This. The reviews never seem to add up for the FF series. I thought the same thing about 15. Not sure who all these mega fans are nowadays, but it’s not those of us were playing FF2 on snes back in the day and whatnot. I’ve wondered about review manipulation on Square Enix’s part though I could just be majorly out of touch. It is possible that people genuinely are seeing something there that I’m not.
I don’t know if I count as a mega fan, but I’ve been playing the FF series since FF1 on the NES. I loved FF1-FF9, but then I sort of lost interest in the series. I kept trying each new game, but they never really clicked for me.
Then I tried FFXV when it came out, and while it was a big departure from what the series was before, I loved it. It wasn’t perfect, but it finally clicked again for me. Same with FF7 Remake. I haven’t played FF16 yet, and I won’t until it comes out on PC, but I have a feeling I’ll like it.
I guess my point is, there are plenty of long time fans that are into the new games. And plenty that aren’t! I think the new direction is pretty polarizing.
@catfishman I'm a long time fan (6 & 7 my favorites, I know not very unique opinion) and have no interested into the newer games. From the reviews, looks like 16 is not for me (as 15 wasn't). Did you play 12? That is a very traditional Final Fantasy.
I played it a little bit of FF12, but I may not have given it enough of a chance. I remember losing interest when I had to set up all of the gambits for my party.
I wrote a longer reply on someone else’s comment. Mostly, I’ve been a fan since I was a kid and I’m less thrilled with the creativity, heart, innovation and originality in the series as of late. Tho, as you get older I suppose lots of things start seeming less exciting haha
It’s kind of a long standing quality of the series, since they are always trying new stuff that will resonate with different people. Outside of like actual FF2 (I assume you are talking about IV since you mention the SNES) I think I have heard people make a case for every FF being their favourite. Which is great, I am glad they try to shake it up every time.
Both of the projects Yoshida has been involved with I have been pretty lukewarm on though, so I am just a bit concerned if he is going to be the proverbial face of the series moving forward.
Yes, that was a ref to the weird choice to brand 4 as two in the US. Which I as a kid only later learned was what has happened
I can believe it. I’ve kinda figured I might just be settling into old person syndrome and thinking everything from my younger days was somehow better. I loved the series changing styles, vibes, characters, stories, worlds, etc., while some themes and elements remained the same. Nowadays tho, little changes and the stories and characters seems less and less compelling.
The thing with Yoshida is interesting because I feel exactly the same way, but I also changed opinion on his works over time.
I don’t know what changed, but Heavensward era FFXIV was pretty cool in both gameplay and story, and Stormblood too has some great moments (primarily in the 4.X patch quests) while being even better, gameplay wise.
Since then the gameplay has been going in a direction I really don’t care for, and the same goes for story (though Shadowbringers had some great moments). I couldn’t make myself finish Endwalker.
I’m curious if you experienced this shift as well or you just didn’t care for FFXIV from the outset.
I wasn’t a massive XIV fan at the outset, but there has definitely been a trend in the game design I didn’t like as it moved towards later expansions. They continually moved away from any kind of player agency/customization, so everything is super homogenized now (or at least when I last played). I stopped around the end of Shadowbringers, never actually got into Endwalker content.
They used to have cross-class skills and things like that, so it really felt like a FF job system where you would play different classes to unlock skills for your main. I think any FF player should be pretty comfortable with that. They have since simplified that, which I am sure is great for newer players but I don’t really like it. Now, if I am a level 80 warrior I am exactly the same as every other level 80 warrior, except for the number next to my item level. That kind of customization is a big part of both MMOs and FFs for me, usually.
They have definitely gone further down the path of homogenisation and simplification. I don’t actually mind customisation being sacrificed for better encounter balance, but many classes started to lose their identities as features and mechanics got scaled back, Dark Knight and Astrologian being two examples. And of course what they did to healers in general. Personally the removal of Hissatsu: Kaiten from Samurai was the last straw.
Killer soundtrack though, Soken does good work.
He does produce some bangers, but I’m such an unabashed Uematsu fanboy. I actually felt Soken did some of his best work remixing, building on and riffing off of Uematu’s themes and melodies, which is another reason I enjoyed the earlier expansions.
The Bioshock series supports a spellcasting-based play style with a decent skill tree.
CONTROL also involves a lot of eldritch force powers in its combat sequences
I know you didn’t really want sidescrollers or top-downs but Noita and Magicka are pretty great at delivering on the creativity of mage combat and scratch this itch for me.
This YouTube creator has published several quality videos what’s going on in Wizard Games lately, which is a quick way to catch up on the genre: youtu.be/quPKQIVEX5A
I’ve played Bioshock 3 a long time ago and while fun, it isn’t what I’m looking for in terms of magic. I’ve heard 1 and 2 are a bit more deep in this regard but afaik it’s still mainly a shooter. I’m currently playing Dishonored 2 and Bioshock seems more similar to that than to Hogwarts.
Control was something I’ve wanted to play for a while, mostly because of SCP-inspired story, I didn’t know anything about it’s gameplay. Will 100% check it out.
Currently Noita is my magic game and Hogwarts was in part attempt for variety. I’ve seen Magicka on steam and I dunno why, but it didn’t click for me.
Anyway, thank you very much for the recommendations!
I’m happy to see Sony bring PS3 games to PS5, though it’s not how I would’ve wanted. You’ll have some of Sony’s best PS3 games for sure, but for those games like Folklore you’ll need a PS3 (or Steam Deck, I haven’t tried emulating my copy yet). I also don’t like paying a subscription service to play the games that are already sitting on my shelf, but I’m the minority here as a lot of people I talk to like NSO and PS+.
My experience as someone who owns a HP Omen gaming laptop:
Not as portable and convenient as you may think. It weighs about 5 pounds, like a bag of potatoes. It uses a lot of power and needs to be plugged in if you want to play for longer than 45 minutes. The charger consists of a heavy cable a power block. I can however move it from the Study to the Living room if I wish to.
It boots up extremely quickly. I can go from power off to playing a game in about 5 minutes. I can exit a game and leave the power turned on, and then reopen the game and start playing within a minute.
It has a 2080 super graphics card which means I can play any game I want. I have never had any performance issues even playing games like Elden Ring on max settings.
It was expensive. Seriously look into refurbished options if possible. I got mine refurbished, works like brand new and have had no problems over the past 4 or so years. I saved about £3k doing this if I remember correctly.
I’ve never owned a cat myself but I have watched enough internet cat videos to know why they’re so popular. I plan to check out Stray at some point, but waiting for it to discount 50%+ before pulling the trigger.
Here’s one that most of you have probably not heard of. Monster Hunter Frontier.
MHF was a Monster Hunter MMO that ran from 2007 to 2019 and was exclusive to Asia. Recently, a dedicated team of community members have managed to revive it with community servers.
It is brutally difficult, only partially translated, and has some genuinely awful controls, BUT
It’s only around 6GB and completely free.
If for some reason you want to try it I highly recommend joining the rain server, as it is the most populated and stable one. They also have a setup guide for how to install on their discord server I recommend you use.
Came here to say Tinykin. Great game that nobody ever seems to talk about. Hard to recommend irl as well since the name makes it sound like a kid’s edutainment title or something.
I was actually being facetious. Maybe it seems like a throwback or whatever now, but back when DNF finally released, the “tiny player, big world” idea was rather played out. Duke Burger felt very dated and out-of-place in a game where you’re supposed to be this big macho badass because suddenly you can get stomped on or crushed by small kitchen objects. The level itself is a maze of almost entirely platform jumping puzzles and totally overstays its welcome. But I guess it looks kinda cool and does sort of break the monotony of a bad game.
Other games (and especially player-made maps) in the late 90’s did it much better. I especially remember custom levels for its predecessor, Duke Nukem 3D, that had a lot of fun with the shrunken player concept. HL and Quake too like you mention. Folks here also said de_rats in Counter Strike which might’ve been the pinnacle.
First thing’s first: Luciole is right. Making hardline categories doesn’t work and you’re better off coming up with properties games could have. But if we’re gonna go down this route:
Dwarf Fortress adventure mode is one among a few games (Stoneshard being another?) that go for… an open-world with fairly traditional rogueish mechanics?
Hardcore Diablo, alongside other ARPGs and stuff like Tales of Maj’Eyal and Rift Wizard, I’d call “skill rogues”? If we’re not gonna care whether they’re turn-based or not. Games where you have a bunch of skills to unlock with cooldowns and very little importance placed on map loot.
Calling everything that isn’t turn-based an “action rogue” seems wrong. Like, Barony? Sure it’s real-time, but it’s seriously the classic Roguelike experience, except in first-person and co-op now. It’s rad as hell.
Something you’re missing IMO is… sandbox-ness? Like the “skill rogues” don’t have a lot of systems that can interact in weird unexpected ways. Nethack is the quintessential systemic sandbox. More modern examples would include Spelunky and to a much greater extent Noita. There’s a lot of overlap with totally different genres here- Immersive sims inherit some of Nethack’s sauce, and so does Dwarf Fortress (as in Fortress Mode).
What the heck even are DoomRL and Jupiter Hell? They’re turn-based but built to almost feel like they’re not. I feel like they’re their own special thing in a way.
I literally just posted about a few of these in another thread. :)
Decent: Freespace and Freespace 2 are the best Space Fighter - Dog-Fighting Tactics games I’ve played. They still hold up to this day. And the voice-acting is great.
Dungeon Keeper and Dungeon Keeper 2 are also solid games, although more in the silly corner. Dig out a dungeon, build rooms to attracts creatures of the dark, train them and go to war against the foul knights and kings of the overworld.
The OG Fallout games are always worth a mention. Fallout and Fallout 2.
If you’re into old disturbing point and click puzzle games Sanitarium is a classic.
Or a bit more laid-back storytelling with mysteries, maybe? Then Oxenfree is worth looking into.
In the FPS category I recommend the Metro games. Well, the two first ones anyway. Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light. Stealth is optional, but advised. :p
I’d also be amiss not to mention Soma. It’s a scary game and a solid mindfuck at the same time. Approach with caution.
That’s my list for now. I hope there’s something in there you can use. :)
GOG’s version works for me straight out of the box. Other than that, there’s the High-Res patch and the general Patch. They are quite important on modern machines.
If you play on Windows, make sure both patches are installed. Then screw around with the High-Res patcher a bit, hopefully you can find the right setting. It will probably take a few attempts.
If you play on Linux, I sadly can’t help you as I never got Fallout to work in it. :/
If you’re thinking about the Fallouts, don’t forget all the Infinity Engine games (Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2, Icewind Dale 1 and 2, Planescape Torment), and Neverwinter Nights, and Pillars of Eternity 1 and 2.
And Shadowrun (Returns, Dragonfall, Hong Kong).
There’s a universe of amazing isometric RPGs out there.
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