one of my favorite games of all time: Prince of Persia 1989 (1990 on PC). it’s a “cinematic platformer” where the animations take priority over responsiveness.
once you get the hang of it, it’s incredible what Jordan Mechner could fit into a ~1MB game controlled with just 5 keys. the realistic platforming and sword fights were unlike anything I’d seen. still impresses me to this day.
it’s kind of notorious for being a hard game you have to finish in an hour, but I think it’s a must play. I always felt like it was one of those zero-fat games. no filler, no repetition without a curveball thrown in every now and then.
flashback and blackthorne were two more in the genre that i really really enjoyed before 3d games came along and ruined the momentum of the genre. other people will suggest another world (aka out of this world) but that one, while iconic and unique, will feel more antiquated by today’s standards and works more like a puzzle than the rest.
Still Rocket League. Can’t shake it for some quick challenges in ~10 minute increments. I really wish I could either switch over to some SCUMMVM retro stuff, or a semi-casual fantasy adventure, but in ~10 minute doses.
I’ve considered Witcher 3, but it looks too time-intensive for a busy dad. I’m hoping for something that might need a few hours to get started, but then you can pick up & make actual progress in under 15 minutes.
I would actually say Witcher 3 is good for that. There’s like 100 smaller quests you can do in 5-10 minutes each. Some of the main storyline quests (which are marked as such) might take 20 or 30 minutes when you’re ready for them. It also has imo one of the best quest tracking systems I’ve seen, as well as best inventory system (sorting, yay) so you don’t have to remember everything after time away from playing.
Dark Souls games can also be played that way - from one bonfire (checkpoint) to the next is usually around 5 to 10 minutes depending on how you play.
Turn-based: Bravely Default. A stellar evolution of FF5 that gives you so many toys to play with, and the titular Brave/Default mechanic opens up a lot of cool ideas just by giving you flexibility in when to take your turn. Specifically BD1 and Second though, I felt like BD2 was a massive step back by trying to introduce a turn order system at the expense of no longer queueing everyone together at once.
Action: Tales. Hard to pick just one, and there are still a bunch I haven't played, but I think I'll go with Vesperia specifically for all the advanced tech it allowed for.
Honorable mention to CrossCode as well, but I know someone's gonna debate whether it counts as J or if it's just sparkling Secret of Mana.
Grandia series. I’m partial to the leveling systems but the battle system is fantastic. There’s ATB, field movement, charged attacks/magic incantations that can be canceled, a light combo system. I just love it
Technically it stands for “Computer RPG” but nowadays it’s more commonly meant as “Classic RPG”. It refers to any of those games like the classic Fallouts, Baldur’s Gates, Planescape Torment, that blend turn-based strategy game with RPG. Modern examples are BG3, Pathfinder: War of the Righteous, Pillars Of Eternity 2, Wasteland 3, etc.
Yeah, sekiro can really throw you off if you just see it as another souls game. Parrying was the main combat mechanic when its usually worthless in every other souls game.
And God damn, parrying is so satisfying in it. Learning how to parry properly makes you feel like a fucking samurai.
I’m def missing some here. I would argue not all of these have necessarily stood the test of time if we look at it from a modern sensibility lens. Particularly resident evil 1-3 and silent hill 1 can be a bit difficult to play if you can’t get used to tank controls. And Myst can be a bit esoteric, especially the older versions.
Besides that though I really do think these have all stood the test of time. I would like to particularly shout out the original re4. Despite having a recent remake that I adore potentially more than the original, the original is still so good even to this day. It is wild to me how well it still feels to play
No it’s not rewritten. Mainly I just think the pre rendered picture movement of the original can be harder to explore and piece things together than the fully 3d environment of the remakes.
As for Zork, I only played a very small amount for a school assignment lol. I considered it esoteric in a way I feel all text adventures are, but I really don’t have enough experience to say.
Is there any merit to getting a hold of mother 1 and playing that before earthbound/mother 2 and mother 3?
I hadn’t even heard of this one somehow, lol. I’ll check it out.
Ugh, super mario world is sadly one of the ones whose platforming I can’t stand :( It has so much going for it but I just can’t handle the floaty platforming
noted, noted, and noted.
I’ve played the first Myst game and I’m like halfish way through Riven with my sister. They’re awesome when they’re good but some of the puzzles are more frustrating than difficult (maybe it would be better if I was playing one of the more recent remakes?). One thing they’re incredible for is atmosphere, I struggle to think of any game that feels this way.
I played resident evil 4 back in the day and it was okay but I think that this style of game just isn’t my cup of tea (even if we ignore awful tank controls and shit from the earlier titles).
someone else recommended kirby’s adventure, so I guess I’ll add these two to the backlog too!
I look at silent hill and I’m in love with the atmosphere, I have been for ages and I’ve tried to stay spoiler free in case I one day play them. Are they more combat focused or is it closer to being a puzzle game almost? I could see myself really enjoying them if most encounters are mostly a case of figuring out how to progress past/through some group of enemies or something, rather than just scavenging enough ammunition to keep up with being forced to pew pew some baddies.
You could play mother 1 for sure if it interests you, although it’s aged the worst out of the 3 in my opinion.
Sad about Mario world :( I find it to be one of the least floaty Mario games, partially due to a mechanic in the game that isn’t present on many others where the speed of your fall is controlled by holding the jump button (many games have variable height by holding the jump button, but few have it so the speed of the fall down is controllable)
As for silent hill I’d argue that they could be seen as more puzzley. There are bosses and enemies of course, but it’s not usually a constant enemy fest. In silent hill 2 (and maybe 3 I can’t quite remember) there are separate combat and puzzle difficulty settings, so you can set easy combat and hard puzzles. Of the original silent hills id recommend silent hill 2 the most. You don’t need to play any others to get it, it’s a self contained story.
If it has aged poorly and isn’t really necessary to enjoy the others, I’ll give it a miss.
As far as I’m aware, slowfall by holding the jump button is present as far back as SMB1 on the NES (although almost imperceptibly). SMW is definitely waaaaay better than SMB1, lost levels and doki doki panic/SMB2 but it’s still not responsive enough for my modern sensibilities :( As I say, it has so much going for it but the character controller at the core of all the gameplay I just can’t get along with :/
Neat, nice to hear that it’s not reeeeaally combat focused. I’m down for combat but from a game like that it’s just not what I’m there for.
I’ve just noticed, is your display picture Hornet holding a trans flag? That’s awesome
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