Hey everyone. Been away for a week or so playing games n such, figured I would drop in and suggest some stuff to the primarily PC gaming types in this forum. I try to play a little bit of everything old and new, but lately I have been gravitating towards the older titles for older systems.
Anyway my first recommendation is Vagrant Story for the PSOne. There are at least 75 other games I own that I could recommend for this awesome little system (LCD is awesome too!) but Vagrant Story is the game I am currently hooked on.
It’s a cool Action RPG with a sort of Active Turn Based system that is busting out with all sorts of awesome spells and attack techniques. Squaresoft breaks up the boredom that would no doubt ensue by just hitting the X button by allowing the player to assign the various chain and defense techniques learned through the course of the game to different buttons. Timing is also important as it dictates how long your chain of hits or defense techniques are. If you mess up the timing you only get one successful technique off, for example.
The secret to success isn’t just pulling off the spells and techniques, but also forging new weapons and armor that work well against the game’s later bosses. Enemies drop gems and weapons parts that can be combined to enhance the race/damage specific properties of each part. REALLY cool.
The games visuals are probably the best found on the Playstation. The textures rock, the character modeling is awesome, the bosses are VERY impressive to look at, and all the spell effects are beautiful.
The story is also decently told. Unlike the various FF titles it doesn’t cloud things too much with stupid theological junk and a crapload of 90210 love stories. There’s a lot more to be said about this game, but I have other games to talk about, so look into it if you don’t know about this game. If you do, this is a reminder to play it again :)
Next up is Jackal for the Nintendo. You can find a visually superior version for MAME but I prefer the Nintendo version because it’s what I grew up with. This classic Konami title puts you in a jeep and sends you on missions to rescue P.O.W.'s and defeat bosses. The story consists of the same cut scene between each mission accompanied by the phrase “HERE?”.
Deep stuff.
Anyway older games like this weren’t meant to win Oscars. So what’s cool about the jeep? You can run over people, throw grenades, shoot missiles, take down tanks, bombers, turrets, evil roman statues that shoot rockets from their mouths, all KINDS OF STUFF. This is a classic game you must play if you haven’t already. DO IT!
Be sure to check out Demon’s Crest for the SNES if you get the chance to. Capcom, my favorite gaming dev in the whole wide world, did a great job with this game. Excellent visuals, solid story, cool characters, awesome abilities, and fun but challenging levels make this game aces in my book.
This one was really overlooked by a lot of gamers for some reason. Most of the time when I bring it up people scratch their heads and start yapping about Donkey Kong Country. Demon’s Crest > DKC! I think anyway. Might just be my fanboyish nature for all things Capcom shining through.
Last but not least I will recommend Tech Romancer yet again. I know a few people paid attention during my last rant, but I can never get enough of this game. It utterly disappoints me that a sequel is not in the works. This game would do sooo well with 2 or 3 new characters, new sounds, visuals and stages. The single player is simply the best I have EVER seen in ANY fighting game. The characters and their plot arcs are all cleverly designed to appropriately spoof their anime counterparts. Tech Romancer even has EYE CATCHES between matches and story sequences. Awesome. Simple Awesome.
It’s a fighting title based around 9 robots initially with alternates and Jin (Blodia II Custom) available later on in the game. You fight with insane anime moves that are pulled off with combinations created by the 3 buttons and d-pad. As you fight things in the arena are knocked down (buildings, mountains, etc…) and power ups and weapons are revealed. For example one power up allows the fighter to go into hero mode and pull off some extra moves. One fighter can drop a space station on his opposition. AWESOME. Other power ups include defense, speed, power, and health bonuses.
The weapons that can be collected are UNIQUE for each character. While the graphic that represents the weapon is generic, when a character walks over it, the UNIQUE weapon is loaded and can be used right away. The giant robot made of toys can shoot out a miniature train that runs along the ground attacking the opponents feet, while other robots get HUGE bombs, knives, various guns, and other enhancements. COOL! When a robot gets hit hard enough they drop some of their stored items and are up for grabs again.
While this game lacks the polygon pushing of VF4 and Tekken 4 it does what it intends to brilliantly. The FEEL of giant anime robot fighting is totally captured. I love it.
Capcom recently released a matchmaking service version of this title but the chances of a sequel are probably pretty slim. Grab this game while you can, there is NOTHING like it.
Anyway that’s it for now, ill probably pop in sometime next week with some other picks. Being jobless allows me to play a lot of the games while I wait by the phone for interviews.