Retro Games

[Razilin]

ICO

The spiritual predecessor to Shadow of the Colossus, ICO is a puzzle game story of a horned boy named Ico and his quest to rescue a waifish, mysterious princess locked in a tower full of shadowy enemies.

The game is extremely minimalistic in plot, character traits, and dialogue; even the game mechanics are minimalistic, requiring about 1 minute of reading an in-game control map. Its an interesting direction in an era of time when PS2 action-adventure and action-RPG games were all about in-depth storytelling and characters. Somehow, NOT knowing anything about the characters and the strange tower they are in makes it easier for our imaginations to fill in the details as well as makes it easier to pay attention to the sheer level of detail in the game world - from the architechture, to the sounds, to the soundtrack.

The selling point of the game is its emphasis on utilizing the princess. Ostensibly one long escort mission, ICO's princess doesn't do anything other than follow you if you hold her hand; otherwise, she just stands there. This makes her immensely useful as a prop to push down weight-requiring buttons and panels or to activate doors requiring her presence or the presence of two people in different locations. However, you spend a lot of the time leaving her side briefly to solve the puzzle in the area, which invites attacks from your enemies, the unkillable shadows - for they are truly unkillable and can only be forced to retreat briefly before they inevitably return.

The minimalist storytelling is a deliberate and intriguing move on the game creators, one they carried over to their more action-oriented puzzle game, Shadow of the Colossus. You can definitely see the ideas being laid out in ICO that eventual reach full flower in its spiritual sequel.

 

[Razilin]

Shadow of the Colossus


ICO's spiritual predecessor. Perhaps even MORE minimalistic than its predecessor.

You're a boy trying to revive a girl by killing sixteen colossi with a bow, a sword, and a horse.

That's it.



Oh yeah, plus amazing visuals, a stunning and breathtaking countryside, all sorts of geographic locations, enough scenery porn to make Discovery Channel want to send a camera crew down here, very unique boss puzzles, and a truly epic orchestral soundtrack by Koh Otani.

Digging to its roots, Shadows is ultimately a puzzle game, wherein the sixteen colossi, how you reach them, and how you slay them become the puzzles. No single strategy will work every time. Some are easy to find. Others are nearly impossible to find. One is literally right under your feet from the very beginning. Some are large, some smaller, some stronger, some faster, some fly, some swim, and one is fucking long as a damn mountain range.

There is no plot outside of what you as a player infer. Personally, I assume you're trying to revive your girlfriend by using some scary dark or forbidden ritual that steals your life force each time you kill the Colossi. By killing the Colossi, you are one step closer to saving your woman, but also one step closer to your own grave.

At any rate, you spend a lot of time traveling this world. And it is beautiful. It really pushes the PS2 to the limit and even by current standards it is still a breathtaking ride around the various plains, fields, coasts, and mountains.

The Colossi are the only enemies in the game. No minions, no mooks. A lot of detail went into designing these majestic creatures, and you really get the feel that they are ancient, otherworldly, and powerful. You also get the sense that they are more a part of the world than humanity - hell, most of them have forests, moss, plants, or whole pieces of buildings incorporated into their bodies. These are creatures of a bygone age, and you have disturbed their slumber at your own peril. Each time you wake one up with Koh Otani's music reaching a crescendo in the background, you know you're in for a fight.

Figuring out how to take them down is all part of the fun and the frustration. It takes a couple of minutes with the mid and later game Colossi to really get an idea of how to ascend them and find their weak spots. Some are a test of your athletic abilities. Others, test your ability to think outside the box. I loved the hell out of that. Really, do yourself a favor and play this game without a GameFAQs, hint guide, or Let's Play. All the fun lies in trying to crack the code on these puzzle bosses.

Shadows of the Colossus is another of those unique experiences that all gamers should partake.

Remember...

Some mountains are climbed.

Others are slain.

 

[Artorias]

The Baldur's Gate Saga (Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast, Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn, Baldur's Gate 2: Throne of Bhaal)

Ah, Bioware. Known for its formulaic, yet effective, plots, dialogue trees, and romantic side quests.

Back in the early days of Bioware, they developed the Baldur's Gate series with publisher Black Isle Studios.

Its a story gamers will see for years to come: A protagonist coming from a normal background with an abnormal gift, thrown bodily into adventure, aided by a Cheerful Companion, a Dumb but Hilarious Ensemble Darkhorse companion, and a plethora of other (exceedingly) uniquely characterized personalities - to save the city/kingdom/world/multiverse.

Before we had Mass Effect's dialogue wheel, Baldur's Gate had a dialogue tree that made Type-Moon games looks like nickel comic books. Baldur's Gate was HUGE in lore, backstory, immersive plot, and dialogue options, with plenty of shout outs to the rest of the D&D and Forgotten Realms canon.

Even in its earliest stages, the BG series had enough side quests of varying types to never seem like you had to always go on a Fetch Quest or kill a hundred bears to get Twenty Bear Asses.

The escalating scale of its plot through each sequel makes it a truly awesome (as in, awe-inspiring) saga of mythical proportions as you slaughter your way to high-level gameplay and progressively become the most powerful mortal on the planet, a feat that makes even the strongest personalities of the Forgotten Realms think twice about challenging you.

But for all its epic and sprawling plot, its the characters - as always - that make BG and future Bioware games a treat. While BG 1 has the criticism that some of the NPCs were strictly there to give you meat shields (as BG1 had a notoriously high death rate compared to future games), BG2 onward definitely made you love to see the NPCs interact with you and - more hilariously - with each other. Taking the cake are the meme-tastic Minsc, Jan Jansen, and Boo.

For many gamers in the 1990s, the addition of romantic side quests was the western gaming community's first exposure to the phenomenon of intimately caring for a fictional woman or man. Of course, those of us who know about Visual Novels can readily say, "I've seen enough hentai to know where this is going...."

Finally, the BG series was HARD.

First-time playthroughs will invariably lead to wanton carnage, death, and destruction...and about half the time its your party getting trashed. In BG1, right in the opening hour or so, you can easily can turned into a paste by a mere bear. In BG2, there are plenty of secret bosses, dragons, and major bosses that can lead to a Total Party Kill if you don't know what you're doing. After a couple of playthroughs or just some judicious reading of various spell effects, you can easily learn to exploit the game's many glitches and computer AI flaws, but yeah - if you go into this game thinking you can just spam fireball all day, you will likely get obliterated.

I absolutely loved that.

Paradoxically, by the time you get to the last game, Throne of Bhaal, you're so damn powerful that most fights are a cake walk. But after four games and nearly 30+ levels of killing things, it felt liberating to walk up to a bunch of giant dragons and gods and trash them effortlessly.

Anyone remember these games? Give a shout out!

I just now read this, after I already made my thread about it. But I agree with everything about this game. Even fourteen years later since the release of Baldur's Gate II:Shadows of Amn, it is still arguably one of the best RPG's ever made. I even agree that it is one of the greatest RPG's.

On another note, the BG series was a long game for it's time and it is still a very long game to complete even fourteen years later. Several disks needed just to play the game because the world is so massive.

I love this game and I still play it. Actually, I'm playing it right now ^^

 

[MurderDeathKill]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this game yet:

I actually didn't like this game when I first got it, my child brain could not wrap itself around Deus Ex's complexity. It was only a few years later when I finally gave the game the chance it deserved that I loved the shit out of it. My only regret is that you can only play this game so many times until you find every single thing. And when that happens, it'll be a sad day for me indeed.

 

[MurderDeathKill]

Thief II is still one of the best stealth games ever made; the mechanics, the massive levels, the game world, the atmosphere. This also has a very long life thanks to a rather vibrant mod community.

 

[Razilin]

I just now read this, after I already made my thread about it. But I agree with everything about this game. Even fourteen years later since the release of Baldur's Gate II:Shadows of Amn, it is still arguably one of the best RPG's ever made. I even agree that it is one of the greatest RPG's.

On another note, the BG series was a long game for it's time and it is still a very long game to complete even fourteen years later. Several disks needed just to play the game because the world is so massive.

I love this game and I still play it. Actually, I'm playing it right now ^^

kensai mage ftw otp and op, it kills all the things

 

[Razilin]

We would have to talk about this classic bad boy at some point.

Final Fantasy 6

One of the most ground breaking landmark RPGs in gaming history - having left a mark as influential as that of Dungeons and Dragons itself - Final Fantasy 6 had the ambition to create a sprawling epic with an ensemble cast and a cinematic feel unheard of in RPGs on either side of the ocean.

Even the iconic opening minutes of the game have the feel, cinematography, scope, and gravitas of a movie rather than a video game, as three shadowy mecha and their pilots trudge one determined step at a time to the nearing lamplights of the beleaguered mining town of Narshe. That kind of moment is seen in Star Wars Episode IV with the Star Destroyer, or Jurassic Park as we pan away from Alan Grant's astonished visage to see the massive dinosaurs for the first time. We DID NOT expect to see such a moment in a video game.

From there, it only gets better.

While Terra Branford may be the de facto heroine, the ensemble cast as a whole is developed and unique enough that any of them could conceivably be your main character. Though if you were to ask me, the main core cast is really Terra, Celes, Locke, Edgar, and Sabin in that order. But again, there are just so many well done characters the argument could be made for any of them.

The graphics were bright, colorful, clean, and used the fledgling Super FX to create a vibrant and recognizable World of Balance - all the better to starkly contrast with the gloomier World of Ruin. The practicality of these graphical advances is obvious, since it was nearly impossible to get lost in the game, as each area was instantly recognizable.

The music, as always, was superb - as expected for any FF title. The 20 minute long orchestral ending is said to be composer Nobuo Uematsu's magnum opus, and it shows, adding just another layer to the idea that FF6 was designed almost like a movie, rather than as a game.

But let's not beat around the bush.

The thing everyone remembers about FF6 is its villain.

Kefka Palazzo, the Final Fantasy series' answer to the Joker, and long considered one of the top two contenders for FF's Biggest Big Bad with Sephiroth. This sociopathic madman was the guy you loved to hate, with no real backstory, no motivation outside of sheer enjoyment in causing carnage, and an instantly recognizable theme song and chilling cackle (later reused by a minor NPC in Chrono Trigger). Hearing this guy laugh makes your hair stand on end, just as much as hearing Lavos' roar in Chrono Trigger - when Kefka showed up, you knew shit was going to hit the fan.

And let's admit why Kefka - rather than Sephiroth - is the real king of villainy in FF.

He freaking won.

He killed the world halfway through the game and won. He became a god, he built his tower as a big Fuck You to the universe, and he smashed the planet until it was completely unrecognizable, slaughtering millions if not billions in the process. The world will never forget Kefka.

All Sephiroth did was create a big hole in a mountain.

Kefka cracked a planet apart.

Of course, he ultimately loses.

But not before he wins.

At any rate, this game took chances, went the extra mile, MADE THE VILLAIN WIN, and fulfilled all of its grand ambitions. It is truly a landmark video game that everyone - even RPG haters - should play.

 

[AwesomenessKON]

Rareware is huge for me. Growing up it provided hours of entertainment and exploring. The music in all of their games have that deep sense of passion in tbem and are truly representative of the great legacy that is Rareware and will likely never be again. Microsoft has stolen this joy from me.

If I had to pick one, however, I would say Donkey Kong 64 has that true sense of adventure and really blew my mind away as a child.

Nintendo Project says it best...

 

[Razilin]

ACE COMBAT ZERO

My first foray into the Ace Combat series was actually one of its later installments. The PS2 prequel to the war-torn saga of Ace Combat, Ace Combat Zero takes place several years before one of the franchise's most defining wars, during which you play a mercenary ace pilot codenamed Cipher.

In the great tradition of Ace Combat, you rapidly grow into a terrifying aerial force of destruction, and the intercepted enemy comm chatter clearly reflects the dread, fear, and respect you inspire in allies and enemies alike.

Gameplay is fast and intense, especially when combating enemy aces, which can range from "Whoa, cool!" to "RAGEQUIT" depending on how cunning your enemies become. As a flying simulator, it focuses mainly on flight and combat, rather than the less interesting aspects of take off and landing. This game - as with all Ace Combat games - knows you're here to be a badass fighter pilot and focuses entirely on that.

This installment differs from its predecessors in that your flying style determines the kind of enemy aces you confront. If you focus only on taking out enemy units and sparing neutral targets, you wll have an easier time in combat but conversely have less resources with which to purchase new planes. On the other side, if you are greedy and destroy neutral targets en masse in order to rack up more money, you will be able to purchase a fleet of powerful planes - but must go toe to toe with some of the deadliest aces on the enemy's side. You can take a middle ground as well, but it is tricky to do without tipping one way or another.

Thematically, the game has an Arthurian mythical feel, with superweapons such as the superlaser "Excalibur" and a final level that is basically a one-on-one air jousting event between you and a particularly deadly enemy ace. Even the title you earn in battle, "the Demon Lord of the Roundtable," evokes the mystique and gravitas of the Arthurian legend.

And you WILL remember the Roundtable, a battleground over an enclosed wasteland surrounded by mountains, with enough interference to make radio communications a chore. In other words, a location ideally suited for aerial combat alone. It is the Roundtable where the game's most memorable battles take place and where you, as the greatest ace, make your mark on a war-torn world.

Try this game out.

 

[Sable]

I still have my old SNES, Nintendo 64, and original playstation.

Super Mario World
Super Mario Smash
Lion King
Animaniacs
Frogger
Crash Banikoot
Resident Evil

It goes on and on ♥

 

[Razilin]

i will have to talk about resident evil at some point!

 

[AwesomenessKON]

The first game I really enjoyed playing is DONKEY KONG 64. Multiplayer was the only way I could play xbox and playstation. I was the nintendo guy. Go figure...but I really had lots of fun with SAMURAI WARRIORS and BATTLE FRONT.

 

[Axel3000]

Enternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem.

That game is one of the most innovative horror games ever. The sanity effects were absolute nightmare fuel, and the story is better than that of most other horror games. Keep in mind that this game was on the GameCube, not the PS3 or X-Box 360, despite how amazing it was.

 

[Brother Gabriel]

Doom 1 to 2. nuff said

 

[AwesomenessKON]

Gauntlet is another huge one between me and my friends. That's one that is even relevant today considering they have a new one.

Very very cool music too. I love a game with a great soundtrack! ^.^

 

[AwesomenessKON]

Anyone remember this game? I played this on my old PC so much until I was forced to upgrade and the CD became too old to word.

 

[Razilin]

RESIDENT EVIL 2

My first foray into Survival Horror was the sequel to the mind bogging continuity snarl that is Resident Evil. I knew the basic premise of the franchise when I was first introduced to this game: RE1 was about two cops investigating a mansion that had become infested with monsters and zombies and was at the heart of some nefarious experiments.

Resident Evil 2 took that same concept and did what any good sequel should: expanded it.

Instead of a mansion, an entire city was overrun. The monsters were bigger and more numerous. There were more locations. But at the core, they retained the same concept and controls, only on a much more comprehensive scale. That is how you make a sequel - keep what works and then build on that foundation.

While future sequels, such as the perennial Resident Evil 4, would diverge from Survival Horror to Survival Action with grace and success, it was Resident Evil 2 that solidified the franchise's place in the gaming community as a standard by which all others of its genre were compared.

Give the game a rental, because its short and fast enough to blast through in a weekend.

Also, I had the biggest crush on Claire Redfield.

 

[AwesomenessKON]

Technically anything from the Wii is retro. MARIO GALAXY, SUPER SMASH BROS BRAWL, SUPER PAPER MARIO.

Anyone remember any of these games?

 

[AwesomenessKON]

One thing people remember about retro games are the commercials that went along with them. What is one you remember? Post it below! ^.^

 

[Miracle-Ka]

Hmm.... I remember when I was very little, I had a friend up the street, and I'd walk over to his house and play on his Sega and Nintendo (don't remember exactly which ones he had). We always had a blast playing Super Bros, Sonic, and a bunch of other games. But the game I really started getting into video games with, and to this day still love, which was also my first game I ever officially owned for myself was The Legend of Dragoon. Dragons, magic, ancient wars, a quest for revenge.... I love this game so much. The story and the development of its characters never fails to make me smile, and also feel really sad at certain points. And for a turn-based battle system, I thought it was pretty neat in that it implemented combos (Additions) that you had to actively complete, rather than just click 'attack' and sit back and watch. Leveling the Dragoon Spirits could be a god-awful grind, though, especially when, after so many playthroughs, you realize you don't actually NEED them half the time, but it's still one of my favorite games.

Also, I don't remember a commercial, exactly, but I do remember playing the hell out of the demo for Legend of Dragoon at Walmart whenever my parents had to run groceries. That's why I wanted the game so bad in the first place--back then, the graphics and the transformations looked so amazing. Granted, they don't look that great now, at least not the polygons and textures don't anyway, but the animations for everything is still pretty badass.