@“sabertoothalex”#p75312 i think you are right. it‘s a shame, because i sure do like the aesthetics of AI. well i guess that’s what YouTube is for.
I‘ve never done a full playthrough of Sonic CD, because I was way too poor of a kid to have a Sega CD in 1993 (most of my formative strange games at this time came from pawn shops, which is maybe another thread). I’ve dabbled in it via emulators over the years, and love the art direction and music. I feel a little wistful, because it seems like the perfect game to have had as a kid; I appreciate how monumental it is, how absolutely elaborate and serpentine its levels are. I bet I could have spent a whole summer exploring every past, present and future version of stages when I was 11 years old (I was 8 in ‘93, I’d have definitely gotten it used).
But now as a 30-something adult with many games I'm interested in -- as a kid, I had like less than 10 cartridges to be interested in -- I don't think I have the singular commitment within me to make good futures in all zones (playing Sonic CD in 2022 feels like fear of the future). I am committed, though, to a Sonic 1-through-Mania summer playthrough. So, I'm playing CD like any other Sonic game, breezing through the goal just to say I beat it. In the back of my adult mind, I'm always thinking, "I wish you could just travel between time periods by touching the signs, I cannot be bothered with this Doc Brown shit." I'm happy to enjoy it on a purely aesthetic level, as I have since the first time I saw it on a Chinese emulator console, and get a bad ending. But I feel like I'm doing it wrong -- do all of you Sonic CD likers make a good future in every zone? How do you enjoy Sonic CD?
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@“tokucowboy”#p75825 I’m happy to enjoy it on a purely aesthetic level
the answer was within you all along
@“yeso”#p75831 I was hoping you would say this. I am at peace
I got one for you all: the SaGa series.
Why I've always wanted to like these games:
-I love turn based jrpgs, especially when they try to break the mold and do something different
-i like the look, sound, vibe of all of them from videos I've watched
-understanding their obtuseness is a badge of honor
Why I bounced off SaGa Frontier hard:
-often got constantly lost and had no idea how to progress the story
-never really got the hang of how to make my characters better (no clear levelling system)
-enemy and dungeon difficulty would spike rapidly. I would cruise through the enemies in an area and the boss would wipe me in one move
Other complications:
-there seems to be little to no agreement on which games in the series are the best or even good
I've always wanted to enjoy this series, especially Frontier, but all the other ones too. If anybody has good advice on this, I'd be grateful.
@“rearnakedwindow”#p76099
SaGa Frontier in particular can leave a really bad first impression depending on which character you start with. A couple of them have very little direction and sort of expect you to be familiar with the best places to go to get stronger/recruit party members. A lot of people recommend starting with Emelia or particularly Red for having more straight-forward narratives where you have a better idea of what you should be doing at any given time. Emelia has a pretty gnarly final boss though, but that can be par for the course.
You can definitely get the difficulty spikes from SF, mainly with the bosses as you noted. I would say as far as that goes, don't be afraid to wipe, try to keep a couple of backup saves just in case you're in a point of no return. Grinding isn't really something that pays that many dividends although there are some good places for it in SF (the lab comes to mind). The main thing you'd be shooting for when fighting hard monsters over and over isn't "leveling" so much as hoping to unlock (or 'glimmer') some powerful new skills. Glimmering is the most unique thing I think the Saga games bring to the table, and while there's ways to increase your chances of getting certain moves, the semi-randomness is part of the appeal vs a strict "at level 19 you unlock BEAST AXE". I could totally get someone hating it.
If you're trying to get into the series in general, I found Romancing Saga 3 to be a pretty good jumping on point. It gets very open but your overall goals are quickly revealed and it isn't too obtuse to figure out what you should be working towards.
@“rearnakedwindow”#p76099 I‘d recommend SaGa Frontier 2 to anyone trying to get into the series, just because I think it’s the best SaGa game by a pretty healthy margin. SF2 is also the most approachable SaGa game and has an all-time great soundtrack. It is much more linear in exploration than other titles so there‘s less a chance of running into areas and enemies you’re unprepared for.
I‘ve recently got into Zelda II after careful analysis and a perspective shift having previously been lukewarm on it.
Here’s some tips for the first couple of hours!
If this game sounds very familiar in design to recent hardcore RPGs - you're right! It doesn't seem overly long and it's really different compared to other Zeldas. Check it out if you're on the fence and like what I posted above - it's pretty darn good!
yes it‘s weird and atmospheric in a way that seems uncontrived. Other games in the series always go for that but at least imo it’s usually cloying (Link's Awakening is the other exception)
Have any of you played SaGa: Scarlet Grace? I've heard that one is very playable and beginner-friendly, but I'm also not sure if it plays like the other SaGa games at all. Just curious if that one is worth a look or if I should pass on it.
@“rearnakedwindow”#p76653 I‘ve played it, but I bounced off of it pretty hard. I know that I didn’t like the presentation and lack of exploration, but I can't remember enough to give a valid critique.
@“Herb”#p76656 Yeah, I've heard good stuff about the combat but the look and vibe of it make it seem like not quite a full game (whatever that means).
@“rearnakedwindow”#p76653 i know you didn‘t ask me specifically, but i want to say that i very much enjoyed Scarlet Grace. i’ve played a number of SaGa games, going back to the “Final Fantasy Legends” games on Game Boy, and i found Scarlet Grace to be a fun, no-frills board game-like experience. outstanding battle system, weird JoJo fanfic character design, and decent writing.
I‘ve played a bit of it and I keep meaning to go back to it. The combat is really good, which it should be since that’s 99% of the game here. I do miss the exploration stuff even if I respect them doing something different.
I'm thinking about playing Daikatana and I found this write-up for first timers:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=282094762
Here is a link to the unofficial 1.3 patch that fixes and adds a number of things:
https://bitbucket.org/daikatana13/daikatana/src/master/
[upl-image-preview url=https://i.imgur.com/mQhZKMA.png]
Linda Cube Again - I enjoy it a ton! But also am not sure about this scenario format. I’ve gotten enough animals for the clear requirement for scenario A, and I think I have done all the ‘story’ beats (fought >!giant mutant Hume!<) but I still have a major lack of understanding for major elements of the story (>!what are the ruins for? What happened in the disappearance event(s)? Is the game actually serious about this lovenest furniture stuff as the long tail? Was there a single Hume who was just split personality or some other bad actor? !<) Either it seems like there might be some other event stuff to do, or the other scenarios will fill in gaps in some way. I still have like 4 years of game time remaining, and am just not sure if I should cut this run loose and go to scenario B (I did go and see the ending of >!leaving on the ship and warping to earth, credits!<), or keep mucking around here, getting more animals etc. and potentially answering some of those questions.
Thanks for the non-spoiling suggestions!
Wait did I kill this thread? Well I’ll try to revive it.
Recent episode on ranking treasure games reminded me of my inability to crack through with Bangai-O spirits. I don’t have it on hand at the moment but I felt like my experience was: do these short tutorials with quippy dialogue for these mechanics that seem not-quite-connected, OK now try this first “real stage” and be totally lost as to what tool should be used when. Oh also you can just choose from a huge list of stages and who even knows what’s what.
This all is likely to me only having a partial recollection of these mechanical pieces and the logic of the game (or flexibility thereof). Any suggestions to get these pieces to stick together better, videos, or tips would be welcomed!
@“MDS-02”#p119192 Whoa, great question. I had the exact same experience with Bangai-O Spirits, but have never tried to articulate it in a public forum. I‘ve just quietly been sitting in the "I don’t get the love for Bangai-O" corner all these years. Thanks for bringing this up! I hope someone has an answer!
Now there are three of us
