Random Gaming Thoughts

[MrPopo]

So I've put a couple hours into ReCore and I'm digging it so far. You can definitely tell that it's got the Metroid Prime guys working on it; your aim is heavily deemphasized in favor of a lock on system, platforming is extremely solid and fluid, and there's some beam switching complete with status effects. My poor performance at the PAX demo was 100% due to the default controls being wrong for both axes of the right stick. The stick's supposed to move the camera in relation to your character in a third person game.

[PartridgeSenpai]

Was looking around the Japanese eShop today, and came across their current #1 best selling non-card game, Sabaku no Nezumidan, which roughly translates to Desert Mouse Gang. You're a bunch of mice going around the desert really slowly in a tank, trying to survive and get to some kind of goal (my listening skills on the trailer weren't that great Xp). I just thought it looked pretty neat, because you operate everything via the touch screen by viewing a cross-section of the tank, so you tell the mice what to do and where to go and when in a kind of Fallout Shelter kind of way (except this one is more of a game ;p).

[Gunstar Green]

I'm kind of the same way as Bone. If I want an old game, I'll opt for whatever is cheap or easiest to me. If it's on GOG or Steam and I don't have to deal with tricky installs - great. Otherwise, I hunt down a physical copy. If I want a new game, I tend to go for what's cheapest physical or digital.

That's why I never really got into collecting for PC. Digital stores have made it so easy to play these old games without have to mess around with DOS Box myself unless I want to and not have to hunt down compatibility patches for old Windows games. They're right there in my Steam/GOG and ready to go without any headaches. I've bought a lot of old PC games that I actually do own physically just for the convenience.

There's also the case of games that are on hardware that I don't want to collect for and would have no place for even if I did.

I'm also pretty much done collecting in general. I think I bought maybe two physical games in 2016. For me though, a lot of the fun was in the hunt and it's not the same out there at flea-markets as it used to be, at least not for people who are into collecting pre-PS2 stuff, if you're into PS2 and beyond then now is your time.

[noiseredux]

That's why I never really got into collecting for PC. Digital stores have made it so easy to play these old games without have to mess around with DOS Box myself unless I want to and not have to hunt down compatibility patches for old Windows games. They're right there in my Steam/GOG and ready to go without any headaches. I've bought a lot of old PC games that I actually do own physically just for the convenience.

the vast majority of my physical PC collection is stuff that was never released on GOG/Steam.

[BoneSnapDeez]

That's why I never really got into collecting for PC. Digital stores have made it so easy to play these old games without have to mess around with DOS Box myself unless I want to and not have to hunt down compatibility patches for old Windows games. They're right there in my Steam/GOG and ready to go without any headaches. I've bought a lot of old PC games that I actually do own physically just for the convenience.

the vast majority of my physical PC collection is stuff that was never released on GOG/Steam.

I'd say this is technically true of myself as well.

However, the vast majority of retro PC games that I consider "good" are on GOG.com or Steam. WRPG is generally my favorite PC genre.

And yeah, the biggest physical vs. digital disparity for me is with PC games. If I'm looking at, say, a $70 NES game I may flip-flop a few times in regards to whether I want to pony up the dough or just download it from the eShop. But messing with old 3.5" floppies vs. GOG.com? For me that's a no-brainer.

[PartridgeSenpai]

That's why I never really got into collecting for PC. Digital stores have made it so easy to play these old games without have to mess around with DOS Box myself unless I want to and not have to hunt down compatibility patches for old Windows games. They're right there in my Steam/GOG and ready to go without any headaches. I've bought a lot of old PC games that I actually do own physically just for the convenience.

the vast majority of my physical PC collection is stuff that was never released on GOG/Steam.

The only PC stuff I have is stuff I get for free. That's actually a decent bit (like 10+ games), all things considering. The game resale store near me doesn't buy PC games, but if people just want him to take them, he does and he just puts them in a free bin "as is." If it's ever anything I'd consider myself playing, I usually snatch it up, because it never seems like anyone else around here cares about PC games (or at least things that have a disc drive Xp).

[pierrot]

The Thief was an addition to the remakes. It's not in the NES version. I remember using them in the GBC version, but I don't particularly remember why they're broken compared to the rest of the classes.

I do know that I almost always choose a Fighter over the Soldier, the insane speed + hitting power once criticals are factored in make them an excellent choice, they're cheap to maintain, and the remakes give them a few more claw weapons to use, bringing them up a bit more than the NES release. They were still good, there, too, but the last piece of equipment you'll use for them there is the Iron Claw, because the Golden Claw is cursed and will see you encounter an enemy every single step. This isn't the case in the SNES version, though, if you can get out of the pyramid with it, you're golden.

The thief class gets speed in buckets on level up, which correlates to additional defense in a 2:1 ratio, I believe. Without really knowing anything about the classes, initially, I started with a hero, fighter, thief, and priest. Pretty soon my thief had the most defense of any of them, and the gap only widened. I finished the game with a thief and two sages, but they all went through the thief class at some point. Apparently the biggest mistake I made in forming my party was allowing any of them to be male, since the gendered equipment, and personality types favor female characters.

Which reminds me: I'm aware that it's not part of the NES version, but I did not like the personality system that was added to the SNES version. The board game houses were kind of fun, though.

[marurun]

You know, there are some games, like No One Lives Forever (NOLF), for which the rights are in limbo and unlikely to ever be cleared up, and as a result, they'll never see a GoG or Steam release.

[isiolia]

You know, there are some games, like No One Lives Forever (NOLF), for which the rights are in limbo and unlikely to ever be cleared up, and as a result, they'll never see a GoG or Steam release.

I'm sure some won't be, but for better known games like that, I figure it's a matter of time. Wasn't System Shock 2 in that situation at one point?

I bought (and played through) the NOLF games when they came out either way. Just saying, that's a commonly cited example, with writeups praising it around the internet. It probably wouldn't be a hard sell to get the rights, if/when they're established, since it'd make money.

[MrPopo]

System Shock and System Shock 2 were owned by an insurance company. The problem with NOLF is that there's three companies who might own the rights but none of them are sure and none of them are willing to take the time to dig into it.