So, what you playing at the mo? Retro Edition

DaveyDave · 28-12-2020 10:54PM

Just finished Streets of Rage 4 for the first time, what's the story with the difficulty of the last level! Also the bosses are unusually difficult compared to the rest of the level. It's like two player amounts of enemies, but single player...

I enjoy when you're swarmed with enemies from all sides, like the final stage in the castle, and you manage to whoop ass jumping around them, but the sudden spike in difficulty on the last stage was a pain.

Played as SoR1 Axel, much easier! Looking at the controls there's a defensive move button that I just try.

The Last Bandit · 30-12-2020 04:09PM

Just finished 'The Last of Us 2', bought this when first released and not taken out of the drive since, just shows how much time I get on the PS4 these days. As for the game, very repetitive gameplay but solid enough piece of entertainment overall - storyline to the first one was much more to my liking though..

Playing a lot of point'n clicks on my ipad these days, almost finished the Broken Sword series on it.

And battling thru the Jedi Knight series on the Switch..

o1s1n · 30-12-2020 05:28PM

Bashing through lots of Saturn games now that I have the Fenrir loaded up with 32GB worth. It's such a brilliant device. Load times are excellent.

Was playing Dark Saviour this afternoon for a couple of hours. Whoever thought of making platform sections in an isometric RPG was an absolute sadist. :eek:, not incredibly difficult, just so so awkward and clunky. Visually I really like it though, interesting use of sprite scaling on 3D rendered backgrounds.

Inviere · 31-12-2020 01:21PM

I'm playing The Last of Us Remastered actually. There's something about linear story based games I just love, going back to the Half Life roots. Open world sandbox games can be good, but more often, it's just going from a to b to c, to a, etc.

The remastered version of TLoU is really well put together if you're into linear games. Love the story so far, music and voice acting are excellent, atmosphere is great, graphics great (playing on a Pro, opting for high frame rate rather than higher resolution).

I think the previous two Christmas's I've played Uncharted 1 and 2, so took a break from them this year.

Retr0gamer · 31-12-2020 01:41PM

It's the authoring of the game world and challenges I prefer in linear games. The game designer has full control of what happens.

Open world is very different. The best open world games fully embrace all the little systems working together to make interesting scenarios and give the player a tonne of choice. Stuff like botw and minecraft.

More often than not the open world is a nuisance you traverse between missions

Mr.Saturn · 31-12-2020 02:54PM

Inviere wrote: »

I'm playing The Last of Us Remastered actually. There's something about linear story based games I just love, going back to the Half Life roots. Open world sandbox games can be good, but more often, it's just going from a to b to c, to a, etc.

The remastered version of TLoU is really well put together if you're into linear games. Love the story so far, music and voice acting are excellent, atmosphere is great, graphics great (playing on a Pro, opting for high frame rate rather than higher resolution).

I think the previous two Christmas's I've played Uncharted 1 and 2, so took a break from them this year.

I played LOU for the first time a couple months expecting not to like it that much but really came away appreciating how damn tight the whole thing is. Like even at its most walkie and talkie, you're left with the sense the game has respect for your time and doesn't hang around longer than it needs. And, no, this is not something I could ever say about LOU Part II. There, couldn't resist a swipe at the low-hanging fruit on my way out.

Gradius · 31-12-2020 06:11PM

Just finished golden Axe on the arcade there. Was surprised by how short it was, but also surprised to see there's a different ending to the Megadrive version. All the characters burst out of an arcade machine and go running down a street. Neat!

Retr0gamer · 31-12-2020 06:52PM

The megadrive game expands on golden axe significantly even if it's missing some graphical pizzazz

Gradius · 01-01-2021 11:17PM

Retr0gamer wrote: »

The megadrive game expands on golden axe significantly even if it's missing some graphical pizzazz

Yeah it was a surprise all right. Need to get golden Axe 2!

Finally dusted off panzer dragoon orta for the Xbox and finished it for first time, very good all round, graphically it holds up nicely even on an lcd. Unlocked panzer dragoon 1 for the Saturn and even though it's easier than I remember it has some stonking music in there, same woman who did the soundtrack for silent Hill

Favourite is probably the first level boss music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW11LKNmpxg

Actually no, last boss music having just beaten it

the panzer games are strange, definitely have that cultish thing going on

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

o1s1n · 02-01-2021 10:20PM

Speaking of the Saturn, I was looking for a good RPG to get stuck into. Currently four hours into Shining The Holy Ark, never played it before. Really loving it so far!

Gradius · 02-01-2021 11:48PM

o1s1n wrote: »

Speaking of the Saturn, I was looking for a good RPG to get stuck into. Currently four hours into Shining The Holy Ark, never played it before. Really loving it so far!

Yeah pretty good one!

Try shining force 3.

It was only released in Europe as chapter 1, with 2 and 3 released only in Japan. But there are translation patches for the other two now, so fully playable. That'll keep you going for like 6 months

o1s1n · 03-01-2021 12:19PM

Gradius wrote: »

Yeah pretty good one!

Try shining force 3.

It was only released in Europe as chapter 1, with 2 and 3 released only in Japan. But there are translation patches for the other two now, so fully playable. That'll keep you going for like 6 months

Never occurred to me to give fan translations a go on this Fenrir thing!

Can finally know what the feck all of that dialogue in Assault Suit Leynos 2 I've been impatiently skipping through for years says

Edit - ah balls I don't think it was ever translated. Boo!

Haven't played any Shining Force games after 2 on the Megadrive so will definitely give that a whirl.

Gradius · 03-01-2021 01:08PM

Policenauts and (I think) snatcher were translated too. Patch a disc and then get a repro pal case, looks nice

It's great playing them with the lightgun too

Retr0gamer · 03-01-2021 02:19PM

Saturn is full of great rpgs that haven't been translated. I played a lot of shining force 3 but it's a bit slow compared to the megadrive game with all the loading so didn't enjoy it as much and got distracted.

Not a lot made it to the west are bernie stollar blocked them all. Albert odyssey is a bit dull and slow. Magic knight rayearth is great although it's barely a rpg.

Dragon Force is brilliant but you will need to read up about how to play it.

Wachenrodder is really good and has a translation that is unfortunately text only so a bit of a pain to follow.

Linkle liver story got a fan translations. Supposedly it's amazing.

Love shining the holy ark. It was far and away the best wizardry style game until etrian odyssey came and totally reinvented the genre.

briany · 03-01-2021 11:18PM

Bit of a strange one, this, but Nagano Winter Olympics '98 on the PS1. For the most part, it's a pretty damn mediocre game, but it has one saving grace: curling. It's the only console game I have yet tried which has a realistic curling simulator. If you have mates around, I strongly encourage you to give this one a go based on the amazing fun that is 2-player curling.

Retr0gamer · 04-01-2021 12:03AM

briany wrote: »

Bit of a strange one, this, but Nagano Winter Olympics '98 on the PS1. For the most part, it's a pretty damn mediocre game, but it has one saving grace: curling. It's the only console game I have yet tried which has a realistic curling simulator. If you have mates around, I strongly encourage you to give this one a go based on the amazing fun that is 2-player curling.

Might be a hard sell when you struggle to get mates to play Bishi Bashi

o1s1n · 04-01-2021 01:14AM

Wife; 'why do you need so many controllers?'

Me: ' for multiplayer!'

Wife: '...but you always play your old games alone...'

Me:

briany · 04-01-2021 01:40AM

o1s1n wrote: »

Wife; 'why do you need so many controllers?'

Me: ' for multiplayer!'

Wife: '...but you always play your old games alone...'

Me:

Probably the worst aspect of modern gaming is that it has become such a solitary experience. Even when you're playing with other people, they're probably remote, and that's just not the same as being on the couch next to you.

o1s1n · 04-01-2021 11:21AM

briany wrote: »

Probably the worst aspect of modern gaming is that it has become such a solitary experience. Even when you're playing with other people, they're probably remote, and that's just not the same as being on the couch next to you.

Yeah I remember years ago, playing local multiplayer with friends on consoles, imagining how much cooler it would be in the future when everyone was gaming together online.

Little did I realise at the time that those local multiplayer games I was having with friends were actually the pinnacle of the multiplayer experience.

Retr0gamer · 04-01-2021 11:28AM

Nothing beats local multiplayer with mates. Online multiplayer just feels like a hollow experience. Even with mates it feels like a chat room where you play a game in.

As for games I'm playing, still ploughing through the mega man series. Finished Mega Man X2 which I might actually prefer to the first game. Went back to the classic series and playing Mega man 7 now.

briany · 04-01-2021 02:59PM

o1s1n wrote: »

Yeah I remember years ago, playing local multiplayer with friends on consoles, imagining how much cooler it would be in the future when everyone was gaming together online.

Little did I realise at the time that those local multiplayer games I was having with friends were actually the pinnacle of the multiplayer experience.

Occasionally on a show like Gamesmaster you would see a tech feature segment where they talked about some new online gaming service and it seemed very exotic at the time. Oddly, Dominik Diamond had some prescience about the loneliness of such a way of playing, jokingly describing it in the voiceover as suitable for someone with no mates.

Shapey Fiend · 04-01-2021 03:35PM

I'm partial to a little online play but it can become a bit of a colossal time sink if you want to get good enough at a game to get the most out of the community aspect.

With local multiplayer my problem is it can be hard find common ground. Maybe 15 years ago I used to play a lot of Street Fighter II with a flatmate, and after that I played a ton of Mashed with another guy.

I'm quite pressed to think of a good 2-player game to play with my son. He doesn't really like scrolling fighters and vs fighters. Maybe when he's older.

briany · 04-01-2021 04:55PM

Shapey Fiend wrote: »

I'm partial to a little online play but it can become a bit of a colossal time sink if you want to get good enough at a game to get the most out of the community aspect.

With local multiplayer my problem is it can be hard find common ground. Maybe 15 years ago I used to play a lot of Street Fighter II with a flatmate, and after that I played a ton of Mashed with another guy.

I'm quite pressed to think of a good 2-player game to play with my son. He doesn't really like scrolling fighters and vs fighters. Maybe when he's older.

It would be harder now to find common ground because there's so much choice and games are so easy to get. In the old days, you just focused on whatever was physically there.

Inviere · 04-01-2021 06:14PM

briany wrote: »

Occasionally on a show like Gamesmaster you would see a tech feature segment where they talked about some new online gaming service and it seemed very exotic at the time. Oddly, Dominik Diamond had some prescience about the loneliness of such a way of playing, jokingly describing it in the voiceover as suitable for someone with no mates.

I done a GamesMaster marathon about a year or so ago, thoroughly enjoyed it. I watched it religiously growing up, & weirdly, the big news & features on it were still exciting to watch today (from an enthusiast perspective.) Diamond was just brilliant on it, & the infamous tension between himself & Perry is tangible on screen on times (most notably the famed Christmas special.)

Bad Influence was another great show too, from the same era. More tech focused, but still very enjoyable. There's something still so interesting about watching 30 year old segments on a "new" Amiga game!

briany · 04-01-2021 07:06PM

Inviere wrote: »

I done a GamesMaster marathon about a year or so ago, thoroughly enjoyed it. I watched it religiously growing up, & weirdly, the big news & features on it were still exciting to watch today (from an enthusiast perspective.) Diamond was just brilliant on it, & the infamous tension between himself & Perry is tangible on screen on times (most notably the famed Christmas special.)

Bad Influence was another great show too, from the same era. More tech focused, but still very enjoyable. There's something still so interesting about watching 30 year old segments on a "new" Amiga game!

Those features are exciting to watch because they often featured things which never really got mainstream traction, at least not in the form they took. So, they look kind of exotic even now.

Never did get to the bottom of why Diamond didn't like Perry. The antipathy even before the xmas special, I mean.

Inviere · 04-01-2021 11:03PM

briany wrote: »

Those features are exciting to watch because they often featured things which never really got mainstream traction, at least not in the form they took. So, they look kind of exotic even now.

Never did get to the bottom of why Diamond didn't like Perry. The antipathy even before the xmas special, I mean.

I think Diamond felt Perry was perhaps arrogant and full of himself and his own gaming skills...that's why he took such delight during the failure in the Christmas special. Truthfully I enjoyed Perry on the show, from memory he came across well and Diamond's constant jibes at him were perhaps uncalled for. That said, who the hell knows what went on behind the scenes.

o1s1n · 04-01-2021 11:11PM

I think there was also an element of arrogance from Diamond too, he really did start to think it was the Dominik Diamond show.

Perry for all his over the top-ness, did really care about videogames being represented properly in the media and I believed he put in a lot of work to get the show off the ground and going behind the scenes.

I've read that by the time that famous Christmas show came about, Perry felt like they were all trying to get rid of him from the show and the Mario fiasco was done to set him up and make him look like an idiot. (which he fell hook, line and sinker for)

Who knows! For all Perry's arrogance, I still feel there's an honesty to it and really like the guy as a result of that. Dominik Diamond I thought was great back in the day, but on rewatches comes across as a bit of a prick.

DaveyDave · 05-01-2021 12:16AM

Quiet night at work, that means dusting off the PSP for some more Ridge Racer.

Just thinking back to how different things where when the PSP came out. Simpler times!

briany · 05-01-2021 02:53AM

o1s1n wrote: »

I think there was also an element of arrogance from Diamond too, he really did start to think it was the Dominik Diamond show.

Perry for all his over the top-ness, did really care about videogames being represented properly in the media and I believed he put in a lot of work to get the show off the ground and going behind the scenes.

I've read that by the time that famous Christmas show came about, Perry felt like they were all trying to get rid of him from the show and the Mario fiasco was done to set him up and make him look like an idiot. (which he fell hook, line and sinker for)

Who knows! For all Perry's arrogance, I still feel there's an honesty to it and really like the guy as a result of that. Dominik Diamond I thought was great back in the day, but on rewatches comes across as a bit of a prick.

I've never heard Perry deny that he asked for the answers to the trivia questions, so I tend to believe Diamond's version of events on that Christmas special.

Diamond originally wanted to be a host on the Word and also wanted to move the show to a late night slot where it could be like Eurotrash. Might explain the darker, edgier persona Diamond took on later in the show's run.

Have to say, though, working as a games journalist in the 90s looked like a blast. If it were made into film, I imagine one that featured a lot rave music, britpop, Wipeout on the PSX and boozy, druggy junkets to game expos in Vegas.

Retr0gamer · 05-01-2021 10:20AM

Yep it sounded like an absolute blast. Reading those future publishing magazines back in the 90's you could tell they were all having a blast working where they were. I imagine there were some sessions and nights out.

While it was on the warning a huge podcast guys had some crazy stories back from their GameFan days. They weren't involved but apparently some of the GameFan staff were all sharing a prostitute between games on Yoshi's Island in a Las Vegas Hotel during the very first E3. They also had a Street Fighter Alpha machine that was locked away by the boss as it was affecting work. The guys climbed through the ceiling to get into the room it was in and fell through the ceiling Breakfast Club style. And another story about how the publisher avoided having the building closed when a fire inspection came along by building a temporary wall to block off the rest of the building to pretend it didn't exist.

So, what you playing at the mo? Retro Edition

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