First RPG I ever played, being a young'un, was Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. In spite of me being 9-10 years old when I got it, I got pretty far into it. Anyway, I'm going in to buy more NES games tomorrow, so let me present you guys with an ultimatum: would you rather play DuckTales, Journey to Silius, or Bionic Commando?
I tried the original Final Fantasy but like a lot of kids spoiled by Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Mega Man, etc, I just couldn't finish it. I'd never played anything like it and couldn't get used to the grinding. You have to give Nintendo credit; they did their absolute best to hype those old RPGs but kids just wouldn't bite until the SNES rolled in (and they grew up a little bit). The 2-part article in Nintendo Power and the strategy guide made it look amazing. It wasn't until I picked up the GBA remake that I finally passed the game. I may have to fire up the original again one day. And I did get into RPGs with the SNES. Final Fantasy II/III were awesome, Chrono Trigger was a great game and there were actually a lot of action RPGs that tried to bridge that gap, giving people a similar experience just with a little more Zelda influence. Basically in that order. Duck Tales is the best game and though it has tons of replay value, it is short; Silius is more of a challenge but it's longer.
All worth playing, but in that order. Journey to Silius is worth playing just for the soundtrack. Those first notes of the title screen blew me away first time I turned that game on.
True, but you could say that for all video games really. Anyway, still grinding my way through DW (I've actually got everything I need to beat it, just wanna max level my character first) and I've had some more thoughts on this matter: I think if I had done things in reverse, like if I had played either DW or FF before LoZ, I probably would have a different outlook. I just went into both expecting the same action similar to LoZ and to find that it wasn't... well, it was unexpected. And I don't inherently have a problem with turn based mechanics. I recently dumped probably 1000's of hours into a game called Invisible, Inc which, if you guys haven't played it, play Invisible, Inc! It's totally worth it at $14.99 on either Steam or PSN. Anyway, it's turn based and I love that game. And I was also thinking of Dark Souls, which is another game I've recently got into (not very far, but I'll come back to it). It's almost like a modern update to DW, with all the leveling up and grinding but with action based combat. I also had played Super Mario RPG for a while, but never got through it. So where this leaves me is with the realization that, while the combat system might not be my favorite, it doesn't make a game bad because of it and I've missed out on a LOT of great games because of it. So, aside from Chrono Trigger and the FF series, what others would you guys recommend?
Turns out Journey to Silius was a bit too much for my budget. Went ahead and got Little Nemo: The Dream Master, Code Name: Viper, and StarTropics instead.
Good choices. I haven't played much of Little Nemo but I've heard a lot of praise for it. Code Name: Viper is one of the best underappreciated games on the NES. Startropics is good, but gets really hard near the end. I swear the final level took me 20 tries to finish. The way the bad guys in Code Name: Viper disintegrate is actually somewhat graphic for the console, considering the Big N's censorship policy.
Little Nemo's a great game (Capcom at its best) but it does get tough as the levels go on. When I first played Codename: Viper I was surprised to find out it's basically a Rolling Thunder clone, though it is a little prettier compared to the NES port. Still a good game though. StarTropics has a weird difficulty curve. Levels 1-6 rise in a nice arc but then level 7 suddenly kicks your ass. There's one part early on that is frustrating as all hell until you figure out the path to take. Then the rest of the level seems a little easy in comparison.
woohoo did my first successful snes forever battery mod today. botched the soldering just a little because I thought I had a "better way" in my head we all know how that goes. still turned out well, battery holder solidly in place, removable battery now, saves like a champ. total cost is less than a dollar a unit if you buy on the cheap
released in 1997... i say it is retro. FO2 as well. which was released a year later. i never knew of the series until i saw the trailer for FO3 years ago. when i preordered FO3 at gamestop, i asked if they have the first two thinking they were ps1 titles but learned they were PC games. these became my first PC games i own
Secret of Mana (SNES), Willow (NES), and Crystalis (NES) are all games with stat building systems similar to an RPG but with LoZ type combat. And starting with the second game, Dragon Warrior introduces multi-character parties like you see right from the start of the Final Fantasy games. Just be warned that there is a lot of back tracking involved in those games due to their save system. (Just like DW1, you have to travel to a castle to save your progress.) Super Mario RPG is almost the opposite where it plays like a traditional RPG in combat but like a puzzle/action game outside of it. If you enjoy that style of game, you may also enjoy the Costume Quest games on PSN and XBA. And as far as the Final Fantasy series goes, II has an interesting (and easily exploitable) stat system where you gain abilities according to your actual experience. For example, as you use more magic, you become a more powerful wizard where as if a character attacks more, their strength increases. III introduces the job system (like the class system but interchangeable). IV (II on the SNES) is the first to really concentrate on the story and characters join and drop out of your party as it progresses. V is a throwback to III and felt to me like a step backwards. VI (III on the SNES) has one of the greatest stories ever told in a game with quite a unique twist. VII takes the series into a different era and different setting and, well, if you don't know everything about VII then I envy you. Not because it's bad, (quite the opposite) but because it's been discussed to death. VIII is a beautiful game with beautiful music and a storyline that can be diagrammed like a pretzel but is really hampered by the absolute worst magic system in the series. IX is an awesome throwback to the style of the SNES titles. (If you're just interested in the highlights, I would play 1, 4, 6, 7, and 9 among the single digit entries.)
SMB RPG has those timed attacks & blocks though that kinda blends action/traditional rpg. Still menu driven, but I think it was the first game I remember that implemented some kind of additional action to the combat. Kinda funny that they didn't use anything similar til FF8 with the triggers. And I'm glad you brought up the draw system in 8, boulder. A lot of people trash 8 for just being bad but don't actually know why or are bandwagoning the hate. All FF's can be broken if you know what you are doing, but FF8's junction system was incredibly easy to break just by korean mmo grinding and collecting stockpiles to junction to. Just dumb and boring on top of being broken. Really sucks too that imo (and it seems like a few more agree) it's Uematsu's best score. I listened to the jp soundtrack long before the english version of 8 came out and I was so damn hyped for it because I was imagining this huge story driven by some of the best game music I had ever heard. Probably why I was let down so hard.
And if you enjoy those, try the Soul Blazer trilogy (SNES), Secret of Evermore (SNES), Allundra 1&2 (PS1), the Ys series (various), the Thor/Oasis games (Gen/MD & Saturn) and the rest of the Seiken/Mana series (various). I got a lot of fun out of Bravely Default, and I really should go back and finish it. It does classic Final Fantasy better than Final Fantasy does. If you can manage to get your hands on it, Panzer Dragoon Saga is immensely enjoyable (the story is crap though).
Added onto my NES collection yet again today, picked up The Goonies II, Gradius, and Maniac Mansion. ...where do I go from here?
Stopped by my local game shop and walked away quite disappointed. I try to support small business and I realize that mall rent is not cheap but there was no way I was paying (sometimes significantly) above Buy It Now prices. (Example, they wanted something like $30 for Masters of the Universe loose for the 2600. Current Buy It Now prices on eBay: $29 with comic and manual, $15 loose. No way I'm paying double that.) It took me a while to find something that I was interested in for the prices they were charging but in the end, I left with Dracula-Sega CD which I had been on the fence about for a while, and having given up the search, replaced my copy of Wrestlemania 2000 (N64) which I still think has the best story/career mode of any WWE/F game. It's the game that South Park most reminded me of. Broken/exploits is indeed a recurring theme. As I recall, if you junctioned one spell (Ultima?) to your HP(?) you would actually gain health from all elemental attacks which nearly every monster in the final dungeon used. And of course when you talk broken in Final Fantasy game, there's always Knights of the Round in VII, the unequipped black belt in I (and III?), the infinite swords trick in IV, the Leap/Sketch and Vanish/X-Zone tricks in VI, and the entire leveling system in II. And I recall hitting the reset and watching that opening two more times. The story wasn't horrible even though it takes a weird turn about 3/4 of the way in, but the Leguna Loire sections could have just been cutscenes.
I find most local retailers are very wise to the prices now and almost always price above bin prices. Which is dumb because that's usually never what the item is selling for on ebay. Tellin you guys, if you want cheap retro, stalk gamestop online. They may be right around or slightly under bin, but with their promo codes and power up rewards discounts you are going to chop off about $5-10 on any single game order. They are the best thing going for reasonably priced retro games atm.
We had two local shops in my area. One of them charged above eBay prices. It was fun to visit because it was always full of great games and consoles (because nobody wanted to buy them at those prices). The other often sold games at below the market price. The best games almost always sold immediately, but there great deals there pretty frequently. I used past tense there because one of those two shops went out of business. The other is still going strong. Guess which is which!
I assume the one that sold things is still in business? Otherwise, magic? Gamestop's retro works the same way. I check daily because there is always something new and if you don't snag it, it will be gone in hours. But tomorrow is always another day and they keep rotating stock in. No idea where they are getting this stuff from, but not complaining about a middleman when they are still undercutting when you tack on the promos.
