(Retro) What have you been playing this week? Vol.2

[egparadigm]

Been on a Resi mish. Recently played MGS on PS1 via xStation and loved that. I was looking for something that felt similar so initially of course I tried MGS2. But this just didn't give me the retro, 3rd-person thrill I was going for. So I booted up RE1: True Director's Cut. This is a fan edited game that includes full colour and gore. Plus you can choose to have either the original OST or the Dual Shock OST. I'd been meaning to go back to RE1 after doing just Jill's part on the Saturn last year. This time I played Chris followed by Jill, DS OST then OG OST.

I decided I wanted to play RE2 on the N64 due to all the content changes/innovations (the graphics are probably some of the worst overall due to compression). Whilst I was waiting to get a copy of the game, I played RE1 remake on Xbox Series X. Found it a bit dull in comparison, but maybe I was just all Resi 1'd out. Onto part 2 now, a joy to play.

[CMcK]

I’ve been playing Nexzr on the PC Engine. Don’t know why I haven’t encountered this vertical shooter before but damn it is seriously good. Has that proper old school difficulty level but you don’t feel cheated. Looks and sounds great too.

[Colin]

Awesome game, hope you're playing it in hi res mode too Craig!

[CMcK]

Awesome game, hope you're playing it in hi res mode too Craig!

Absolutely! Such a cool feature of some PCE games. Shame it isn't always easy to access.

[wakka]

Been on a Resi mish. Recently played MGS on PS1 via xStation and loved that. I was looking for something that felt similar so initially of course I tried MGS2. But this just didn't give me the retro, 3rd-person thrill I was going for. So I booted up RE1: True Director's Cut. This is a fan edited game that includes full colour and gore. Plus you can choose to have either the original OST or the Dual Shock OST. I'd been meaning to go back to RE1 after doing just Jill's part on the Saturn last year. This time I played Chris followed by Jill, DS OST then OG OST.

I decided I wanted to play RE2 on the N64 due to all the content changes/innovations (the graphics are probably some of the worst overall due to compression). Whilst I was waiting to get a copy of the game, I played RE1 remake on Xbox Series X. Found it a bit dull in comparison, but maybe I was just all Resi 1'd out. Onto part 2 now, a joy to play.

Interesting . I want to play Resi 1, too. I've only played through REmake previously and want to do the original PS1 game this time.

I'm really baffled by all the different versions though.

You've got:

Resi 1
Resi 1 Director's Cut
Resi 1 Director's Cut Dualshock
Resi 1 True Director's Cut (fanhack)
Resi 1 Ultimate Director's Cut (fanhack)

I'm assuming True Director's Cut is the one to play, based on your post?

[egparadigm]

wakka I’m not 100% sure but I from memory I believe True and Ultimate are basically a very similar hack. There’s a different TDC to download depending on which OST you want to hear. I tried both.

Director’s Cut series has the benefit of Arrange Mode, which is worthwhile if you’ve previously played the original.

I was mildly irked by the changes to room placements and keys in Remake. They’re the same in both Jill and Chris playthroughs at least. I recommend to keep a note or map of where keys go. You can download a blank map. I use a pic on my iPad and add comments over the top.

[nakamura]

Just had an operation so sat in hospital reading NMS! Got the GBA in my bag too! Quite relaxing!

[wakka]

wakka I’m not 100% sure but I from memory I believe True and Ultimate are basically a very similar hack. There’s a different TDC to download depending on which OST you want to hear. I tried both.

Director’s Cut series has the benefit of Arrange Mode, which is worthwhile if you’ve previously played the original.

I was mildly irked by the changes to room placements and keys in Remake. They’re the same in both Jill and Chris playthroughs at least. I recommend to keep a note or map of where keys go. You can download a blank map. I use a pic on my iPad and add comments over the top.

Thanks dude. I think I will go with 'True', like yourself, as from what I'm seeing that seems to be the preferred version. I won't need arrange mode and shouldn't be dismayed by changes to placements since I haven't played REmake in over twenty years!

A good thought on notating a map though. Trad Resi lives and dies by you having a decent memory, I find, otherwise you can get muddled and stuck. Writing stuff down is probably a good solution!

I hope you are recovering well nakamura

[Tobal]

After discussing with linkshell friends on ffxi about other mmo's recently, dragon quest x popped up and looking into it, it seems right pain to start... but this ultimately lead to one of them starting to play the DQ series for the first time, he'd played through 1 and 2 and said he enjoyed them, and i'd said i join this journey when he reaches 3.

tldr: started Dragon Quest 3, snes port with a fan translation over that horrific looking switch port or the NES original. The animations on the monsters are incredible, while they only have 2 each they look like they belong on a 32bit machine. As for the gameplay, it's as expected from my experience with DQXI, but with alot more freedom early on with the world map and with alot more grinding not just for exp but for gold as well. I was told to keep notes of npc dialogue as most seem to have message about something the world or give me a good idea which direction to walk in.

[MonkeyJuggleDX]

I’ve been hammering the cabs lately and have done the following over the past week:

Various iterations of Street Fighter II including some funky bootlegs.
Hat Trick Hero/Football Champ - Actually did my first ever 1cc the other day!
Sly Spy/Secret Agent - One from my youth that I only ever played on my C64 floppy drive. Credit fed it to the end.
Spinmaster - Used to be able to 1 life this back in the 90’s, but can only get to stage 3 on one credit now.
Neo Drift Out - Can 1cc it every time but the real fun is trying to beat my best times.

[egparadigm]

After playing Dark Forces Remaster and recently learning about source ports, I googled and found Open Jedi Knight Dark Forces 2. It's very straightforward to run and even support Mac OS. Within a short space of time the Star Wars magic had caught me and a quick try turned into a 3 hour stint. Beautiful!

[wakka]

Nice! I remember playing that on a friend’s PC as a kid and being amazed by the way your actions would influence your position on a moral spectrum from light to dark side.

I will have to try that.

Further to our recent posts about Tomb Raider I discovered the OpenLara reimplementation of TR1, which is also Mac compatible if you find it on MacSourceports. I’m gonna give that a go to play it. Only works for the first game tho unfortunately.

[egparadigm]

Nice! I remember playing that on a friend’s PC as a kid and being amazed by the way your actions would influence your position on a moral spectrum from light to dark side.

I will have to try that.

Further to our recent posts about Tomb Raider I discovered the OpenLara reimplementation of TR1, which is also Mac compatible if you find it on MacSourceports. I’m gonna give that a go to play it. Only works for the first game tho unfortunately.

Yeah I guess it’s an early example of the morailty spectrum. I was quite taken with it as a young teenager, but never finished it (probably got stuck). Good to maybe finish what I started all those years ago.

I was going to suggest Open Lara but assumed you wanted to play on console. There’s a version on Original Xbox if you have a softmod…

[wakka]

That was the original plan - but I've only got my Saturn handy in terms of retro machines of the relevant era at the mo, and I've been put off by the fact that you seemingly need to choose between a distorted image and full speed (NTSC-U/J) and a correct image but typical PAL slowdown on PAL.

It's led me to think that OpenLara might be the best shout. No original Xbox I'm afraid, never owned one, but I can connect my laptop to the TV and connect a DualSense, which I think has a decent enough d-pad for TR. That's the plan at present, anyway.

[egparadigm]

Just finished Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2 via OpenJKDF2 on my Mac, about 25 years since I first got it. I remember being impressed by the game at the time but I think I must have got stuck. That wasn't a problem this time as I followed a guide. I also seem to remember thinking the (live action) cutscenes were laughable but I actually have to say I think they are pretty great and feature some, for the time, remarkable performances. They are generally quite short and to the point, whilst giving it an authentic, cinematic feel. Jason Court's retirement is Disney's loss!

I enjoyed the levels a lot, the main focus of the game is on exploring large Empire facilities. It's interesting how this can be enjoyable when it's pretty simple and straightforward. The graphics are a big step up from Dark Forces 1, even with the muddy/blocky textures. The boss battles are generally a pain and so the enjoyment for me went towards the end of the game as these become more frequent. Otherwise a very decent game.

I am planning to move on by playing other games in the series. Probably I will start with Mysteries of the Sith, then backtrack to DF1 before moving onto Jedi Outcast.