MeganJoanne

It was a pain playing some games in b&w, if it was necessary to know what colors things were, but then, you got used to the levels of greyscale, it was like everything was a Gameboy but on tv. What color were those keys in Adventure? I dunno, white, grey, black. Same thing for the dragons.

Translations whether done along time ago by the game makers or via more recent from fans are the reason that I am playing more story and dialogue driven games. Ever since I realized I was able to play games in other languages on the 360, on my US xbox 360, really, wow! Though also given the downloaded game had the option for other languages, I never played them in english, always in french, though tried out german and spanish as well, just never took to them enough. I done typed out so much dialogue from playing State of Decay, and ever since many times I play a game I will do this, to have it all to refer back to, helps me learn, I suppose. And then I had looked for NES games but very few really heavy translations exist. I did try translating Faxanadu myself a while ago but then found myself also changing the dialogue since some of it never made any sense in the game, never finished the work though, but it was only for teaching myself, combination french and editing the in game text in the rom. But about a month ago I downloaded a shit load of games for various old systems, and now have more games that are in french, so finding myself playing old favorites in my hopefully one day second language. It's because of these roms of old games that I still do some art sometimes as well as being able to play games in a language other than english. And a translation isn't any good if you don't have the rom to attach it to. Though, we could all be sitting around with print outs of typed text translated by someone in a simple text document while playing the game in the official cart on a tv in whatever language it came in only and occasionally looking at the sheet of paper with the other language the dialogue is supposed to translate to. Though that is probably what I would have done long ago before internet, like I used to do when making game maps on graph paper. Actually it would probably work better than way, but I'm too spoiled now. I would like Crystalis and Willow translated to french. Last time I played Crystalis for the NES, earlier this year I typed down all of the game dialogue and started trying to translate, but well, I got a short attention span that after a little bit jumps from one thing to another and things never get completed, used to not be that way, but years go on I get more scatterbrained.

Yeah, that's how it was when you had to use the living room tv. You had to ask to use it and after a time are told that it was time to turn it off because someone wanted to actually watch tv and was getting sick of hearing game noises. Back when my brother and I had an Atari 2600 we started with a small black & white tv in the living room, next to the regular tv, many times had to play it on mute or very low, but later got a room and an upgrade, a color tv, still had dials and rabbit ears though, but we thought it was great! Berserk, Yar's Revenge, Joust, Dig Dug, Adventure, all in full color! I remember to connect the 2600 we had to screw these two prong things in to the back of the tv using a screwdriver. Hey, you won't get that watching reruns of Gilligan's Island... Old pic, mid-late-ish 80s, just hooked up brand new tv, yep, it's working! Would have been nice to get a game play pic though instead of an old tv show.

2008 pic, only one I could find with me actually playing something, Bill & Ted's Excellent Videogame Adventure for the NES (beat it then too - tough game). Maybe not a kid (can pretend), but for me this way back in the day! My best years of gaming.

Didn't have any photos of any gaming stuff really back in the day, not when I was a kid (really wish I had).

Snickers sitting with all her toys.

I'd always been the kind of gamer, probably a rarity that didn't grip NES controllers but held them with my fingers. But ever since the introduction of shoulder buttons one has no choice but to grip in order to be able to press said buttons and still maintain good control. Wasn't so bad with the SNES controller, nor even Playstation, I didn't have to hold those so tightly, but fast forward to today, I found that with the 360 controller because analog sticks are the main way of moving a character around and they are higher up than a d-pad I have to grip the controller even more, with that and the dual shoulder buttons introduced since the PS1 though now with the lower ones curved, one can't afford to lose control, but sometimes I get cramps in my palms from those grips digging in to them. On an unrelated but sorta, I remember that one time long long ago I was working at Toys'r'us and one of my coworkers that I got along with, we had battled against each other like every night on the Playstation kiosk with the Battle Arena Toushinden demo until I got the console for myself that christmas, well he drove me home one morning because I invited him over to play the full game. Anyway, I didn't know how to drive, so he thought to get me behind the wheel of his car while in the parking lot of my apartment complex, confident that I could do it and that I wouldn't crash or cause him to get in trouble because I didn't have a permit or license to drive. He actually got nervous and bewildered with how I was holding the steering wheel, with my fingers, telling me I had to grip it, and had to remind me a few times when I gripped then went back to fingertips again. I was just so used to holding game controllers, NES, even SNES and Playstation with my fingers or a light grip. I drove around most of the way in the parking lot, but was not confident with it, afraid I would crash into someone's parked car, even though he said I was doing good. First and only time I ever drove a car, for a few minutes very slowly, I could've walked faster. There's a reason why you have to grip, so you have total control, but I was doing just fine with NES controllers before controllers got more complexly designed.

Tales of Phantasia for the SNES fan translated to french. So far 53 minutes into it, I'm at level 6 and just got to Euclid to try to find my Oncle. Combat is quite different from other RPGs, but so far not difficult. Sad drama unfolded shortly into starting, more tragic a start that most, might be interesting to keep playing.

Never been heavy into the RPGs, I dunno, short attention span or most weren't interesting enough to keep me with them. But did enjoy a good bunch of them. Not listing top down action-adventure games with RPG elements because those a are whole different animal, so more RPG, less action. So typical JRPG or Strategy RPG. Dragon Warrior (NES) - A favorite because of the simplicity, one on one combat, a lone hero, that's me Dragon Warrior IV (NES/DS - both versions) - I liked the characters and story, better than the previous two in the series Final Fantasy VI (SNES) - Such a intricate story, with a combination of magic and machinery, and all of the characters were a delight, and the game was exciting as well as emotionally gripping Mystic Quest (SNES) - The basics all done right, small likable cast of characters, easy to pick up and play, has some small bits of puzzle interactivity with environments Final Fantasy IV (PS1 - played and beat on the PS1, Final Fantasy Chronicles collection) - This one didn't pull me in the first time I tried playing it, but it grew on me Suikoden (PS1) - Who would think that there could be so many likable characters in one game! Gensou Suikoden II (PS1 - I had the Japanese version long ago) - Enjoyed the first game so couldn't wait for this to come out, got it the moment I saw that Starland had it in stock, even better than the first WildArms (PS1) - Felt similar to Mystic Quest, very basic but also with those same interactive simple puzzles that Mystic Quest has, and like that game only a few very endearing characters needed Legend of Legaia (PS1) - An RPG with fighting moves, very different and it actually worked Saiyuki : The Journey West (PS1) - Didn't think I'd like the Strategy RPG thing, but glad I got this one then Chrono Trigger (DS) - Never really played this one even though had it with the Final Fantasy Chronicles collection, I didn't give it much of a chance then, until I decided to get it for the DS, found I was missing out on a treasure all those years, a masterpiece Honorable mention : Final Fantasy VIII (PS1) - A bit more complicated than I would prefer, so I didn't think I would like it but enjoyed it more than FFVII which I never could really get into, but never did finish it, too distracted by other stuff

Mystic Quest Legend. Entering Pyramide Glacée. Currently my level is at 15, and been playing so far for 3:38. I really missed this game, still one of my favorite RPGs. I like it the same as I like the first Dragon Warrior, because it is lite, keeps to the basics, does them well, plus it adds some simple interactive puzzles.

No snow, but it's really friggin cold out, well cold for Austin. I'm not used to it, never was even when I lived in colder states, well maybe a little more than now, but while it can and has gotten below freezing here, only a few days out of the whole year... tomorrow it'll probably be in the 80s (I didn't check the forecast, but weather is crazy kind make up its mind sorta deal here). I hate the cold, it makes me shiver and it hurts. Only time since I been living here (over 6 and a half years now) that I ever seen snow was December 7th 2017, that night a very fine sliver of snow that was already melted come early morning.

Atari 2600 era - early to mid 80s, living room NES - bedroom, living room depending on when since I owned this console more than a few times, and what apartment at the time SNES - same as above Playstation - see above xbox 360 - bedroom

Yeah, Gears of War was the game that I thought I would like most when a friend first sent me her 360 and some games several years ago, never thought I would bore of it after a few games. Tried out Halo 3, just doesn't do it for me. Gave Skyrim a chance, it didn't pull me in right away, took some time but once it did, I was hooked on the open world games. Most of the time in the past I tended to play shorter more linear games, for the most part, and this one seemed way too big for me, that in the day the longest games I played, RPGs, rarely, 20 hours was already too much. I had downloaded other types of games for the 360, the more linear stuff and despite how good they were, I still kept going back to the open world games, and ultimately it was between two, Skyrim and State of Decay, thousand hours and then some I'm sure. I used to hate RPGs, and I typically hated anything where I couldn't just skip the dialogue and get to the action (I remember long ago my brother sometimes when he watched me play would get pissed because I skipped through all the talk in RPGs and such without even paying attention to what they were saying, so I would wander around fighting enemies repeatedly and eventually find the way on my own, but I can see his agitation), but now since studying another language I am mostly playing games that have a bit more talking and taking it all in, though my short term memory for this sorta thing usually means I quickly forget what was told to me. I used to be all, or mostly all action, Castlevania, Ninja Gaiden, Shatterhand, Batman, Blaster Master, Metroid, Zelda II, that sorta shit. Oh, I still like those games, but never thought I would become so addicted to open world games like that, nor see my taste sorta shift, a little. But then, maybe it hasn't since really they are basically like the top down Zelda, Crystalis, Willow type games, or an RPG but with total free control over every bit of the action in real time, far more freedom. While I enjoy the overhead type of games, not my favorites, I have always preferred the side view hack n slash-formers when stage based or larger more explorative world. I always hated naming my characters in games and old RPGs a lot of times would give you a group of characters and I had to somehow come up with satisfying names for them all, real headache there, that I lot of times found myself giving up before the game even started, no shitting, and still have a hard time that every time I created a character in Skyrim for exemple my name eventually was "_________________", yeah, an long underline, fill in the blank.

Surely I didn't think the game would have one like that because so far it as been test walls, if breakable use mattock, or step on floor tile, stairs appear or something simple like that. So I first thing I did when I got to that location was try to smash the rock wall open. Nope, that didn't work.

Final Fantasy Adventure. Long time ago I would have wandered for hours, days if I had to, stumped and irritated but would have eventually figured out whatever clue or riddle that had me perplexed, repeatedly trying the many different things or even the same things over and over and wondering what I was doing wrong and then some to figure out how to do something, nowadays, I lack the patience, "Palm trees and an 8"... Gamefaqs'd it... wow, really, good one... I had to do this to make a cave entrance show that will lead me to Medusa. At level 20 now and getting ready to look for Medusa so that I can make her cry, or something... I need her tears.

Hey, they assured us there were no worries, just need time to get things moved. Maybe it won't be changed too much or too much for the worst. And yes, I followed the link and it looks drab, uninteresting and lacking in character, but maybe once it gets going things will change, perhaps including the appearance... though NintendoAge like every site that has been around a while and we each get familiar with, you knew you were there the moment you entered the site. I remember Gamefaqs, that was eventually sold and then bought again by big corporate, aside from ads everywhere it appears to be the same after all these years, and then some, for the better, I dunno, but it isn't dead, but also, it never changed its name either, always ever Gamefaqs. Sometimes things can work, but it also depends on what the company wants out of it too. Problem for me with this new owner of the former NA, well I came back just as this was happening and then came here out of curiousity, and now I'm here, so might be that I just stay here now, as I hate jumping around from one place to another.

Mystic Quest Legend en français. Entering Tour Focale. I'm at level 10, time so far 1:51. You know, not really any RPGs in french on the NES, best it has to offer is Shadowgate, which is a good one, but with SNES, while many still have only been fan translated, still there are a handful at least that were localized such as the Actraiser games, Soul Blazer, Illusion of Time (Illusion of Gaia), Terranigma (which I did play for a bit some time ago, going to have to start over though because it has been too long), oh, Zelda A Link to the Past, and Secret of Mana, at least those, not really RPGs in the classic sense, but close enough, exploration, lots of NPCs and dialogue. Did some time ago try some fan translations for 7th Saga, Brain Lord and Breath of Fire, non of which I ever even played before that, but only a few hours for each, would probably have to start over since it's been a while. It's nice to have games translated to the target language that weren't originally, but there are some issues throughout, lots of errors be it wrong word(s) used, some words not translated, and spelling errors as well as sometimes gibberish that while I was playing them and typing out all the text I found myself learning through correcting them, at least I know enough to know when something don't look right. I liked Brain Lord, felt similar to Enix's overhead adventures like Soul Blazer. But if I play too many games at once my chances of finishing them would be slim, as is I started several GBC/GBA Zelda games and still have yet to get back to them because I put more focus in Link's Awakening, and then started Final Fantasy Adventure (not in french) and found I enjoyed that enough to keep playing, but then started up Mystic Quest. See, too many big games going on at once. One of them has to get finished, then maybe hit up Soul Blazer afterward, or something else.

Went back to Final Fantasy Adventure. Made it to an airship where Girl is supposedly held, taken by I forget his name. Anyway, the game pulled a cheap one on me, the moment I got to one of the screens an enemy was waiting right there, I was stoned and then mogged, instant death without even being able to do anything. And the companions in this game are nearly worthless for backup, they just walk around aimlessly attacking air, never seen morons like these before in a game.

Just started Mystic Quest Legend (french version of Mystic Quest) for the SNES. Typing out all of the dialogue in the game into notepad for future studying (I do this now with most games I play that have a lot of conversation). Just arrived at le Donjon d'Os (bone dungeon) with Tristan, current level 7, play time 43 minutes. I got in the mood for this game after trying out Final Fantasy Adventure. Always loved Mystic Quest, the characters, the simplicity and ease of the gameplay, and the music, memorable stuff.

Cool. Good to know. Maybe they told me in the game, I probably wasn't paying attention. Anyway, update, Saved the girl whom I named "Girl" (and the boy as "Boy") who was kidnapped by a vampire and shoved into a coffin within a dungeon, but shortly after we get to another town and meet up with a sage by the name of Cibba, the bad guys attack, and the Girl gets taken again, this time by someone I knew and apparently trusted. Seems she has the same issue that Princess Toadstool has. Liking the game so far.

Gave a couple of Gameboy games a try. Battle of Olympus for Gameboy is terrible. Character now has a floaty jump, enemies behave slightly different, you can be hit back repeatedly until dead, if you strike while an olive or leaf are in front of you they get destroyed (WTF), and enemies take more hits. I could not even make it to Athena because the hoppy hoofed guys kept killing me. Damn shame, ruin a perfectly good classic like that. Final Fantasy Adventure, feels like Mystic Quest on the SNES but active battles like Legend of Zelda. Okay except for limitations not just on keys but mattocks and those are used to break walls, problem is guessing which walls are breakable. Sure one could think, well Zelda was like that will the bombs, only with these mattocks, I haven't seen an enemy drop any. Enemies seem to be able to wander anywhere, across river, through solid rock. The music is good thus far from what I heard though and I don't mind the simplicity of the gameplay. Just got the mirror after killing the dragon/hydra boss.

Six years going on seven in Austin TX. I like the area, feels like it's home, but then I don't get out much so only know well my immediate neighborhood. Allergies are the worst part about living here.

45, I think... yeah, that sound about right.

Okay, some of this may not be coherently put together, all random thoughts of whatever comes to mind, so it may jump around a bit. It used to be I'd try to beat all kinds of games, even if I sorta don't like them, or they are really hard, or other issue, I used to be very determined (Back to the Future II & III for the NES is one game that comes to mind first). But, even if the game isn't very good, I still have to be getting some kind of enjoyment, even just a little out of it, otherwise I won't bother. But those were NES games and the such. And I beat a lot of NES games! But there were ones like Ikari Warriors, Athena, X-Men for exemple that there is no way I am wasting my time or stressing myself out over because they are the worst of them. No redeeming qualities at all, though it makes me wonder why I ever had them in my collection back when I did, guess like every game I had there was always that hope, and really I did give them some chances once in a while, but stressed very quickly, took that garbage out of my system and played something better. Earlier this year I was playing a bunch of NES hacks for Castlevania, Metroid, Zelda II and did finish several of them, the ones that were actually worth finishing, one example being Castlevania The Holy Relics, that game was really good, and another being Over the Moon, a Metroid hack that didn't even involve Samus or anything from the Metroid universe. But many times like some game producers, the one creating a hack misses the mark, in what makes a game fun, enjoyable enough that someone, just not a few elite, would play their game all the way through to the finish, instead opting for making it super difficult or at worst cheap, congratulations, if your game were actually a legitimate release it'd fall in with those on the crap list. Now current, err last gen when I had a 360 I didn't really care if I beat a game or not, I finished several of them, but one I was disappointed with and hated was Tomb Raider Anniversary, those quick time events ruined what could have been an okay game (Underworld on the 360 was a near masterpiece and Angel of Darkness for the PS2 was actually pretty decent), and while I tried a few times to play it, to find some enjoyment, some redeeming quality out of it that would allow me to endure the crap, if it hadn't been a download I would have threw that piece of @#$% across the room. Got to the end of Skyrim twice ever, but most of the time I refused to be the Dragonborn and came up with my own story for my created characters and played however I wanted, beating that game was not even a concern, it was the experience I was getting out of the whole world and the things I was able to do. Last time I played that one though I decided to do something different and challenge myself. I was in the middle of playing a shield only game, and killing things without getting credit for it such as bashing them off of ledges to fall and die, or luring them into traps or having another enemy kill them or such, sort of the type of challenges I would and have done with NES games. Ever since playing the open world games beating games hasn't been so important to me, thus also find it harder to see a game through to the end too unless that game is really good. It used to be, if a game even went longer than a few hours, even if it was really good it would be hard for me to stick it through. I remember long ago playing Alundra for the PS1, I struggled to stay with it going on 30 hours, for me at the time, that was already way too long, but did beat it, some many hours after that, but there is no way I would have ever played all the way through again, puzzles and challenge a bit too high for me, I like my puzzles light, not heavy, too much thinking hurts my brain. Yet I can play ones like Skyrim, Fallout 3 and State of Decay near endlessly, or until I run out of things for my particular character to do, or just feel like starting over with another. But found it amazing how I could wander around in these games for so many hours and repeat the next day and day after and so on and find I am addicted, that was unprecedented before for me. Heck long ago before the open world games became a big thing, the longest games I ever played were RPGs, and back then if anything went up to 20 hours, that was already long enough, time to wrap things up, guess that is why I was never heavy into those sorts of games, it was always the games that I could beat within a half hour, hour or in some cases a few hours for some of my favorite nonlinear choices. Yet, I got addicted to Skyrim and State of Decay, something I did not even expect while the more linear stage based games on the 360 had nothing to offer me after a short time, unlike those on earlier consoles, which I still find kind of strange. I recently beat Zelda : Link's Awakening for the Gameboy, that one was good at first but halfway through I started to get bored, and as I was closing in on the end I just wanted it done. I would say sometimes when playing it felt more like I was playing Alundra than Zelda, while good and having creative puzzles, sometimes it was too much and was lacking in the freedom of the earlier titles on the NES and SNES, the island world feeling too closed up with too many roadblocks everywhere to have to go around. A long time ago after seeing my brother play through Ocarina of Time I gave it a try because he kept insisting that I really need to play it for myself, got through all of the boy Link's dungeons, and gave up on it, I didn't enjoy the game from the start and just found playing it annoying. "Link, listen!" No, and shut the frog up! And same thing with Mario 64 which I never liked, but then along came Banjo*Kazooie and that one was entertaining and enjoyable all the way through to the end, played better than Mario 64 and cute without being annoying. A lot goes into what keeps one playing a game, and the game does not even have to be all that great, just have the right balance of various elements you enjoy. I remember a time when I thought Castlevania Symphony of the Night was the greatest game I ever played, though I think it helped that I had the Japanese version so there was more going on than simply playing it, the studying Japanese at the time I think kept it lasting longer than it probably would have otherwise. I had actually downloaded that one for the 360 a while back, couldn't finish it, bored the hell out of me for the same reasons it started to fail after a time on the PS1, unbalanced, too much stuff, too easy (yet, Castlevania II on the NES is also very easy, but is one of my favorites, go figure), and an assortment of other issues later perfected in later Metroidvania games on the GBA. I can go on and on, but I tire and am getting hungry.

Crystalis - GBC Now at level 11 in the town of Joel. Decided to turn the sound back on again. I would really love to know why when they made this port that they changed all of the music, there was nothing wrong with the original soundtrack at all. Anyway, aside from that the game is okay, any of the little bits of changes here and there haven't hurt it. Certainly better than Blaster Master Enemy Below, that one from the bit I played, up to stage 3 was while not horrible, I didn't much like that one, no momentum for the vehicle and only four directional walking for Jason in the overhead areas and other gripes, maybe I'll get back to it, maybe not, but one game at a time.