DefaultGen

I started Pool of Radiance FYI.

I’ve discovered how to stop buying. Dunno how to get rid of this all yet.

Don’t you take my overdramatic beat-dropping speedrun guy away from me

This game looks cool and like a lot of effort was put into it, but man I cannot think of a retro concept more boring than yet another Castlevania or Super Metroid throwback. It feels like a waste that it's such an overly-done theme.

Listen dad, you don't understand. Madden NFL 09 is the last original Xbox game. It's significant. How are you going to tell me Rugby 06 isn't interesting. How many Rugby games do you have?? Did you know Madden 05 is the first Madden with Xbox Live support?? Idk sounds pretty historic to me.

Teach me this power

Might and Magic is done. This game is frustratingly almost good. It's epic, but the port is clunky and slow in a bunch of ways (quintuply nested menus, excessive transitions and animations, level-scaled trash encounters that ensure you never feel powerful even in beginner areas because that would be fun). I compiled the most useful leveling tips below for any future travelers who dig through old threads for tips:

AD&D: Heroes of the Lance is done. Holy absolute moly this game is awful. I can't believe this was released. Super easy game for lots of reasons though (small map, save anywhere, more magic than you'll ever need, only one item to find and it's in the same room as the boss lmao).

I can sing the first verse of Ice Ice Baby but know barely any of Stairway to Heaven, so I guess this is the best song so far.

It's probably like Fisher Price: Perfect Fit. Watching the computer player incorrectly match shapes to identical shapes sure is something. For a longer game, Airport Simulator 2014, which took around 20 hours to beat and like 16 of those hours are just driving the little luggage cart around from point A to point B.

I mean Adam Sandler movies wouldn't work without Adam Sandler, but they still do exist.

I don't remember having a big problem with Shining in the Darkness. It might be because your goal is pretty straightforward like in Wizardry: Go down. When I'm in a huge open world all around without a clue where to go, I just don't want to be bothered by nuisance encounters while I'm just figuring out what to even do, but if I am they better best fast! It also throws bigger encounters at you when level up, so it's punishing me for getting stronger! I still have my SITD maps I was so meticulous back then, even drawing pools of water with a blue sharpie.

Hey kids drinking more water though

Just remember this is how everyone who doesn't collect old ass videos games views you while you're collecting old ass video games.

I'm playing Might and Magic on NES. This would be such a cool open world RPG if it wasn't such a pain in the ass. There's so much instant death and so many sluggish battles with no rewards (20 enemy random battles, wtf). There's a lot of old-school obscure BS and quests to figure out, but the awful combat makes it so not worth it.

I heard Super Mario 3D All Stars is going to be super limited.

I've started Might & Magic while I'm in the blobber mood, not that I think anyone else is itching to play it. You really are trash when you start out in this game. Accidentally trying to open a locked door or trapped loot bag the starter town can result in instant party wipe.

Wizardry 2 is done. Damn, that's a great game! My least favorite things in games are when they start out like I've never played a video game before and when they overstay their welcome. KOD throws you straight into the grinder and it's only 6 floors long so it's anything but exhausting or repetitive. All killer, no filler. I didn't realize VGS is like the KOD fan club, but I'm hoping I can join as a member.

I just teleported into rock, basically erasing my save game

I thought Wizardry prepared me for Wizardry 2, but every single time the ends of my map meet, they don't match up because of one way walls and teleporters.

Oh man I missed this. I’ll take one if available.

I feel like video games should be a good storytelling medium but I rarely find that to be the case. They can have a interesting premise or fleshed out characters, but I've never played a video game that told a story as well or concisely as the best books or movies. The best stories are perfectly edited and paced, which seems impossible for video games which are never edited down to only the most worthwhile core and the pace is determined by the player unless you're going to load up on cut scenes. No storyteller would say even a game as good as TLOU2 is a story that needs 30 hours to be told. As good as TLOU2 is, it's interspersed with scenes like "Then Ellie literally took out a gun and murdered 40 armed military men on her own", because you know, it's a video game. In the TV adaptation they intentionally took a lot of the serial murder stuff out because it doesn't make the story better, it's just fun to shoot dudes in video games. I mean I'm a video game man. Video games are cool unique ways to take part in stories and worlds. But verbatim write down your next dialog tree in Baldur's Gate 3 or KOTOR where every NPC blurts out their immediate quest-ly problems to you within 2 sentences of meeting you then open up to a random paragraph of Lord of the Rings. The video game way of telling a fantasy story is just worse. Anyway yeah the answer is Metal Gear Solid 2.

Barry Lyndon is kind of like an 18th century Forrest Gump but you get a huuuge zoom shot every other scene. I love that movie. The Shining would have to be my favorite though. I love Paths of Glory too.

What's a good party makeup? I went Fighter, Fighter, Cleric, Thief, Wizard, Mage. It seemed fine except the Wizard really seemed the worst of both worlds. I was thinking of rolling the same swapping out the Wizard for another Mage. Clerics are kinda badass too, maybe two Clerics instead of two Fighters?