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Nice. Elminage Gothic is supposed to be the slightly better game from what I’ve read. Being able to grind through a dungeon on my 3DS while hanging out with the family has its benefits, however.

Also, I don’t think the mimic trap is intentional. You can fight them in the PSP version. Speaking of which...the PSP version received an extremely limited physical release in the UK. Only 300 copies were pressed, making it quite the collectors item...which I kind of want now...

Busted this out for the holiday week:

Extremely underrated and high IQ version of Ys. It actually uses button combat, so all the soibois that complain about the bump system should try it out.

How does the music and content compare to the pinnacle Turbo release? everyone tries to copy Yonemitsu’s mixing style but none rise to his level.

You and I both know that the TurboGrafx soundtrack is peerless.

The DS game does contain my favorite version of "Departure" though (that said, I don't think this track is in the older versions of the games anyway).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOAup8L5wmU

Freelancer - I am absolutely blown away by the ambition of this. There's apparently almost 150 planets to visit, and 3000 npcs. The problem with that is it becomes repetitive. Every conversation with an npc follows a basic script with slight variations. The side missions also seem to be procedurally generated, so it's always similar. At the beginning I had 3 of them in a row that were exactly the same. Still, when I play this in short 30-45 minute sessions I love it.

Link's Awakening DX - Going through the zelda series now since I want to make a ranked zelda games list (and I plan on getting a zelda tattoo sometime this year). I need to explore the handheld ones as I've yet to play them, and Minish Cap was one of the best zelda games I've played. This one is impressive as it's on a more "primitive" console and its time period. I am playing the DX remake, but apparently the only difference was the addition of colour. The thing that turns me off are all the mario references. I don't mind easter eggs, but they use so many mario enemies here that it just feels... off.

I will replay Red Dead Redemption soon as well. Red Dead Revolver was absolutely terrible. The animations were awkward, glitches were frequent, but it was the crosshairs that turned me off the most. It glows red when it's on a target, but it doesn't necessarily mean you'll hit them. This completely goes against your reflex because you WILL ALWAYS shoot when the crosshair changes colour. I then tried to play Gun. It is a definite improvement, and even if it's not a skateboarding game it does feel like a Neversoft game. It's cool to see the mechanics that Red Dead Redemption was inspired with from here (Rockstar inspired Neversoft who inspired Rockstar). The problem is that the world is simply not immersive. It's so empty, especially outside of the towns. When you talk to the npcs they are so lifeless with their repetitive animations, and they just stand in front of a building waiting for you to come. It's like an SNES-era JRPG with how they just stand there. There's also the fact that the world is tiny. I understand not having a huge world in this time period, but they perhaps could have made some "worlds" in hubs.

BoneSnapDeez wrote:You and I both know that the TurboGrafx soundtrack is peerless.

The DS game does contain my favorite version of "Departure" though (that said, I don't think this track is in the older versions of the games anyway).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOAup8L5wmU

You know, I think I actually prefer Mieko Ishikawa's contributions to the Ys musical landscape over Koshiro's. Ys III's soundtrack is balls-to-the-wall amazing and that was all Ishikawa and no Koshiro.

PretentiousHipster wrote:
Link's Awakening DX - I am playing the DX remake, but apparently the only difference was the addition of colour.

Oh dude, you're missing out! To celebrate the release in color, Link's Awakening DX introduced a hidden dungeon, known as the Color Dungeon. It's completely unnecessary to beat the game but has a nice benefit for getting through it. The secret dungeon was also included in the Switch remake.

PretentiousHipster wrote:
Link's Awakening DX - Going through the zelda series now since I want to make a ranked zelda games list (and I plan on getting a zelda tattoo sometime this year). I need to explore the handheld ones as I've yet to play them, and Minish Cap was one of the best zelda games I've played. This one is impressive as it's on a more "primitive" console and its time period. I am playing the DX remake, but apparently the only difference was the addition of colour. The thing that turns me off are all the mario references. I don't mind easter eggs, but they use so many mario enemies here that it just feels... off.

Sweet. I have the same goal, and only ten games to go:



Are you planning on playing the off-brand CD-I games? I think those will probably be the toughest for me to get through. (As you can see, a lot of the games on my list aren’t “real” LoZ games, but I’d like to play them anyway.)

Also, what are you planning for a tattoo? I was thinking about the Eye of Sheikah for some time, but I didn’t go through with it.

.....

On topic...My wife and I basically played through Her Story last night, but I still have a few more search terms I’d like to run before we wrap it up. We have the overwhelming majority of the videos, and we came to the the conclusion:



Inspired by Noise’s experience with the game, we made dinner, opened an OK bottle of wine, and played through it as a “date”. The acting and writing are very solid, and it’s easily the best FMV game I’ve ever played. Has anyone played the writer’s follow up, Telling Lies? I’ve read that it’s also very good.

I also continue to chip away at Elminage Original. I’m fifty hours in and waaaaaay over-leveled. (I am killing bosses in one hit.) I need to go ahead and wrap up the main story so that my party of master killers can advance to the (supposedly extremely challenging) post-game content. I also need to train up a servant and a summoner for some quests; so, I need to spend some time power-leveling a few new characters too. Thankfully, the game remains unpredictable enough that mapping the dungeons is still fraught with peril. Just yesterday, my master-level thief misidentified a trap, and the party was teleported into a solid wall, killing all of us instantly and forcing me to re-do about an hours worth of mapping and grinding. Fun times!

My wife’s heading out of town on a business trip for a few days starting Sunday, and you know what they say...”When the cat’s away, the mice will play [Alan Wake for a few hours every night].” Like the party animal that I am, I plan to start that very soon, and I will likely take a break from Elminage to dip into a bunch of other 2010 games.

I'm always playing something with my wife, we finished Children of Morta just before year's end and now we're playing one of the most enjoyable coop games we've ever played:
Heaven Ho

One of THE best indie of the generation so far

prfsnl_gmr wrote:

PretentiousHipster wrote:
Link's Awakening DX - Going through the zelda series now since I want to make a ranked zelda games list (and I plan on getting a zelda tattoo sometime this year). I need to explore the handheld ones as I've yet to play them, and Minish Cap was one of the best zelda games I've played. This one is impressive as it's on a more "primitive" console and its time period. I am playing the DX remake, but apparently the only difference was the addition of colour. The thing that turns me off are all the mario references. I don't mind easter eggs, but they use so many mario enemies here that it just feels... off.

Sweet. I have the same goal, and only ten games to go:

Link: The Faces of Evil, Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon, Zelda’s Adventure, Ocarina of Time Master Quest, Four Swords Adventures, Tri-Force Heroes, Hyrule Warriors, Twilight Princess Picross; Link’s Awakening (Remake); Cadence of Hyrule

Are you planning on playing the off-brand CD-I games? I think those will probably be the toughest for me to get through. (As you can see, a lot of the games on my list aren’t “real” LoZ games, but I’d like to play them anyway.)

Also, what are you planning for a tattoo? I was thinking about the Eye of Sheikah for some time, but I didn’t go through with it.

I do plan on playing most of the spin-offs, including the CD-I ones. I just know it's most likely going to be torture going through them. I also plan on replaying Hyrule Warriors which I loved (Dynasty Warriors fanboy here. If you want a dopamine rush and a power fantasy then those games are perfect), borrowing my partner's switch for Cadence of Hyrule, and maybe Link's Crossbow Training.

I just figured a ranked video would be cool for my youtube channel hobby, especially because the one with the most views now is honestly garbage. No criticisms as to why they are ranked this way, and only says the plot and the metacritic score.

I will have a controversial choice already, I honestly didn't like Wind Waker. The art style is absolutely fantastic, and I love how charming the characters are. The problem is the nitpicky controls. I noticed in the beginning when trying to pick up the pigs you have to be an EXACT distance away from them. Right in front of them is not good enough, and same with being too far away. Turns out the entire game is like this. I lost count with how many times I tried to pick up stuff or couldn't, or tried to open a treasure chest only to roll at it or away from it. It may be my fault, but I noticed this wasn't an issue with other Zelda games. There's also the fact that there's two escorting dungeons like in Ocarina's Jabu Jabu's Belly dungeon which were annoying, and apparently the game was rushed in the end, which explains the really annoying triforce shards part.

I will replay even the ones like A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, and Majora's Mask as I haven't played them in at least a decade. Since I had such a long hiatus with gaming my opinions on them may completely change.

I plan on getting the triforce with the wing design on my right hand. Visible tattoos are taboo, but I have some on my left hand already and managed to get a suit and tie job with it, well, before I was placed on disability. If I was able to get a white collar job with them then it shouldn't be an issue for me now when I'm seeking a part-time job.