDS. Been aware of its influence and popularity in Japan, but never knew much. Skip to last night, I’m tired and booted up my emulator box and searched for it. Messed around with the arcade version. Didn’t have the FDS or gameboy versions, but at some point I put on a fan translation of the PC Engine version. Aside from updated graphics, seems it adds a stats menu, hints, and slight upgrades outside the typical items you find. A lot of preamble. Anyway, on paper it seems like it should suck ass, but I found it compelling. Same levels over and over, obtuse puzzles to get vital items, combat making Ys’ old bump system seem intuitive by comparison. But I’m into stuff like La-Mulana so those didn’t bother me. Ended up playing far more than I intended. Until the “end”.

[tiesto]

Tower of Druaga on PC Engine

Week ago I watched this history video on the arcade and FDS. Been aware of its influence and popularity in Japan, but never knew much. Skip to last night, I’m tired and booted up my emulator box and searched for it. Messed around with the arcade version. Didn’t have the FDS or gameboy versions, but at some point I put on a fan translation of the PC Engine version. Aside from updated graphics, seems it adds a stats menu, hints, and slight upgrades outside the typical items you find. A lot of preamble. Anyway, on paper it seems like it should suck ass, but I found it compelling. Same levels over and over, obtuse puzzles to get vital items, combat making Ys’ old bump system seem intuitive by comparison. But I’m into stuff like La-Mulana so those didn’t bother me. Ended up playing far more than I intended. Until the “end”.

Was it the Jeremy Parish video?

[Polident Hive]

Yeah. That’s the one. He doesn’t mention the PC Engine version but the mere presence of hints in game changes the gameplay. Arcade and FDS rely on trial and error, guides, and assists from other players. The idea of leaving notes at the arcade to help other players is cool. Dark Souls is so influential, it rippled back through time to 1980s Japan!

[Tuckers Law]

Resorted to playing Warbits on my phone today, this is what Nintendo has done to me by delaying Advance Wars indefinitely.   

I swear, if the Front Mission remakes are also delayed similarly…

[Madrun Badrun]

Finally, got around to playing Shovel Knight -- It's pretty good but marred by some pretty annoying things like why do I got to go into menus to select items like it's megaman and my controller only got two buttons?  I'm on Plauge Knight right now and the attacking on angles gameplay is annoying. 

[Rahxephon91]

Playing Ghostwire on PS5. It just feels janky and not very frantic like a good shooter should. There's a sequence that is timed that implies some agency since it wants you to run through the environment to escape the collapse of a building. But it felt so awkward to do since it feels like you're playing an FPS on the PS2. Constantly pausing to make sure the camera and pointer align themselves.

And the shooting also feels pretty bad. Yeah you aren't shooting guns, but lining up your crosshairs just feels unresponsive and slow. And the encounters feel like they are from RE4. Very deliberate in how the enemies position themselves, this really should have been a TPS.

[tiesto]

About ready to go to the final area in Paper Mario, but first doing a cleanup of items/sidequests I missed.

[benjipwns]

Harmony is the only one of the handhelds I don't own cib... still need to rectify that.

I remember being real disappointed at its super bright color palette (yeah, I know that Circle of the Moon was too dark, but they overcorrected for this one) and the awful, awful sound quality. The game also felt really easy, while Circle I remember being a bit challenging.

Harmony of Dissonance looks different on an original GBA. It's very clearly visually designed for this and not for some hypothetical future where people will be able to actually see the images. Nintendo put backlighting in a handheld? Will never happen!

[Tektonic]

Played & finished Tales of Berseria

now playing Tales of Zestiria

then going to play Tales of Vesperia

(yes, tales backlog... then maybe Tales of Arise will be in a bundle and I'll play that)

[Joe Molotov]

High-level Demon Souls gameplay vid, avoid watching if you have a heart condition.

https://twitter.com/JoeMolotov/status/1523481038806155265

[Joe Molotov]

Harmony is the only one of the handhelds I don't own cib... still need to rectify that.

I remember being real disappointed at its super bright color palette (yeah, I know that Circle of the Moon was too dark, but they overcorrected for this one) and the awful, awful sound quality. The game also felt really easy, while Circle I remember being a bit challenging.

Harmony of Dissonance looks different on an original GBA. It's very clearly visually designed for this and not for some hypothetical future where people will be able to actually see the images. Nintendo put backlighting in a handheld? Will never happen!

Lol, yeah they learned from Circle of the Moon, where it was impossible to see shit.

[tiesto]

Played & finished Tales of Berseria

now playing Tales of Zestiria

then going to play Tales of Vesperia

(yes, tales backlog... then maybe Tales of Arise will be in a bundle and I'll play that)

What did you think? I liked the story and characters of Berseria, even though some of the dungeons/fields dragged on for a bit too long and battles were way too buttonmashy. Definitely preferred it to Arise.

[Joe Molotov]

High-level Demon Souls gameplay vid, avoid watching if you have a heart condition.

Real Talk tho, I've been having a blast with Demon Souls (and only occasionally using maidenless cheese strats depicted above). I never played it on PS3, I bounced off Dark Souls early on and have generally considered myself to be a consumer of the Souls haterade, but Elden Ring changed me. I bought DS1 and 3 for the Xbone at Gamestop the other day. I think I'm turning into a Souls Guy.

[D3RANG3D]

Been playing Ys1 I am on the Darm Tower part and I forgot all about the Dogi punching walls meme. 

spoiler (click to show/hide)

This level is a fucking maze.

[close]

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Dat soundtrack

[close]

[tiesto]

Been playing Ys1 I am on the Darm Tower part and I forgot all about the Dogi punching walls meme. 

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Dat soundtrack

[close]

Which version? Eternal on PC? Turbo Duo?

[D3RANG3D]

Been playing Ys1 I am on the Darm Tower part and I forgot all about the Dogi punching walls meme. 

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Dat soundtrack

[close]

Which version? Eternal on PC? Turbo Duo?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/223810/Ys_I__II_Chronicles/

I wish I had the original hardware and games.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

What was up with that bat/vampire boss before the Darm Tower I swear the hit detection is fucked.

[close]

[tiesto]

Been playing Ys1 I am on the Darm Tower part and I forgot all about the Dogi punching walls meme. 

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Dat soundtrack

[close]

Which version? Eternal on PC? Turbo Duo?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/223810/Ys_I__II_Chronicles/

I wish I had the original hardware and games.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

What was up with that bat/vampire boss before the Darm Tower I swear the hit detection is fucked.

[close]

1+2 Chronicles on PC is probably the best version of the games, but I have a soft spot for the soundtrack of the Turbo games.
Definitely give Origin and Oath in Felghana a playthrough next!

[D3RANG3D]

Been playing Ys1 I am on the Darm Tower part and I forgot all about the Dogi punching walls meme. 

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Dat soundtrack

[close]

Which version? Eternal on PC? Turbo Duo?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/223810/Ys_I__II_Chronicles/

I wish I had the original hardware and games.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

What was up with that bat/vampire boss before the Darm Tower I swear the hit detection is fucked.

[close]

1+2 Chronicles on PC is probably the best version of the games, but I have a soft spot for the soundtrack of the Turbo games.
Definitely give Origin and Oath in Felghana a playthrough next!

I really dig the PC-88 soundtrack that they have in the collection and I kinda started playing Oath and Origin yesterday. 

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I was listening to this last night. 

[close]