I would love to experience X-COM UFO Defense, but the only X-COMs I’ve played to any extent are the two “modern” Firaxis games. Going back to the originals is a real effort, especially without having the manual to hand.
OG XCOM has a really rough learning curve for sure. It is easy to understand the fundamentals of but it takes a lot longer to get it well enough to really enjoy. Once you do learn it I feel like it is different enough from new XCOM that you can enjoy both. I love new and old xcoms a ton.
OpenXcom is a fantastic reimplementation of the original, and has some even more fantastic mods. I agree if you’ve never played it before and aren’t too familiar with old school “Nintendo-hard” games, it can be extremely challenging even on the lowest difficulty. Fun fact, the original had a broken difficulty selection and reset to the “easiest” difficulty after reloading any save game, so most people never truly experienced a full run at any difficulty above “easiest”, so that’s just naturally perceived as the way the game was meant to be balanced. Don’t be ashamed of playing on the easiest difficulty or using “cheat” mods if that’s what makes it playable for you. There’s nobody to judge you but yourself and what matters is that you’re having fun. And it is a ridiculously fun and replayable game, to me at least.
Do the original version of Doom and Doom 2 count? The relatively recent, re-released duology is objectively superior. Also, OpenRCT2 makes classic RCT and RCT2 feel incomplete at best, and outright horrible to play at worst.
I actually really like OG Dooms just as much as the new ones. I didn’t play either until just a few years ago so no nostalgia. They are very different and so I don’t feel like they step on each other’s toes too much.
Also OG doom is good if you get bored while opening your fridge because if your fridge door has a screen, it can handle playing OG doom and pass the time it takes waiting for the door to finish opening.
I agree. Doom 1 and doom 2 are like exactly the same fun level as Doom Eternal, just in a different way.
Tbh I didn’t like “Doom (2016)” that much. I’m sure when it came out it was amazing considering doom 3 was the most recent thing, but I played Doom Eternal first and compared to the FUN of eternal, it just doesn’t stand up to the “rip that guy in half then latch on that demon with a flaming chain on my double barreled shotgun so I can use a Lazer balista to shoot that other demons head off while in midair to go chainsaw the flying meatballs eyesocket” of Doom Eternal
Wow yeah, I can say that going from Eternal to 2016 is the “wrong order” since the sequel really _ really_ ups the tempo and ferocity of its predecessor.
I think I prefer 2016 overall, because I’m just like mentally too slow to fully enjoy Eternal. I don’t have those reflexes anymore lol
I’ve known of gzdoom for ages but haven’t gotten around to trying it. I just really like how that duology Steam release because it’s just “pick up and go” with modern resolutions, tweaks and that incredible soundtrack remake.
I’m fine with the concept of upscaling tech. DLSS 4 with the transformer model looks excellent. And FSR 4 is looking pretty damn decent as well. The earlier attempts weren’t as good. Ideally it would be acting more like DLAA, but 8.3 million pixels is a lot to render (4K). And if 8K is going to be a thing one day, it makes even more sense there.
I think too many people focus on the now and can’t imagine what things will be in the future as they progress.
Now frame generation, that one I feel less optimistic about. Especially when I see people using it for 60fps or less. It should really only ever be used at 80fps or higher, where the lag is less of a problem. But one day inferred frames, where it only looks at the prior frames and does not wait for the next frame, might make it a better experience.
Lastly, it’s NVidia and AMD’s marketing departments fault for having them all conflated. DLFG & FFG is what the frame gen tools should have been called, rather than shoehorning them under their super sampling and super resolution branding.
I still do it from time to time because I like playing them on original hardware, but Sonic 1&2 on Genesis/Mega Drive. The Origins Plus versions may not be 100% accurate gameplay with regards to movement/moveset, but anniversary mode’s retry special stages is real nice when half of the time I get screwed in those. Especially 2’s special stages where I feel I feel like I’m constantly getting screwed over by my favorite character/sidekick being incompetent at the special stages.
Just recently got the 3rd game (still need & Knuckles to complete the set) and while not being able to retry special stages is an issue, I can at least reset the game without having to worry about needing to replay the whole entire game over from the start. So it gets a pass because all I gotta do is replay a stage.
This is pretty obscure, but the Game Boy Advance remake of Mario Bros. (Not Super Mario Bros.) is more fun than the original.
You can run, for one thing, and the controls are more responsive in general.
It’s one of the games on Super Mario Advance, and one of the main reasons I originally wanted a GBA when it came out! I had the original Mario Bros. for the NES and thought it would be fun to have a portable version. I was right.
Yeah the controls in the OG Mario Bros (and even the OG Super Mario Bros, to a bit of a lesser extent) are very clunky compared to modern entries. I’d say SMB3 holds up well though.
Literally if you’re playing on the original NES controllers made in a time before Nintendo understood the importance of erganomics. The corners dug into hands and even the buttons wore at fingers and I say that as someone who has naturally thick callouses.
Iirc, they didn’t even have the satisfying button press mechanism most buttons have these days where the button resistance drops as you pass the threshold of a “press”. And many games involved mashing or holding buttons. Like it was painful to watch my daughter try playing SMB and not just hold the B button to constantly run.
They were iconic but I prefer to see them than use them.
Thanks for posting these! I’ve caught nearly every one since you started and have given me motivation some days to start up something and play for a bit. And I’ve never regretted it because I do enjoy gaming. On those blah days seeing someone being excited about a game lifts my mood enough to do it myself and end up feeling pretty good and having fun
I hope you don’t forget anytime soon! I appreciate your enthusiasm for your games and following along with your progress is very wholesome as well
That’s awesome to hear because getting people excited to play a game is my entire goal with these (along with introducing people to new games or just reminding them of old ones)
I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone say that upscaling OPTIONS are bad but I’m worried about games like monster hunter where upscaling and frame gen is used to make the game playable in most cases.
Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition is basically worthless if you have Dark Souls: Remastered.
60fps, better graphics, better performance, QOL enhancements, and even better multiplayer features (up to 6 total players instead of 4, just like DS3).
Probably true of most remasters/remakes, outside of speed running. I do know that PTDE is still a popular version to speedrun due to certain glitches that aren’t present in Remastered.
Dark Souls never even needed a remaster. The original could be released today and probably still be the best game of this year. The improved performance is the only thing worth noting, and even that only really matters in Blighttown, which everyone skips after their first playthrough anyway.
A lot of strategy games fit this bill to me. Mainly the Paradox ones like Europa Universalis or Crusader Kings. I’d much rather play the most recent version (EU4 and CK3). However, it’s interesting that I feel the exact opposite about the Total War and Civilization Series, where I’ll prefer the original Rome Total War and Shogun 2 Total War over many of the more-recent games, as well as Civ V over VI and VII (though I haven’t played VII yet, to be fair).
The Football Manager series also comes to mind. There’s little tweaks and improvements each year (this year being an exception where they are redesigning the entire engine) so I prefer playing the most recent one (even if I still boot up a few of the older games for some nostalgia every now and then).
Upscaling an old game on fixed hardware that can’t output at high resolutions is good.
Upscaling a new game as part of the graphics pipeline instead of optimizing it is terrible and shouldn’t be accepted by gamers that have to spend $1000+ on a GPU
I think upscaling is a good idea. Most of the time I’m running around while dodging bullets, arrows or fireballs, so I don’t really have time to examine the details of the foliage around me at the pixel level. I also will not buy an overpowered space heater so that the grass in my game looks more realistic. I don’t want a triple fan monster sounding like a turbojet near me.
I have Grand Bazaar on the ds and I agree its hard going back to that from Stardew Valley. I managed to play through Knights of the Old Republic once and man. Loved it, can’t do it again. (I also had to cheat to make it through the end because “force powers? Nah sniper rifle is fine” turned out to be not fine)
bin.pol.social
Najnowsze