I realize this is getting hyper-specific, but party-based dungeon crawlers that are true 3d and not grid-oriented. Really, the only example aside from Wizardry 8 (that I’m scared to try because it looks like way too much effort and investment for a not-great return) is the Might and Magic series circa Win95, and specifically 6, 7, and 8, all built off the same, almost pseudo-3D engine. I can’t put my finger on it, but there’s something very satisfying for me in that gameplay loop of clearing out dungeons via potshots and backpedaling, selling the loot to level and train your party, and moving on to the next one. The push and pull of skirting groups of enemies so they don’t take swipes at you when they get too close, the thrill of picking up fireball from the advanced magic shop and just nuking low-level mooks, the ecstasy of learning town portal and Lloyd’s beacon and never having to think about travel again.
I think part of the reason these games don’t really get made anymore is that they were always kind of a weird middle ground between first person Action-Adventure-RPGs and top down party-based TTRPG engines, and those genres are fully expressed today by a number of games.
Kind of - the customization options run a little deeper in M&M. You could pick up 6, 7, and 8 for less than $30 on GOG. $10 at most for the pack that includes 1-6, and I’d say of those three, 6 offers the best experience.
Omori. Finally understanding what is it that the protagonist has been trying to repress so hard and coming to terms with that. That game took some ideas that are pretty much a cliche in surreal RPG circles, yet the build up and execution around them is masterful. The art and music do a lot to fully convey all the emotions involved. By the end of it all I could feel the entirety of it, and it was overwhelming. I could understand why that affected the protagonist and everyone around him so much.
I’ll throw out the final twenty minutes of Abzu. It’s not one specific moment, more a combination of things that come together to make a truly incredible sequence that sees you doing things inside the game that you hadn’t previously done, alongside some truly incredible visuals and music, it’s really incredibly moving.
From the same devs, I want to say the entirety of Journey. I played through it in one sitting and I don’t think I’ve ever been so engrossed in a game that I forgot the world outside the game existed, and when it was over I just kinda sat there with my thoughts and feelings. It just grabbed me so completely.
For me it was later when the child crosses over. My son was the same age at the time and when the kid says "I'm afraid," I completely lost it. Ugly cried for a solid five minutes.
Final Fantasy 7 when Aeries dies. I was a teen then and it was the first RPG I ever played and the first time I experienced a main character just die and is gone from the game.
I don’t think I experienced anything like that again until maybe Destiny 2 when Cayde died. Little different with that though as they should his death in a live stream about the launch of that DLC. Had a different impact but had to be done since the entire premise of that DLC was getting revenge so couldn’t hide it from the promo materials.
As an RTS player who only ever plays for the story and does not care about multiplayer at all, new RTS games with a decent story and gameplay are kind of thin on the ground these days.
I can’t even play C&C RA2 anymore because I can’t get it to run on my PC. Tried several guides, but it refuses to run properly.
Nier had some pretty amazing endings, although I don’t know the one you’re responding to specifically. The one where other people sacrifice their save files to help you at the end gets me. I doubt the game actually takes other people’s save files for that ending, but the idea that someone else would give a random person 100+ hours of effort to help another person by deleting their save is very beautiful to me. The fact that most users decide to delete their saves for that ending is such a huge statement on humanity as a whole.
Basically Telltale games. I include first Life is Strange in that because they managed to out-Telltale the Telltale. I love my games basically as an interactive story.
Edit: Also Heroes of Might & Magic. I want more good ones, 6 & 7 sucked tremendously.
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Aktywne