Still grinding Hades 2. Just like the original Hades the game just keeps throwing new stuff at you, so you keep playing. One thing I do find weird tho is how quickly I managed to unlock the different weapons. And also that the initial staff weapon is by far my favorite, so every weapon unlock thereafter felt a bit underwhelming. I guess it makes sense that they provide you with the most all-round weapon first.
Final Fantasy X. Hands down the best entry of the franchise (fight me)
I never finished X, it felt like it was dragging on and there were too many unskippable scenes.
I actually preferred XIII, which I nearly 100%'d (I think I was one or 2 combats away from 100%) and even XIII-2 which I enjoyed, tho I thought the “post-game” was too heavy with loading screens. I never played XIII-3 (Lightning Returns).
In any case, FF VI is actually the best entry in the franchise. I know that because I played and beat it as a child. (/s)
(I was really hoping FF XV [?; road trip with the boy band] would be good, but I played about 10 hours and had nothing good to say about it.)
FF7 was my entry into the franchise, and I went back to play 4-6 after 8 left me disappointed. I ended up (regretfully) skipping 9 until revisiting it much later. I’m saying this specifically to point out that I am not biased because FFX was my first.
I skipped XI as MMORPGs didn’t hold any interest to me at the time - but WoW would change that, and cause me to skip XII altogether!
I didn’t like the combat of XIII, it was too much of a departure of what came before (variants of ATB and general turn-based combat) - and I did not find the plot engaging enough to persevere much beyond I think the ~10hr mark?
I haven’t bothered to revisit the newer entries since, even though I have added XII, XIII, XIII-2 & Lightning Returns to my retro collection. Perhaps one day?
I thought I wasn’t going to like the combat of XIII, but I ended up really quite enjoying it most of the time. I thought the support roles AI was quite good, and eventually I figured out a rhythm of switching roles that felt really good.
But, I probably should go back and play some of the 7-9, maybe even X again. I picked up 2, 3, and 5 (and the portable Nintendo consoles to play them) and never made the time to play them.
I know some are on Steam, but I’m on Linux and I don’t know how well the Proton/SteamPlay works with them. (Plus, I need to finish up Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 before I buy yet another JRPG.)
According to protondb.com the entire Final Fantasy catalogue is pretty much flagged as either Gold or Platinum so you shouldn’t have issues.
For what it’s worth, the console versions also run great through EmuDeck and RetroDeck on my Steam Deck too!
I need to get around to playing Clair Obscur - I’ve seen and heard great things about it, but with a 2yo running around the house - I just don’t have the bandwidth currently to invest in new games… 😅
I strongly recommend Dark Cloud and Dark Cloud 2. DC2, to my memory, could have aged well, but DC1 might be a rough play if you’re not in the headspace for a game of that era. I haven’t played them in an age, though.
Otherwise, I find that Kingdom Hearts (and KH2 in particular) aged very well. KH2 just feels really good to play.
As for Final Fantasy, if you have a wild hair to play just one, you’ll get a dozen different opinions. However, since essentially every game plays with new universes and new gameplay mechanics, you really do get a fresh start with each one.
DC2 is absolutely a must play. Its a ridiculously big game though, be warned. You’ll be deep into the latter chapters with the game still throwing new mechanics at you like “omg, I have to play golf in dungeons now too, and fishing, and base building, and photography, and and and and”
I kind of do reccomend a guide for it as there’s some permanent misables.
From my memory, the misable stuff isn’t the important, but it is frustrating to not be able to get. I would say if you aren’t worried about missing a few unlocks, just accept that you’ll miss stuff and don’t stress about it.
If you’re the type of person (like me) who finds out they missed something and feel compelled to restart, even if you were never planning on 100% the game, then yeah, use a guide. I wouldn’t use a guide for everything, but I’m certain there are guides that say when misable stuff is coming and how to get them.
I’m not too surprised; it’s been a long time since I’ve played it, and I suspected my fond memories might not reflect reality. Did you give the sequel a shot?
I remember it being a great game! Moreso than DC1; I think the former appealed to me so much because it was the first game I played with a base-building gameplay loop like that. If you’re looking for a game to play, consider giving it a shot. I remember being reeled in pretty quickly, so you ought to be able to make up your mind early on (although more and more interesting systems get introduced the longer you play, of course).
DC2 is still fairly similar with the dungeons (though much less grindy, and far less annoying with running out of water or whatever, from my memory). 2 adds a ton of other things to do though. If you’re tired of grinding dungeons, go fishing, breed your fish for races and events, go golfing, find things to take pictures of for inventing, progress your town for more unlocks, advance NPC quests to add them to your group, etc. 1 is fairly linear with one way to progress. 2 has probably a dozen different activities to progress in, so you can do whatever you want in the moment.
I am too paranoid about security to pirate a video game. I just don’t play the big AAA titles. There are so many indie games worth my attention and support that I don’t notice.
You’re right, this was more common in the warez days. Nowadays, I generally trust Pirates. If you’re stupid and download a game from some rando site, and not a trusted repacker then you deserve what happens.
If you’re paranoid, stick to clean steam files and use Goldberg.
The important thing (to me) is the comments where I can tell the writer is utterly in love with a certain game, and does all they can to convince me to play it. And I’ve gotten a fair list of games I’m adding this way!
Makes sense. Speaking of which, I have to break your rule. I think some people have already 'splained that Final Fantasy isn’t as complicated as it seems, you can mostly jump in anywhere. Or to keep it simple, the best start is Final Fantasy X International. For me, Final Fantasy VII will always be my favorite just because it was the first one I played, and especially at a tumultuous time in my life. It was comfort food.
But so was X, and it really can’t be emphasized enough how much of a phenomenon this game was when it first came out. The graphics for it’s time blew people away and even hold up to some extent by today’s standards (especially if you count the remasters). The story is like something you’d expect out of a Pixar film - it will tug at your heartstrings. The gameplay itself is so easy to get into, and even easier to be completely absorbed by. I love the sphere grid. The worldbuilding is rich, and the aesthetic is dreamy. I went back and replayed it somewhat recently, and was shocked because a lot of games and content in general have not aged well; but X definitely aged like wine.
There’s a plot thread involving the main character and his struggles to be himself in spite of years of resentment toward his father’s verbal abuse and toxic masculinity. When I was a kid I kind of felt embarrassed to be playing through those scenes if others were around, but it hits closer to home now that we are at least beginning (at least in some spaces/circles) to push past those cliches and have a little breathing room to let go of outdated masculinity norms ourselves. It’s not a perfect game, but it does seem like it was a bit ahead of its time.
Rockstar: Abandoning and cancelling GTA V (single player) expansions and purely focused on milking online for pay2win. I’m not hyped for 6.
EDIT: The worst part - declaring war against modding community because it affected their online sales (since people enjoyed playing modded singleplayer). It backfired, badly, but they still went for it.
Taking advantage of Epic while it’s taking advantage of me, I’m playing Nightingale. It reminds me a lot of Return to Moria, also an ‘Epic’ adventure.
Character creation is kinda fun as you get to pick your family tree from preset models of any race, then adjust your own model to look a little more like them.
Tutorial is a bit lacking for anyone new to the genre and while the introductory map is quite large, it all tends to repeat. You can go around collecting the basic form of tools and some weapons, which then unlocks their blueprints for free in your progression trees. And boy there are many!
Wood axe, skinning knife, pickaxe, climbing dual pickaxes for climbing walls, umbrella for floating down from great heights, hammer presumably for advanced construction, sickle for harvesting and a watering can.
Then there’s the weapons, sword for slashing, maul for blunt, bow for piercing, slingbow/crossbow with FX marbles and found elemental ammo for rifle, revolver and shotgun.
All can be used to deal damage relatively. The wood axe is the first weapon given.
There are corruption enemies, there’s wildlife, giant spiders, puzzles, destructible environment with some secrets and flying essence point (universal currency so far) swarms that you can chase around. A lot of gathering and different crafting stations. Item modifications, food buffs, resting to change difficulty or day/night. NPCs to stay in base or follow you around.
A lot of little things that can get overwhelming.
But it shows it’s early access. Can’t say i recommend it wholeheartedly. I’m playing solo, so I’m unable to say anything about coop mishaps. If you don’t mind Epic and like the survival crafting genre, I’d give it a go now while it’s free to gain.
I paid for Nightingale on Steam, and I still give it a recommended. For sure shows it’s early access bones, but the crafting is deeeep. Hard sell for some folks though, since it doesn’t tutorialize well.
They do, of course. There’s also a gigantic scene where people modify the consoles. But check my screenshots, this is using PCSX2 via RetroDECK on my Steam Deck, not native hardware.
DVD drive laser does. They’re replaceable however. I replaced mine once because I also used a Swap Magic case mod to play burned discs at the time which accelerates laser wear. Outdated method these days.
Most tech savvy users just soft mod and run games off a hard drive for the fat models or over network LAN for fat/slim. Storing the games on a PC or NAS instead.
PSBBN (PlayStation Broadband Navigator), is a newer alternative to the FreeMcBoot memory card mod for the PS2.
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Aktywne