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

[egparadigm]

Tis often the way with older games, especially those that are story heavy. I suppose you could use save states on an emulator…

[egparadigm]

Traditional Resis are comfort games for me. There's something about the deliberate pacing and umami item puzzles that just feels right.

…

This game tweaks the concept again, so that you're playing both characters simultaneously (even controlling them at the same time with both analogue sticks, which is kind of funky), and controlling when you switch between them, rather than it being dictated by the game's script.

I do love a game I can play where I’m in my comfort zone. I know what I’m doing and what to expect. Resi is that for me, too.

I have absolutely no memory of controlling each character with one of two sticks. I wonder if this was added to versions after GC, or perhaps it was a non-default option? Struggling to see how you could do that if it’s person-centred ala traditional RE (not camera-centred).

[wakka]

To be honest I've only used that feature once. It's more of a side thing. I'm not sure if the game will call upon me to use it more later.

I played more last night and got stuck for absolutely ages until finally looking at a guide. Turns out that I hadn't been pressing X on quite the right place on a big bank of switches. D'oh! Some more visual guidance from the pre-rendered backdrop on where I was supposed to be Xing would have been helpful.

I would say that at this fairly early stage I'm already starting to think that the character switching thing might not have been the best idea. It's like they took the frustrations of late-stage Code Veronica, where whatever item you need is always on the 'wrong' character, and writ it large. But I'm enjoying it nonetheless.

[CMcK]

Demo time today. Both on the MegaDrive. First up the R-Type port. Three levels with various options such as choosing the Leo ship and arcade or the fantastic new arranged soundtrack. This is seriously impressive work and shows just how capable the SGDK tools are in good hands.
The other demo is for another hori shooter ZPF. This is also using SGDK to help development and is really impressive too. The art is a mixed bag IMHO some is a bit garish but it’s all high quality. Has a real kind of demo scene feel in some respects. There are three different types of fighter enabling some different play mechanics. I particularly like the melee system too. It’s a really good combo of risk versus reward and satisfying to pull off especially against larger enemies.

[wakka]

I've spent more time on Resi Zero, and I think I'm in the final chapters of the game now (having reached the inevitable 'Laboratory' section).

My views on the emphasis on the character switching and inventory management mechanics shifted a little bit since my last post. I think they're pretty good, actually. Part of the game's challenge is to always consider who should be carrying what, what to take with you and what to leave behind. If you accept that as part of the fun and go with it as a concept, rather than considering it something standing in the way of the meat of the game, it works well.

Overall, I'm enjoying the game very much. It's a very solid traditional Resi. But I would have to say, in the overall canon, its reputation as a leslser entry is deserved. Apart from the character switching and the ability to leave items lying around indefinitely on the floor rather than in magical item boxes, there really is nothing here that wasn't already done elsewhere in the series by this point.

The environment and scenario design is extremely conservative. The puzzles are mostly rearrangements of previous ideas. It's a plain cheese sandwich of a Resi. But sometimes you just want a plain cheese sandwich, ya know?

[Baseley09]

Recall some of the graphics melting my eyes at the time, there's a peice where you walk ontop of the train looking intense.

[wakka]

Yeah, the graphics still look brilliant. Visually it's aged incredibly well considering it's 20 years old. The blending of polygonal touches, like the swinging chandeliers as the train rumbles along, really bring the pre-rendered backgrounds to life.

I've tried to take a few screenshots as I go but sadly the HD version on PS5 is not well optimised, and always brings up the pause menu when you press the screenshot button on the pad. Shame.

[MonkeyJuggleDX]

after enjoying myself with the CD versions of both AoF2 and FFS (4X load speed helps a lot).

I wish someone could hack in the CD audio for the AES/MVS games.

I'll die on the AoF2 is god tier hill. One of the best looking and sounding games ever made and once you learn how to play it, incredibly fun.

Was never must of a fan of the arranged soundtracks on Neo geo stuff though.

[dataDave]

I'll die on the AoF2 is god tier hill.

It is. I'd only ever seen it in screenshot form before picking up the Euro AES version for something like £50 shortly before getting my first NeoGeo console (Xmas 2001). It never got much publicity back in the day despite AoF 1 being everywhere. When me and my friends finally fired it up we were glued for hours. I'll always say that KoF'98, SamSho2 and FFS are the perfect treble, but if I could add a fourth it'd certainly be AoF2.

That was the lovely thing about AES ownership around that time. Most of the games were relatively cheap. Before I managed to find a boxed and relatively immaculate condition console for sale in the region I had something like six games ready to go. SamSho1 (EU), SamSho2 (EU), FFS (EU), AoF2 (EU), KoF'96 (JP)... and I can never remember the sixth, so it might have been just five games. You don't really need much more than those to set yourself up for life, but of course, buying AES games is precisely the same as a cocaine and hookers addiction.

[wakka]

I finished Resi Zero.

A solid traditional Resi, with a couple of interesting twists with the character switching and dumping of items on the floor rather than using storage chests.

Overall though, I'd have to say it's a little bit of a weaker entry. The story, in particular, is bad even by the low bar set by other games in the franchise - and I found it really strange how the characters would never utter a word to each other. It felt awkward at times. A few lines of dialogue would have gone a long way.

Not as good as Resi 1, 2 or Code Veronica - although I like it better than Nemesis.

Overall, you'd have to be a pretty committed fan of old school Resi to go back and play this one these days (guilty). But I did enjoy it. Very cosy.

[Zaki]

Demon's Souls for the past 2 weeks (2 hours a night). Took me 14 years to pull my finger out and finish it (PS5 version).

Close to getting the king of rings trophy - I need 1 more ring, but my character tendency is pure black and I'm struggling to get it back to pure white.

Can anyone on here invade me, please? I think I'm at level 92.

[JU!]

I finished Resi Zero.

A solid traditional Resi, with a couple of interesting twists with the character switching and dumping of items on the floor rather than using storage chests.

Overall though, I'd have to say it's a little bit of a weaker entry. The story, in particular, is bad even by the low bar set by other games in the franchise - and I found it really strange how the characters would never utter a word to each other. It felt awkward at times. A few lines of dialogue would have gone a long way.

Not as good as Resi 1, 2 or Code Veronica - although I like it better than Nemesis.

Overall, you'd have to be a pretty committed fan of old school Resi to go back and play this one these days (guilty). But I did enjoy it. Very cosy.

Yeah agree especially singing leech man story wise. After playing the Remaster again a while back, the part where you split up I don’t remember being such a pain back in the day, but having to drop and pick up everything also was a nightmare.

[wakka]

The leech guy I was OK with, but the whole story just felt so unfinished. Nothing really led anywhere or was resolved in any kind of satisfying way. It was just a random collection of short scenes of dialogue. It's a shame because the setup was OK.

Dropping stuff on the floor to 'store' it is a weird mechanic, I agree. It's a lot more cumbersome than navigating an item box via a menu. Plus, I didn't make all that much use of the ability to store stuff anywhere by dropping it, since it seemed most sensible to drop everything in a safe room so it was easy to keep track of it all.

The actual core game design - the item-puzzles and the interlocking map - are as solid as any other Resi, but the surrounding stuff isn't quite as good.

Also, while the train is a great location, it's very short, and most of the rest of the game is set in the Training Facility, which is very similar to the original mansion thematically and design-wise. I felt like that was also a miss.

[Baseley09]

W-RING (PC ENGINE). Never given this one the time of day, falling for its charms, deffo a bit on the easy side and the early bosses are a real push over, but it looks and sounds so....Hu Cardey,

[Cepp]

Ran through Mario 3 for the first time in ages and died quite a lot. I usually breeze through it without issue, felt like I was losing my touch.

It's still my favourite in the series.