What are you Playing?

Especially but not limited to pre-2000 titles
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kndy
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Re: What are you Playing?

Post by kndy »

Lately...PS3 - Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate and for Steam - Castlestorm - The Warrior Queen DLC and Animal Crossing/AiRace for 3DS
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greg
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Re: What are you Playing?

Post by greg »

I recently finally got around to hooking up several of my consoles. I think I have a few faulty S-Video selector boxes, which is unfortunate because those aren't manufactured anymore. I discovered that my Mega CD won't read discs anymore, so I ordered a replacement off of Amazon.com and will have my friend ship it to me. I'm not an electrical type of person at all, but it looks like swapping lasers should be a straightforward process.

I've been playing a lot of PC Engine games lately. I've accumulated a stack of games I've yet to play, so I sat down with several of them on Sunday. Kyukyoku Tiger didn't work, and rubbing the contacts with an eraser didn't work. Instead, I used a soft sanding sponge to clean the contacts, and it worked. I put up a video on YouTube about resurrecting old SNES games this way, and I was admonished on the RacketBoy forum for this practice and everyone said to use an eraser instead. Well, erasers don't work; sanding sponges do, and they are NOT the same as sandpaper! GRR!

I recently got Kyuutenkai (Fantastic Pinball) for the Saturn, and it is such a CUTE 2D, sprite-based pinball game! I also started a little bit on Princess Crown for the Saturn. I haven't played that game in so many years, and it was only for a short while.
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llj
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Re: What are you Playing?

Post by llj »

As much as I dig collecting for old consoles, I have to say those pre-PS1 CD-based consoles are very fragile and prone to wearing out quickly. I've found that I just have to resort to playing Sega CDs and PC Engine SCDs on my computer through an emulator.

I've found that a lot of Mega Drive games tend to need cleaning to get them to work, as many used ones are often sold without a case, so the contacts get dirty quickly. Pc Engine games usually had a little pouch to put them in, and broken cases are easily replaced by swapping the Hucard holders into a new jewel case.

I think it's been said that rubbing alcohol with a dry cloth is the best method to clean contacts. Rubbing alcohol evaporates quickly so it shouldn't damage the contacts or rust it. Usually just a good thorough wipe with a dry cloth have worked for me, though.
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Kame-Sen'nin
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Re: What are you Playing?

Post by Kame-Sen'nin »

I picked up a copy of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD for the Wii U this weekend, and the game has certainly handled the HD transition and the test of time very well!
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greg
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Re: What are you Playing?

Post by greg »

llj wrote:I think it's been said that rubbing alcohol with a dry cloth is the best method to clean contacts. Rubbing alcohol evaporates quickly so it shouldn't damage the contacts or rust it. Usually just a good thorough wipe with a dry cloth have worked for me, though.
Right. I should have mentioned this as my step 1 to get a game to work. However, even the bossy bears on Racketboy frown on using alcohol. Weird.
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yusaku
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Re: What are you Playing?

Post by yusaku »

I will be playing The Walking Dead and Lollipop Chainsaw today. I have bought them months ago and it is high time I played them. It will be after cello practice of course. ^__^
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llj
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Re: What are you Playing?

Post by llj »

There are so many PS2 games I have that have never been beaten. This console just has tons and tons of games for every genre. Not my favorite console but by far the best library of games for a console ever.

Right now I'm working on Suikoden 3 and I'm almost done the 3rd main character's story. This game is actually quite huge in scope, but there's a lot of backtracking. I'm enjoying it, but these super long games aren't replay friendly. After a 60+ hour game nobody wants to start it up a second time, no matter how good it was the first time.

It's a shame that Suikoden 2 is so ridiculously expensive, because I really want to play it someday. Need I regale everyone with the oft-repeated story of mine where I passed Suikoden 2 up for $20 once and then 6-10 months later the same store got another copy but then it was selling for $200? Still, I often do wonder if it's overhyped. I find that these super expensive and rare games tend to disappoint when you get around to playing them.

I really hate these game collectors who hoard certain games and don't even play them. People willing to pay ridiculous prices for them also doesn't help the market value for those of us poorer types actually wanting to play these games.
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greg
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Re: What are you Playing?

Post by greg »

llj wrote:Need I regale everyone with the oft-repeated story of mine where I passed Suikoden 2 up for $20 once and then 6-10 months later the same store got another copy but then it was selling for $200?
I think lots of us RPG and SRPG gamers have similar stories. I remember seeing Valkyrie Profile for PS1 for only $20 and I thought, "Nah, maybe next time." That one sure shot up in price. My friend said something similar as you when he said that it was overhyped and he didn't like it due to stat micro-managing. I actually don't mind that so much, since I did that a lot for the Super Robot Taisen OG games for the GBA. I'd still like to get the English version, but it is expensive. Although didn't it get re-released on the PSP? I'm so silly that I can't even remember if I have it or not. Maybe I am a hoarder, too. Not really though, because I do eventually get around to buying the games. The ones who are the rotten ones are the ones selling games for inflated prices. The dumb ones are the ones willing to pay them for it.

The exaspiratingly ironic thing is that in Japan, these games are cheap. You can find games like Final Fantasy 6 and Chrono Trigger complete in box for about 1,000 yen or less, IIRC. Suikoden 2 and Valkyrie Profile are cheap, too. In Japan, everyone plays RPGs it seems, so people sell them back to stores once they're done with them and these games' values drop considerably.
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llj
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Re: What are you Playing?

Post by llj »

All the Suikoden games have stat micromanaging, so it's not necessarily a turnoff if you're already into the series. But, sometimes when a game gets scarce, it builds up a myth that perhaps supercedes the experience. I bought SNES Chrono Trigger when it first came out (got it on release date) and while it was an undeniably great and carefully crafted game, I constantly felt it wasn't giving me the same experience that FF VI and IV did. I still don't rate Chrono Trigger in my top 5 because the myth never took shape for me since I was right there at the beginning and I didn't deify the game. But at some point the game took on such a reputation that most people put it as the best JRPG of all time now.

I remember the game magazines gave Suikoden 2 very good and solid ratings when it first came out, but it didn't take on the rep it has now until it shot up to $200 on ebay, which I find interesting.

And for years there was a consensus that Lunar 2 was better than Lunar 1 (the PS1 versions) and I didn't find that to be the case at all when I finally played Lunar 2 on the PS1. Game balance and some really weird challenge issues. I do think Lunar 2 for the Sega CD is just about as good a 16 bit JRPG as you could find out there, though.

Anyway, I finished Suikoden 3 and it took 80+ hours in total. I liked it quite a bit, but it's not for everyone because of some of the changes to the gameplay mechanics.
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greg
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Re: What are you Playing?

Post by greg »

I think maybe Lunar 1 doesn't get the love because the voice of that furry creature that Working Designs created was so godawfully annoying.

When I was getting into the SNES, I had no JRPG experience. I was a bit of a normaltard I guess, because the fighting as presented in Final Fantasy games seemed too abstract to me. The enemies line up on the left side, the good guys line up on the right side, and by waving one's sword in front of you, the enemy on the other side of the screen takes damage. I thought that was an odd way to represent battle, so I stayed away from it. I played other RPGs like Shadowrun and Secret of Mana, and then broke into Chrono Trigger. I thought that Chrono Trigger's battle system was very unique because it depended on the positioning of your characters. Enemies in a line can be struck with a charging slash, and those grouped together can fall victim to your area attacks. Grandia games were similar to this as well. My first Final Fantasy game was 7 (yes, I jumped on that bandwagon). I thought it was fantastic, but after playing the earlier games, I now realize it wasn't as great as 6, which IMHO, is the best one.

Right now I am playing through the first Legend of Heroes on the PSP. I've been slowly playing this game since October 2010. It wasn't as immediately interesting as some other RPGs, so it often fell to the wayside as I focused on other RPGs. It's gotten pretty good though at last, and right now I want to finish it before starting on another game.

Last night I watched some videos of Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky on the PSP and it looks very nice! I really like these 2D JRPGs the best. As with Japanese gaming in general, I really love the sprite-based, often cute, colorful graphics. While others may go for more realism and such, I prefer cute, colorful, cartoony looking games best.
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