I'm kind of baffled by a lot of decisions made by Square-Enix lately, but that's a whole other story. Agreed, which is why I'm glad I (sort of) gave it a second shot. I'd probably start with the original and then play 2, if you can. 2 is much better, but 1 is pretty good. They're somewhat related too (several reoccurring characters, although mostly minor), and there is a nice bonus to the second one if you have a completed save file from the first. This reminds me...I'm still mad that Suikoden I+II for the PSP never came to the US. The only other Suikoden game I played was III, which I didn't really like. I think IV got some negative reviews too, but it sounded like V was really good (maybe getting things back on track). It is one of those games I eventually want to check out if I can. It's definitely an interesting formula for a RPG.
You know, in an ironic twist, as AWFUL as the combat system in Xenosaga 2 was... of all three games, which all had strong stories, I think the narrative in #2 might even have been the best. This is honestly what goes through my head several times a month: "Man, I really need to re-play Xenosaga 2. That story was so awesome. Why haven't I re-played that yet? ... ... ...oh yeah. Dammit." Huh... you know, looking at reviews, I may actually start with 5. I find I do better these days with getting into a series of RPGs if I start with the newer, updated ones with prettier graphics, before I get down to playing something with way outdated graphics. It allows me to figure out whether I like a formula without being distracted by "hmmm... these graphics aren't that good..." EDIT: Any idea if Suikoden Tactics was any good?
I forgot to mention my favorite side-scrolling game - Sonic. All the main ones on Genesis - Sonic 1, 2, 3, and Sonic & Knuckles. I loved Mario too but I think Sonic has to be my favorite side-scroller. Also liked the Rare games on N64 - Banjo Kazooie (and it's sequel), Donkey Kong 64, and Jet Force Gemini. I had Loderunner for Windows 95 on my old computer. I was insanely addicted to that game back in the day. Custom map making kept it fun for a long time. Smash Melee and Brawl are epic fighting games, but you have to have friends that are into those games as well. Every time I play Brawl on wi-fi, the lag is a killer. There's pretty much no lag for Mario Kart Wii though, so that's fun. Another personal favorite were the Kirby series for NES and SNES. Kirby is probably my favorite video game character ever.
That might not be a bad idea, although there might be some differences between V and I+II. Suikoden III got some great reviews (I think the best of the series?), but I didn't like some of the changes they made (compared to Suikoden I+II). I think I did read that V did reverse some of the changes made to the franchise (although mostly from what IV did?). The first two games are sprite-based, so they've aged better than other 3D-based PS1 games. Might even have better load times than the PS2 games, although I think load times are generally below average in most of the games. I forgot about Tactics. I don't really know much about it though. In fact, most of what I know about the Suikoden games, outside of I+II and a little of III, is mostly based on reviews. It does seem like each game has a good/great plot though, so even the "bad" ones shouldn't be too bad.
I lucked out and got RE5 shipped today from Gamefly (PS3)! RE4 on Gamecube is easily in my top 5 GOATs.
Yes I did, I worked for Chris Roberts on the Maverick team......I also did a little work for Richard Gariott, Warren Spector, Andy Hollis and Tony Zurovec, mostly voice stuff for their games, while I was a designer/producer type for Chris, while I was there, but still got in most games. The last Wing Commander I worked on was Wing 4....and for giggles I am the voice of the character "Primate" I am in tons of games vocally, and have been a designer on some too, like Starlancer, Conquest Frontier Wars etc..etc... DD
That's neat that you worked for Origin. I still have copies of Wing Commander 1 and 2 and Ultima Underworld. They run a little too fast on my old Pentium machine but ran fine on my cannibalized 386. I love would to play those games again with a proper joystick. Way back when, I remember there were some debates between fans of X-Wing and Wing Commander 2 about which game was better. What did Chris Roberts and Origin thought about Lawrence Holland's X-Wing series? The CD version of Wing Commander 2 and Ultima Underworld came with speech packs. Did you do any voice work for the two games?
I did a quick perusal and didn't find System Shock 2. Apologies if I missed it, but SS2 still has to rank as the creepiest FPS of all time, IMO. Bioshock was a technically proficient but poorly executed and clearly derivative copy. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/nbpUGaYlJmA&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/nbpUGaYlJmA&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
Games that should be mentioned IMHO: Baldurs gate 2 Civilization 2 Mario Kart International superstar soccer Zelda ocharina of time Both for Civilisation 2 and Mario kart and international superstar soccer there have been newer games, which had better graphics and maybe a bit better game play, but I enjoyed these older games better at the time they were released than Civilisation 4, the later mario kart games and the later PES games when they were released. Sometimes the original game is more groundbreaking and should be looked at from the time frame it was released.
I haven't read the thread, but I agree with moestavern about Donkey Kong. Also all things Mario Bros., all things Mega Man and Galaga. Honorable mention: Crazy Climber, Dig Dug, Pacman. I also love the internet flash games where you have to collect clues to get out of a room.
