Minorikawa's Game Club Lounge with Coffee and Booze

[Warning]

Another notable game I should mention is the Growlansers series. If anyone remembers that strategy game where characters move where you point them in real time and where magic casters can cast spells with cutscenes. The artist behind those games is wonderful and the characters are very cute. I played almost all games in the series during the PS2 era or so and I truly enjoyed each of them. It's a game series maybe not a lot of people will have heard about but I could be wrong. There's a lot to love about it if we like fun battles and cute characters but then again, I could name so many other games with these traits. I just find Growlansers had quite a place in gaming but sadly falls under old games with wonderful ideas that will only exist during that time. I love many modern games but not many get to the ankle of what games of those times were like. Maybe it's nostalgia... Or maybe I'm right. I don't know for sure.

[Minorikawa]

I Googled to check and see if there was a spiritual successor to it and all I'm finding is that it is a spiritual successor to the Langrisser series. Honestly, though, I wouldn't be surprised if some smaller devs try to bring that style of game back at some point. As I said, there's a lot of stuff indies are doing these days based around old games, and in some ways they really do push the envelope forward. Hollow Knight is a perfect example of taking all sorts of inspirations and mixing them into an excellent game.

In regards to PS2, though, I'm afraid I didn't follow it for long. I ended up becoming more invested in releases on the Xbox and GameCube during that era.

[Pixel]

Just looked him up. I have one of the images that guy drew in my search thread and I don't know why I didn't recognize the art style considering, despite being quite well drawn, all of his girls look the same with hair swaps.

That guy draws some incredibly detailed hentai. Like my god.

[Warning]

Incredible nudity and incredible characters, imo. The characters in the games look pretty cool on both sides. This is the kind of awesome things that I miss. I wouldn't doubt he could make some hentai games look pretty great if he did any but anyway yeah, he has lot of details in his things. Growlanser was one of my childhood things among so many other things. I spend my life playing games and there's just so many I love.

[Pixel]

I never heard of growlanser until I saw one for psp at the store I worked in. I googled growlanser and I recognize that cover.

[DragonneRPG Deactivated]

10 hours ago, Minorikawa said:

I think we're in a better spot. Is it different? Yeah, but that's also part of getting older. I'm not going to say it's better, but we're in a good era of games, I think.

Contradiction spotted. XD

It'S true we're in a good era but I don't know if anything that will happen in the future will have the same impact. Back then, a new console was capable of wowing people without fancy, smooth graphics, long as it had a good library. The PS1 didn't have the N63's smooth 3D models but it appealed to an older demographic with mature games, some of which offered incredible graphics despite the console's capabilities. The fact it used CDs also brought better sound quality, which greatly helped I think.

Quote

Parasite Eve btw was quite the series of "not sure where it wants to be"

The first one had the right idea, with incorporating horror into the JRPG genre. PE2 wasn'T bad but it tried to be Resident Evil way too much. And the third one, I haven't played it but I heard it was divisive.

[Minorikawa]

43 minutes ago, DragonneRPG said:

Contradiction spotted. XD

Objection!

You are... absolutely correct! My wording was dumb. I think we're living in a good time, or perhaps by "better" I meant "better now than 360/PS3 era". However, I do have to call objection on...

45 minutes ago, DragonneRPG said:

Back then, a new console was capable of wowing people without fancy, smooth graphics, long as it had a good library. The PS1 didn't have the N63's smooth 3D models but it appealed to an older demographic with mature games, some of which offered incredible graphics despite the console's capabilities. The fact it used CDs also brought better sound quality, which greatly helped I think.

On the contrary, graphics was what the console wars was all about much of the time. Even if the Super Nintendo was the technically better platform graphically, SEGA used its "blast processing" jargon of nonsense to try and trick people into thinking the opposite was true. And, given the... "realism"... of Mortal Kombat on the Genesis, there were certainly some games that convinced people that it was in fact stronger. Of course, that Mortal Kombat retained all the blood on Genesis was also a reason many preferred that system over the SNES.

However, many of the PlayStation 1 games were sold with ads built on pre-rendered cut-scenes. I know a lot of people that only bought Final Fantasy VII because the commercial looked "crazy" and "gorgeous", but then fell out of it not necessarily because of its appearance (though that, too), but because it was an RPG and they never played nor were interested in such games. This continued into the 360 vs. PS3, where fanboys raged super hard over how the PS3 was "the best" because the "Cell Processor was a powerhouse of computing", and while they were technically right, the 360 architecture often yielded superior performance and looks.

It's only now that graphics are less of a comparison point, with Digital Foundry more being a resource for those that care about framerate wanting to know which platform to buy a game on than which console is prettier/stronger. But there has always been a push for beauty in this industry, and a lot of consumers fell for the tricks hook, line, and sinker.

As for what will and won't wow audiences, well... that's a tough one to answer. I have family that's teenagers and friends with kids and seeing the things they get hyped for is both varied and interesting. Sometimes, they're not too different from how we were as kids. Other times, they seem to get hyped about stuff that seems bizarre to us.

But that's part of what I mean by "different". I don't know anyone under the age of 20 talking about or interested in Call of Duty: Vanguard or even Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, but you bet your butt they're hyped about Deltarune and Pokemon. The future... is gonna be interesting.

[DragonneRPG Deactivated]

Quote

On the contrary, graphics was what the console wars was all about much of the time

Yes but that wasn't the reason Playstation did so well. Sony could've made another 3D console with cartridges like Nintendo did but they didn't want to let the CD idea go to waste after they parted. Obviously, it paid off, even if the graphics weren't as nice and smooth as N64. I agree about the pre-rendered cutscenes, which the N64 could never do because of limited cartridge space but I think it was a good trade-off. That and sound quality. Now, next-gen graphics indeed impressed me (I was young and superficial) but they weren't the reason I was interested in a console. The PS1 impressed me with its cool 90s 3D games and awesome music and I bought an Xbox over the PS2 because of a game or two I REALLY needed to play.

But yeah, graphics were more a selling point back then that it is now. Back then I was impressed that a car's wheels in a PS2 game were a little rounder than any PS1 game, so yeah. XD

That PS1 talk reminds me I need to find copies of Tenchu for the PS1, I miss those games.

[Pixel]

Holy shit I wasn't ready for Phoenix with the gun.

Speaking of Tenchu I got endless hours out of the vs mode with my brother when we were younger. Fun time.

[DragonneRPG Deactivated]

The VS mode was on Tenchu: Wrath of Heavens, I think? I played that one a little. I do remember the camouflage was incredibly useless in VS mode XD.

[Pixel]

Wrath of Heaven, yes, my bad. When I realized I had a thing for Kunoichis lmao.

[Minorikawa]

I feel like Tenchu is another one of those properties people desperately want back yet is never happening.

And yes, kunoichis are certainly delicious.

I mean, I do ultimately believe the best library is what wins out in the day, but there's still such a push for it, from back then to now. I think the conversation has just changed, because there's still a lot of people eager to hit 4K with amazing high-res textures, meanwhile I'm sitting here grumbling because it means yet another generation of Unreal Engine games running at 30fps with motion blur cranked up.

But, at least plenty of devs are offering a performance mode, which allows you to choose where your priorities lie. Still, it's going to end up costing them and we're probably going to hit another point of AAA schemes to fund all the 4K asset building. But, unlike the 360/PS3 era, there's more than enough smaller developers that know they can't compete and therefore will focus on gameplay instead.

[Pixel]

We also can't forget the companies that figured out the 3D landscape in the transition from the 16-32 bit era to the N64, Dreamcast and PSX. 

Nintendo, the masters of their craft, both continued and redefined the winning formula of their flagship franchise.

Meanwhile, SEGA found out the hard way that Sonic's primary mechanic, speed, does not work in a 3D environment. They kept trying ever since and it still doesn't work lmao.

That stickless PSX controller was horrific as well, but Sony learned from it's mistakes... Er... That particular mistake. Does anyone else miss the Army Men franchise like I do?

Gaming has seen some weird fucking days, for sure, but that also all goes back to what I was saying about risks and rewards, trying new things and an experimental era where it seemed like anything was possible. 

I'm happy for where we are, sure, but I also pine for the warmth that the gaming industry and community had in times passed.

[Warning]

Tenchu was fun to me on PS2 but I never felt good at it and this picture above is why I liked that main character.

More about the PSX, the stickless controllers were fine for the games at the time then they came up with sticks and a game that used them to their full potential. I would of course speak about Ape Escape! A game, the first game, that required joysticks because if you didn't have them, the game was not playable. And this was one of the best series I played (that is not RPG). This game got me into a world of goofy monkeys and fun characters. And boy, that music also. You'd never think a game like that would exist unless someone consumed something illegal. They happened to actually be great games, too. If you want weird, this is WEIRD.

[Pixel]

NEENJAH.

OKAY that's all about Tenchu.

Yeah and then ape escape 2 came out and had the voices of Ash and Misty. And then all they released after for rereleases of ape escape was the UK dub.

[DragonneRPG Deactivated]

Sonic's speed does kinda work in 3D, if it's on a linear circuit with the game playing itself at some point. Frankly, SEGa should just put out more 2D games like Sonic Mania, along with those 3D titles.

I probably should look for Ape Escape sometimes, I tried the demo and I thought the use of the second joystick was pretty cool. And I guess the series was quite popular, since the monkeys made an appearance in a bonus game mode in Metal Gears Solid 3: subsistence. XD

[Pixel]

Oh for sure, people love Ape Escape. Maybe less in the west, like most things XD remember Medabots? Still going in Japan. Things like that.

 

[DragonneRPG Deactivated]

Medabot is still going? I only remember it from Fox Boxx back in the day. Never thought it was still popular. XD That's so old.

[Pixel]

Oh yeah it's still going. Tiny robots rule over there. Pretty sure they got more Custom Robo too, more LBX than the one we got, etc.

The Digimon fitbit thing they just put out has a Medabots crossover too.

[Minorikawa]

Well, technically Sony may have never put the sticks on there if it weren't for Nintendo doing it first on the N64, though Sony's was certainly informed by people trying to play shooters on it and saying "Yeah man, this ain't working". Nintendo made the analog stick, then Sony set the standard for two.

As for Sonic, as I never had a Genesis I didn't play much other than multiplayer games, so I've never really played much of Sonic. Toejam & Earl, Altered Beast, Golden Axe, and Mutant League Football/Hockey were more my jam. But, I know a lot of people that are Sonic fans, and... it's such an odd fandom. There are 2D exclusive fans, 3D exclusive fans, and then the blend, and it's... honestly, it's a pretty rabid fandom that I can see SEGA having no clue how to handle. Here's to hoping the next game isn't another '06, at least.

[Pixel]

14 minutes ago, Minorikawa said:

Toejam & Earl... were more my jam.

Would you say it was 

JAMMIN'?

Also you're right about the Sonic fandom being bizarre. The original Sarnarg the Hardgeharg was pretty much SEGA waving their wang about the processing speed of the Genesis, thus why Chili Dogs' whole deal is speed. In some parts he would in fact move so quickly that the screen had trouble keeping up with him. But, for a display of power it was a really good one and it is popular for a reason to this day. It's just a shame they pump out one decent Sanic game for every five garbo ones.

I didn't hate the movie though.

[Warning]

I find the movie pretty good myself but it's clearly not the same as the game and yeah, the problem with sonic now is that there are more bad ones (imo) as there are good ones. Sonic boom is for me the official end of Sonic because just look at what they did to Knuckles. And LONG SONIC? Sega seems to have tried a LOT of different things with the franchise. Few were successful, many were pretty bad. It's a series with lot of different vibes to them. My favorite will always be Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. It was the most complete experience and story with 6 cool characters.

[Pixel]

Everyone has fond memories of adventure 2 battle (particularly it's killer soundtrack) and even that's a broken mess lol. Plus Amy Rose is practically invincible in the vs mode that that is super infuriating.

Colors wasn't HORRIBLE, Generations was a little bit of a return to form but most of the Sonic games that get any praise are the ones that use the classic formula like Rush and Mania, the things everyone liked about Sonic in the first place.

I liked the dark brotherhood rpg that bioware did for DS too.

[Warning]

Well, Amy wasn't playable in Adventure 2. As far as I'm aware. It was all about Sonic, Tails and Knuckles. And Shadow, Eggman and Rouge. The 6 characters joining together to make each sides work in a way or another was pleasing. All characters had their reasons to be somewhere and then all became rivals for who would win over the other. Tails was one of my favorite characters and always used him in chao garden.

Rouge also had very fun times with Knuckles and both had pretty cool music. In fact, lot about the soundtrack is to be loved. I didn't like colors myself, found it a little boring. Generations was fine, however. The force one was one of the worst games I've seen due to how short it was and the attempt at introducing sonic OC as official characters. I hated it. Brotherhood could have been better than it is, just my opinion.

Sonic games as a whole is a strange mix of diverse genres. It's clear they tried many different things in order to try and please the community but if you compare them to Mario games, the latter kinda worked much better even if they did the exact same thing. Just funny to me, I guess. And then we have mario AND sonic games which are olympic takes at mixing both sides. Makes you wonder about things.

[Pixel]

Amy was playable in the battle modes, so was Metal. Chaos and Tikal were in one of the battle modes too.