So, what you playing at the mo? Retro Edition

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120210700#Comment_120210700

I'm on the last bit which has a lot of sailing. I even have the swift sail thingy on the Wii U version. Must finish it up soon.

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120212581#Comment_120212581

I really liked that meme fad a few months ago where they stuck Linkin park inappropriately into poignant videogame moments and ruined them as if they were made in 2005.

CiDeRmAn

So, what we really, really want is a Dark Souls/ LoZ mash up...

Hyrule Souls...

Have to say, I would play the sh1t out of that!

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120214323#Comment_120214323

I kind of scoffed at the idea of a super adult blood and guts Zelda game earlier in the thread but after thinking about it, an incredibly Dark version of Zelda, styalised along the lines of Dark Souls might be interesting. Or would it just be Lord of The Rings? 😂

CiDeRmAn

Well, I don't know...

LoZ has incredibly well described and, I might say, expected areas, from Hyrule Castle to the Deku Tree, from Death Mountain to Zora's Domain, you can see equivalent environments from the Souls games could slot right in, and make a dark as pitch LoZ game.

Lord of the Rings wouldn't work, too much walking!

Mr.Saturn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120214480#Comment_120214480

Elden Ring comes to mind immediately.

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120215117#Comment_120215117

Zelden Ring? It writes itself! 😁

johnny_ultimate

"I'm sorry but the loathsome Dung Eater is in another castle"

(I know I'm mixing up my Nintendo franchises but I don't care 😆)

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120215140#Comment_120215140

I can see the website headlines already:

Is Zelden Ring the Dark Souls of Zelda?

CiDeRmAn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120215535#Comment_120215535

Zelden Ring: Blood Moon Borne

Retr0gamer

Right need to get this off my chest.

found Crash Bandicoot 2 to be a perfectly cromulent platformer. I thought it was far from a masterpiece PS1 fanboys made it out to be but decent enough.

Well I got to the last few stages last night and I can safely say **** anyone that says this is a great game. It just got mean and obnoxious and to make matters worse if you are going for secrets it manages to break everyone of it's own rules.

Also if I ever meet whoever designed the green nitro crates I will physically assault them. Whoever thought it was a good idea to have the hop off the ground at random thus running the no death run you needed to get 100% crates in the level can burn in hell.

o1s1n

Absolutely spoiled for choice at the moment with games.

Started Persona 4 again a few days ago, also started Hogwarts Legacy - now just read Metroid Prime is out today on the Switch and Zelda TOTK is due out in May? Oh and an Advance Wars remake in April?

WHERE AM I GOING TO FIND ALL THE TIME FOR THIS 😮

/Edit - and now I've heard there's a Castlevania/Dead Cells mash up game coming out too??

Retr0gamer

Yep, each announcement at that Nintendo direct last night had my wallet groaning.

o1s1n

I'm starting to think I might need to fake my own death to actually get the time to play through it all 😁

Retr0gamer

So what do you do after coming from Crash 2 traumatised?

Jump into Crash 3...

Not sure why I did but I've stuck with it. It's still got the flaws of the uninteresting level tile sets and boring enemies but it's so far a lot better and fairer game. Over the halfway point already. We will see if it ends up breaking me in the later stages.

Mr.Saturn

Tapped out at Crash 3 last year after trying the series for the first time. Maybe burned out on the series too quickly but 3 felt a bit immediately gimmicky in a way I generally dread with 3rd entries.

On my playlist, there's Dragon Quest 7 remake on the 3DS. Haven't been well recently so it's the perfect combination of almost episodic anime with a grindy system bolted onto it, so it's ideal distraction to pass the time at the minute. Pace is slow, which is fine, but it's quite the novelty to see a jobs system only introduced after 20+ hours.

Finally finished Burnout Revenge on the 360 there as well. These Burnout games seem to always end on an anti-climax because you end up cheesing the final missions to unlock the Elite license. You don't feel particularly triumphant eeking out 3rd on a challenge because you've learned exploit the blindspots of the rubberbanding AI versus, and hear me out, just being good at the game. Wonderful games all the same, if not a bit drawn out for its own good but it's not the first racer to be guilty of that (here's looking at you Outrun 2006).

Retr0gamer

I'm finding Crash 3 good, but the racing stages are really poor. Also the new abilities you get after each boss feel like you are breaking the game. I'm over the halfway mark now. I really don't get the requirements for unlocking the 5 'secret' areas. It's all just based on getting the time trial ankhs but the bottom tier sapphire ankh is valid for the unlock and seems to be doled out as a participation trophy so all you are doing is playing all the levels twice.

The Nal

Still a great game

Inviere

Finally got around to finishing Max Payne on the PC (Steam, widescreen patch, hi resolution texture mod)....I've so much nostalgia for games/graphics of this era that I'm definitely biased when I say it holds up fine. It's a bog standard 3rd person action game, but the soundtrack, narration, and of course the snow....all come together to make it a bit more than the sum of its parts (for me). Great game.

Retr0gamer

Speaking of old PC games I started playing Deus Ex Invisible War.

Pain in the arse to get running, the game has conflicts with near everything in Windows which means it hangs on loading into the game from the menu.

Anyone interested in playing, my work around is to open task manager, open the game, let it hang loading then ctrl alt del and sign out. The sign out will end all tasks in the background but task manager will hold up the sign out enough so you can cancel it. The game will work on the next boot.

Anyway Invisible War was the game that gave us consolised games, games that are ham strung by being made for console. There's a lot of concessions made here that negatively affect the game compared to the original. The levels are tiny and there's a huge amount of streamlining such as having universal ammo. Some of it though is for the better. You've to make harsh choices in your biomods which is very interesting and it's nice that keycodes are entered automatically.

The biggest issue with the game is that it's constantly compared to the first game. While it doesn't live up to it taken on its own terms it's a really great immersive sim. There's plenty of deus ex style choices and multiple ways to approach challenges and the quests seem really fun. Once you get out of the pretty lame tutorial section it becomes a lot of fun.

The graphics have aged a lot but it has that stencil shadow look that was pioneered by Doom 3 which I still think is very effective and a damn sight better than the more accurate real time shadows that render in massive macro blocks we had to put up with until recently.

DaveyDave

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120253280#Comment_120253280

Even without mods I remember it looking pretty decent with modern resolutions. Games of the early/mid 2000s can hold up fairly well on PC if there's not too much going on texture wise.

I just missed the original two on sale, think it was something like €4.50 for them back up to €15 now. Never cared too much for them when I played them so I'd like to give them a shot.

Likewise with 3, I liked it when I first played it but it didn't stand out and wasn't memorable. When I revisited it last year on 360 I really enjoyed it, currently playing through it again on my Steam Deck and still really liking it. I know it's not as well received as the first two but I enjoy it for what it is and it makes me want to revisit the originals.

Have them on PS2 but from what I recall the controls are clunky and they don't run too well.

Inviere

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120256213#Comment_120256213

They're often on sale, and given their age, it's worth holding out for a sale price. I did play through 3 closer to release, can't really remember much of it tbh but I'd like to have another go at it at some stage.

Worztron

New C64 & Speccy roms.

Examples, C64 - Lester, Zuma [Balls Like a Frog], etc.

Examples, Zx - Super Bomberman 2 Remix, Ganimedes, etc.

8-bit bliss!

:-)

Tom Mann Centuria

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120260100#Comment_120260100

The Spanish and the former Soviet Union are the MVPs when it comes to ZX Spectrum games, some of the stuff they continue to churn out is incredible.

CiDeRmAn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120260100#Comment_120260100

That's incredible!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MouCfs3anx8

Retr0gamer

Can someone please explain how that speccy game has actual good music?

CiDeRmAn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120260390#Comment_120260390

I believe it is running on the 128k Speccy, so the console can do more than modulate beeps

KeRbDoG

Yup, the 128k(s) had a AY-3-8912 sound chip which was also used in the Amstrad CPC to the MSX.

Most remember playing games on the 128k, games like the Dizzy series - the 48k game loading period would past and you then have to wait for the music elements to load :)

SuperBowserWorld

The Switch reminds me of the Speccy. PS5/Series X is Commodores 64. Devs have to work miracles to port stuff to it.

Tom Mann Centuria

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120260543#Comment_120260543

Spectrum nerds grinding their teeth everywhere at the use of the word console :pac:

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120260881#Comment_120260881

Speccy being a Switch fair enough but the breadbin a PS5? Harrumph.