Seeking Stimulation

Other Games
81

Snow Girl, I don’t know how you actually feel about RPGs, but I’ve noticed a few classic omissions from your lineup. First off, I need to echo the sentiment of the original Grandia, for either your Saturn (if you don’t mind importing) or your PS. It’s a lovely game, perfect for people that usually shy away from the genre. It is devoid of things like illogical/overly-complex development systems, angst, thousands of random battles/endless grinding, and myriad other faults the more typical examples of the genre possess. It’s an exceptionally warming, fun experience and feels like the game Miyazaki would make. I’m not actually partial towards anything else in the series, nor anything else GameArts did after Grandia. I feel it stands as the pinnacle of classic GameArts.

Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana are pretty essential if you have an SNES. For many of the same reasons as Grandia, actually. They’re fun, unpretentious, inventive, and they side-step many of the pitfalls that other genre examples so often don’t.

I could reccomend more (such as my all-time favourite game, Vagrant Story, and the Shin Megami Tensei games on PS2 are highly creative if one can stomach a grind), but I want to get a better feel for your tastes in regards to the RPG genre.

I’m going to echo Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. I respect a lot of Nintendo franchises for establishing certain ideas, but there really aren’t any first-party games from them in my lists because I feel they constantly get one-upped. For my money, anything 2D Metroid ever did, Symphony of the Night does better. Zelda is an ace foundation, that games like Skies of Arcadia (Dreamcast), Beyond Good & Evil (PS2, Xbox), and Okami (PS2) build upon to a much greater effect. And although Mario can be decent fun, it is merely the rough draft to Rayman 2: The Great Escape’s (Dreamcast version=the definitive) final copy. As a result of this, the only Nintendo console I care about owning is an SNES, for its wonderful third-party support: the 'cube is expenable, and I’m not yet sold on the Wii.

I can’t recall if it has been mentioned, but I feel that anyone who owns a PS2 owes it to themselves to play Ico and Shadow of the Colossus.

Also, I’m going through Metal Gear Solid 3 at the moment and it’s unrelentingly brilliant. It’s a gloriously-paced origin story, so if you have no previous experience with the series it is a PERFECT place to start. Its mechanics are wonderful, for the first time in the series the environments are organic and completely absorbing, and the plot finds a perfect balance between realism and fantasy and doesn’t get bogged down in its own cleverness like the almost aggrivatingly “post-modern” MGS2. In other words, to anyone turned off by the second game: MGS3’s writing is pretty damn good. I personally really enjoyed MGS2, but 3 is definitely shaping up to be its superior in the end. It took me this long to get around to it only because my previous copy would always freeze after a certain boss fight early on, so I’ve fiiiinally been making real progress since picking up the Essential Collection. That actually brings up another point: the Essential collection has recently released, which contains MGS1 for the PS1, and the director’s cut versions of MGS2 and 3 for the PS2, all in one collector’s box for $30. If you haven’t played them, now’s as good a time as any.

For the record, I don’t yet own a PS3, but a friend is perfectly willing to rent me his for as long as it takes me to finish MGS4.

EDIT: Just wanted to mention an all-out action title, since Ninja Gaiden was brought up. My favourite action game of all time is Kojima Productions’ Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner, for the PS2. I don’t care much for the first ZOE (it was a tech demo for the team to figure out how to run MGS2), but ZOE2 is an ultimate sequel and it requires no real knowledge of the first title. You can jump right in. I’ve never had a more exhilerating experience with a game in my life.

82

Grandia III on PS2 came so close to matching the charm of the original game, Character development and relationships were unusual and interesting, and although at first it may have seemed a tad cheesy, it soon revealed a much darker undertone.

Unfortunately, half way through Disc 1, two of the most interesting characters leave the party… this was a serious blow to the story, and the characters that replace them seem bland in comparison which is a shame, as character development is what Grandia I excelled at.

However GIII is still entertaining and worth a try and features some very nice musical nods to the original game (such a strange accordion arrange of the theme tune, and the “dinner” theme).

The combo system used in the Grandia III battle system is fantastic, when you attack with a combination of critical it goes into a series of animations that really visually demand attention, and makes it feel less like you are picking options from a menu.

As for Grandia, well unless Snowgirl is fluent in Japanese I’d recommend the PS1 version, however the Japanese Saturn version does have a much higher frame rate and game speed.

Also with Chrono Trigger, I recommend the PS1 version as the SNES version puts a large cock shaped hole in your bank account.

83

A lot of those little things come up apparently. They just didn’t seem to put their full thought into it. Was a brilliant idea and the ads were really well done as well but they could’ve done so much more.

84

[quote=“Chizzles”]
Also with Chrono Trigger, I recommend the PS1 version as the SNES version puts a large cock shaped hole in your bank account.[/quote]

I can’t acknowledge that version as an option in good conscience because of the horrific load times. Part of CT’s charm was its lack of random battles and insanely fast, varied game flow, and the PS1 version’s load times turn it into a boring, stilted mess. One of the worst ports I’ve ever come across.

85

Does turning the Fast CD mode on with the PS2 not improve the load times like it does on every other game?

In your defense I will say that the FMVs in the PS1 version look as good as DBZ, I will not go further than that.

86

Justin + Sue + Feena >>>> Cloud and his band of freaks

87

[quote=“Chizzles”]Does turning the Fast CD mode on with the PS2 not improve the load times like it does on every other game?
[/quote]

Not every game. To my memory it does not work with the CT port, just like how with my recent experience it does not work on the FFVI port in FFAnthology. I haven’t tried the FFV or IV ports, but I’m willing to bet it doesn’t work with them either.

88

[quote=“Alucard von Elru”]

?

Not every game. To my memory it does not work with the CT port, just like how with my recent experience it does not work on the FFVI port in FFAnthology. I haven’t tried the FFV or IV ports, but I’m willing to bet it doesn’t work with them either.[/quote]

Oh well, that sucks cock.

Squaresoft should have just emulated the SNES version for PS1, the console is certainly powerful enough to do so with a well optimized emulator.

Still, even with the long load times, given the price differential between the PS1 ($14) version and the SNES ($60 for cart only, anywhere up to $180 for boxed) version - the PS1 version is an acceptable way to experience the game for a fraction of the price. Even with long load times, the actual game in between the load times is the same…

Unless of course you can read Japanese, in which case the Japanese SNES version costs little, however unless you can read Japanese that is not really a logical decision at all.

89

[quote=“Alucard von Elru”]
Its mechanics are wonderful, for the first time in the series the environments are organic and completely absorbing, and the plot finds a perfect balance between realism and fantasy and doesn’t get bogged down in its own cleverness like the almost aggrivatingly “post-modern” MGS2.[/quote]

I hear people say that about MGS2’s story all the time. Am I the only one that liked how it got all bizarre and trippy (especially near the end)?

90

I never said I didn’t, per se. I’ve always been fond of MGS2 (I’ve been an ardent defender of it and Raiden on various sites for nearly seven years now). MGS1 was a smash hit, and the series could have been just another “popular” series after that. Kojima chose to go steadfastly against the mainstream expectations of his sequel by not only radically altering what was expected of it, but by shattering the fourth wall and really driving the theme of the game home: information manipulation in the digital age. Just about every single preview and word about the game before its release was a lie, and it’s no wonder it pissed so many people off. I think it was really bold of Kojima and co.

However, it’s my least favourite MGS for reasons (after my insane progress in MGS3 today, I can really safely say that). First off, powerful as the story and its themes may be, I feel the pacing is a bit “off” and because of the shock-value nature of the plot’s twists, and the plot’s tendency to get all wrapped up in how clever it’s being, the storyline itself doesn’t really lend itself well to repeated experiences. There are times where the plot isn’t as clever as it thinks it’s being, and things get so overblown when they didn’t really have to be. It’s not actually as confusing as Kojima would seemingly have you believe, and if you’ve experienced it one time you’ll have seen everything. I just don’t believe this nature of the plot lends itself well to replay. Contrast that to MGS1, which was so expertly-crafted and well-paced that to this day I am happy to re-experience it for the hundredth time.

Other than that, it has some minor gameplay foibles. I don’t think its boss battles are as good as MGS1 or 3’s, and they don’t feel as linked to the story either. They’re certainly memorable, but just don’t feel as strong. All MGS titles have a bit of back-tracking as their game worlds tend to be on the “small-but-detailed” end of things, but I think MGS2’s Big Shell took it to an extreme.

So yeah, not much to complain about. I feel MGS2 is the weakest in the pre-4 series, but that’s still saying it’s bloody brilliant when compared to 90% of everything else in the industry. I’m a pretty huge KojiPro fan, and they’ve yet to truly disappoint me with any of their awesome console outings (Well, except for the first ZOE which was really more of a tech demo/MGS2 testing thing anyway. The second game’s searing awesomeness more than makes up for it, though). MGS2’s story may not lend itself well to replay in my opinion, but its gameplay certainly did. I’ve played that game to death, from going through the Tanker and Shell a thousand times each to messing around with all of the VR missions… MGS2 is a tightly-engineered beast.

91

Metal Gear Solid games always broke the fourth wall, Metal Gear Solid 1 tells you to press the joypad against your arm to relax… and Psycho Mantis telling you to place the joypad on the floor. So it wasn’t really that new, in terms of breaking the fourth wall.

In MGS2, when the “Colonel” calls you and tells you that you have been playing the game for too long, it could actually be considered that he is not breaking the fourth wall, as at that point in the game you are inside the Memory banks of Metal Gear.

So in reality when you hear it you think he is talking to the player, however he is possibly talking to Raiden, who represents the inexperienced player in-game who happens to be “playing” inside the memory of Metal Gear, with the memory of Metal Gear representing the game itself?

92

I wouldn’t mind another Zone of the Enders. However since Jehuty fulfilled its mission in 2nd Runner, I’m not sure how a 3rd Runner would play out. I would also like to see a remake of Policenauts.

Uh. . .we’re hijacking another thread again, aren’t we?

93

Not “new”, but it took it to the greatest extremes. Again, the entire pre-game marketing campaign, hype, previews, etc, were all manipulated to cover up what the game was actually about. I think it was an extent not quite seen before or since, and it really drove the game’s main theme home.

@ dragoon lover: I wouldn’t mind a ZOE3 without Jehuty, actually. There are lots of Orbital Frames, and the ZOE series has successfully spun-off into anime and everything. I think they’ve proven the idea can work without just Jehuty, so I’m pretty sure that Kojima and Murata can make it brilliant again.

As for the hi-jacking: Probably. :confused: If Snow Girl tells me to shut up I will, but I’m hoping she gets something out of all this.

94

I’m only going to recommend five games here, based on your tastes, although I can post more if you’re interested. I recommend all of these games highly.

Shining Force III Scenario 1 (Saturn) - Excellent turn based strategy RPG. Unfortunately Parts 2 and 3 were never translated by Sega (does anyone know what happened to the fan translation - was this finished?). Definitely pick this up over the recent Playstation 2 incarnation of the series.

Dark Savior (Saturn) - An action RPG from Climax, creators of Landstalker. Battles play out like a fighting game, however the emphasis is on exploration and puzzles. The game features parallel stories depending on how fast you arrive at the Captain Cabin in the intro, which is a game feature I haven’t seen emulated in any other games.

Skies of Arcadia (Dreamcast/Gamecube) - You’d need to get a new console for this, but it’s well worth playing this game. It isn’t the most original game ever, but it’s a traditional RPG with a huge game world set entirely on islands in the sky, lovable characters, great graphics, and doesn’t take itself too seriously. The only major downside is the numerous random battles which you’ll tire of quickly. These were reduced in the Gamecube version, although that version does have worse sound than the Dreamcast version for some reason.

NiGHTS (Saturn) - A one of a kind (at least, until the Wii sequel was released). Since you’ve got a Saturn anyway you might as well play the original and if you like it give the Wii version a try afterwards. NiGHTS is a classic and should be played at least once by any Saturn owner.

ICO (Playstation 2) - A really atmospheric puzzle/adventure game. You play as a young boy and have to lead a girl could Yorda through a castle. Hardly any dialogue, but the storytelling is excellent none the less (much of the story is told through the gameplay, if that makes sense).

Actually, to add to these five, if you’re after action games it’s worth playing any game from Treasure. The games I’ve played through are Gunstar Heroes (Megadrive), Guardian Heroes (Saturn), and Ikaruga (Dreamcast), all which are of the highest quality.

95

There will be a larger variety of games in the future for the PS3. Right now the only two adventure games I can think of for the PS3 are Assassin’s Creed and Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. Then of course there’s Devil May Cry 4 and Metal Gear Solid 4. Little Big Planet is coming out for the PS3 and it’ll be a game that’ll defy genres.

96

I guess you could count Yakuza Kenzan as being an adventure game, however the fact it’s in Japanese might be a bit of a set back.

But still, considering the PS3 is a relativley new console I’m not sure I understand why people are complaining about lack of “original” or “quality” games for the system.

It is a case of… if you want an abundance of games to pick from when you first buy a system, buy the system later in its life cycle. =P

Either that or buy it at launch then wait…

97

Most likely cos they just paid a shit load of money for one =P and having nothing to play makes it one expensive paper weight.

98

The PS3 isn’t exactly new, as it’s been out for nearly two years. Considering most consoles have around five years before it’s successor shows up, the PS3 needs to pick up the pace, or it will risk becoming overshadowed by PS4 before it can show what it’s made of.

Not that there’s nothing good for PS3 right now. I just finished MGS4 and it’s all kinds of awesome. Best game on the system right now, easy. There’s also a handful of other great exclusives like Uncharted, Ratchet & Clank Future, Heavenly Sword, Motorstorm, and Folklore.

So yeah, there’s enough quality for now, but for almost a year, there wasn’t a lot to play on PS3. I think that anyone that says there’s nothing good on the system now, simply doesn’t have one.

99

Odin Sphere and Princess Crown are simply must own games.

The Saturn version of Princess Crown is a little rare so fetches $80ish, although this is how much you’d be spending on a turn quality new release anyway so it’s not a real issue. There is however a PSP version that is much cheaper.

100

Ditto on Odin Sphere. The slow down is forgivable. It’s simply a lavish game.